“Love is like a good cake; you never know when it's coming, but you'd better eat it when it does!”
~ C. JoyBell C.
Baking a Cake. Well, I never did
it until a few years ago. That's such an amusing thing to admit, now that I am about to share a cake recipe with you all today. You know, my mom was a very conventional cook who stuck to making only traditional, andhra food all our childhood. Our daily dose of bread, cakes,
egg puffs (our childhood favorite) came from a local bakery and honestly we never cared for how exactly its made. It was delicious nevertheless. That is it. The story of bread or in fact baking ends there.
Then, I moved to US for my Masters and learnt more things I could have ever imagined during my short stint over there. When we first moved to an apartment in New York, much to my surprise a whole bunch of stuff came with it - a fridge, a micro wave, carpeted floors and
an oven. I always wondered what would people do with it. That was my level of ignorance! ;-). Then, just out of curiosity I googled and slowly yet steadily learnt my way through about how to use it. It was an interesting process which lot more of burnt cakes you can imagine and smoke alarms that fire off almost every single time. It was embarrassing and exhilarating at the same time. With each failed attempt, I knew I was getting closer, not knowing where exactly I want to reach. Luckily enough, I took a part time job in our univeristy food court and there I was given the task of making
pizza, right from scratch. I kneaded, stretched dough using all my muscle power, grated cheese, chopped onion, tomatoes, bell pepper and sometimes meat too. That's how I learnt how to make a my first pizza! (Wish the world knew about
Jim Lahey's recipe No Knead Pizza by then.)
My first cake (after many failed attempts) which I published here on the blog was -
Blue Agave Cake with Nuts, Ginger and Lemon (sugar less and makes use of agave nectar) and I still remember its taste. Things were a little control by then and I started to trust my baking skills. The next was a
Tutti Frutti Cake, I baked for my sister's birthday. My aunts, my uncles simply loved it. That's when I made a promise to myself that I will bake a cake for birthdays of each of my loved ones.
Must Read - Monica's evocative article on how she baked a cake. -
The Ghost of Cakes.
It was my
mom's birthday at the end of December and to celebrate the abundance of apples which were readily available in our local markets, I made an
Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake for her.
Apple and Cinnamon are like a match made in heaven. A bowl of oatmeal to a doughnut, this combination never fails to impress. If you are unsure of where to start for learning how to bake a cake, I recommend this recipe. The step by step pictures below should help you a great deal about the process.
Enjoy!
{Recipe} Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake
Adapted from Pinch My Salt
Serves 6-7
Start to Finish: Less than 1 hour.
Ingredients:
1 apple, chopped into thin slices
1/4 cup chocolate chip cookies
1 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt (skip if using salted butter)
4 ttbsp unsalted butter (1/2 stick), at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
For topping - 1 tsp brown sugar + few pinches of cinnamon powder
Preparation:
Step 1: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour
(sift if there are lumps), baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy for about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and egg and beat well.
Step 2: Preheat oven to 400 F or 200 C. Butter generously the bottom of a cake pan (9 inch or 8 inch) and sprinkle flour.
Alternatively, you can place a parchment paper in the bottom of the pan and then pour the batter evenly.
Step 3: With the mixer on low speed, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add half the buttermilk and continue beating on low speed until incorporated. Scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, beat in another 1/3 of flour mixture then remaining buttermilk. Finally beat in the last 1/3 of the flour mixture until just combined.
Step 4: Add in the chocolate chips into the cake batter. Scrape batter into the prepared cake pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Scatter apple slices evenly over the top of the cake batter then sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.
Step 5: Bake until cake is golden brown and a toothpick when inserted in the center comes out clean. It will take around 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in the pan for ten minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool until warm. Invert onto a plate.
Serve as-is or with whipped cream on side.
