Lemon cake with sabja seeds

I read about this cake today in Hindustan Times Cafe in the Lifestyle section. I thought to myself that since I had sabja seeds, why not try this cake.Basil seeds are called sabja in Hindi or Urdu. I love faloodas & for a hot tempered person like me, sabja seeds are a good source to keep me cool.

So, I started making up my mind to replace the ingredients stated in the recipe. The recipe used yoghurt as an egg replacer & it  used maida.I used flaxseed powder soaked in lukewarm water & applesauce made by pressure baking the apples  in cooker as the egg replacers instead of yoghurt or dahi.I replaced maida with whole wheat flour or atta.I would have loved to add 1/4 cup maida in combination with whole wheat flour as such combination gives good texture  .I had run out of maida ..so used whole wheat flour.I used the little bit of Amul butter leftover in the refrigerator . I was sure, the omega 3 fatty acids in flaxseeds would more than make up for any  deficiency of  oil or butter

I converted the ingredients given in recipe  from gms to cups.

Ingredients : 1.5 cups whole wheat flour, 0.5 cups sugar, 1tbsp Amul butter, 1 cup Applesauce(  2 apples which were pressure baked to make applesauce by removing seeds & peeling off skin.), 1 tbsp flax seed powder mixed in 3 tbsp warm water & left for more than 15 minutes to get a gelatinous liquid, 1 tsp baking soda, 2tsp baking powder, lemon juice of 1.5 lemons , 1tsp lemon zest,1 tbsp sabja seeds or basil seeds.

Method : Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade for 10 minutes.

Mix all dry ingredients together. Mix whole wheat flour, baking powder & baking soda many times with fork or spoon. Keep aside.

Mix all liquid ingredients with sugar.Mix flaxseed water gelatinous mix with applesauce, lemon juice, butter,lemon zest & sugar. I have observed that mixing sugar with liquid ingredients helps increase moisture content during baking.Keep aside.

Line a baking dish with butter paper & keep aside.

Mix the liquid mix into the dry whole wheat baking powder-soda mixture.Mix such that no lumps remain. This will be the cake batter. Pour the cake batter on to the butter paper lined in the baking dish. I sprinkled the sabja seeds on the top of the cake . And this led to uneven distribution. I should have mixed the sabja seeds in the batter.

Bake the cake in oven at 180 degrees centigrade or till a toothpik inserted into  the cake comes out clean.

To ensure that cake batter has been baked fully, I microwave ( in microwave mode ) the baked cake for 5-10 minutes in my convection cum microwave oven.

Let the cake cool in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove the cake from oven. Let it cool outside the oven  for 25-30 minutes.Take a plate & put the baking dish upside down on to the plate.  Turn the cake upwards now so that the sabja topping is on top. Cut the cake into desirable shapes & serve.

The cake was fluffy though lemon flavour was mild .It had a nice crunch of the sabja seeds topping.

Apple sauce cake

I have been thinking of getting back into baking since long. Yet ,with the Microwave convection oven that I have , I had failed many times.Sometimes, the baking soda & baking powder were not up to the mark.At other times, I had forgotten to pre heat the oven.This time around,I wanted to be careful as I baked the convection way.

I looked at cakes using applesauce, flaxseed & wholewheat flour.I did come across a few recipes using wholewheat flour, applesauce ,flaxseed etal.Yet,they used just one or two ingredients.So ,instead of atta, maida was used,I wanted to avoid it. Hence, used my experience & made my version of cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup wholewheat flour, 1 cup homemade applesauce,1/3 cup brown sugar, 1  tbsp flaxseed powder , 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, ,a pinch of salt, optional :some streusel topping

Method : Cut 2 apples into 4 pieces each.Pressure cook them up to 3 whistles.Let the cooker cool.Take out the apple pieces. Depeel & deseed them.Alternatively , the apples can be de seeded & de peeled before pressure cooking them.Make pureee of the cooked apple pieces in mixer. Keep aside. Soak 1tbsp flaxseed powder in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile mix atta with baking , powder & baking soda nicely with a whisk many times.Add brown sugar & salt.Mix thoroughly again.

Mix flaxseed water mix with applesauce.nicely.Pour this mix into the atta sugar baking powder soda mixture. Mix such that no lumps remain. Line a baking dish with butter paper. Pour this cake mix into the dish over the butter paper. Sprinkle  top of cake mix with  streusel topping .Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Bake  in preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes or till a knife poked into cake comes out clean. If ,bottom of cake feels moist, bake in microwave mode for 3-4 minutes.

Cool.Put cake upside down .Cut into desired shapes .

The cake was very moist & dense. Next time around,while using flaxseed meal ,less flour needs to be used. I had streusel topping at home.It was leftover topping of ready made muffin mix. Powdered sugar can be sprinkled as a topping on cake or even shrikhand can be smeared as a topping ! This cake was just aptly sweet.Brown sugar is less sweeter than white sugar.

Vegan carrot cake

I am upbeat about baking cakes more than ever before because I have brought this microwave convection oven.I am dreaming about how perfectly browned my cakes will turn out !

I had quite a few carrots in my refrigerator & thought about making  a carrot  cake. This time ,I wanted to go vegan.Hence no curds or yoghurt.I decided to use apple sauce  as also apple cider vinegar to be the egg replacers in my vegan cake.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup multi grain atta ( Aashirwad or Pillsburry or any brand ) ,1/4 cup whole wheat flour,1/2 cup (tightly  packed)  grated carrot , 1/3 cup apple sauce,1tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup oil,1/2 cup brown sugar,1/2 tsp baking soda,1/2 tsp baking powder,1/4 tsp cinnamon,salt to taste.

Method : Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

I ran out of multigrain atta when I started measuring it out.So ,I added 1/4 cup whole wheat flour to 3/4 cup multigrain atta.To this flour add,brown sugar,baking powder & soda,salt & cinnamon.Mix it nicely with  whisk many times.This will help in getting a thoroughly mixed cake flour.Keep aside.

I made apple sauce by pressure cooking a diced apple till 1 whistle.When ,the cooker cools,take out the diced apple.Peel off skin & puree the apple or it can be simple mashed.Keep aside.

Mix oil,apple cider vinegar ,apple sauce & grated carrot in a vessel.Mix all nicely.Pour this mixture into a well made in the cake flour mix kept aside.Fold the wet & the dry mixes so that no lumps remain.If need be ,some water can be added.The cake batter is ready.

Line a baking vessel ( preferably glass or silicone ) with butter paper.Pour the batter on butter paper into the baking vessel.Bake in microwave convection mode at 180 degrees centigrade for 35-40 minutes.

Then put off the oven.Test with fork or knidfe.If the fork or knife comes out clean ,cake is done.Otherwise,bake for five more minutes.

THen put off oven.Let it cool in oven for 10-15 minutes.Take it out from oven.Let it cool outside oven for another 15 minutes.Put the baking vessel upside down on to a large plate.The cake will drop down on it.Peel the butter paper off the cake.Cut the cake into desired pieces & serve.

I used brown sugar.If while sugar is being used,a lesser amount would do.Brown sugar is unrefined & tends to have less sweetness.

My cake was breaking on the top...that is its crust was cracking up on the top.And I felt, that it was done.I put off the oven at 35 minutes.My cake was moist when it was cut .Spongy too.Yet,the next day,it was soggy.So ,next time around,I am going to bake it for 40 minutes.

I received a compliment too for this cake from my neighbour.She commented ,"Your cakes are getting better ."

Vegan banana bread

Lots of fruits were left over...all due to Ganpati festivities.Some over ripe bananas.So ,thought of making banana bread without using curd or milk.Hence ,this vegan bread using egg replacer flaxseed meal & mashed bananas.

Flax seeds are powdered in mixer to get flax seed meal.I keep flax seed meal in the refrigerator as it tends to get rancid if kept outside for long.The flax seed meal must be soaked in water in the proportion of 1 :3 for 15 minutes before it can used as egg re placer in any baked dish.So,if I am using 1 tbsp flaxseed meal,I must soak it in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes so that it gets gooey & works as the egg replacer.

Ingredients : 1 cup multigrian atta ( I used Pilsburry ) ,1/2 cup mashed over ripe bananas( bananas can be pureed in mixer as well ), 1/3 cup brown sugar,1/4 cup oil,1 tbsp flax seed meal soaked in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes,1/2 tsp baking soda,1/2 tsp baking powder,1/4 tsp vanilla essence,a pinch of salt,10-12  cashew cashew nut pieces( optional ).


Method : Mix all the dry ingredients : atta,sugar,baking soda,baking powder  & salt.Mix thoroughly  with fork or whisk.Keep aside.

Mix mashed bananas,oil,flax seed meal water mixture,vanilla essence nicely.Now pour this liquid mix into the dry mix.Mix with a whisk   so that no lumps remain.Keep aside this batter.

Take a microwaveable vessel.Line it with butter paper.Pour the batter into the vessel.Sprinkle some cashews  on top of the batter.

Microwave for 5 minutes .Let it cool.After 5 minutes,test with a knife by inserting in the cake.If knife is clean,cake is done.If not ,bake for another minute.Repeat knife test.Cake will be done.Put off microwave.Wait for another 15 minutes. Remove cake from microwave.Let cake cool outside for 10 minutes.Invert the vessel on to a plate.Carefully,remove butter paper from the cake.Cut into desired shapes & serve.

This bread was just sweet.If you have a sweet tooth ,you may want to add more sugar.