Walnut Date Cake (Flourless)

This walnut cake is prepared with ground walnuts instead of flour and so its a great way to get all your healthy fats in every bite. The dates gives the cake ample sweetness that is absolutely devour-able and keeps it nice and moist. If your dates are too sweet, you can even cut down the sugar. You can have it for your breakfast with some fruits or as an dessert with a dollop of your favorite ice-cream. One more thing, if you hate to eat the whole dates, then this is a must try for you. Yup, you read it right. And here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

3 cups raw Walnuts

3/4 cup Dates (finely chopped)

4 Eggs (separated

1/2 cup Sugar

2 tsp Orange zest (finely grated)

3/4 tsp Cinnamon powder

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 pinch Salt

 How to:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat a spring foam cake pan with the cooking spray.

• Separate the egg yolks and egg whites.

• Pulse together the walnuts, cinnamon powder and 1/4 cup of sugar. (Fine ground, not powdery ground)

• In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, orange zest and vanilla test.

• In a stand mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy and add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until soft peaks form.

• Now fold the yolk mixture and dates to the beaten egg whites. 

• Then add the walnut mixture in thirds and fold until evenly mixed.

• Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 22-25 mins.

• Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 mins. And then gently run a knife around the edges and loosen the cake.

•  Let it cool completely before slicing. Serve the cake with some whipped cream and garnish with chopped walnuts.

Milk Cake (Paalkova)

Paalkova is one of my childhood favorites. I remember the days, wherein we had this Aavin milk booth next to our house and they sell these paalkovas, packed just like butter sticks. I will eat the whole stick all by myself, licking the wrapped paper for any bits of it. It just melts in your mouth and i get the satisfaction only if i eat it with my hands(no spoon or fork can come b/w me and paalkova, hehe.) Also, don't prepare this sweet with reduced fat milk. (i.e, don't follow my first tip.) Instead, increase your workout time and enjoy this rich, decadent milk sweet as it is. And here goes the recipe,

Ingredients:

6 cups whole Milk

1/2 cup Sugar

2tbsp Lemon juice

2tbsp Ghee

1/8tsp Cardamom powder

1tbsp chopped Pistachios (For garnish)

How to:

• Grease a plate or a bowl with ghee and keep it aside.

• Heat the milk along with water at medium heat in a wide, heavy bottomed pan and bring it to a boil. 

• Let it boil for couple of mins. Slowly add the lemon juice and keep stirring the milk gently. The milk will begin to curdle and the whey starts to separate.

• Let boil for 5 mins, once the whey is completely separated, remove 1 1/2 cups of whey from the pan. It helps in reducing the sourness from the lemon juice.

• Continue cooking until whey is evaporated and reduce milk turns grainy.

• Now add the sugar and cook for couple of mins or until the mixture comes together.

• Then pour the ghee and cardamom powder and cook by stirring continuously until it starts to turn slightly golden brown.

• Transfer the mixture to a greased plate and press firmly into a square or any desired shape.

• Gently press the chopped pistachios on top of the milk cake while its hot.

• Once it is set, slice it with a knife and serve warm or cold.

Tips:

• You can use 3 cups of whole milk and 3 cups of 2% reduced fat milk or replace it with all 2% reduced fat milk. (The richness and thickness of the cake might vary.)
• For garnishing, you can use chopped almonds, walnuts or any other mixture of nuts.

A Petty Celebration

Thought i would share a little celebration we had a couple days back. Senthil received a Golden Star Award for the work he delivered at his office. To celebrate that, i surprised him by baking his favorite Vanilla cake. Its been a long time, since i baked one. He likes his cake simple, you know, with no frosting or icing or drizzling. For me, decorating a cake is fun and enjoyable activity. So, i forced myself not to use any frosting, instead used some sprinkles.

I found this recipe from here. It was so simple with basic ingredients and especially no butter. I used olive oil and used APF where the recipe calls for oil and cake flour, respectively. Believe me, the cake turned out heavenly with perfect sweetness. Also, he likes his cake moist, so i made a simple syrup to brush upon the cake. Wanna know more, go ahead and check the recipe,

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour (Maida)

1 cup Splenda / Sugar

1/3 cup Olive Oil

1 cup Milk

2 Eggs

2 1/2tsp Baking powder

1tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4tsp White Vinegar

1/4tsp Salt

How to:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.
• Separate the egg whites and yolks in two different bowls.
• Add the milk, vanilla extract and half the amount of sugar to the egg yolks, mix well and keep aside.

• Mix the dry ingredients to the egg yolk mixture.
• Then with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites, sugar and vinegar until frothy. 

• Gently fold the egg whites into the flour mixture, pour it in the flour-dusted cake pan. ((If the batter is thick, feel free to add more milk.)

 

• Bake for 25 mins until golden brown and a tooth-pick when inserted comes out clean.

• Let cool completely for 30 mins on a cooling rack.

For simple syrup:

1/4 cup Splenda / sugar

1/4 cup Water

• In a sauce pan, combine sugar and water, and bring it to a boil. Let cool.
• Mean while, make holes on the cake with a tooth pick. Then sweep the cake with a brush dipped in the syrup. 

• Wait until the cake absorbs the syrup before your second coat. Careful not to turn it soggy.
• Finally, decorate the cake as you wish.

Serve a slice with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. 

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

Zucchini bread is a moist, flavorful bread with full of grated zucchini and walnuts. 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups + 1tbsp (for dusting) Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 cups Zucchini (grated)

1/2 cup Extra virgin Coconut oil 

1/2 cup Yogurt plain

1 cup Milk (not shown in pic)

1 cup Splenda

1/2 cup Walnuts (dry roasted & chopped)

1 Lemon's Zest 

1 1/2tsp vanilla extract

2 Eggs 

1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon 

1 tsp Baking Soda 

1/2 tsp Baking Powder 

1/4tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Salt 

1tbsp Oats (old-fashioned)

Also required:

2 Loaf pans(8" x 3 3/4")

Handheld mixer

How to:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease two loaf pans with oil and dust it with flour.

• In a bowl, with a handheld mixer, beat the eggs, milk, yogurt, coconut oil, vanilla extract, lemon zest and sugar.

• In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt.

• Now mix the dry ingredients with the beaten wet ingredients.

• Fold in the grated zucchini and walnuts.

• Divide the batter and pour the filling into the greased pans and top it with oats.

• Bake for an hour and check by inserting a tooth pick and it comes out clean.
• Let cool for 30 mins on a cooling rack.

• Serve the moist loaf slathered with warm butter along with hot coffee for breakfast. It also satisfies your sweet tooth.

Tips:

• You can use unsalted butter instead of coconut oil and white sugar or half white and half brown sugar instead of splenda. Also, can reduce the amount of sugar, if desired.
• Store the bread loaves in a ziploc bag(to prevent drying out) at room temperature for up to 2 days.

• Can also be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week and in freezer, for up to a month by covering the bread loves with plastic wrap or foil and place it in a freezer ziploc bag. It can be warmed in a toaster.