Wholewheat Gingerbread Cake

If I remember correctly, one evening while travelling back home work , D (let's call him that. A friend, I suppose) had popped up the question "Do you like baking more than cooking?".
And I had no answer to that.
Whether baking or cooking, what I love the most is pottering around the kitchen, at any given point of time. And often to justify that pottering around, I end up baking!!

Like this simple Gingerbread cake that I am going to talk about today!!

Sunday often gets me baking, for the sheer joy of not only eating but also feeding a lot many.  What brings a smile on my face, is their acceptance to consume whatever served. You know what, a lot of that food exchange happens in office.

i have come to realise, basically Sunday baking has taken the shape of a ritual for me.

But, Sunday ho ya Monday, kitchen chores need to be fuss-free. And this recipe absolutely ticks all the those boxes!! And here is how I did it:

1. Start by preheating your oven to 180 C.

2. Grease & line your baking tin. A 6"- 8" tin works well for this recipe.

3. In a medium sized bowl, add 100 gm Unsalted Butter ( I used Amul. You can look for White butter at the market, in case you fail to find what I used) +  135 gm fine chopped Jaggery ( I had used Jaggery powder, that's easily available in the market these days) +  3 tbsp Golden Syrup + 2 tbsp Water. Place this bowl,on double boiler and wait till butter melts. Alternatively, as the book specified, microwave it, till butter melts. Once butter is melted, whisk well to mix all the components.

4. Time to add in the following to the Jaggery mix: zest of 1 Orange + 1 & 1/2 tsp Dried Ginger powder + 1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder + 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract + 1 tsp Baking soda + 1/2 tsp Baking soda. Whisk well to mix all these.

5. Add in 2 Eggs, one at a time.

6. Add 175 gm Atta or wholewheat flour to the mix and fold it gently. And your batter is ready. Pour it into the prepared tin & sprinkle over some Demerara sugar. Bake it for 20-25 mins, till a tester comes out clean.

7. Cool it for 10 mins in the tin and then remove from the tin. Slice it and devour it!!!

And that's what I exactly mean, when I talk about fuss-free baking!! It's readily a one bowl baking dish. But yes I do prefer to keep all the ingredients handy before I get started.

I have served this it to some unexpected guests with a scoop of ice cream, though I prefer my slice as is, with my green tea. This stays well, in an airtight container for a couple of days, so this can be a lovely personalized edible gift for friends and colleagues, in case you are travelling for work or pleasure. But often greed gets the better of me, and this gets consumed, even the crumbs, within the first few hours of baking!!

Notes:
1.The batter might get a bit too dense once the whole-wheat flour is added to the mix. Do not panic, just add in 2 tbsp of orange juice ( use the zested orange) or 2 tbsp milk may be. Though I haven't tried, the same quantity of rum might help in adding a little humm to your taste-buds.
2. If Golden syrup isn't a part of your pantry, please do not buy a bottle only for this cake. Good old Honey will do.
3. I had topped the batter with generous handful of flaked almonds, alongside the sugar. You can however give that a miss, in case you do not have that lying in your pantry.

Oh, I royaly forgot the most important thing to mention even after typing out all these words. This particular recipe was taken from "Tha Flavour of spices" by Marryam H.Reshi, where it's tagged as Deeba Rajpal's Gingerbread cake!! A superb book, to add to your collection!!

It's a Sunday today. Feel free to try this!! It's amazing to think, how by sharing our food experiences, we end up sharing life!!