Plain Flour Cake

Baking a cake is the most commonest form of baking at home. The aroma that spreads around the home in the event of perfect baking is awesome. I made it on a Friday morning start of the weekend, before leaving for the office there was such a joyous spirit that I felt. Simple pleasures of food,love and bonding that we tend to forget in this "rush of life".

Ingredients:

1. Plain Flour: 200-220 gms
2. Baking Powder: 1 tsp
3. Cinnamon Powder: 1.5 tsp
4. Sugar: 120-150 gms
5. Pinch of salt
6. Cashew Nuts: 50 gms
7. Raisin: 25 gms
8. Eggs: 5
9. Unsalted butter: 100 gms
10. Vanilla Essence: 2-3 drops

Procedure:

• Mix the ingredients 1-7 together to create the "flour" mixture
• Melt the butter and allow it to cool.
• In a separate bowl, beat the 5 eggs by adding one each at a time.
• Add the sugar(grains or powdered) and vanilla essence to the beaten egg mixture.
• Add the melted butter to the eggs and beat it till it becomes watery. Beating the mixture will add more air to it and help in achieving the "lift"
• Add the flour mixture gradually to the eggs gradually and combine everything well.
• To know that the correct consistency has been achieved - take a scoop of the cake mixture and allow the mixture to fall back - it shouldnot be too runny neither should it be too compact.

• Grease the container(which will go to the oven) with butter.
• Pour the cake mixture into the container.
• Set the temperature at 180 C and bake for 32-35 mins. Watch the cake increase in volume as the baking continues. The centre of the cake should be the highest point and at the end of the baking period it should form a crusty, brownish outer layer. Dip a knife at the centre of the cake and it should come out without any of cake mixture clinging onto the surface. Thats the indication that the cake is complete. If however, the core of cake is still "liquid" then bake it in the oven for some more time.