CURRY AND SPICE: EGGLESS WHOLEWHEAT LEMON FLAVOURED CHOCOLATE CAKE

I have seen earlier a couple of whole wheat cake recipes around done by some co-bloggers and even searching the internet... does Martha Stewart use whole wheat in her cakes? I will not research.... I am losing out on energy.... it is mental and a characteristic feature too! Our parents had been worrying since my childhood about my lazy, dilly-dallied nature. I love sitting at one place; gazing through the window or listen to favourite numbers or read! The last thing is not happening... how to gather some information about the world? That is causing irritation in me! When I force myself to do something I do not wish to... I get irritated. In this case it is that "ghanta pooja" in different groups. Many in this field know it how the rules of group posting has got tougher for us ..... Spending the entire day on such an useless activity is taking it's toll on me, the poor in technology self does not even know where exactly we can enrol our blog so that we get visits automatically without wasting time. If one has not earned some fame for oneself... its hard to get the desired number of visits from one's own streams alone! In such a scenario, I will justify my irritation.... fools usually justify their actions always! I am not in a mood to bring forth my humorous self at the moment.... when I feel like going out for a coffee or a bowl of my choice of soup.... I see... ohh its time for a post in this or that group.... I feel imprisoned but I am hopeful.... Just the way I have overcome that silly urge to get social media likes.... the day I understood its another game altogether.... majority are not liking you as you... they are mad enough to play a silly match game.... A blogger doing it is ok, one has to do to get traffic to the blog / website.... but in personal stream? Thats silly... how do you even remember who wore what when? Ever since, I discourage people around to stop by mine, very much unwilling to stop by others except for a few.... because I know its just a farce! Do you require me / us beside your hospital bed or in any other distress?.... Just give a call. We will do our utmost!

Eventually the urge for the number of blog visits will go, I will keep myself happy with few hundreds visits! As of now, I keep myself happy with food and my family.... For a woman approaching menopause.... family support is important which I get.... if only the men at home had been a little normal! Though the thought that they are different from the majority gives me a high but its tough to handle the weirds at home! How do I keep myself happy then? I eat what I wish to every two days of clean eating.... like this freshly made semolina cake with my morning cuppa! If you are aiming to have a healthy self.... you should not follow me! This EGGLESS WHOLEWHEAT LEMON FLAVOURED CAKE was made a couple of months ago... it was melt in the mouth soft. Though the son prefers a plain vanilla flavour in ice creams to cakes, he did love this chocolate one! Then we developed a love for semolina cakes as the one I had this morning.... mumma / wifey loves semolina cakes... I find it easier to make! I will not call anything healthy if it has white sugar in it!

My friend Swati's father expired two days back. He would have completed 80 monsoons on this earth coming August or September! Had he been alive till then, his daughters Swati & Aditi would have celebrated the day with a decadent, yummy cake if not with my EGGLESS WHOLEWHEAT LEMON FLAVOURED CHOCOLATE CAKE! Swati is a good friend... I like her. She visited my father when he fell just in front of his home because of high blood pressure! She chatted for long.... our daddy without knowing her ever talked, talked, talked! What was our mother doing? She sat with them for 5-10 minutes, excused herself and retired to my bedroom! Two incompatible people did build a happy home and brought up their kids with love and happiness.... thats where they win!

Swati was there with her husband in the hospital when our dad died, called me everyday, she does it for all the friends. When her father was in hospital, she was beside our friend Chanchal's death bed and in the burning ghat! I treasure such people truly! I really feel bad that I have to wait till December to visit Swati's home to meet her mother! Swati happens to be an excellent cook.... be it a "chapli kebab" or a "kaju badam bata pabda".... she does it with elan and feed us too! She was conducting a small scale home delivery unit from her flat when some in her society complained.... when we know Kolkata / West Bengal does not require permission for such a small unit, also many an illegal, harmful things go on nationwide! People wished, they were jealous, so they did.... look at the other Indian communities.... they lift each other up in most cases!

I will definitely blog about Bengali recipes soon but will always stick to my point, my belief, what I have grown up watching... we lack community feeling.... It is good to see if someone among us does it otherwise.... jealousy is not my forte! If people have the ability to appreciate others, they definitely have stepped nearer towards humanity! I like it! What else I am enjoying? ..... to watch my micro-mini kitchen garden grow slowly. The coriander leaves grew from seeds instead of roots! Look at the "thoka togor" plant... I picked up a branch from the roadside.... hope it survives to keep my spirit up! I charge up instantly these days when I see people growing greens.... the mother complained of her lazy daughter not taking a sneak-peek at her greens or helping her during a special prayer meet except for blowing the conch shell or eating the "proshad"..... Genes do work in some areas... I am not 1/4th of what they are has become a repeat statement and it is true! The ninety year old grandmother does not allow anyone in her prayer room, washes her own clothes because they still live in an era where washing machine is considered "ashuddho" because she is a cleanliness freak and cannot align with other's sense of it!.... She is the owner of a small empire though.... gifts us more than we do! If not a full fledged garden, but few flowers and herbs should grow in my small, green space!

I had to pick up the branch of "thoka togor" from the road side because I could not get its English name as yet or had seen it in the nurseries I visit occasionally! For this EGGLESS WHOLEWHEAT LEMON FLAVOURED CHOCOLATE CAKE, I did not follow any recipe in particular.... may be a rough idea was already drawn from elsewhere and got stored in the back of the mind! Since I am poor at baking, I select simple ingredients and have fixed a measurement for the basic ingredients! Lets start with the procedure that has used lemon zest, Swiss Miss hot cocoa drink powder, evaporated creamer, cashew nuts besides the rest! They say why do I make my life this open... if not 100% but 80% of it! I say I keep my intents clear just as we need to give a clear description of ingredients used in a recipe! Since I hate to observe and spend time on silly matters as someone's social media pictures, I make it clear to people.... better you do not stop by me.... do not expect anything from me either!

If you wish to have a look at my egg curry done with coconut milk and a selective blend of spices.... click the heading / link below.... its up there with updated pictures!

EGG CURRY IN COCONUT MILK

INGREDIENTS :

Atta / Wholewheat Flour : 1 coffee mug
Baking Powder : 1tsp

Baking Soda : 1/2 tsp
Cocoa Powder : 1/3small cup [I used 1 sachet of Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Drink Powder]
Evaporated Creamer : 1small tea cup size [you can skip]
Sugar : 4tbsp
Lemon Juice : 2-3 tbsp
Oil : 1/2 medium tea cup size [I use canola, olive or sunflower]
Lemon Zest : 11/2tbsp

Halved Cashew Nuts to garnish!

PROCEDURE :

Take the wheat flour, baking powder and the baking soda in a wide mouthed bowl. Mix well!

Make warm the evaporated creamer & add the cocoa powder and mix well!

You can use warm water instead of the evaporated creamer if you are not fond of richer tastes!

Take the sugar, oil, milk, the cocoa drink, lemon juice in a blender that we do not use for grinding or pasting spices.

Blend at high for 2 minutes until everything has incorporated well. Pause after 1 minute in between.

Add the mixture to the flour mix. Add the washed lemon zest!

Fold in very well. I beat with a hand beater clockwise for about 3-5 minutes. The novice baker does have an archived electric blender! You are not a poor baker as I am, you will make a good use of it!

Pour the batter onto a cake tin. Level it by tapping softly on your kitchen table 2-3times.

Now, arrange the halved cashew nuts atop.

I preheated my mini toaster oven, placed the cake tin inside, baked at 180*C for 50 minutes.