As I am a passionate baker, I bake at least once a week. But until now, I have never baked a simple vanilla sponge cake. I was trying to bake a perfect vanilla sponge cake, which has no eggs and no butter. Finally, I made it. I saw many recipes for the same, mixed and matched almost all recipes, used my baking tips and at last my vanilla sponge cake with dry fruits and nuts was accomplished.
My sincere thanks to my co-sister, who gave me an awesome idea for baking a sponge cake. For the first time, I used that technique on my cakes and it turned out super soft!!
The tip was like this;
Mix 1 tblspn of flax seeds powder and 3 tblspn of hot water (neither warm nor boiling. Just hot). Mix well and refrigerate for sometime. Then, add it to the batter.
Another tip of mine is, adding Apple Cider Vinegar for all my eggless cakes, which does all the magic.
Here goes the Recipe
Ingredients
- All purpose flour/ maida - 1 + 1/2 cup
- Baking powder - 1 + 1/2 tsp
- Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
- Curd - 1 cup, well beaten
- Sugar - 3/4 cup
- Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 tblspn
- Flax seeds powder - 1 tblspn
- Hot water - 3 tblspn
- Chopped dry fruits and nuts - 1/2 cup
- Oil - 1/2 cup
- Vanilla essence - 1 tblspn
- Flour - 1 tblspn, to coat the dry fruits and nuts
- Salt - a pinch
- Cashews - few
Method
- In a bowl, mix flax seeds powder and hot water. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Chop dry fruits and nuts. Coat them with 1 tblspn flour, so that it will not sink to the bottom while baking.
- Pre-heat the oven @200 deg C. Grease your cake tin or loaf pan with oil. Dust some flour all around, pat it so that it coats all the sides. Tap off the excess flour
- Dry Ingredients:Sieve together maida, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sieve it at least twice.
- Wet Ingredients: In another vessel, beat the curd and sugar, until the sugar is completely dissolved.
- Now add oil, vanilla essence, flax seeds slurry and apple cider vinegar. Mix everything well.
- To the wet ingredients, add half of the flour mixture, fold in gently.
- Now add the remaining half, fold in gently. Use spatula to mix it.
- Now add the chopped dry fruits and nuts and again, fold in gently.
- Transfer this batter to a greased cake tin or loaf pan. Sprinkle some cashew nuts or any nuts of your choice.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven @200 deg C for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and run your knife around the edges to loosen it.
- Remove from the pan after 15 minutes.
- Cut and serve once it is cooled down completely.
I got so inspired to prepare this bun when my hubby was talking about the one we get in theater. So, I thought of giving him a surprise when he returns from the office. We used to have this with chocolate stuffing in India. This time thought of giving it a twist and ended up with this carrot, beetroot and dry fruits stuffing.
Thanks to Yummytummyaarthi.com for giving me the idea.
You can stuff anything as per your preference.
My hubby was over excited like a child when he saw me frying this for him. And of course, he enjoyed it. He asked me to prepare this more often and with the chocolate filling the next time. I am going to try my hands on that too.
I will make a quick draft of the recipe now.
Ingredients
For the stuffing
- Carrot - 2, grated
- Beetroot - 1 grated
- Onion - 1, chopped finely
- Turmeric powder - a pinch
- Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tblspn
- Green chillies- 2, finely chopped
- Coriander powder - 2 tsp
- Cumin powder- 1 tsp
- Garam masala - 1 tsp
- Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
- Salt - to taste
- Caswes - 1 tblspn, chopped
- Almonds - 1 tblspn, chopped
- Raisins - 1 tblspn, chopped
- Sugar - 2 tsp
- Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, chopped finely
- Oil - 2 tsp
For the Dough
- Maida/ All purpose flour - 2 cups
- Yeast - 1.5 tsp
- Warm milk - 3/4 cup
- Warm water - as needed to knead the dough
- Salt - 1 tsp
- Sugar - 2 tblspn
Other ingredients
- Bread crumbs - 1 cup
- Corn flour mixed in water - 1 cup
- Oil for deep frying
Method
For the stuffing
- Heat oil in a pan and crackle cumin seeds.
- Add onions, ginger garlic paste, cashews, almonds, raisins and green chillies and saute until onions are translucent.
- Now add the grated carrot and beetroot. Keep stirring until it is
cooked. Sprinkle some water and keep it closed if it is burning.
- Now add salt, sugar, turmeric powder, garam masala, coriander powder
and cumin powder. Keep stirring for a minute and then turn off the
heat. Add some coriander leaves and mix again. Your sutuffing is now
ready.
For the dough
- Take maida in a bowl and add salt. Whisk well until both a re combined.
- In another bowl combine sugar and milk. Mix well. Now add the yeast mixture.
- Allow it to sit for 5 or 10 minutes. Pour this mixture in to the flour and add enough warm water to make a soft dough. Knead really well
- Apply some oil over the dough. Cover and let it rest for an hour or so. Make sure you keep this dough in a warm place to allow it to rise
- It would have doubled in volume by this time.
How to Proceed?
- Knead the dough and punch out the air pockets. Take a small lemon sized portion of the dough. Roll it between your fists. Apply some flour if its sticky.
- Flatten it and place some stuffing on it
- Bring all the edges together inorder to seal it.
- Repeat the same for all and keep it aside
- Keep your bread crumbs ready
- Keep your cornflour mixture ready
- Dip 1 ball in cornflour mixture
- Roll it in the bread crumbs until all the sides are well coated
- Heat the oil for deep frying and fry these buns.
- You can see the buns will increase in its size while frying. Fry until it becomes golden brown from all the sides.
- Drain any excess oil in the kitchen towl. Serve it hot.
Love Chocolates???? Then here you go!! A simple chocolate cake recipe.. This is very easy to prepare with a very few ingredients. Unlike every cake, this cake also requires exact measurements of items to get a moist and soft end results.
I just prepared this cake for my hubby, on demand and very happy that he liked it very much. Whipped cream, strawberry, sliced almonds and chocolate slices toppings enhances the taste even more for this cake. Trust me. This simple recipe will definitely impress your loved ones.. Do give a try and give me your feedback
Ingredients
- All purpose flour - 1+3/4 cup (245gms)
- Cocoa Powder - 3/4 cup (75gms, unsweetened)
- White sugar - 2 cups (400 gms)
- Baking soda - 1+1/2 tsp
- Baking powder - 1+1/2 tsp
- Salt - 1/2 tsp
- Coffee mixed in warm water - 1 cup (240ml)
- Milk - 1 cup (240ml)
- Oil - (vegetable, sunflower, canola, corn) - 1/2 cup (120ml)
- Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180 deg C or 350 deg F. Butter / Spray your 2 cake pans, which is of 9 inch (23 cms). Line the bottom of your pan with butter paper
- In a big bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients; flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. You need not use an electric stand mixer for this. Just a whisk is enough for the entire process.
- In an other large bowl whish all the wet ingredients; Milk, oil, coffee, eggs and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix/ fold in well until everything is combined. Make sure there are no lumps.
- Divide the cake batter into two cake pans, equally and bake it in the preheated oven for about 30 - 35 minutes, until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
Notes
- If you do not like the coffee flavor in the cake, replace them with equal quantity of warm water.
- Generally it takes 30 - 35 minutes to bake. But it totally depends on the oven. So keep an eye while baking and make sure it is not burnt.
- Do not bake it more, once it is done. There is a possibility that the softness is lost.
- The topping is just up to you. Use any kind of frosting, fruits and nuts of your choice and enjoy the cake.
Thank you.
