Buttermilk strawberry cake

I came across a strawberry summer  cake.And wanted to try it out. Yet, strawberries were becoming less visible in the markets,as their season has almost ended.So decided to try this recipe out before the whole lot of strawberries gets exhausted.

I googled for recipes to see which was most suited for lazy person like me.I decided to follow this buttermilk strawberry cake recipe.I did tweak it a little.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 cup maida, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/4 cup Amul butter ( salted ) , 1/2 cup Patanjali brand jaggery sugar( dark brown in colour ) , 1/2 cup buttermilk, 3/4 cup fresh strawberries hulled & chopped into halves each , approx 1.5 -2 tbsp white everyday sugar for sprinkling on cake top, 1/8-1/4 cup water if needed.

Method : Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade .

I melted the butter in oven & added dark brown sugar .Mix it up nicely.I still found small bits & pieces of sugar lumps which did not mix.Keep it aside.

Mix whole wheat flour, maida & baking powder nicely many times over with fork or whisk. Keep a side. Now add the sugar butter mix to the flour mix. Mix nicely.Add the buttermilk to this mix drop by drop till a batter is obtained. Batter will be thick.Add 1/8-1/4 cup water to this batter if some lumps of flour sugar butter mix are still dry. Add water drop by drop to get batter.Keep aside.

Line a baking dish with butter paper.Pour the batter into the baking dish lined with  butter paper.Flatten the top of batter with spoon.Arrange halved strawberry pieces on top of the batter.I added so many in the outer row that it formed a complete border without any gap ! Sprinkle white everyday sugar on top of strawberries uniformly.

Bake at 200 degrees centigrade for half an hour or till a toothpick pricked comes out clean after apoke into the baked cake !

After removing from oven , cool outside for 10-15 minutes. Put the baking dish upside down on plate. After another 10-15 minutes, gently remove the butter paper sticking to the bottom of cake & sides. Cut the cake into desired shapes & serve.

Tips: The Patanjali sugar has sugar lumps & they get baked as chunks of sweet brown candies in the cake.If this is suitable. its fine. Alternatively , use, any other sugar, white or brown. Please remember, while everyday sugar is more sweet than brown sugar.So , use less accordingly.

Vegan Strawberry cake

I had some strawberries . I was itching to make a cake using strawberries. I had made a bread & an eggless cake earlier.This time, I was keen on making a cake & icing it with strawberry sugar mix.Finally, decided to make a cake decorated with strawberries & without icing.I feel ,that I may be unable to do icing.Maybe another time, on another cake !

I loved this recipe .I tweaked it & made it vegan.I discovered that I have made a vegan version of strawberry earlier though the recipe is different.

Ingredients : 1 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup maida, 1 tbsp oil, 1/ 2 cup leftover gulab jamun syrup , 1/2 cup jaggery sugar, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/2 cup apple sauce, 16 -20 strawberries diced into four pieces each, , 1/2 tbsp flaxseed powder , a pinch of salt.

This is jaggery sugar...available in Sahakari Bhandar at BARC colony,Mumbai.Above is the packet photograph.And on this side is the actual jaggery sugar snap...it is dark brown. That's why my cakes are all dark in colour .Also due to whole wheat flour being used.


Method : Add 3 tbs water to flaxseed powder in a bowl.Mix nicely.Keep aside for 15 minutes.

Mean while , pressure cook for 1 whistle.an apple after dicing it into 4 -5 pieces.Cool the cooker.Remove the apple pieces.Deskin the pieces & deseed the pieces as well.Mash the apple pices.The pallesauce is ready.This is a good egg replacer for cakes & breads.Add oil & gulab jamun syrup to the applesauce .Mix nicely.

Take whole wheat flour.Add maida, salt, baking powder  & sugar.Mix all nicely with a whisk many times over. Keep aside.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade. By now , flax seed soaking is over as 15 minutes are over.Mix the flaxseed water mixture to the wet mix of syrup-oil-apple sauce.

Make a well in the dry ingredient mix. Pour the wet mix into the dry mix.Fold all nicely till a batter is formed without lumps.Line a baking vessel with butter paper.Pour the batter into the vessel.Tap it on sides so that air bubbles are released. Add water to batter if any lumps are there.  Add the strawberry pieces on the batter in any pattern as per wish.Bake the cake at 200 degrees centigrade for 10 minutes.Thereafter bake it for 180 degrees centigrade for 1 hour.With a toothpick ,check if cake is completely baked.Bake it in microwave mode for 2-3 minutes. Let it cool.

After it cools, let it drop down upside on plate.Turn it over.Cut into desired pieces & serve.

This cake turned out a bit too dry. It was not crumbly & yet it felt dry. I felt it was too sweet though my parents disagreed.I used leftover gulab jamun syrup.One can use white sugar as well.White sugar is more sweeter than this jaggery sugar and brown sugar.Hence , use accordingly.