Walnut spiced cake

A cake of heart or a heart of cake...uh oh I mean gold, to be shared with my daughter's friend. Both of them have been creatively using the last few weeks to write and edit a weekly newsletter. With notepads and tablets in hand, they have been taking pictures and writing up about the trees, flowers and birds of our small neighbourhood. This is something I like too. Sitting on the charupadi, leaning against the wall with my feet up is what I do often when I am low in motivation. That's when I notice that our nearby tree has a woodpecker. I also saw a baby squirrel climbing upto the top of our neem tree (the very top), and going upside down (no, it didn't fall) on the electricity cable and jumping onto another tree. Sometimes its raining and breezy, and the birds and squirels take shelter in the next house roofed terrace (a few are probably on our terrace too). Take some time off from your busy life, and enjoy similar moments.

The cake of heart needed some waiting mid-way for the cold butter to melt naturally. So that time was spent simply sitting next to my daughter. She was excited that I was doing just nothing and spending time with her. The brief mindful interlude was enjoyable for both mother and daughter. 

You really can add in any nuts; walnuts, pista, almonds. And all or just the spices you have at home...it will work out fine. A pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger ..all of it works in your favour in this cake. 

Recipe ingredients I used are,

All-purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cups

Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Butter, unsalted - 1/2 cup

Cloves - 3

Cardamom - 3

Star anise - 1 petal

Ginger, dried - 1/2 tsp

Nutmeg - a pinch

Cinnamon - a pinch

Organic eggs - 3

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Milk - 1/2 cup

Walnuts - 5 or 6

Some extra butter and flour for buttering and sprinkling on the pan.

This is a basic cake recipe with nuts and spices as add-ons. Separate the dry ingredients into a bowl - flour, baking powder, broken walnut pieces and powdered spices. The wet ingredients go into another bowl, though there is an order to be followed here. The sugar and butter have to be creamed first, before adding the eggs and vanilla. This then have to be whisked well. Now you can add the dry into wet bowl in batches, along with milk to get a smooth cake batter. The trick in cake batter making is to have a dry and wet bowl and to know what goes in which. Then you can experiment with different add-ons. Bake for 30 minutes at 180C. Slice a piece when it has cooled down. And enjoy!