Tutti Fruity Cake

Madhurena samaapayet

Appa used to say this to us all the time. Especially on days when there was a sweet dish of some sort on the dining table. H and I would want to attack that bowl of gulab jamuns or payasam as soon as it came to the table. We would (probably) then use that as a nice excuse to not eat enough of the other stuff on the pretext that we were full. So Appa would repeat this and it is loosely translated from Sanskrit as "sweets at the end". I don't know if this really is a saying or if he created it. He'd say "shashtratulaye sollirukku" which means it is mentioned in the shastras. The shastra here could well be "Appa Neeti", but we never questioned it.

As I complete yet another month of posting once a day, I can't help but be extremely pleased with myself. The first full month recipe marathon was great. I used it more as an avenue to clean up my overflowing drafts folder. I wasn't sure I had the time for this, but I've managed. Since the NaBloPoMo this month didn't have any particular theme, I managed to kill two birds with just one stone.

This past month, I posted so much Indian food that a very dear friend asked me if I haven't "gone retro with a vengeance". I had about a week, give or take, of non Indian food. This blog (its keeper too) has no specific leanings. Italian is a favourite, but many Konkani and Tamil dishes are "memory food" if not comfort food. Gujarati food is probably my favourite Indian cuisine. Telugu cuisine is what I'm learning so I can cook some of S' favourites. All these have been represented (not equally though) this past month. My biggest passion is baking. This month didn't see as much, but it wasn't completely ignored.

In keeping with tradition, I'd like to "end with a sweet dish". The NaBloPoMo challenge and the Recipe Marathon have been perfect for me. After the last NaBloPoMo, I got so lax that I posted barely 3 posts each in August and September. October showed some signs of this blog coming back to life. And November had it so healthy that it ran a marathon. That in itself calls for a celebration.

Here's a simple cake that I baked for my SIL's son when S was traveling to Hyderabad. I used butter in my cake after ages. (There's no reason why a 3 year old should be denied the goodness of butter!)

1 cup Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Tutti Fruity (or any chopped dry fruits)

Preheat the oven to 325F. Prepare a loaf tin or an 8-inch cake tin.

Sift the flour with the baking powder. Add the butter, sugar, and eggs. Beat well for 2-3 minutes. Blend in the tutti fruity.

Spoon this into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack and serve with some ice cream for dessert. Or simply enjoy the cake with a glass of milk.

On the last day of the marathon, do check out what's cooking at Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii, Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Lakshmi, Lakshmi Venkatesh , Sripriya, Viji, Kamalika, Pavani, Karuna and Roochi.