Christmas is just around the corner and Sous Chef Bandu Ugalmugale of Four Points by Sheraton, Vashi brings you a special plum cake recipe that will leave you drooling.
Photograph: Courtesy Mokiko/Creative Commons
Ingredients:
- 250 gm refined flour
- 150 gm brown sugar
- 30 gm almonds
- 30 gm walnuts
- ¼ cup milk
- 150 gm unsalted butter
- 1 tsp powdered cinnamon
- 100 gm prunes
- 5 drops vanilla essence
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3 eggs
Method:
- Take a large bowl and sieve together the flour and the baking powder. Keep it aside.
- Now in another bowl mix together the brown sugar and butter till the sugar dissolves completely. Take the help of an electric blender. Break the eggs and add them one by one. Keep beating the mixture till it is light and frothy. Gradually add the flour to this egg-butter and sugar mixture, spoon by spoon, so that no lumps are formed. Keep stirring to attain a smooth mixture. Add the milk and the vanilla essence and mix well. Add cinnamon powder and blend well. Allow the batter to rest for 10 minutes.
- Chop the nuts and the prunes finely. Mix in the batter. Beat well again. Reserve some nuts that you can put on top of the cake. Pre-heat the oven at 180° for 15 minutes. Prepare a baking tray by lining it with butter paper. Grease it with oil or butter and dust some flour. Add the batter.
- Bake at 180° for one hour or at 200°C for 45 minutes. The temperature mostly depends on the type of oven you have. Insert a skewer to check if the cake is ready. If it comes out clean, take out the cake and place it on a wire rack to cool.
- Take the cake out from the baking tray. Slice it and serve with tea, coffee or with an assortment of snacks. This cake also goes well with vanilla ice cream.
For the icing:
- You can make a quick icing by beating together one cup icing sugar and one cup unsalted butter. Mix vigorously, till the mixture becomes creamy. Put it in the fridge for one hour. Now put it in the piping bag and use it to decorate the cake. If you want your icing to be colourful, you can divide this butter-sugar mixture in two parts and the add the two colours of your choice in both the parts. Put them in separate icing bags and use them to rave up your cake. You can also use gems and chocolate chips to decorate your cake.