Have you lately immersed yourself in the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread or cake at home? It is such a blissful experience - a near heaven on earth! As the oven warms up, the tantalising aroma slowly spreads through the home, awakening the olfactory organs, and making one think of warm and pleasant treats!
Baking in itself is such a lovely experience - it always amazes me that a few ingredients mixed together and kept in the oven can magically rise, brimming over at the edge of the dish, filling you with wonder and excitement and ofcourse, leaving you waiting eagerly to bite into the spongy, sweetened texture!
Last week, we had some over ripe bananas at home - that none of us wanted to peel and eat. So, I decided to make banana bread. When I looked at several recipes, I realised banana bread and cake are made more or less in a similar manner. With walnuts and other nuts added, it tastes simply amazing - a nutty, fruity delight! And ofcourse, with my penchant for using healthier alternatives to plain flour (maida), I used wheat flour to increase its nutritive value. Needless to say, the home smelt warm and inviting with the aroma of freshly baked cake - the bananas and cinnamon doing their bit in creating the magic.
My younger daughter rushed in home from play and announced "Ummm, something smells wonderful!"
RECIPE
I studied several recipes, and tweaked them a bit to suit our tastes. This cake is mildly sweet, as we like it that way. Increase the quantity of sugar if you need it sweeter.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/3 rd cup of flour - I used 3/4 cup maida & and 2/3 cup of wheat flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 4 tbsp butter (I used 2 tbsp butter as I had only that much; and added 2 tbsp of rice bran oil)
- 1 tbsp thick curd
- 2 eggs
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup of broken walnuts, macadamia nuts, flax seeds (use whatever nuts you can lay your hands on)
Steps:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl
3. Beat butter and eggs for 2 minutes; add brown sugar and beat some more (I used an electric hand beater)
4. Fold the dry ingredients gently into the wet mixture and mix together.
5. Add the nuts to this.
6. Grease a baking tin with oil and pour in the above mixture.
7. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes - (Check that knife inserted into the middle comes out clean without any batter sticking to it)
Notes:
1. The cake batter almost resembles the 'appam' batter - a South Indian sweet, fried in ghee/oil. It smells and tastes like appam too - thanks to the bananas and wheat flour.
Last week, we had some over ripe bananas at home - that none of us wanted to peel and eat. So, I decided to make banana bread. When I looked at several recipes, I realised banana bread and cake are made more or less in a similar manner. With walnuts and other nuts added, it tastes simply amazing - a nutty, fruity delight! And ofcourse, with my penchant for using healthier alternatives to plain flour (maida), I used wheat flour to increase its nutritive value. Needless to say, the home smelt warm and inviting with the aroma of freshly baked cake - the bananas and cinnamon doing their bit in creating the magic. My younger daughter rushed in home from play and announced "Ummm, something smells wonderful!"
RECIPE
I studied several recipes, and tweaked them a bit to suit our tastes. This cake is mildly sweet, as we like it that way. Increase the quantity of sugar if you need it sweeter.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/3 rd cup of flour - I used 3/4 cup maida & and 2/3 cup of wheat flour- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 4 tbsp butter (I used 2 tbsp butter as I had only that much; and added 2 tbsp of rice bran oil)
- 1 tbsp thick curd
- 2 eggs
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1/2 cup of broken walnuts, macadamia nuts, flax seeds (use whatever nuts you can lay your hands on)
Steps:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl
3. Beat butter and eggs for 2 minutes; add brown sugar and beat some more (I used an electric hand beater)
4. Fold the dry ingredients gently into the wet mixture and mix together.
5. Add the nuts to this.
6. Grease a baking tin with oil and pour in the above mixture.
7. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes - (Check that knife inserted into the middle comes out clean without any batter sticking to it) Notes:
1. The cake batter almost resembles the 'appam' batter - a South Indian sweet, fried in ghee/oil. It smells and tastes like appam too - thanks to the bananas and wheat flour.
