Hunger pangs and an Eggless Strawberry Yogurt Cake

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I was feeling like a snack, but it was one where i wanted to eat fruits. I opened and stood in front of the fridge for a few minutes, discovered a box of chopped papaya and a box of fresh strawberries. Had a light bulb moment, why not i make something with the strawberries, milk/yoghurt and maida at home. And for some reason, was in the mood to bake. There flew my urge for a snack. 

I started looking on the net for simple interesting recipes, when i stumbled upon the Eggless Strawberry Yoghurt cake on my friend Saffrontrail’s blog. That was it, it looked mighty easy, and i had all the ingredients, but jam [which i could pick up from the store a minute away from home]

Here is the recipe from her blog:

Ingredients

¾ cup yogurt

¼ cup milk (i used regular milk )

¼ cup rice bran oil ( i used cooking oil, dint have rice bran at home)

¾ cup sugar

2 generous tablespoons of strawberry or mixed fruit jam (mixed fruit jam it was)

1 tsp Strawberry essence or mixed fruit essence (had to settle for vanilla extract 1 tsp)

1.5 cups all purpose flour OR 1 cup AP flour + ½ cup whole wheat flour (atta)

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

Roughly 1 cup finely diced strawberries [ I set aside a few berries for decoration but ended up eating them as the cake baked :-) ]

Handful of tutti-frutty (optional- i dint have these either)

Directions

In one bowl, whisk the oil, yogurt, milk, sugar and jam.

In another big bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Make a well. Add the whisked wet ingredients. Fold until they come together.

*Note: Over enthusiastic beating / whisking is better avoided.

Towards the end, fold in chopped berries and tutti-fruity.

A small variation here:

Saffrontrail recommends baking in oven, now i again had only a microwave and have baked a eggless chocolate cake earlier, which turns out delicious every time. So, going with my gut feel, decided to try the same for this cake as well and must say, not disappointed. The cake was yummy, a tad dry in the middle [wonder why] but otherwise soft and bursting with strawberry flavour….

I used a microwave proof glass bowl, and baked it for 8minutes on high.. :-)

If you have an oven [lucky you, follow the below mentioned steps to bake the cake]

Scrape the batter into the greased tin / silicon mould and bake at 180 C for around 45-55 minutes, checking with a tester if it comes out clean.

After 10 minutes, un-mould and cool on a wire rack.

Finally, cut into wedges, dust with icing sugar and serve with tea/coffee or just devour it as a dessert. 

Bon Apettit...