White Chocolate Pomegranate Cupcakes

I may have said this in this past but this time I really really mean it. These white chocolate cupcakes baked up beautifully and had an amazing flavour. The pomegranates complemented the sweetness nicely with a slight sour tang. It's interesting to see how many people have now adapted this combination whereas when I baked this and did a search, I didn't see any cupcake recipes using white chocolate and pomegranates.

I had this bar of white chocolate I had bought from Tokyo a year back and since I was in India, I could buy a pomegranate and bring it back with me! Things fell in place beautifully and one Saturday evening, these cupcakes were born.

I searched a lot for a good white chocolate cupcake recipe and although there were quite a few that came up, I finally nailed one from Epicurious. Although a lot of the reviews said the cupcake sank in the middle, got ruined, etc, I had a nice feeling about it. I used a lower baking temperature and they came out ridiculously well. The coconut milk in the batter was intriguing too, and its my first time baking cupcakes with coconut milk in the batter!

The pomegranates gave a nice crunch to the texture and added to the appeal of the otherwise dull-looking cupcakes. One word of caution here. I only had brown sugar in hand so my cupcakes are beige in colour. If you use regular white sugar like you are supposed to, the cupcakes will be white and gorgeous like white chocolate cupcakes are supposed to look.

White Chocolate Cupcakes with Pomegranates
Makes 20 cupcakes
Loosely adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients:
8 oz / 240 gm white chocolate
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup regular white sugar
3 egg whites
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
1/4 cup fresh pomegranate seeds

*Optional Mascarpone frosting recipe below. 

How to Make White Chocolate Cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 320F / 180 C. Line cupcake pans with liners and set aside.

2. Melt white chocolate by placing it in a bowl over another bowl of boiling water and stirring frequently, or in a microwave at low heat until just melted and smooth.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat sugar, butter, and vanilla in large bowl until blended. Add hot white chocolate to sugar mixture; stir to combine. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with coconut milk in 2 additions, beating batter just to combine between additions.

4. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form. Be careful not to overbeat. To check done-ness, I lift the whisk and see if a soft peak forms and gently collapses back into the mixture. Gently fold egg white mixture into batter in 3 additions.

5. Pour batter into the lined cupcake pans until 3/4 filled. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 mins or until the cupcakes don't stick to a skewer passed through their middle.

6. Cool completely and frost if desired. I thought the cupcakes were a bit too plain so decided to whip up a very simple frosting with some mascarpone cheese I had in hand.

Mascarpone Frosting Recipe

Whisk together 6 tbsp mascarpone cheese, 4 tbsp milk, and 14 tbsp icing sugar. Adjust each of the ingredients until the frosting is of pouring consistency yet not too watery. Pour over completely cooled cupcakes and place some pomegranate seeds over the frosting before serving.

The cupcakes lasted me four days, refrigerated. 

Vegan Mango Bundt Cake Recipe - Eggless Mango Cake Recipe

How to make Vegan Mango Cake

I brought back 4kg of mangoes when I came back after my two-week vacation back home. 4-5 days after I got back, they all they started ripening at the same time and pretty rapidly at that. I started panicking and quickly looked up mango dessert recipes. After indulging in a good amount of mango lassi and mango milkshake, I was still left with more mangoes than we could just eat up (what a lovely lovely problem to have!) so I started looking for mango dessert recipes. Although I was tempted to make the no-bake mango cheesecake, the fact that we would both end up finishing it in 2 days deterred me. Another great idea to use up ripe mangoes this mango season would be this 3-ingredient mango ice-cream, or even this delicious mango lassi recipe.

Since I was out of eggs, I started searching for eggless mango cakes. Quite a few popped up and most had some other ingredient that I didn't have either - like sour cream or buttermilk. Then I saw this vegan mango cake recipe in Holy Cow Vegan and decided this is it! A cake flavoured with mango and cardamom, what's not to love, eh?

I've always wanted to take an artistic shot like this. Since I don't use a tripod, it was tricky. Shaking the sieve with my left hand and holding camera and clicking with the right (all the while fearing that the camera would fall and the lens would break *shudder*)

Vegan Mango Bundt Cake Recipe
Serves 10
Adapted from: Holy Cow Vegan

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

1 1/2 cups ripe mango puree

1/3 cup neutral oil (vegetable, canola, etc)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F / 180C.

2. In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom powder well together.

3. In another bowl, whisk the mango puree, oil, sugar and vanilla until well combined. Add this to the flour mixture and fold until there are no traces of flour left. Don't overmix, just use your hand whisk or a silicon spatula to do this.

4. Transfer to a a greased bundt pan and bake in the pre-heated oven until the cake is cooked through and a skewer passed through it comes out with a few crumbs in the end. It took my cake about 40 mins to reach this stage.

Transfer to a cooling rack, dust with some icing sugar and serve warm or at room temperature with some mango puree drizzled over it if you'd like.

Notes:
- Although this cake came out just fine, I realised that I am not a fan of eggless cakes using oil as a substitute. I think the mental image that this piece of cake has oil in it turns me off. Although for this mango cake, the flavour of oil was at a minimum, I would just add 1/2 a cup of melted butter next time when I try it. Of course, then it will no longer be vegan.

- If you don't have fresh ripe mangoes in stock, just use canned mango puree. Works just as fine too.

Also, HUGE thanks to Sakshi for the super cute cake stand she gifted me while we met and roamed around the Bay Area and SFO. You the best!

Mushrooms and Fettuccine in Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce

I've been sitting with the compose box open for the past 20 mins and I can't think of a single thing to say except that this fettuccine recipe rocks. I made it for dinner one night and hadn't meant to post it on the blog but after tasting it, I had to take some pics so I can share it here.

Its adapted from the fabulous VeganYumYum.

Note: Fettuccine is traditionally pasta with egg in it so its not vegan by default. I bought vegan fettuccine from an organic store in Singapore. If you are vegan, please double-check the fettuccine you buy.

Fettuccine in Vegan Tomato Basil Sauce
Serves 2

Ingredients:
5 bundles* of (vegan) fettuccine
1 cup mushrooms, sliced thin (use any kind you like)
2 ripe tomatoes
4 cloves of minced garlic
1/4 cup raw, unsalted cashews
1 tbsp tomato paste (important)
1/3 cup water
1 tsp black pepper
Fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Boil enough water to cover the fettuccine with some salt. Once its come to boil, slowly immerse the fettuccine and cook until its soft yet firm.

2. Chop the tomatoes and blend with the tomato paste, cashews and the water. Start with 1/4 cup water and add more as you go. I didn't blend it too smooth since I wanted the texture the cashews would give.

3. Heat olive oil in a pan and add the garlic. Fry for 30 seconds until lightly browned. Then add the mushrooms and saute for 2-3 mins until they soften a bit and sweat a bit.

4. Add the blended sauce with some salt and simmer for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water if necessary to thin it out. I added more water than original recipe when blending so I didn't need to. The cashews will make the sauce thick.

5. Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and mix well until combined. Add the chopped basil and freshly cracked black pepper. Adjust salt if necessary. Serve immediately.

*The fettuccine I bought was in bundles. If you buy in packets or any other measure, please use your discretion for quantity.

All pictures taken in the homemade light box for food photography. 

Portuguese Egg Custard Tarts Recipe - Homemade Portuguese Egg Tarts

Portuguese egg tarts are an absolute delight to bake and eat. My ex-manager, Joao, is Portuguese and from the day he came to know that I love baking, he's been asking me to bake some Portuguese egg tarts. It sounded daunting but to be fair, I didn't even do a search for Portuguese egg tarts before deciding that in my mind. As he continued telling me how delicious they are and couldn't be more different from Chinese Egg Tarts, I said I would try baking the Portuguese version if he could bring some for me from Portugal. He agreed.

You may also like these spinach feta muffins, very easy to bake and super delicious!

And then he went and made it happen. A few months after this conversation, he actually brought some egg tarts from back home and I tried them. They were custardy, sweet, and true to his word, delicious.

I had no more excuses to not bake some Portuguese egg tarts and the best opportunity came up when a bunch of were going to visit Joao and Ruth's baby, Luke.

Imagine baking Portuguese egg tarts for the first time for a Portuguese. Go ahead, imagine that. Jitterville!

I did it and I got a huge thumbs up from Joao. He even said a lot of people in Singapore would be willing to pay for these. Hmmm...

Portuguese Egg Custard Tarts
Adapted from Not Quite Nigella
Makes 12

Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar (I would use slightly lesser than this next time)
2 tbsp cornflour
400ml full cream milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 block of puff pastry sheet

How to Make Portuguese Egg Tarts

1. Grease a muffin tray and pre heat oven to 200C.

2. Place the egg yolks, sugar, and cornflour in a pan and whisk together until well combined. Slowly add in the milk and mix well with no lumps.

3. Place the pan over a medium heat and cook, stirring, until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Let it simmer for 2-3 mins, then remove from heat and add the vanilla extract.

4. Transfer the custard to a bowl, cover, and let it cool.

5. Thaw the puff pastry sheet and roll to about 1/2" thickness on a floured surface. Roll it from the width-side tightly and cut into small discs. Roll each disc (flouring the surface sufficiently) to the rough size of the muffin tray.

6. Lay each rolled out disc into the muffin tray, pour the cooled custard to about 3/4 level and bake for about 25 mins.

The custard will bubble up during baking, don't worry! The top of the egg tart should have brownish black patches for that authentic Portuguese egg tart look!

Sprinkle the egg tarts with cinnamon powder and serve warm.

Dal Panchratan / Pancharatni (Dal Curry with Five Lentil Types)

Dal or lentil curry is my go-to dish when my vegetable tray looks empty and I need a quick-fix lunch or dinner. Both TH and I love it with roti and if I am in no mood to mix, roll, and cook up rotis, I just make an easy jeera rice (please ignore the pictures in that jeera rice post. kthanx) and we are good to go.

What's better than a simple dal tadka or dal makhani? Dal Pancharatni! Panchratan means five jewels and in this particular recipe we use a mix of five different types of dal or lentils. A dal cannot get more interesting than that!

I got a bag of mixed dal from a  supermarket in Delhi when I was there last. This makes the job of making panchratan dal so much easier because otherwise you'd have to buy the dal separately. I haven't seen this in Singapore though.

Dal Panchratan / Pancharatani Recipe
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
4 tbsp chana dal (split Bengal gram)
1/4 cup tuvar (arhar) dal
1/4 cup moong dal (split green gram)
3 tbsp urad dal (whole black lentils)
1/4 cup masoor dal (split red lentil)
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 large tomato, pureed
1 large onion, ground to a paste
1" piece of ginger, grated
3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste

For tempering:
2 tsp ghee (or oil)
1/2 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds (optional)
A few curry leaves

How I Made It:

1. Pressure cook the mixed dal (lentils) with 5 cups water and the turmeric powder for 4-5 whistles or until the dal is cooked mushy. Alternately, bring the dal and water mixture to a boil and simmer on low heat until cooked. This will take between 45 mins to an hour.

2. Heat oil for tempering in a kadai (that's big enough to hold everything) and add the ingredients in the given order. Let the cumin seeds splutter and turn brown and the mustard seeds (if using) pop. Next, add the ginger and garlic and fry for a minute.

3. The onion paste and red chilli powder go in next. Cook until the paste is fried to a ligher colour (about 3-4 mins). Next, add the pureed tomato and salt. Mix well and let it simmer for another 3-4 mins.

4. Finally, add the cooked dal, mix well and simmer for 5 mins until all the flavours have blended. Check salt.

Best served hot with roti or lightly flavoured pulao / pilaf.

Make Chapati Dough (Roti Dough) in a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer

How to make Roti or Chapati dough in a Kitchenaid stand mixer

This may not a big deal for all you North Indians who eat roti or chapati every day. As a hardcore South Indian who eats them probably once a week, I hate making the chapati or roti dough. It gets sticky, I need to pour water with one hand and mix with the other, the stuff gets under my nails, and worse, it takes forever to clean my hand afterwards, not to mention the energy you need to exert to get it ready.

I got my Kitchenaid a few months back and while I don't talk about it much, we are really good friends now. So much more than we would have been because now I make my roti dough in my Kitchenaid!

Also check out how to make roti dough in a food processor.

If you are one of those people who got a Kitchenaid and hardly get any use out of it except those occasional days you bake a cake, please make use of your dough hooks!

How to Make Chapati / Roti Dough in your Kitchenaid

I have measured out the exact amount of flour:water ratio but this could change depending on the type of atta you use and weather and temperature where you live. Play it by ear the first time but note it down so that from the next time on, you can go on auto mode.

Ingredients (for 7 chapatis / rotis)
1.5 cups wheat flour / atta
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp oil or soft butter

Add 1.5 cups of flour /  atta to the Kitchenaid bowl.

Top off with the amount of salt you require.

Attack your dough hook to the Kitchenaid machine. Give the flour and the salt a whir on the lowest speed until its well blended.

Start with 1/2 cup water (for 1.5 cups flour) and slowly trickle it into the bowl with the machine running on lowest speed.

Keep it running until the dough begins to come together. You can add a drizzle of oil now (or do it at the end with your hands too). At this stage you can see if the dough needs more water. Only add 1tbsp at a time.

When the dough starts to come together, it will look deceptively dry. Don't get fooled by that. When its mixed further, it will be fine.

Almost done.

All done. See how moist the dough now looks? I didn't add any water after what you see in the previous pictures. Its possible that the dough is a bit stickier than how it turns out when you knead by hand. Add in a bit more flour and give a final knead with your fingers. I usually do this and also add oil (although nowadays I add oil when the dough is mixing because it doesn't seem to make any difference in the end). Adding oil is, of course, optional.

Note: you can use a maximum of 4 cups flour (and the remaining ingredients) to make chapati dough in your Kitchenaid. Anything over that seems to strain the machine and the blade tends to make some sound as the dough is almost ready.

A Party Welcome Drink Idea - Sprite Fanta Drink Recipe

This is a good welcome drink idea for a small party in your home. There's quite a story behind this drink and although I don't usually share much stories with the recipes, this one can't come without out so here goes. My dad's sister, athamma, is quite a cook but more than that, she is a very eager hostess. Whenever we go back home on vacation, dinner at her place is a done thing and all our favourites line up on the table from one end to the other.

If you are looking for more drinks recipes to serve guests, check out strawberry lassi recipe, badam kheer, mango lassi, and sharjah shake, a milkshake with bananas and dates.

She recently hosted my newly married niece and her family and my mom was very taken by the "welcome drink". She immediately got the recipe, got all the ingredients and was on the phone with me the next day insisting she will make it and send me pics for the blog. I said I wanted to be there as she made it and anyway, I was going home on vacation in another month or so. So she made this while I stood around taking a zillion pictures.

None of us know the name of this and my aunt got it from someone on her husband's side of the family so this drink shall just be called a party welcome drink idea.

The ingredients and combinations will sound a bit bizzarre but it was delicious!

A Party Welcome Drink Idea (Recipe)
Serves 6-8 people

Ingredients:
3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
2 tbsp orange tang (experiment with flavours here)
1 litre chilled sprite or club soda
1-2tbsp sugar (increase if using club soda)
1 apple peeled and finely chopped
A few sprigs of fresh mint, finely chopped

How Its Made:

1. Add the condensed milk and tang to a bowl and whisk until well combined. (My mom uses what we call the "Horlicks beater" back home. Many years back, the UK version of Horlicks that was sold in duty paid shops came with these and my dad gifted one to his mom. She later gave it to my mom and she uses it to beat egg whites stiff, make cappuccino, and of course to make Horlicks).

2. Add the powdered sugar and give it another whisk. Then add sprite making sure you pour through the sides gently. The mixture will foam up quite a bit.

3. Transfer to glasses, top off with some chopped apples and mint, and serve cold with ice cubes if you like.

Serve your welcome drink immediately.

Kappayum Meenum / Boiled Tapioca with Kerala Fish Curry

Learn how to make Kappa Puzhukku with Kerala Style Red Fish Curry Recipe

Kappayum Meenum! Need I say more? Every person who grew up in Kerala must miss this when they are out of their nests. Oh, unless they are vegetarian. Then they would miss... I don't know! What do vegetarians miss when they leave Kerala? Enlighten me.

Anyway, I miss this. Among other things of course but this I miss one of the most because it represents home so much to me. Suma, our maid, brought some kappayum meenum for sis and I and of course I took the banana leaf that happened to lie around in amma's kitchen and clicked it. I later asked amma for the recipe so I am not sure if this is hers or Suma's. Either ways, it works, trust them if not me.

Meen Mulakarachathu, as we call it in Kottayam, is not my favourite Kerala fish dish but with kappa, its unbeatable. Its called by so many names by the way - Meen Vevichathu, Meen Mulakittathu, and even Meen Pattichathu. All one and the same folks!

More easy fish recipe - fried anchovies Kerala-style, Bengali fish fry, Indian Chinese chilli fish recipe.

Kappa Puzhukku / Boiled Tapioca Kerala Style

Ingredients:
1 kg tapioca / kappa
3/4 cup grated coconut
5 green chillies
5 flakes of garlic
5 shallots
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds / jeera / jeerakam
3 sprigs of curry leaves
3 tbsp coconut oil
Salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Peel and wash the tapioca well. Cut into small cubes and add to a pan with water 3" inches higher than the level of tapioca. Bring to boil and add salt. Let it simmer on medium-low flame until the tapioca is almost soft.

2. Meanwhile, grind the other ingredients except curry leaves and oil. Once the tapioca is almost soft (just short of mushy stage), add the ground paste, along with the coconut oil and curry leaves. Mix well and let it heat through. (Alternately, you can heat oil in another pan, add curry leaves to it and then mix with the tapioca).

3. Remove from fire and serve with tangy and spicy fish curry /  meen vevichathu.

Kerala Style Fish Curry (without coconut)

Ingredients:
1/2 kg any firm fish, cleaned and cubed (ideally with bones)
3 tbsp red chilli powder / mulaku podi (use Kashmiri chilli powder or a mix of that and the regular one if you can't take heat)
1 tbsp coriander powder / malli podi
3 pieces of kudam puli
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds / uluva
3 sprigs of curry leaves
5 shallots
5 garlic cloves
1" piece of ginger
3 green chillies, slit
3 tbsp coconut oil

Instructions:

1. Crush shallots, ginger, and garlic together in a pestle and mortar (or grind together).

2. Heat oil in a pan and add the fenugreek seeds. When they start to brown, add the crushed ginger-garlic-shallot paste. Fry for 10 seconds and then add the coriander powder, followed by the red chilli powder. Fry for another 10 seconds. Add curry leaves and green chillies and mix together well.

3. Now add the turmeric powder and the kudam puli with 2 cups water and salt. Bring to boil and let it boil for 2-3 mins before adding the fish.

4. Simmer on low heat for another 10-12 mins until the fish is cooked through. Check for salt and tanginess and add more of either if necessary.

Goes best with kappa puzhukku.

Stir-Fried Soy Chorizo - Vegan Chorizo Recipes

Last month, DK chose the theme for the Free Spirit Bloggers. She wanted us to come up with vegetarian dishes that have ingredients that resemble meat, fish, etc. The idea was immensely challenging and the creative options are endless.

However, last month was a vacation one for me and my brain doesn't work for the blog when I am home in Kerala.

I couldn't let the theme go though so here's more of a recipe idea if you are cooking up brunch for a few friends and you have vegetarians in the pack. Here's a disclaimer, this will only work if you have access to Trader Joe's in your neighbourhood (sorry, non-US folks!)

When I was in the US in March, I met up with some friends for brunch at Joann's place. Since one of us was vegetarian, her menu was eggetarian-friendly. She had a pack of these Soy Chorizos from Trader Joe's. I loved it so much that I smuggled a pack back for TH and I.

All we did was to chop up some onions finely, add 1 tsp oil to a pan and fry them until transparent, add the chorizo to the onion, heat through, and serve! Its an amazing alternative for vegetarians and protein-packed to boot. Doesn't it look exactly like minced meat? I can think of some creative uses for it too, like topping for pizza, wrapped in a chapati, baked up in some pastry sheets like puffs, etc.

Try it!

This goes to Dhivs as my entry to her FSB theme for June! Check out her space to see what others contributed.

What is Agra Panchhi Petha? (With Recipe)

This post is about 5 months too late. When we visited Delhi-Agra-Jaipur during Chinese New Year, this is one thing I definitely wanted to buy back - Panchhi Petha. Its nothing but cubed ash gourd simmered in sugar syrup and cooled down. Its extremely sweet and juicy when bitten into.

When I went to the same places while in school, we gorged on this super sweet Agra specialty without even knowing what it is or how its made (not that it mattered, especially at that age). I had forgotten whether its available in Jaipur or Agra so during our first stop which was at Jaipur, I asked our guide about it. He had absolutely no clue what we were talking about!

When we came to Agra, our guide immediately cut us short when we began explaining what we were looking for and took us straight to the very popular store called Panchhi which is probably one of the best places that sells "original" petha.

When we were at the railway station waiting for our train back to Delhi, I chanced upon Vanitha in a bookstore and it was a freakish coincidence because that edition had a bit about Lakshmi Nair (the now famous cook that comes in some shows in Asianet) visiting Agra and even a recipe for Agra Petha! I am reproducing it here, in English.

Agra Petha Recipe
Source: Vanitha, Feb 1-14 2011 Edition

Ingredients:
500gm ash gourd / kumbalanga
500gm sugar
Water as needed
1 tsp slaked lime / chunnambu
Saffron strands, optional

Method:

1. Peel and deseed ash gourd and cut into cubes.

2. Add the slaked lime to 2 litres of water and mix well. Add the ash gourd pieces into this and set aside for 2 hours.

3. Rinse the soaked ash gourd 2-3 times in clean water. Poke each piece a few times with a fork.

4. Boil the sugar with 1 cup water. When it begins to thicken, add the ash gourd pieces (and saffron if using) and bring to boil, then simmer for 3-4 mins.

5. Drain from the syrup and lay to cool and dry on a flat plate.

Note: I didn't make the petha in the pics. They are from the Panchhi petha shop in Agra. I just wanted to share the recipe that I saw in Vanitha, that's all. 

The Perfect Pound Cake Recipe - How to Make Pound Cake Recipe

Few things can beat a homemade pound cake baked to perfection. My sister and I baked this cake during a short vacation in Kottayam and we ended up with a beautiful, perfect pound cake that was gone in less than 10 mins - we have a large family who all love cake you see!

It was challenging. We braved lack of sufficient vanilla extract, too-small eggs, frequent power cuts that had me beat mixture in 5 intervals, and amma didn't have a loaf pan (her regular cake pan was too big for this amount of batter) so we improvised by using a steel vessel lined with aluminium foil. In hindsight, we could have made use of the method used in this steamed chocolate cake recipe.

Thankfully the power stayed put while the cake was baking and it came out lovely, crumbly, and perfect as the recipe says. Our crust cracked but turned a lovely golden brown. What you see in the picture in an overturned cake.

We have chosen a recipe from The Cake Bible, where Rose has come up with a new method of baking the pound cake, very different from the butter-sugar creaming and wet+dry ingredients, the usual cake route. This method, according to Rose, ensures a tight crumb.

You may also want to check out some other cake recipes on Edible Garden - like eggless chocolate banana pound cake, condensed milk cake recipe, and one of my favourites, the classic marble cake recipe.

Perfect Pound Cake Recipe
Recipe source: The Cake Bible


Ingredients:
3 tablespoons Milk
3 large Eggs
1 � teaspoons vanilla essence
1 � cups sifted cake flour (150gm) -  recipe for cake flour below
� cup sugar
� teaspoon baking powder
� teaspoon salt
13 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (184 gms)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter an 8 inch by 4 by 2.5 inch loaf pan, or any six cup loaf or fluted tube pan.

2. Lightly whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.

3. Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix on low speed for 30 seconds, until blended. Add the butter and half the egg mixture, and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. On medium speed, beat for one minute. This will aerate and develop the cake�s structure. Scrape down sides.

4. Add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds between each addition. Scrape down sides.

5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth surface with a spatula. Bake for 55-65 minutes (35-45 minutes if baking in a fluted tube pan), until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minuets before inverting onto a greased wire rack. If using a loaf pan, flip the cake over so the top is up.

For making cake flour at home - Take one cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 tbsp from it.Replace the 2 tbsp flour with cornflour and sift together 2-3 times. Cake flour is ready to use.

Thanks for baking with me sis!