For every one of our birthdays too this cake was made. The same, when mum took a fancy to bake a simple, tea cake. This cake has had plenty of fans over the years. It's attraction was its simplicity in taste and looks - there was no need for icing at all and the caramel sauce that was added to it gave the cake a nice sharp flavour and colour that is quite unlike any other tea cake.
Since there were no weighing machines then, mum's measurements were all cups and spoons. I am documenting the same here - 1 cup is a 250ml cup
Caramel Vanilla Tea Cake
(That sounds quite good right?)
Ingredients:
2 cups (250ml) - refined flour/maida (spooned and packed)
1 cup (250 ml) - sugar (powdered)
3 eggs
1 cup (250ml) softened butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp dark caramel sauce (store bought/ made at home)
1/4 tsp salt
50 gms cashewnuts, chopped roughly
30 gms candied cherries, chopped roughly
10 ml milk (to loosen the batter if too stiff)
Method:
Grease a 6" cake tin with butter and dust with refined flour. Preheat an oven at 180 degree Celsius.
If you don't have store bought caramel sauce, you could make it by adding half cup of sugar in a thick bottomed pan and allowing it to melt slowly. Don't stir the sugar at all. Once the sugar starts melting, wait for it to reach a dark brown colour - it should be almost close to coffee decoction colour. Add 15 ml of water to cool the temperature and prevent the sugar from hardening. The sauce should be thick. Do remember that sugar is extremely hot and care should be taken to not touch the hot sauce with fingers. Allow it to cool and start mixing the cake.
Sieve the maida, salt and baking powder twice. Keep aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar together till nice and fluffy. Add in the eggs one by one and lightly whisk or mix or cream the batter. The mixture should be soft. Add the sieved powders and fold gently.
Pour in the vanilla essence and mix lightly. (If the batter is too thick, like idli batter then add a few tbsps of milk)
To this mixture add the cooled caramel sauce and mix. The colour of the batter changes to a dark, caramel colour. Now add in the cashews and nuts which have been coated lightly with maida. After mixing up the batter, pour it into the 6" cake tin. Bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Enjoy this wonderfully simple, delicious cake with tea or just as it is. Do drop in a line if you tried it and agree :) You can catch me on Insta @mundanemusings_19.
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