ALMOND CHAI MASALA CAKE

Ever wondered about the possible need for posting all this recipes alongside all the gibberish that crosses my mind? Any idea? In case if you are confused or too busy to put your head into something so mundane and unwanted here is what I think: It is to give you, dear readers, a virtual taste of my kitchen,because lets face it: Life might never bring us face to face with each other. Love for food is always going to be the most cherished bond between us.  As they say, when people break breads together, barriers break down.

Today I want to talk about cake. Out of all that I have made and tasted, this one is important: because fridge & store cupboard raid exercises leads& cooking ingredients  to the discovery of loads of unused spices nearing their death. Being a third world country and an ever developing nation with million mouths to feed, wastage my friend is not only a luxury but a strong act of foolery, which needless to say I condemn. Possibly half of the cellulite content of my body came into existence because I refer to consume than throw away food. The spice that was found on it's deathbed is Chai Masala blend. So now in next few posts I will be talking about this spice blend in particular.

Here is how we are going to bake it. Be calm & be patient. Adhere to the measurements provided for best results:

1. Preheat your convection mode to 175 C.  Grease a round baking tin of approx  8".
2. Measure out all the dry ingredients in a bowl: 1 cup Flour + 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp salt. Mix and keep aside.
3. In another bowl add in 1/2 cup unsalted butter + 1/2 cup brown sugar. Cream the butter & sugar till specks of tiny sugar grains almost disappear and have amalgamated together. The mix should turn pale by this time & thinner than the beginning.  Time to add in 1 egg + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and continue whisking till incorporated well.
4. Add in 1/2 cup yogurt to this mix + 2 tbsp runny golden syrup and whisk well once again.
5. Sieve in the dry mix into the wet and add in 1 tbsp of chai Masala powder.  Whisk till well incorporated and becomes a nice thick batter. Be careful not to overwork the batter.
6. Pour into the greased tin and sprinkle in some chopped slivered almonds generously Sprinkle in some more of the chai masala powder.
7. Put it in the oven and bake for 40 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
8. Cool it for 20 mins in the pan and then for 20 more mins on the cooling rack. Serve with tea or coffee.

I think this will be loved by most of your friends and family, especially if they are an avid lover of tea. My family gave this a thumbs up as well. I am embarrassed to admit that I forgot to click images of the steps, like I always/ mostly post alongside the instructions. Also, is there any lingering question in your mind, after seeing these questions? I know that. The little visible weird cut could have been avoided while clicking these images for sure, I just didn't want to hide it!! This is what I call the cook's or baker's share. Want me to explain more? In some other post I will, pakka se, I promise.

Now that you have baked and eaten the cake ( even if not in reality, virtually in your mind), here are some points that I would like to jot down to facilitate your baking process:

a. All ingredients ( i.e, eggs, butter, yogurt mainly, since they are kept in the fridge) should be at room temperature. Or else they don't combine together very well.
b. In case if you wish to make your own chai masala blend, please be my guest. The internet must be flooded with recipes that you can follow. As for me, I am very happy to use them out of a packet (not mentioning the name of the well known brand that is synonymous with Bengali kitchens).
c. Cover the top of the cake loosely with an aluminium foil for the first 20 minutes, or else you might run into the risk of over browning your almond sliver.
d. In case if you do not feel like, you can always give sprinkling of chai masala on top a  miss.
e. You might not have golden syrup at home, which is absolutely fine. In such cases uses runny runny, which works perfectly well for this.
f. Remember to beat the yogurt well before adding to the cake or else there might be lumps in the batter.
g. Its no shame at all to use salted Amul butter, if that is what you have at home. In that case do not add that pinch of salt to your dry ingredients.

I am not sure if you will like the idea, but this cake in a perfect example of edible gifts while meeting friends  after a long time. So, once you re-join office or go out to catch up with your friends, I am sure they will be touched to receive generous slices of this cake from you. Unexpected pleasures are always welcome.

Figure out what other ingredient have been lying in your store cupboard, a result of your impulsive shopping spree, and put them to use.Respect your hard earned money and also the toil of others in producing that product. And while you enjoy this, I will be back with one more recipe using our very own Chai masala in another way.

Till then, Chow!