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 banana cake

During independence day celebrations ,there were sales galore.There were too many tempting offers.One such offer was regarding microwave convection oven.I own a microwave oven.I have made cakes.My cakes are quite nice.They are fluffy & healthy as whole grain flour is used.Yet ,my cakes never have the brown crusts that cakes baked in convection ovens have.So I fell for the offer.I went ahead & brought one.Initially,I felt ,I had erred as I will have yo learn the operations afresh & that is such a chore.Still,when the cakes rise,I forget all & smile.So temptation was worth it.I tried this  vegetarian banana cake.Well,I couldn't believe that the recipe was just what I wanted.It had explained how to bake cake in microwave convection oven ! I tweaked the recipe a bit & got a superb cake !

Ingredients : 3-4 bananas pureed ( these were small sized bananas & the more over ripe ,the better for cake ),1 cup multigrain atta ,1/3 cup brown sugar,1tbsp oil,1/2 tsp baking powder,1/2 tsp baking soda,1/2 tsp vanilla essence,salt to taste,5-10 halved walnuts ( any other nuts like almonds,cashews,can be used instead ) ,salt to taste.

Method : Preheat the oven at 180 degrees centigrade.

Mix all dry ingredients namely multigrain atta,sugar,baking powder , baking soda & salt.I mix nicely with whisk so that all get evenly spread throughout the mix.Keep aside.

Mix all wet ingredients that is banana puree,oil,vanilla essence.Keep aside.

Make a well in the dry mix & pour the wet mix into it.Mix nicely till a batter is formed.If the batter is too thick,add water & make it thinner.Batter must have just drop down consistency.So it must be thicker than idli batter & thinner than chapatti dough.Now add the halved walnuts into it.Alternatively ,walnuts can be added on top of the batter in the cake vessel.

Line a glass or silicone vessel with butter paper.Pour the cake batter into it.Add walnuts on top of cake batter if they have not been mixed in batter in earlier step.

Bake in preheated microwave convection oven for 35-40 minutes or till a knife or spoon inserted in cake comes out clean.

Let it cool.This will take another half an hour or more.Then take it upside down on plate.Cut into desired shapes & serve.Cake was just sweet.So,if need be,more sugar can be added.Please note that I used broun  sugar.Brown sugar is less sweet compared to white sugar. My mom said that I need to have put more oil.Maybe one more tablespoon of oil will make cake more soft.My dad said  it was soft enough.

I was thrilled as my cake had that brown crust which I had eyed on cakes baked in convection ovens.I felt that I should have added walnuts after I had poured batter into the vessel for baking.So next cake ,I am going to try that !

Tip : This cake comes out well with wholewheat flour as well.If 1 cup atta is taken , 1/4 cup maida can be added to get a lovely texture & all will think cake is made from maida.

In place of vanilla essence, use  1 tsp of cardamom powder to give this cake that Indian spice touch ! 

Christmas Fruit cake : alcohol free,dairy free,eggless !

I have been wanting to bake the Christmas cake which I had come across at various food blogs.Now that I have baked quite a few cakes,I thought of trying this cake out.I selected the recipe @ http://www.mariasmenu.com/desserts/eggless-kerala-christmas-fruit-cake as it uses no liquor & is eggless.I changed some ingredients & my cake is Vegan !

Ingredients :Soak dry fruits like chopped almonds,cashews,walnuts,figs,brown & black kishmis,pistachios in fruit juice overnight.I soaked 11/2 cups of mixed & chopped dry fruits in mixed fruit juice brought from store.I soaked in a glass & the juice was just  enough to drown the dry fruit mix.

Keep 1- 2tbsp multigrain atta to coat the soaked dry fruit mix before adding to batter to prevent all dry fruits from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

Dry ingredients : 11/4  cup multigrain atta ( I used Pillsbury ) ,1/2 + 1/3 cup mineral sugar ( this is brown in clour & just like white  sugar in texture though less sweeter ) ,1/2 tsp baking soda,1/2 tsp baking powder,1/4 tsp cinnamon powder,1 clove & 2 cardamom...dry roast & pound them with pestle into powder ( or use 1/8 tsp clove & cardamom powder mix ),  salt to taste.

Wet ingredients : 11/2 cup soaked dry fruit mix, 1/4 cup oil,1 tbsp white vinegar, 1/2 tbsp flax seed powder soaked in 2 tbsp water for 15-20 minutes,1 tbsp grated orange peel ,1 tsp grated ginger,1/2 tsp vanilla essence,water to make batter thinner if need be.

Mix all dry ingredients with whisk or fork nicely many times so that all ingredients are nicely mixed.Keep aside.

Mix vinegar,oil ,orange peel,grated ginger ,vanilla essence nicely.Add flax seed water mix.Mix all nicely.Pour this wet mix into  the dry mix.Mix nicely.

Add 1-2  tbsp multigrain atta to soaked  dry fruits & then add these atta coated dry fruits  to cake batter.Mix nicely so that no lumps remain..Keep aside.

Take a microwaveable vessel.Line the vessel bottom with butter paper.Pour the cake batter into the vessel.Microwave for 9-10 minutes.Put off the microwave.Let it cool for 10 minutes..Insert a knife in the middle of the cake.If knife comes out clean ,it is done.If not,microwave for 1-2 minutes more.Cool & check again.

I cut the cake today in the morning. .Still it was very crumbly.Next time,I must bake only for 9 minutes.One of my best cakes till date.I distributed to one & all as today is Christmas ! 

Laapsi porridge

This is a healthy dish as it has no milk .It can be called a water payasam.My mom makes this once in awhile for breakfast.It is quick & easy.Ingredients are few.

Ingredients : 1 cup laapsi rawa( use finer variety as it will cook faster ) ,1 tbsp ghee( optional ) ,1 cup jaggery, 1 /2 tsp cardamom powder,a few dry fruits  chopped  to garnish.

Method : Take a thick bottomed kadhai.Put the laapsi  & 3 cups  water in it.Mix nicely.Warm the kadhai by putting the gas on.Keep stirring with a spoon so that it does not stick to bottom.Always keep gas burner on slow mode.Slowly laapsi will get cooked.After 15 minutes or so add jaggery & mix nicely.Slowly jaggery will melt due to the heat.After Keep stirring with spoon so that no lumps of jaggery remain.After 10 minutes,all will have got alight brown colour.If you feel that it is very thick,add some water & mix nicely.Let it simmer for some more time.Put off gas.Add cardamom powder & mix nicely.Serve in bowls.Garnish with grated dry fruits like almonds ,cashews etc.

Add a tsp of spoon on the top if desired. If no ghee is added,this is a vegan dish.