And Thou Shall Have Cake

I turned thirty a couple of days back. To be honest, I was dreading the day I couldn't call myself twenty-something. Thirties is another word for "responsibility" and I'm not sure I want to say goodbye to my days of wild abandon, reckless drinking, bad boys and such.

The girls at work very generously arranged for a made-to-order vegan cake from a bakery. No-egg cakes are quite common here, but i've never seen a completely vegan cake. I thought I had to forego my days of eating cake forever -what, I am not baking my own custom cakes!! This one's made of soy milk, but you'd be hard pressed to tell a vegan and non-vegan cake apart.

And, speaking of cake - I recently won the fabulous "A World of Cake" from a giveaway at Sprinkles of Parsley. I guess beginner's luck counts - I entered several other giveaways after this one, and haven't won a thing!

Its 350 thick and glossy pages of mouther watering cakes from all over the world. Completely non-vegan of course, but hey, you can always admire food porn and gain not an inch on your thighs, right?

Savoury Semolina, Zuccini and Carrot Cake

Inspired by Anjum Anand's recipe posted on Arundati's blog, I decided it was time I used my oven for something other than heating cold stuff up. I've been way too hesitant to give baking a try - mainly because I hate the sensation of my hands in that wet, gooey dough. But this recipe doesn't call for any dough to be made. There is no flour or egg involved - Semolina (sooji) is used as the base.

The recipe does call for yoghurt, which I promptly omitted and added olive oil instead. Also, I added zuccini and carrots to my cake mix.

When I did try this yesterday, I couldnt find any baking soda/powder. I figured, how important could this one teaspoon of baking soda be, after all?! Ok, so my cake would take longer to bake, big deal! Turns out, its quite important. The bake time calls for 30-40 minutes of baking, but mine took about 1.15 hrs. Half way through the bake process, my brother came in and promptly showed me where the baking powder is kept at home. So, I added some baking powder on top of my still-baking cake. I still didnt get a nice brown "cakey" crust, and I added more turmeric than I would have liked, but it was still nice to eat when warm.

Savoury Semolina Vegetable Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup semolina
• 1 cup tepid water
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive/vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1 cup grated zuccini
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 tsp each chilli powder, turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

For tempering:

• 1 tbsp oilive oil
• 1 tsp black mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds

To make:

Mix all ingredients except the baking soda and the tempering ingredients.

Heat a small fry pan and add the tbsp of oil. When the oil is hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds. Turn off the flame when the seeds start to crackle.

Pour this mixture into your cake batter. Mix well.

Add the baking powder.

Pour the mixture into a baking tray and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy while still warm.  

Well, at least it wasn't a TOTAL disaster considering it was my first baking lesson.