a sweet-ly indulging morning!

morning is supposed to be on the sweeter note.. as per the point of view of the breakfast, that is.. like, cereals, milk, fruits, OJ, toast, et al.. its all in the sweeter zone.. and this constitutes the breakfast for the majority.. of course there are the versions of poha, dosa, paratha, idli as well.. but as my folks say, im the angrez of the family!

so, coming back to the sweet form, i recently came across this cake recipe.. and nothing fancy there.. just a regular home baked style cake.. non fussy.. but what caught my eye was the sheer absence of BUTTER!!! yep.. and not to say anymore, i literally jumped on to that! because, i personally dun like butter.. so, a cake without butter is almost like a haven for me, inspite of the fact that i dun hav a sweet tooth!

so, spreading some early morning cheer.. do get your hand around this.. im sure, it will be worth all your efforts!

APPLE AND ALMOND CAKE

for the apple puree:

• 3 apples
• i tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp castor  sugar

for the cake:

• 1 splash of vegetable oil to grease tin
• 8 medium eggs
• 325 grams ground almond
• 275 grams castor sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 50 grams flaked almond

for decoration:

• 1 tsp icing sugar

method:

• peel, core and chop the apples roughly.. out them in a saucepan with lemon juice and sugar and bring the pan to a bubble over a medium heat.. cover the pan and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes or until you can mash the apples to a rough puree with a wooden spoon or fork.. leave to cool..
• pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4/180 C.. oil a 25 cm spring foam tin with almond or vegetable oil and line the bottom with baking parchment..
• put the cooled puree in processor with the eggs, ground almond, castor sugar and 1 tbsp or a generous squeeze of lemon juice and blitz to a puree.. pour and scrape, with a rubber spatula for ease, into the prepared tin, sprinkle the flaked almonds on top and bake for 45 mins.. its worth checking after 35 minutes as ovens do vary and you might well find its cooked earlier--or indeed you may need to give a few minutes longer..
• put on a wire rack to cool slightly, then spring open.. this cake is best served slightly warm, though still good cold..
• as you bring it to the table, push a tsp of icing sugar through a fine sieve to give a light dusting..

and voila! your very own comfort food!