Academic and Creative Writing Journal Vikram Karve: pastry

Showing posts with label pastry. Show all posts

Monday, April 4, 2016

Cooking for Nerds : How to Bake a Cake

COOKING FOR NERDS

HOW TO BAKE A CAKE
Mathematical Formula Recipe

VIKRAM KARVE

CAKE RECIPE

“ ¾ : 1 : 1 ½ ”

Hey, what’s that?

No – it is not what you think – it’s not a secret code or some mathematical formula.

This mathematical ratio exemplifies the recipe for a simple cake – probably the first thing I learnt to cook.

It’s simple.

Take ¾ [three-fourth] Cup [vati or katori ] of fresh butter.

Cream the butter till fluffy with your hand.

[Instead of butter you can use Margarine or Dalda (Hydrogenated Oil) if you prefer]

Add 1 (one) cup of sugar and whisk vigorously till the sugar and butter blend smoothly.

Whip three eggs till they fluff up into peaks.

Fold the well beaten eggs into the butter-sugar batter mixture carefully.

Beat the mixture with your hand till the batter emulsifies nicely.

Sieve 1 ½ [one and a half] cups [vaties or katories] of maida (flour) with a teaspoon of baking powder and keep ready in a plate [thali].

In a glass pour a generous “tot” of full-bodied dark rum.

The darker and mellower the rum the better it is – as it will have more caramel which will impart an inimitable heavenly bitter-sweet flavour blended with the richly aromatic enveloping tang of molasses.

Now start adding, by the tablespoonful, the sieved maida (flour) to the butter-sugar-egg emulsified batter.

Gently fold in and smooth the flour into the batter with your fingers.

At the same time – alternately – from time to time add a few “drops” by the teaspoonful of the full-bodied Dark Rum to the batter.

You must taste the batter by licking your fingers from time to time – rolling on your tongue – sampling and tasting at every step – till you get the right creamy consistency and taste.

I love to mix in a wee bit of powdered spices like cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg or cloves.

(For fruit cake, get some raisins, orange rind, dried fruit pieces and petha and soak these in a glass of rum for a few hours till the fruit soak in the rum and then gently blend in the rum soaked fruit to the batter. This will prevent the fruit from sinking and will also release aromatic flavorful rum vapour into the cake while it bakes and make the cake rise up well)

You must ensure a proper dropping consistency of the batter by appropriately balancing the liquid rum and solid flour.

Innovate as per your mood and taste – and add a few drops of vanilla essence to remove what remains of that “eggy” taste.

Cream the batter with your hands till super smooth.

Now bake your cake in an oven at moderate temperature (180 Celsius) for around 30 to 40 minutes till done.

(Test with a clean dry knitting needle or small knife - poke the needle or knife into the cake and if the cake is done the needle or knife will come out dry).

The rum will guarantee that the cake does not flop and the hot spicy alcohol vapour escaping from the cake will perambulate within the oven will impart a tantalizing aroma and enticing fragrance to the cake.

This cake tastes best when eaten hot – as the blissful fresh spicy hot sensuous vapours overwhelm your olfactory and gustatory senses with their zesty fragrance and rich full-bodied flavour.

This is the first recipe I learnt from my mother when I was a small boy.

The “rum” innovation came a bit later.

I prefer to use stainless steel katories (vaties) but can use standard size cups if you want.

Don’t be too finicky about precise proportions.

Sample the batter – and taste at every step – and maintain dropping consistency of the mixture.

And – of course – trust the Rum to do the rest!

If you prefer, try using brandy instead of rum for a different flavour.

I bake the cake in half an hour and it tastes heavenly.

Baking a cake is so simple – isn’t it?

Just remember the simple formula – “ ¾ : 1 : 1 ½ ”

For larger cakes – just use multiples of this breathtakingly simple formula.

Happy Baking.

Do remember to tell us how your cake turned out and how yummy it tasted.

VIKRAM KARVE

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Disclaimer:

All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the stories are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice:

No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.

I developed this recipe for baking a cake 50 years ago in the 1960s and I have posted this recipe online in my blogs many times - this recipe also features in my foodie book APPETITE FOR A STROLL - here are some recent urls where I have posted this recipe : http://creative.sulekha.com/baking-mathematics-1-1_455611_blog and http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2015/05/how-to-bake-cake-mathematical-formula.html and http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2015/12/how-to-bake-cake-recipe-for.html and http://creative.sulekha.com/baking-a-cake-made-simple_488539_blog etc

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

LAMINGTON : My Favourite Cake

LAMINGTON
My Favourite Cake
A Foodie Story
By
VIKRAM KARVE
This morning I had gone for some work to Khadki.

On my way back via Aundh Road, I stopped my car opposite Spicer College, crossed the road, and enjoyed eating a Lamington.

Here is a picture of the “Lamington” I relished today:

Lamington from Spicer Bakery

As I savoured the delicious pastry, I remembered my Aundh Camp days, around 10 years ago, when I frequently relished a Lamington on my way home from my evening walks.

So, from my Foodie Writing Archives, here is a piece on the inimitable LAMINGTON which I wrote nearly 10 years ago in the year 2006 after a delicious food-walk.

(This piece features in my Foodie Book APPETITE FOR A STROLL)

LAMINGTON

Melt in the Mouth Delicious Dessert
By
VIKRAM KARVE

When I lived near Aundh, in the evenings I often used go for a walk on Aundh Road from Bremen Chowk towards the railway line at Khadki.

It is one of the best places to walk in Pune, a wide road with plenty of greenery and foliage on both sides.

Of course, Wakad, where I live now, is a foodies’ nightmare, but then Aundh is far away – but not that far far away.

So maybe once in a while on my way to Pune I can still relish a delicious Lamington and indulge my epicurean gourmand desires.

So let’s get back to my delicious mouthwatering memories of those glorious food-walks around Aundh.

On my way back to my erstwhile home near the banks of the Mula River, I would treat myself with a Lamington at the Spicer College Bakery Shop.

Let me close my eyes, transport myself to the glorious past, stop at Spicer College Bakery on my evening walk, buy a lamington and delicately place the soft delicacy between my lips, press and squeeze a piece of the wonderful stuff on my tongue, focus inwards, enhance the sensitivity of my gustatory senses in order to enhance the experience of supreme bliss as the Lamington melts in my mouth and the chocolatey-coconutty luscious syrupy sweetness permeates into me.

WHAT IS A “LAMINGTON”

A Lamington is a delicious cube of sponge cake, dipped in melted chocolate and sugar and coated in desiccated coconut.

The Lamington probably originated in Australia around 1898 in what later became the state of Queensland.

Whilst the origin of the name for the Lamington cannot be accurately established, there are several theories.

Lamingtons are most likely named after Charles Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, who served as Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1901.

However, the precise reasoning behind this is not known, and stories vary.

According to one account, the dessert resembled the homburg hats favoured by Lord Lamington.

Another apocryphal tale tells of a banquet in Cloncurry during which the governor accidentally dropped a block of sponge cake into a dish of gravy, and then threw it over his shoulder, causing it to land in a bowl of desiccated coconut or peanut butter.

A diner who enjoyed eating this dunked piece of cake, thought of replacing the gravy with chocolate and thus created the lamington as we know it today.

Ironically, Lord Lamington was known to have hated the dessert that had been named in his honour, once referring to them as “those bloody poofy woolly biscuits”.

Another theory is that they were named after Lady Lamington, the wife of the Governor.

EATING LAMINGTON IN PUNE

The Spicer College Bakery Lamington is my favourite – and enjoying Lamingtons and and other yummy delights here is quite easy on the pocket.

The chocolate icing keeps the cake moist.

The desiccated coconut protects it from drying out in the hot climate.

And it’s quite a juicy generous lip-smacking treat…!

The Spicer College Bakery in Pune serves a variety of healthy goodies like carrot cake, nut cake, doughnuts, samosas, soy patties, soya milk etc

But, for me, it’s always my all time favourite, the inimitable yummy succulent Lamington…!

Tell me, Dear Fellow Foodies, have you tasted a Lamington, in Pune or elsewhere?

VIKRAM KARVE

Disclaimer:

All Stories in this Blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the stories are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice:

Revised Re-post of my article first posted online by me Vikram Karve in the year 2006 in my foodie blog at url: http://creative.sulekha.com/lamington_230998_blog and a number of times later including at urls: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2010/09/lamington-melt-in-mouth-delicious.html and http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2014/11/lamington-delicious-melt-in-mouth.html etc

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

LAMINGTON – Delicious Melt in the Mouth Pastry – Mouthwatering Pune Memories

Mouthwatering Pune Memories

This morning I had gone for some work to Khadki.

On my way back via Aundh Road, I stopped my car opposite Spicer College, crossed the road, and enjoyed eating a Lamington.

As I savoured the delicious pastry, I remembered my Aundh Camp days, around 9 years ago, when I frequently relished a Lamington on my way home from my evening walks.

So, from my Foodie Writing Archives, here is a piece on the inimitable LAMINGTON which I wrote in the year 2006 after a delicious food-walk.

(This piece features in my Foodie Book APPETITE FOR A STROLL)