I thought of this recipe while searching for a suitable entry for JFI for Strawberries . I had baked this cake a few days back also, with different kinds of fruit. But this time, I used only Strawberries. The original version does not include any dry fruits, but I used cashews to give the crunchy taste to the cake.
I am a big fan of moist cakes. Since this is soaked with juice, it gets the amazing taste and the fruits make the crunchy. I should say this is the most delicious ‘moist cake’ I have ever baked :). Try it once and you will fall in love with it.
Ingredients: All purpose flour or Maida 1 and 1/2 cup Eggs 4 Baking powder 1 and 1/2 tea spn Sugar 3/4 cup Oil 3/4 cup Vanilla essence(or extract) 2 tea spns Orange juice 3/4 cup Fresh cream(chilled) 1 cup Sugar 4 tbl spns Fresh fruits(Strawberries, grapes, kiwi, oranges etc) 1 cup Dry fruits (Walnuts, cashew nuts) 2 tbl spns
Method: Seive flour and baking powder and keep aside. Beat sugar and eggs till the volume is nearly 4 times. Add 1 tea spn essence/extract and mix. Add oil gradually, beating the mixture all the time. Add the flour, one table spoon at a time, beating very slowly. Pour the mixture in an oven proof baking dish. Bake it in preheated oven at 350F for 35-40min (or till a knife/skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean). Cut the fruits into very small pieces. Cool the cake for 5-10mins. Remove it from the baking dish. Cut the cake into two halves and soak both the pieces with orange juice. Beat the cream with sugar and 1 tea spn of vanilla essence till soft peaks are formed. Chill.
Keep the bottom piece on a serving plate, spread the cream over it. Spread the fruits over the cream. Spread the cream on the second piece and invert it carefully on the fruits on the first piece. Press well. Now, decorate the cake with remaining cream and fruits. Chill the cake and serve.
Makes 8 slices Preparation time : 1 Hr
Updated on Aug 20-2007: Another way of decorating this cake can be seen here .
I learnt the lemon rice from my friend from Andhra, Swati, when I was in college. The best part in her lemon rice was the crispy urad daal . It tasted great. When I went to Bangalore after my college, I found Chitranna was a very famous dish there. My friend Poornima prepared different kinds of chitranna , with beet root, with capsicum etc. But my favorite was her simple lemon rice. Unlike Swati, she used ground nuts and onion in her lemon rice.
Ingredients: 3/4 cup rice 1/2 cup onion(optional) 3-4 green chillies 1 and 1/2 tbl spns lemon juice 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1 tea spn urad daal 5-6 curry leaves 1 tbl spn ground nuts(optional) A pinch turmeric 1 tea spn oil Salt
Lemon juice quantity can be increased or decreased according to individual taste.
Method: Cook rice in pressure cooker. Rice should not become too soft, the rice grains should be seperate after cooking, otherwise it becomes paste when mixed, So use a bit less water compared to normal, instead the rice from previous day can also be used. Heat oil and add ground nuts, mustard seeds and urad daal . When they start popping, add green chillies, curry leaves. Fry for a minute. Add onion, turmeric, fry till the onions turn slightly brownish. Add the rice, salt and mix well. Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Mix well.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 15min
