Birthday baking !

I have had extremely busy couple of days ... what with all the baking and cooking. But I am not complaining - neither is anyone in my family :)

Yesterday was my mum's birthday and birthdays call for cakes.

After careful consideration (read two weeks) I decided it was going to be a vanilla cake (eggless) with a raspberry and rose filling. Reason???

• Dad: prefers to have eggless cakes and is not very fond of chocolate (I have no idea why). 
• Mom: is fine with anything as long as it tastes good. Thank God for this. Makes one less person to cater to.
• Me: Have been meaning to use this bottle of rose & raspberry coulis that I got from M&S. Yeah I got back a hell lot of food stuff from my London trip - and yes I am a foodie so that's alright I guess.

You can substitute the coulis with raspberry or any fruit preserve as well. Whatever suits you fancy.

The cake turned out perfectly moist and nice. Did not miss the eggs at all. And the raspberry and rose coulis - that was a winner. Loved it. Have half the bottle still lying around and it has to be used in a week! Which means there will be more raspberry on the blog in the coming few days.

Eggless Vanilla Cake with Rose & Raspberry fillling

Recipe adapted from Eggless Desserts: Nita Mehta

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of plain curds at room temperature
3/4 cup of sugar 
1/2 tsp of baking soda 
1 1/4 tsp of baking powder 
1/2 cup of vegetable oil 1 tsp of vanilla extract
3-4 tbs Rose & Raspberry coulis / Raspberry preserve

Beat the curd well, removing any lumps and add the sugar to it. Beat till the sugar dissolves and then add the baking powder and baking soda to the mixture. Beat again and set set aside till small bubbles begin to form.


Add the vegetable oil and vanilla extract and mix everything together. Gently fold in the flour till it is well combined. Pour the mixture in a prepared baking pan and tap on the counter to get rid of the air bubbles.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 30 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely and then cut it horizontally into two equal parts. Spread the coulis on the one of the slices and then cover with the remaining cake. 

I decorated the cake with a dusting of cocoa and some rose petals (since there was rose in the filling as well).

I guess the filling made all the difference. My dad loved it and I had to request him to stop polishing the cake off as I wanted a piece after the dinner.

If that is anything to go by I guess the cake turned out absolutely amazing. 

Here's to another fun day of baking and to my mum- cheers!!!