I am not a fruity person... I don't mind co-existing with fruits but we don't have much in common. And I am not much into cakes either. (The only thing I love about home-made cakes is my mum making them and moi licking the vessel clean!). I was at the super market, picking up provisions for the week, when I saw fresh red apples. They were almost calling out to me! (Fruits have never spoken to me before!) So, in all impulsiveness, I picked up a few. Once home, however, I didn't know what to do with them. Finally, I decided the only way I can finish all the apples at one go (so that I would not feel guilty about buying them without a purpose - and I can hear some men sighing thinking that this is what most women do all the time in shopping!), is to bake a cake with them. So, I modified the standard cake making recipe (since I wanted it to be low calorie) to bake the Yummy Apple Cake as I now call it.
With the TV switched on to the DLF IPL Chennai Super Kings v/s Kolkata Knight Riders with the crowds cheering and Dhoni doing what he does best - dho daalna, I embarked on my baking mission.
Here's what I used :
4 fresh red apples,
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar (apples have a sweetness of their own so too much sugar won't be necessary and we are treading the low calorie path, remember!)
4 fresh red apples,
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
2 tbsp sugar (apples have a sweetness of their own so too much sugar won't be necessary and we are treading the low calorie path, remember!)
...and what I did :
1. Wash 3 apples under running water and make a paste in the mixer. I kept the skin of the apples on, which gave the paste a slightly grainy texture.
2. Add the eggs and beat the mix well.
3. Mix in the vanilla essence and sugar. Continue stirring well.
4. Sift flour and baking powder 2-3 times in a separate bowl.
5. One spoon at a time, pour in the flour mix into the egg mix, stirring constantly. Mix everything together until a smooth batter of even consistency is formed.
6. Take a microwave safe bowl, grease with very little butter and dust flour on the base and sides (or line with greaseproof paper).
7. Microwave on a high for 3 minutes. Then pre-heat to 220 degree celcius and microwave for about 8 minutes or till a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I kept checking every 3 odd minutes, since I was using the microwave to bake a cake for the first time. Spend these minutes doing full justice to licking the mixing bowl clean.
8. Take the cake out and leave it to cool.
9. Take the last apple, skin it and slice it into very small pieces. Dust it with half tsp sugar (you can omit the sugar if the apples are very sweet) and microwave on high for about 2 minutes till they are soft.
10. Layer the cake with these soft, gooey apply slices, dust some powdered sugar on it and digg in.
7. Microwave on a high for 3 minutes. Then pre-heat to 220 degree celcius and microwave for about 8 minutes or till a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I kept checking every 3 odd minutes, since I was using the microwave to bake a cake for the first time. Spend these minutes doing full justice to licking the mixing bowl clean.
8. Take the cake out and leave it to cool.
9. Take the last apple, skin it and slice it into very small pieces. Dust it with half tsp sugar (you can omit the sugar if the apples are very sweet) and microwave on high for about 2 minutes till they are soft.
10. Layer the cake with these soft, gooey apply slices, dust some powdered sugar on it and digg in.
