Cake for the soul

A slice of cake for the soul with the evening cup of tea/ coffee for the mind is a match made in heaven. Our coffee dates were very frequent in the pre-apocalyptic world when things were “normal”! A particularly trying day at the office often ended with one of us suggesting a cuppa at any one of our favourite cafes. It helped as unwind as well as reconnect and leave behind the stressors of the outside world.

Now that is a thing of memories and we often reminisce about those wonderful moments. Don’t know what can be called as normal anymore. A large part of my days are spent remembering the calmness and happiness of the days we once considered mundane.

Soul story

The sadness and despair of sickness all around us is really playing a trick on our overall mental health. Sometimes its getting really tough to keep my head afloat. So whenever I feel myself sinking deep into the murky depths of bad thoughts and before the pandoras box opens in my head I try to start baking. Baking really lifts up my mood and keeps me away from my very own personal arsenal of thoughts.

Citrus Cake

These days I am coming up with different combinations of our favourite flavours for bakes goodies, keeping in mind the scarcity of grocery.
I wanted to make a orange cake but did not have any oranges. But I did not let that pull my spirits down! I had bought a bottle of orange essence from urban platter and was yet to try it. So that together with lemon juice and a pinch of orange food colour dis the trick! My citrus cake for the soul was ready. The fresh citrusy flavour in this light tea cake had the perfect flavours required to freshen up my mind as well as these hot summery evenings.

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour 2cups( 200 gms)
Raw Sugar 1cup
Yoghurt/Curd 1Cup
Butter 100gms(molten)
Lemon Juice 2 tbsp
Orange Essence 4 to 5 drops
Orange Food Colour (optional)
Baking powder 1 ½ tsp
Baking soda ¼ tsp
Milk as required
Chocolate Chips to decorate (optional)
For the Glaze
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
4 to 5 tbsp Icing Sugar

Method

1. In a bowl sieve together the flour, baking powder and soda and mix.
2. In a separate bowl, using a handheld electric beater or a whisk, cream together the youghurt and sugar till the sugar melts.
3. Mix in the molten butter and whip.
4. Whip till a bit frothy(around 4 to 5 minutes) and then add the orange essence, lemon juice and the colour if you are using it.
5. Pre-Heat the oven at 180°C.
6. Grease a Loaf Tin with butter/ oil and keep ready.
7. Mix all the wet ingredients and then slowly add in the flour.
8. Now using a spatula incorporate the flour into the wet mix using cut and fold method.
9. Be gentle with the batter and mix in some milk to make a smooth batter. Mix in few of the chocolate chips and preserve a few.
10. Pour the batter gently into the buttered loaf tin. Top with the remaining chocolate chips.
11. Place the cake batter in the pre heated oven and bake for a minimum of 30 minutes. Bake your cake till a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
12. When the cake is done remove from oven and cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the tin.
13. Remove the cake from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
14. Prepare the glaze by vigorously mixing together the lemon juice and icing sugar till smooth and shiny. This is optional though.
15. When the cake is cooled drizzle the glaze over the top surface. Then slice the cake and your super yummy, tangy, eggless citrus cake for the soul is ready to be devoured!!

You can try my other lemon poppy seed cake recipe too.