SPONGE CAKE

I always wanted to make sponge cake which is simple, light and airy, that could be used as a base for frosting cakes. I have tried many recipes, all of them was good on its own but didn’t give a satisfactory result when layered. At last I zeroed on this recipe. I got it the same way I wanted it to be. So happy with the result. Also it is butter free so that you will be fee from extra calories. Since the recipe doesn’t call for any raising agent, success of the cake completely lies on the beating of eggs. So make sure the eggs are beaten well for 10 minutes. Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients

1.    Eggs- 3large or 4 medium

2.    Flour-3/4 cup

3.    Sugar-1/2 cup

4.    Vanilla essence- 1 tsp

Method of preparation

1.    Preheat an oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. Prepare an 8” inch round cake tin.

2.    Take a wide and deep bowl. Preferably a glass bowl. Break open all eggs into this. Beat for 5 minutes till it turns frothy. Add sugar and vanilla essence. Beat again for 5 minutes until sugar dissolves and egg mix tripled in volume.

3.    Add in flour little by little. Fold in gently using a spatula.

4.    Pour in to prepared cake tin and bake for 25 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean

EGGLESS WHOLE WHEAT BANANA BREAD

Fruits are one thing which iam not interested in, particularly bananas. Once it gets dark spots poor bananas find its space in trash. But that was an old story. After making this banana bread iam waiting my banana to get spots  :).This banana bread is totally addictive. One can’t stop eating just a piece. It almost taste like ‘unniyappom’. Above all you don’t feel guilty while having an extra piece since it is made with healthy ingredients. The bread is soft and moist. It was as delicious as I was eating it continuously. It was hard for me to keep few pieces even for my Husband :).The whole loaf was finished within few hours. Do try this healthy delicious bread. It might satisfy even the banana haters!!

Ingredients

1.      Whole wheat  or Atta-1.5 cup

2.       Grated Jaggery or sugar-1/2 cup

3.      Ripe banana mashed-1 cup,(I used robusta variety, around 3 or 4 medium sized can yield 1 cup)

4.      Baking soda-1/2tsp

5.      Baking powder-1 n 1/2tsp

6.      Oil-3/4cup

7.      Cinnamon powder-1tsp

8.      Vanilla essence-1tsp

Method of preparation

1.      Preheat an oven at 180◦ c For 10 minutes. Prepare a loaf tin and keep it ready

2.      Mash bananas using a fork or mixie without any lumps.(use over ripened bananas).

3.      Mix wheat, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon powder using a whisk or swift all the dry ingredients.

4.      In a mixing bowl mix oil, vanilla and jaggery well.(Jaggery may tend to form clumps with oil. Do not worry, go head. It will dissolve upon adding flour).Add all the dry ingredients little by little and mix to incorporate everything. Do not over mix as it will make cake dense.

5.      Now bake at 180◦ for 50 minutes or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean.

6.      Allow it to cool .Slice and serve.

JAM ROLLS

Jam roll was in my to do list for long time. But the thought of getting it right made me stayed away from it. But once I made this, I realized how simple and fun rolling a sheet of cake.jam rolls are my brothers favorite. He buys this on every bakery purchase. Definitely anything sweet is my favorite too :)

For making this, very few ingredients are needed.Success of the recipe totally lies on the beating of eggs.So make sure you beat the eggs till fluffy.When I googled I could see lots of recipes which doesn’t call for any leavening agent but I was bit skeptical about the result.So I chose this recipe which uses baking powder.Anyway i am glad that I got it the way I expected it to be..

Ingredients

1.      Maida or All purpose flour-3/4 cup

2.      Eggs-3nos

3.      Sugar-1 cup

4.      Baking powder-1tsp

5.      Salt-1/4tsp

6.      Vanilla essence-1tsp

7.      Water-60ml

8.      Powdered sugar- around ¼ cup

9.      Jam-100gm

Method of preparation

1.      Preheat the oven at 200◦line a baking tray with foil paper or butter paper. Grease with oil or butter sprinkle flour all over .invert the pan and tap to remove excess flour.

2.      In a bowl beat eggs for 5 minutes until thick and fluffy. Add in sugar and beat again. Add water and vanilla essence and give a gentle mix. Now add the flour, baking soda and salt. Gently fold in.

3.      Pour into the prepared baking tray. Bake at 200◦ for 10-12 minutes or until the inserted tooth pick comes clean.

4.      Mean time, keep a clean cloth ready. Spread it on a table or kitchen top. Sprinkle powdered sugar over this with the size of the cake.

5.      Once the cake is cooked, loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and carefully invert the tray over the cloth sprinkled with powdered sugar. Then remove the foil carefully.

6.      Beat jam with a whisk or a fork to loosen it. Then apply this all over the cake .Gently roll the cake along with the cloth. Keep it tightly wrapped for 10 minutes. Then remove the cloth .A log of jam roll is ready. Slice and serve..

                                                                                                                       

WHOLE WHEAT CARROT MUFFINS

Here I have used the same recipe of my carrot cake with very few variations. I made this ‘n ‘number of times. This has become our family favorite. When I prepared this last time, I thought to make it healthier by substituting Maida with Wheat flour and I converted it as muffins. I did not have any clue how the texture would be as the cake with wheat flour tend to become little dense. But to my surprise, it was as soft as the one with all purpose flour. More over it tastes more delicious. Over to the recipe…

Ingredients

1.      Carrot grated -1 n 1/2 cup

2.      Whole wheat flour or atta-1 cup

3.      Egg-2 nos

4.      Sugar-1 cup

5.      Baking powder-1tsp

6.      Salt-less than ¼ tsp

7.      Refined oil-1/2cup

8.      Vanilla essence-1 tsp

9.      Cinnamon powder- 1tsp (optional)

Method of preparation

1.      Preheat the oven to 150degree.

2.      Line  a  muffin tray with paper liners or just grease the tray.

3.      Combine flour, baking powder and salt together. Keep it aside.

4.      Beat egg till frothy. Add sugar in and beat again. Add oil,  grated carrot and vanilla essence. Give a gentle stir. Now add the combined flour mix. Fold in gently using a spatula or a spoon.

5.      Fill only 3/4 th of each liner. Bake at 150 ◦ for 20 -25 minutes or till the inserted toothpick comes out clean.

6.      Transfer it into a cooling rack. Let it cool completely.

With this measurement I got around 9 medium sized muffins.

 

thats my little one trying to take the  cakes while i was picturing it :)

EASY EGGLESS BUTTERLESS LEMON CAKE

I have used the same recipe of lemon cup cakes  for making this cake.As already mentioned this one is super easy ,delicious and perfect for this summer as anything lemony is truly refreshing.

Ingredients

1.      Maida-1 cup

2.      Sugar-less than ¾ cup

3.      Oil-1/4 cup(use any unflavoured oil)

4.      Baking powder-1tsp

5.      Baking soda-1tsp

6.      Milk-1/2 cup

7.      Lemon juice-1tbsp

8.      Lemon zest- zest of two small lemons (it was around 1 tbsp or more)

9.      Lemon yellow color-tad a bit (it is purely optional)

Method of preparation

1.      Preheat oven at 180 degree for 10 minutes.

2.      Prepare an 8” inch cake tin.

3.      Take a bowl.mix all ingredients except flour and stir till the sugar dissolves.

4.      Add the flour in two batches and give a nice stir without any lumps.

5.      Pour in to prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes at 180degree or till the inserted knife comes out clean or cook this in a pressure cooker for about 45 minutes.

 check this to know more about pressure cooker baking

Notes: lemon zest is lemon peel. It can be taken by grating the skin .Be careful not to include the white inner part while grating as it would taste bitter.