BANANA COCONUT CRANBERRY CAKE

I THINK I MAKE DECENT BASIC CAKES!

I had been baking for long, yet could not grasp every aspect of it, could not master the art. What I do is take small steps, keep myself limited to simple bakes. It can be a basic cheese rice, a homely pizza, a baked roshogolla, basic cakes on a regular basis. Honestly, most in the family would want to have roshogolla as it is. Looking at the baked roshogolla in the Kolkata sweet shops, I feel averse towards the thick cream thinking of the amount of sugar involved it. Meals consisting of rich meat & fish curries, richer sweets, desserts, biryani, ghee pulao sounded alluring even few years back. These days they cause me fear, neither I crave for such meals. This is a caution I wish to preach which is not hatred towards any faith or religion. A bowl of choice fruits, low calorie tiffins, light fish and chicken curries, homemade breads, a small bowl of rice, rustic vegetables bowls of choice are good enough for me. I wish the son to accept and enjoy chirer polao, idli, dalia khichuri, semolina upma kind of meals. I understand he has a career to build, a crucial exam to cover with good scores, yet I am worried about his health, he sources every meal from outside. His father and I at least stay together and have an asset like Cristine to look after us.

I HAVE MADE LITTLE CHANGES IN MY EATING PATTERN!

At this time, I am not doing intermittent fasting. I suffered bloating. I am eating smaller meals every 2-3 hours of intervals. At this time, it is helping me a bit. Today since the morning until now I had one cream cracker biscuit with tea [not in picture], then had 2-3 tbsp of muri / puffed rice soaked in water [not in picture], thereafter I had a small piece of cake with tea, thereafter lightly made beaten rice upma. At night, I would have a normal Bengali meal with small amount of rice, Hilsa fish curry, Spinach, Red Lentils Curry! 

Our yesterday's lunch was Bengali meal with Chicken Curry, Yam with Prawns, Dal for me. At night, I cooked Whole-Wheat Flatbreads, had with Eggplant Bharta. 

Today's blooms made me feel happier, a green corner is therapeutic.

WHAT IS BANANA COCONUT CRANBERRY CAKE?

I bake with few ingredients I have in the kitchen. The other day, I had to use up some leftover shredded coconut and cranberries. I thought of baking a vegetarian cake with them. I had bananas too which are good   for making a cake moist. From this thought, this vegetarian easy bake BANANA COCONUT CRANBERRY CAKE was born. Baking it was hassle free. I do not experiment with ingredients much, specially in case of bake. You all may have noticed I keep the measurements of the primary ingredients for baking a cake same in each case, this helps me not to fail with the recipe, waste the ingredients used. I wished to share a vegan & gluten-free cake for the occasion of Thanksgiving but it did not happen. This time I did not think much before giving shape to my plan for an easy bake. I wanted a sheet pan like cake look, hence used this tray for the bake.

Few other baked goodies from my blog are VEGAN & GLUTEN-FREE BAKED TIKIA, CRISPY BAKED PASTRY SHEET ROLLS, BLUEBERRY CARDAMOM BAKED DOI, STOVETOP SUJI APPLE CAKE

INGREDIENTS :

SELF RISING FLOUR : 1 COFFEE MUG [Instead You may mix together 1 coffee mug refined flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/3 tsp baking powder]

PLAIN YOGURT : 4-5 TBSP

BANANA : 1 STANDARD SIZED

SUGAR : 5 TBSP [I USED BROWN SUGAR] [YOU MAY NEED MORE]

DRIED CRANBERRY : A FISTFUL

GRATED COCONUT : 4-5 TBSP

VANILLA ESSENCE : 1 TSP

OIL : 3-4 TBSP

PROCEDURE :

I blended together the plain yogurt, sugar, oil, banana. 

I took the self rising flour in a bowl, pour the wet mixture on it, mixed well.

I added the grated coconut and dried cranberries to it, mixed, beaten well.

I added the vanilla essence, beaten again for 2-3 minutes. Our cake batter is ready.

Mine is a convection mode microwave oven. I inserted the low height wired stool, pre-heated the oven at 160*C.

I greased the oven tray with oil, poured the batter on it. I tapped it lightly on the kitchen counter, then placed it atop the wired stool.

I closed the oven door, baked the cake at 160*C for 30 minutes.

Having the cake fresh would get the best taste.