28 April 2018

CARROT AND ALMOND CAKE


 Carrot cakes all along have been the ultimate classics that I always refrained to mend with.  How ever after a lot of brain storming and experimenting I managed to put my own little touch to it, still conserving its natural flavor. This cake is a perfect rainy afternoon bake with a cup of tea. 
I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I enjoyed putting it together.


                                           CARROT AND ALMOND CAKE

                                                                        INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup grated carrots
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4th cup oil
  • 1 table spoon coconut oil
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/8th teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4th teaspoon baking powder
  • pinch of salt
                                    SPICE MIX
  • Ground cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg and star anise. Together all of these must make up to 1 table spoon. 
  • And about 1/2 a cup of sliced almonds.


                                                        METHOD

  • Pre-heat the oven to 160 'C 
  • Grease a medium sized cake tin.
  • In a large bowl sift together all the dry ingredients ( flour, salt,baking soda, baking powder, spice mix)
  • In another large bowl whisk together sugar and oil until creamy and then add yogurt , honey and coconut oil continue to beat it until well combined.
  • Now fold in the dry into the wet mixture gently.
  • Add the grated carrots and and transfer the cake batter into the cake tin.
  • Sprinkle the sliced almonds all over the top almost covering the surface.
  • Bake the cake for about 30-40 minutes until the inserted knife comes out clean.
  • Cool the cake for a good 15 minutes, serve it with whipped cream and some tea to go with.
                                  




20 February 2018

 CLEMENTINE AND CARDAMOM CAKE (eggless)




Its Raining clementines here in Paris right now. Amazing looking and incredibly tasty citrus. I have been wanting to use bake with these since the time they hit the market, but just kept procrastinating. However on my last visit to the closest sunday market near my apartment here I ended up buying really fresh ones, which of course tempted me to bake. Ohh and lets not forget the occasional sunshines these days! God it just does something to my creative spirits.

Also can we just take a moment to appreciate olive oil cakes? I feel they deserve a lot more buzz! haha. I mean jokes aside, the texture of the cake just turns out magically soft and the batter so velvety I could almost just eat the batter! 


                                              INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4cup + 2 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 tablespoon clementine juice
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 4 pods of ground cardamom (with skin)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 tablespoon rose water
  • pinch of salt


                                                      METHOD

  • Sift all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt) in a large bowl and set aside.
  • Now in a separate bowl whisk in the sugar and olive oil until the mixture becomes a little pale, now adding the yogurt, rose water, clementine juice, lemon juice, cardamom and whisk well.
  • Add the dry mixture to this bowl by slowly folding in and turning it into a cake batter, be very gentle or you will knock out the air that we've worked to build up so far in the batter.
  • Now transfer the velvety cake batter to the prepared bread loaf pan and gently place the sliced clementines in desired pattern and bake this cake for about 35-40 minutes until the inserted knife comes out clean.
  • Let it cool for about 10-15 minutes before slicing it up. Feel free to savor it with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.