Healthy, Low Fat Cake with Hung Yougurt Icing and Fresh Fruits

Its a shame how little I have been blogging since Siyona came into my life. This post will be another quick one. Straight to the point!

So, make a sponge cake. Here's how:

1 cup self raising flour,

1/3 rd cup soft butter (I find using leftover malai helps make the cake really soft so use that if you have some)

2 tb sp vegetable oil

1 tea spoon baking soda

1/2 tea sp soda bicarb

2 eggs (always measure 2 eggs per cup of flour)

1 tea sp vanilla extract or essence

1/3rd cup castor sugar

Cream the butter and sugar in a food processor. If dont have one use a hand-blender, or even the blender jar that comes with the 'mixie' :-). Add both eggs whole to this and blend.

Tip: I find if you separate the egg white and beat it till its light and frothy and fold this gently into the batter it make a very light cake. Always use a clean, dry vessel to beat egg whites otherwise they wont get beaten stiff. once you've beateb egg whites use quickly or they start loosing air after a few minutes.

So now that both eggs (or egg yolks), butter and sugar are creamed together. Sieve flour, baking soda and bicarb. Add to the egg mixture and blend till smooth. Add the vegetable oil while continuing to blend. Adding vegetable oil makes the cake spongier. Got this tip at a baking session conducted in a 5-Star. Dont over do the blending.

If you chose to beat yr egg white now is when u gently fold it in the batter.

Preheat the oven at 250 degrees. Pour the batter from a few inches above the greased and dusted baking dish. Adding it from a distance traps more air in the batter (for a lighter batter). Bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes or till a knife inserted in the centre some out clean.

Cool the cake completely before applying the icing.

Icing: 1 tub of nestle dahi hung in a muslin clothe for 5-6 hours.

1/3 rd packet of the 200ml Amul frsh cream

4 tb sp of honey

1 tea sp of vanilla extract

zest of an orange(optional)

4 tbsp of icing sugar or use artificial sweetner

Beat the cream and sugar till light. Always use chilled cream. With our climate thats the best thing to do.

Beat the yogurt with the rest of the ingredients. Fold in the cream. Icing is ready.

Slice your cake into 2 or 3 slices (horizontally). Soak the slices in orange juice (dissolve 1 tsp of sugar in the juice first). Apply the icing. Spread some chopped fruits over each slice and layer them up. Cover the sides with icing and more fruits.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Cut round thin slices of ripe pineapple/ or use tinned ones. Heat 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 2 tbsp butter, 1/4 cup pinapple juice, 1 tsp of cinnamon powder and a drop of vanilla essence. Replace pineapple juice with orange juice or use same amount of plain water for different flavours.
Heat this mixture till sugar dissolves and mixture becomes slightly thick. When I am using fresh pineapple I simmer the slices in this mixture for 5 minutes before using.

Pour out on a greased dusted pan. Arrange pineapple slices on top. Leave aside while you prepare the cake batter.

To prepare batter beat 1/2 cup butter with 3/4 cup castor sugar till sugar kind of dissolves and mixture looks light and fluffy. Beat 2 eggs till light. Fold into the butter-sugar mixture. Add a drop of vanilla essence.

Sieve 1 cup of flour with 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Gently fold into the butter-sugar-egg mixture. Do not over mix.

Pour into the prepared cake tin and place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes. Check if done. If not then bake for another 10 minutes or till done. Keep checking every 5 minutes after that though.

Decorate with cherries and serve with vanilla icecream.

Strawberry and Cream Sponge Cake

Strawberries and Cream are the quintessential pair that can never go wrong. So when I decided to cover a sponge cake with the two I dint go through any nervous birth pangs- I knew it will be good.

The question for many is- will the sponge cake in question will be spongy enough? I want to share how I make sponge cakes. I have followed recipes that have gone wrong but with this method you have a good chance of ending up with a light, airy, very spongy cake.

Heat oven at 250 degrees for 10 minutes. Grease and dust an 8 inch cake tin.

Separate yolks of 3 eggs. Cream together all 3 egg yolks, 1 cup of castor sugar, 1/3 cup butter or malai (the layer of cream that settles on boiled milk as it cools down). Using malai here sounds odd but you have got to trust me when I say it results in the moistest and softest of cakes. Continue beating egg yolks, sugar and butter or malai, whatever you are using, till sugar somewhat dissolves and mixture looks creamy.

Now seive 1 cup self raising flour (maida), 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda together. As you seive this dry mixture, keep the seive few inches above the pan in which the mixture seives and falls. This will capture more air into it.

Mix the dry ingredients into the egg yolk, butter/malai and sugar mixture. Mix well but avoid overmixing.

Now beat the 3 egg whites you had. Beat swiftly in one direction till it becomes frothy and light and soft peaks start to form. You must always beat the egg white just before using them because it doesnt stand well. After just a few minutes it will loose all that froth you worked so hard for.

Fold in the egg white mixture gently into the batter. Mix into a homogenous mixture. Again, dont over mix.

Your batter is ready. Pour over the lined cake tin from a distance of a few inches or a foot. As the batter falls in sheets in the tin, it will capture more air.

Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

You can use smaller cake moulds and bake two of these instead of one big one. With two cakes, though smaller, you can have more layers.

Cool the cake completely. Slice horizontally into layers using a long sharp knife or a wet thread. Heat 3/4 cup of water with 1 tbsp of sugar till sugar dissolves. Cool and pour over the layers and let the layers soak in the syrup.

Whip 250 ml cream with 1/2 cup icing sugar till soft peaks form. Apply on bottom most layer. Place the next layer on top. Continue till you run out of layers. Cover the sides with the whipped cream icing.

Slice strawberries and arrange around the iced cake and on top in any pattern you like.