Lemon cake, a cup of coffee and a few memories...

I have always been a chocolate lover forever. I have obsessed over all kinds of anything chocolate. But off late I am in love with citrus cakes and desserts. And cheesecakes. And even ice creams. So I came across this recipe of lemon cake and lemon curd as a topping. Lemon curd has always intimidated me and that is why I have stayed away from it this long. But this recipe of making lemon curd was super easy and fail proof. I totally enjoyed making, baking and then eating as well. HA ha ha..... 

I have made this lemon cake twice so far & really can't get enough of it! The second time I made it, well, it was quite an emotional bake for me. The first time I had made it for my dad, that was a few years back during Eid. He was a diabetic, but even so he had eaten a full slice of this cake. He had messaged me then "Your cake was fantastic" I still remember how happy I was upon receiving that message from him because I was particularly having a bad day. That messaged just lit me up. I still have that saved in my phone. So when I made the same cake a few days back, I was quite emotional that he wasn't around to enjoy my cake...

So here's the recipe...

Lemon Cake:

You will need

1. 275 gms or 2 and 1/2 cups plain flour
2. 300 gms or 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3. 1/2 tsp salt
4. 1/2 tsp baking soda
5. 1/2 tsp baking powder
6. 170 gms butter at room temperature
7. 4 large eggs, at room temperature
8. 1 cup milk
9. 2 tbsp oil
10. 2 tsp lemon extract
11. zest of 2 lemons

Method:

1. In a bowl, sift in all the dry ingredients together. Then add in the butter which is at room temperature. Now with the help of an electric mixer, combine all the ingredients together till it comes to a crumb state.
2. Now in a separate bowl, add in all the wet ingredients and whisk it lightly with a fork.
3. Add half of the wet ingredients mixture in the butter mixture, whisk it well with taking intervals to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure there is no dry flour left. Slowly add the remaining wet mixture in the first bowl and mix it well.
4. Pour the batter in a greased pan and bake it at 180 degrees for 30-35 mins.
5. Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then later overturn onto your serving platter.

For the Lemon curd, you will need

• 3/4 th cup sugar
• 1/4 th cup cornflour
• 1 cup water
• 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Method

1. Combine sugar, cornflour and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir consistently till the mixture thickens and boils. This will take app. 3-4 minutes.
2. Continue boiling for another minute. Keep stirring.
3. Remove pan from heat and spoon half cup of this mixture in the bowl of egg yolks. Stir quickly until well combined.
4. Return the egg mixture back to the hot saucepan. Keep it on medium heat, keep stirring and cooking till the whole mixture thickens and the color turns yellow.
5. Remove from the heat and then add in the butter, lemon zest and the lemon juice.
6. Cool it completely and then pour it over the whole cake.

I had made it for a small party at home and it sure is a crowd pleaser. 

Bake it. and enjoy it!!!

Are you a Banana? Coz I find you a-PEEL-ng !!!

Obviously this post is about some recipe involving bananas. And that line is not mine. Again, obviously!!!

So I just love bananas, and anything made with them. And banana bread is something which I can have anytime, with my morning coffee or my evening tea or just any. hour.

This recipe I eventually have after doing some experiments with a couple of other recipes. You can make banana bread and also banana muffins with this recipe. If you want them extra gooey and if you are a chocolate lover, just throw in the batter a bunch of chocolate chips before baking and you have the perfect dessert to impress just anyone. And yes, serve it with a double scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or without it. It tastes delicious just the same...

My small tip when I do my baking is I keep 2 dry bowls before beginning. In bowl no.1 I add in my sifted dry ingredients and in bowl no.2 I combine all my wet ingredients. For me, this makes my baking fairly easy and mess free. 

So here's the recipe.

This is all that you will need:

• 1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans
• 1 and 3/4th cup plain flour
• 3/4th cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4th tsp baking soda
• 1/4th tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 large eggs (if the eggs are small use 3 eggs) lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled down to room temperature
• 3 over ripe bananas, mashed. (This is approximately 1 and 1/2 cups)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1. In bowl 1, sift and add in all the dry ingredients. Whisk them one time for extra airy mixture.
2. In bowl 2, mix together all the wet ingredients and beat them lightly with a fork.
3. Now add the contents of bowl 2 to bowl 1. With the help of an electric mixer or simply using a whisk, bring together all the ingredients till they are well combined.
4. Do not overmix the batter because you want the batter to be chunky and not smooth. If you overmix, that will yield a tough and leather-like product.
5. Add in the nuts and gently fold.
6. Pour in a greased loaf pan and bake for 45 mins approximately.

Once its baked completely, let it cool completely inside the pan, and then remove it from the pan.

Bake it, eat it, enjoy it!!!