A cake and a Happy Father's Day

It was Father's Day and a day of sentiments :( Now that my wedding is all set ... I feel it's time for me to leave the family and go :( So I thought " Make Hay While The Sun Shines " :D
So instead of going for a wedding reception on saturday night, I thought i'll make a cake for Appan :) You see I sacrificed some yummy Muslim Biriyani and Alisa ( It's a Malabar muslim preparation of wheat and meat. Its cooked together and is mashed up really well and is served with ghee and sugar! Trust me it's just too good!!! :) Nevertheless I had a lovely time baking the cake for him. BUT when the cream showed it's attitude to me by not whipping up, I was kinda let down because I so wanted to make a stunner :( Big deal! I went ahead! And look what I made!! :) The cake rose beautifully and I managed to make 4 layers out of it BUT the sloppy cream got soaked up in between all the layers making the cake ever so moist and the layers purely invisible! :D

We had some family friends calling by last evening and I was ever so glad to serve them few slices :) and you won't believe the compliments I was showered upon :D They went home with a copy of the recipe :)

Chocolate Lemon Cloud Gateau

Recipe, as adapted from Mandarin Orange Cloud Gateau by Sue Ross, pg 17 and re-adapted from Deeba's blog

Ingredients:

Plain flour - 150gms (1/2 cup + 1/8 cup)

Cornflour - 25gms (1/8 cup)

Baking powder - 2 tsps

Pinch of salt

Icing Sugar - 150gms ( 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup)

Oil - 5 tbsps (I used sunflower oil)

Water - 5 tbsps

Eggs - 3 / separated

Zest of 1 orange ( I used zest of a medium sized lime )

Orange juice - 1 tbsp ( I used lime juice )

Filling:
Whipping Cream - 200ml
Almonds - 3 tbsp (ground)
Castor sugar - 2-3 tbsps

Ganache:
Cream - 150 ml (15% fat)
Dark chocolate - 150gms / broken into pieces
Some extra chocolate for garnishing (grated, scrolls etc)
Silver dragees,powdered sugar etc for garnishing.

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Line an 8" springform tin. (the original recipe uses 2 8" sandwich tins)
• Sift the cornflour + flour + baking powder + salt + icing sugar (yes, it's correct) into a mixing bowl.
• Beat the egg whites till they stand in soft peaks & keep aside.
• Lightly beat the oil + water + yolks together & stir into the dry ingredients.
• Beat until smooth, & stir in the juice & zest.
• Fold the whites gently into the yolk mixture.
• Turn into lined tin & bake for about 45 minutes till well risen & golden brown. Check if it is done with a wooden pick.( Slide a sheet of foil lightly over the top if it begins to brown too fast).
• Leave in tin for 10 minutes, & then cool completely on rack.
• Once cool, cut into 2 or 3 layers.
• Filling:
• Whip the cream + sugar till firm. Whisk in the ground almonds.
• Reserve a little cream for the topping, & sandwich the layers with the rest.

Ganache:

• Put the cream & dark chocolate into a pan heat over low heat till all the chocolate has melted, stirring constantly. Stir well, & leave to cool.
• Frost the sides & top of the cake with the ganache. Decorate the top with grated chocolate curls .

Chill well & serve right out of the fridge! This gateau doesn't need to sit at room temperature for a while; it's great!

The cake tasted absolutely marvellous and delectably moist. My Amma who is not a cake fan at all ( not because she is butter/fat conscious BUT she just doesn't like cakes) and will take a pinch of it just because I pester her throughout behaved very very differently yesterday!!! :)

She had a real long day yesterday after cooking for 30 people ( yes, she caters :D ) everything from starters to dessert and by around 8.30 p.m she was exhausted. And the last thing she would want me to do is to pester her to eat a slice of cake I made ...but she obliged :) Good sign!! :)

'Hmmm... it's a good one' came the immediate reply!! I was happy and elated :) BUT instead of going back to rest she took the whole cake and a knife, sat down under the fan and started eating it chunks by chunks! All I could do was STARE!!! :D All she ever used to have was a small pinch of any kind of cakes... and now chunks???? :D

I was soooo happy :) She made my day!! :)

-Ria