Simple Yellow Cake

I thought of decorating a cake on my own for Swara's 4th month Birthday. I made a quick trip to Michael's craft store and bought some basic cake decorating supplies like Wilton icing tips, icing bags, white frosting etc. I baked a yellow cake following a simple recipe from the Wilton website . I think the splash of milk made the cake very moist and delicious. As you can clearly see, I didn’t do a very good job of decorating this cake. The poor picture quality makes it even worse. But I love this cake bcoz it inspired me to register into the Wilton cake decorating class. This yellow cake is perfect if you are planning to decorate the cake.



Ingredients -
3 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups milk

Method -
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans and line with waxed paper or parchment paper. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Cream sugar and butter together until light. Add eggs and vanilla to creamed mixture and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating one minute. Spread batter evenly in prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool layers in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely.

Eggless Dates N Walnut Cake

It has been my long time dream to master the art of baking and cake decorating. Though, I'm miles away from becoming an expert, I have certainly made good progress in the last few months. It all started when my baby turned 1 month old and we decided to celebrate her birthday every month for the first year. This gave me an excellent opportunity to try out new recipes and take a step towards improving my baking skills. In this section, I plan to post recipes of all my baked goods.

The first ever cake I baked from scratch was a Eggless Dates and Walnut Cake. This cake does not require any fancy kitchen tools. All you need is a mixing bowl and a whisk and of course the ingredients.



Recipe Source: Show Me The Curry

Ingredients -
Dates - 20 (5oz or 150g)
Water - approx 1/2 cup, for soaking
Walnuts - 1/4 cup (30 g), chopped
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 14oz can (396g)
Unsalted Butter - 1 stick (4oz or 113g)
Baking Soda - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
All-purpose Flour - 1 1/4 cups (183 g)

Method -
1. Soak the Dates in warm water for about 30 minutes just to soften them.
2. Sift the All Purpose Flour along with the Baking Powder and the Baking Soda.
3. Press down on any lumps.
4. Make a paste of the Dates using as little water as possible either in a blender or a food processor.
5. Melt the butter so it is soft and mix it to the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda & baking powder).
6. Mix in the Dates paste and the Sweetened Condensed Milk. Mix well.
7. Fold in the Walnuts as well.
8. Spray/Grease a baking pan and pour the batter into it.
9. Bake in a pre-heated oven (180 degrees C/350 degrees F) for 40 minutes in the center of the oven.
10. Once done, take the cake out and allow it to stand for 5 minutes before taking it out of the pan.
11. Loosen the edges and flip the cake onto a cooling rack.
12. Serve hot or cold.