Although it was Arundati who sort of pushed me to use fresh fruit in my cakes, Pritika is the one who has eaten the fresh fruit cakes that I've baked. She is most definitely my best PR person. She places orders for cakes with amazing regularity and gives them away to others. It's her way of "getting them hooked", she says. We moved from being just colleagues to being good friends and it has been a wonderful journey. She celebrated her birthday in March and a week later, we invited her along with her husband for dinner. Since she loves fruit in her cake, S brought a box of strawberries. I made this cake by giving a little twist to the strawberry cake I made earlier.
1 cup Flour
1/4 cup Almonds, coarsely powdered
1/2 cup Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
a Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Strawberries, chopped
1/4 cup Oil
1 tsp Almond Essence
1 Egg, beaten
Slivered almonds for garnish
Preheat the oven to 350F (180 C).
Grease and flour/line an 8-inch cake tin.
Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the powdered almonds and mix well.
In a mixing bowl, add the egg, milk, sugar, oil, and almond essence. Beat well together. Add the flour mixture to this and blend well. Add the chopped strawberries and mix well.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Decorate with slivered almonds and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife/skewer, inserted into the centre of the cake, comes out clean.
We cut the cake after dinner and relished a slice each. I packed the rest of the cake for Pritika to take back with her. (She told me later that she wouldn't have had it any other way.) Have a lovely year ahead P!
I'm sending this to Go Nuts-Almonds hosted at Tasty Treats.
21 comments:
I love baking with fruits because it makes the cake so moist and delicious.Looks yum Raaga, glad you have friends who push you to bale this. I made one Muffin with Banana, will post tomorrow! :)
I have never baked a cake using fresh fruits in it . I guess I need to give baking a try more seriously
Looks delicious!
Wow i would really love to have a fat slice of this delicous strawberry cake.
Looks like you have a wonderful friend in pritika.
Wow i would really love to have a fat slice of this delicous strawberry cake.
Looks like you have a wonderful friend in pritika.
Hi its crazy you know ........ive always wanted to learn to bake cakes.........okie i like to eat cakes but they are not no. on my list of must haves but ever since I can remember i have been in love with the idea of baking a cake and taking it to a friends place........especially for a birthday .........i think there is no gift which can be as special as a baked gift..........seriously........
unfortunately the art of baking
alludes me.........i wonder for how long..........im thinking ill try your recipe though .....strawberries seem to be everywhere i look these days.
so i will give it a shot.........
I am not that good at baking cakes, sometimes they turn a little dense, I love your idea of adding fresh fruits to cakes. This time I will follow your exact recipe and bake a cake as delicious as yours :)
this looks totally delicious.Pritika must have really enjoyed it
I love almonds in cakes!
awesome. i'm so jealous - you're probably getting tons of fresh strawberries in your part of the world?
Hi Raaga, lovely cake, you can send this as an entry to Tasty treats 'Lets go nuts with Almomnds'
@ http://dessertpro.blogspot.com/2009/03/lets-go-nuts-with-almonds.html
Lovely cake Raaga..I've tried and looooved the Strawberry cake so I'm sure I'll love this one too!!
This looks so good, and sounds delicious!
Looks Gorgeous!
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Yes yes! Pritika loved the cake! Even more, she loved the gesture! Aru's cakes have a wonderful quality that is hard to find in most of the 'home baked' cakes that are available these days. Her cakes are spongy and moist and take me back to happy times in my childhood and no matter what aru puts in them (like rum), they just leave you feeling like you've eaten the healthiest most wholesome food ever. Keep baking!
awwwww......wish i could get a bite of this one... looks luscious!!
Cakes look lovely....but Darn...why don't i have a friend like you...imagine eating creamless(i hate cakes bating in cream)fruity cakes that too home baked,without going through the baking nightmare...wow..thts a type of luxury i am looking forward too(i mean for my kid,who loves cakes)
Looks gorgeous...
hi my strawberry almond is baking while i type this.....damn forgot to take pictures.......lol......its my birthday today so thought hey might be a good day to begin baking..........lol..........just wanted to ask you one thing though..while beating the egg mixture i didnt find it becoming the consistency like when you beat 4 eggs you know......like really spongy......and when you add the flour it really looks like that theres lottsa air incorporated in it.........i hope it turns spongy though........and also when i was spoonin the maida mix into the egg mix it was getting lumpy so i quit using the ladle cut and fold method and continued to blend with blender at low speed.............please let me know how you do it.........
Hi Sanjana: Happy birthday!
My methods of baking are very simple. I just beat everything together and put it in the oven. I beat with a hand mixer and do not mix with my hands for anything. I hope it turns out fine too. It is a moist cake, not exactly spongy though.
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