Tuesday 15 September 2015

A CAKE OF JOY !!

Celebrations are very special moments in our lives. A happy occasion always brings our families, friends and well wishers together under one roof to rejoice and make merry of those wonderful moments. Any happy occasion is incomplete without food. And when it comes to special occasions, a sweet dish is a must!! Let it be birthday, a success party or anniversary..a CAKE is what makes it a party. Some of my friends ( I would call them beginners in cake baking) wanted to learn to bake an egg-less cake. So, here is a special recipe for my special friends.
 

Firstly, let’s just check out all the ingredients required for our cake. Since you haven’t decided what type of cake you want to bake, let me suggest it for you- let’s bake a simple egg-less sponge cake.
So the ingredients are as follows,
1. All purpose flour (maida)- 1 cup
2. Baking powder- 1 teaspoon
3. Baking soda- 1 teaspoon
4. Sugar powder- 2 to 3 tablespoons
5. Butter ( or ghee)- 1 tablespoon
6. Milkmaid condensed milk- ½ tin
7. Tuti – fruity (different colors)- as many as you like

Ok, now we have our ingredients so let us prepare the batter. In a big bowl, dust 1 cup maida to ensure there are no lumps. Now add sugar powder, baking powder, baking soda and mix them well. Add milkmaid and butter. Mix them well using a whisk or a spoon. Keep adding little water until the required consistency is obtained.  You need to make sure that the batter is neither too thick nor too thin. Now add the tuti-fruity and also any dry fruits that you want to add. Mix the batter well till it is free of lumps or any air bubbles.

The next part is baking. Take a big, round bowl such that if you fill the batter in it, it should fill only half of it. This ensures that there is enough space for the bake to rise. Apply ghee or butter in the bowl on all the sides. Fill the batter in it and shake the bowl a little or tap it on the table. This makes the batter sit equally in the bowl. Now heat the cooker on high flame for 5-8 minutes. Place a stand or a small bowl (smaller than the bowl containing the batter) and place the batter bowl on it.
Don’t pour water in the drum.
Don’t put any lid on the bowl.
Don’t put the gasket of the cooker.
Just close the cooker with its lid and simmer the flame. Bake the cake on medium flame for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, open the cooker lid, insert a knife (or toothpick) into the cake to check whether it is ready or not. If the batter sticks to the knife, let it bake for some more time. After you see it is ready, remove it from the cooker. Now run a knife along the edges of the bowl and overturn the bowl on a plate to remove the cake. You can garnish the cake with tuti-fruity or dry fruits of your choice. Let it cool for a while, you can also refrigerate it for some time. Now your cake is ready to be served !!


The basic procedure of baking any cake is the same. You just have to change (or add) the main ingredient, like for example, for baking a chocolate cake you have to follow the same above procedure but just add cocoa powder to it, and for a carrot cake, add grated carrot to it.  

Enjoy every bit and every bite of it. Share your cake..share your happiness :)