Tuesday, December 23, 2014

A baking trip to winter wonderland!

Braving the wintry chill with a  blazer & shawl,  I stand  in my balcony and find our condo twinkling with fairy lights for the festive season.  The shrub trees are lit around the pool, there are buntings with the colors of the season red, green and a big santa sock  hanging over the gazebo where a huge christmas tree is decked up. 

 Now that the festival of  Christmas has taken secular overtones,I find even the  festive hollies adorn the doors of most homes along with  illuminated  stars and embellished christmas trees in patios . The festive look & the glow of lights around gives a warm feeling overriding the cool wintry atmosphere.

Nostalgia crept in and I was thrownback to those cold December Bangalore nights of my childhood when everything was right with this world.That time of the year again when the days are shorter with mild sunshine , nights are longer and cooler. Everybody would be back home early and huddle together into the warm confines of home for an early winter food of steaming hot pepper rasam, melted ghee and rice. Mmmm.... The aroma of hot rice, ghee and tomato rasam...Some warm memories travel with you for long!

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” ― Laura Ingalls Wilder

Christmas to me in my childhood meant  so many things, some of which I have already blogged about like the Christmas vacation, the stroll on the Brigade road in Bangalore Which wears the twinkling fairy lights and had  Santa’s walking on the road with their goody bags and  the plum cakes.
 
And the plum cake aroma is another memory that is deeply nestled in my heart and cloaks me in warmth. This aroma would arise from the kitchen of my aunt’s place at FRL in Malleswaram Bangalore. Dec 28th was my cousin’s birthday and my aunt would bake this lovely plum cake( without any icing), all of us playing out in the lawns of the huge campus would be drawn towards the aroma of the warm spices wafting from home. That was one of the  earliest memory of home baking for me.

Later, during my growing years, my mom and her friends had joined the canning center and would can jams, juices and sauces. They also learnt baking with a cooker. My mom would add sand to the the pressure cooker pan and make a lovely tea cake. We later bought a gas top aluminium oven which produced many tea cakes.

Then It was the turn of honey cakes, creamy layered cakes and sponge cakes that we would get from the nearby Iyengar’s bakery. The aroma of the baked goodies and bread would reach our house, the 10th house on that lane  at 3.pm when the fresh batch of breads and cakes were baked. 

But of all the cakes, it is the Christmas plum cake  that really stole/steals my heart. I love the  spicy bitter-sweet- fruity- nutty- zingy taste of the cake. In my childhood winters,  I would look forward to the plum cakes of Nilgiri’s, Brigade road( they are the pioneers of diary products & first supermarket in India)  which my dad would get or the ones which my Grandpa would get from Universal Baker’s Mylapore.They all left an unique taste which lingered for long. No other plum cake that I have eaten later has matched the taste of Nilgiris, Universal’s or my aunts. 

Infact, the celebrated  Parsi bakery cakes in Hyderabad, that i have tasted later left a bitter and a  greasy feel for long on my tongue due to the hydrogenated oil or whatever fat was used.

At home, this time I decided to warmup myself by baking this plum cake. I am no  great baker but love baking for my family. I have baked and tried black forest cakes, few eggless, vegan,  healthy cakes with whole wheat, flax, carrots, apples etc.,  and they were all gone in a trice. None of the cakes were appealing to look with fondants and icing but had health  and taste in every bite.
               

This time, I wanted to bake the plum cake  in traditional style by making the treacle, soaking the fruits(not in alcohol but juice) and it was labour intensive, trying to source the ingredients, planning and executing it.

But, I thoroughly enjoyed making and baking my dream cake at home. When The aroma of the spices that wafted from the oven filled the whole home with warmth , it  teleported me to the  Wintry wonderland of my  childhood times. And the taste was truly magical! This "first plum cake baking" is another winter memory in the making i suppose:). I




                                         The fruits & peels soaked overnight plumped up the next morning





That's the rustic home baked cake   whose aroma  often evokes winter  memories. 

The recipe is here in my food blog Recipes and stories from my kitchen.


13 comments:

  1. Wow! You have a food blog too! I was not aware of that! off to check it out! The baking bug has bitten me and I am trying my hands at various cakes... some are good and some are real flop shows :D
    Have not baked a plum cake as yet... will try your recipe. :)

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    1. yes, shilpa...i do have a food blog which is as old as this blog. I am pretty irregular there since i have to click photos and taking photos sometimes hampers my cooking work. Hope to keep it more organized and be a regular there too Good to know a fellow baker and yes, the flop shows will add to our experience:). Yeah, do try the recipe and let me know, Thank you, shilpa:)

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  2. Mouth watering post! Description of cakes from different bakeries filled my room with the aroma of different cakes. I have baked numerless cakes this winter.I will write a recipe for making strawberry cake,with cream which Ibaked yester day.

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    1. It's a pleasure to read your posts so full of experiences, wisdom and anecdotes Ma'am. Now, it would be interesting to read the strawberry cake with cream recipe. Will book mark that. Please do and Thank you:)

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  3. Lovely cake Asha!
    Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you and your family!

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    1. A happy new to you and your family too Rama, Thank you and stay blessed!

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  4. The rustic home baked cake, nevertheless a home baked one.

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  5. Lovely cake. Must have tasted good.

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    1. Yes SG, it tasted good....thoroughly enjoyed making and eating it.

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  6. Ramesh:

    YAYAYAY. Fixed my browser problems that prevented my commenting on your site,. Delighted to be back and to bore you with comments :)

    Having your cake (alas only metaphorically) . Season's greetings and wishing you and the family the very best for the new year.

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  7. Apologies Ramesh...in my excitement to publish the comment, i pressed the delete button on my phone..I copy pasted your comment now. It is a honor for my blog to have commentors who add quality content to my post through insightful and informative comments. You are one among them.So, its a privilege to have your comment, a warm welcome back to you to my space.

    Thank you and warmly reciprocate your warm wishes. Wishing you the best ahead. Stay blessed!

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  8. Perfect cake. The shape and size are just exact. The ingredients used are also healthy as well. I am loving it but have never baked a cake before. Lets have a try with the recipe u have mentioned. Thank u for the share...

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