Lavender Almond Cake

Have you ever heard of a cake that is fragrant as a flower?  Yes, this cake has the sweet smell of lavender and has a fragrance indeed so different from the regular cakes or special ones of berries or fresh fruits or chocolate and so does the flavor too.

As a member of a bake along group, I received some lavender seeds just enough to bake this cake as a gift from our tutor who shares her recipes with a promise to bake this recipe within the week of receiving the goodie bag of lavender seeds.  To keep up the promise, though the courier guy delayed (as usual), I rushed to bake this wonderful lavender cake with the richness of almond meal (flour/powder).  It was a real lo(i)vely time doing this whole process and my house was heavenly with the sweet fragrance of lavender plus the aroma of a good cake baking in the oven.  It is a saying that baking is therapeutic and this is double therapeutic.  I am sure anyone would be eager to try this cake if they had their hands on lavender seeds.  No issues if seeds are not available, the lavender oil/extract (edible) would also help.

My daughter and I generously shared the cake with our friends and had our collars up when good compliments poured in.

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Butter (unsalted) - 115 gms

Granulated White Sugar - 1 cup (divided)

Eggs - 2

Almond Meal (Almond powder) - 1/4 cup

Dry Lavender Seeds - 1 tsp

Dairy Fresh Cream - 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp

Vinegar - 2 tbsp

Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

All purpose Flour (Maida) - 1-1/4 cup

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp


Glaze:

Dry Lavender Seeds - 1 pinch

Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup

Water - 3 tbsp


Method:

1.  Grease cake pan with butter and dust with powdered sugar on all sides.  Preheat oven for 10 minutes to 170 degrees C.

2.  Add 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp lavender seeds, and almond meal in the small jar of the mixie or food processor.

3.  On medium speed, process for a minute until all the three have combined well.  Do not process for long.

4.   Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Keep aside.

5.  Add vinegar to fresh cream in a bowl.  Keep aside.

6.  Add butter into a bowl and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes until soft and fluffy.

7.  Add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar to the butter and beat on high speed for about 5 to 7 minutes until they are well combined, creamy, light, and fluffy.

8.  Add in the lavender almond mixture and beat for about a minute on medium speed until combined.

9.  Add the eggs one at a time beating on low speed for a minute after adding each egg.

10.  Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract and beat for a minute until everything is combined together.

11.  Add half of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.  Do not over beat.

12.  Add the cream-vinegar mixture and again beat on low speed until just combined.  Make sure you do not over beat.

13.  Mix in the remaining flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.  Do not over beat.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix well.

14.  Pour the cake batter in the prepared pan and tap to release any air bubbles.

15.  Bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees C for 40 to 50 minutes until the cake has risen, looks soft, and a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.

16.  For the glaze, boil lavender seeds and water for about 5 minutes on low flame.  Switch off and close the lid to let the flavor seep into the water.  Filter the lavender seeds and add the flavored water to icing sugar and make glaze.  Adjust icing sugar or hot water to get the proper pouring consistency.

17.  Pour the glaze over the cake and let it set for 1/2 an hour.

18.  Your cake is ready to served, gobbled up, grabbed, and lo you can see it vanish in no time.  It has such a good aroma of the lavender seeds and the cake with all the richness of almond meal and the whole house smells divine while baking it that you start gasping to catch the sweet smell of it.

Not getting the dry lavender seeds should not stop you from baking this cake.  There is always an alternative.  You can use edible lavender oil or lavender extracts or essence to make this cake.  It is a sure try.  Do not miss it.

Happy Baking!!!

Tapioca (Kappa/Maravallikilangu) Tart with Spinach Filling

Tapioca is a starch extracted from the cassava root.  Called as maravallikilangu in tamil and kappa in malayalam, it is a staple food in most places and is rich in carbohydrates and is fat free and protein free.  Thus, it is an instant energizer.   Since it does not contain much nutrients, it is accompanied or cooked with protein rich foods.  Here, I have used spinach filling to enhance the nutritional value of the carbohydrate rich tapioca.

Tapioca tart is a savory snack unlike the regular sweet tarts of all kinds we see around.  Serve it hot and it is a real lip smacker.  Being gluten free, it is a boon to gluten allergic people (gluten is mostly found in maida, wheat flour, etc.)

My daughter is fond of this dish and keeps asking for kappa tart fondly.  The original recipe as I had seen on TV had mixed veg and paneer filling but I opted the spinach filling to make it more nutritious and add up spinach in some form in my daughter's menu.  I made mini tarts or tartlets for convenience of gobbling up but this recipe can be made as a big tart too and also garnished with cheese as per your choice.

Here goes my recipe and hope you all would like it too.

Ingredients:

For the Tarts:

Tapioca - 1 kg (boiled and mashed)

Onion - 1 (finely chopped)

Finely Grated Coconut - 1 tbsp

Green Chillies - 3 (finely chopped)

Curry Leaves - Few (finely chopped)

Coriander Leaves - 1 tbsp (finely chopped)

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp or as per taste

Oil - 4 tbsp


For the Filling:

Spinach (Palak) - 1 small bunch

Onion - 1 (chopped)

Capsicum - 1 (chopped)

Green Peas - 1/2 cup

Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - To taste

Sugar/Jaggery - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

For the Filling:

1.  Clean and wash spinach and chop finely.

2.  In a kadai, heat oil and saute chopped onions and chopped spinach leaves.

3.  When half cooked, add capsicum and green peas and saute well until cooked. 

4.  Add chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, salt, sugar/jaggery, garam masala powder and mix well until everything blends together.  Keep aside until use as filling in tapioca (kappa) tarts.

For the Tart/Tartlets:

1.  Wash and cut tapioca into roughly large pieces and pressure cook them (for about 5 to 7 minutes).  Allow to cool.  Peel the skin and mash them smoothly.

2.  In a kadai, heat oil and fry finely chopped onions until it turns pink.

3.  Add in all other ingredients except tapioca and mix well.

4.  Next, add in the mashed tapioca little by little and mix well.  This is the tart base.  Adding mashed tapioca altogether at one time will make it difficult to mix.

5.  When slightly cool, make even sized balls of the tapioca mixture.  Take a ball and flatten in your hands and make a cup to line your mould.  I used an aluminium cupcake mold to make small, bite-size tartlets.  Place the cup shaped tapioca dough into the greased cupcake molds (aluminium molds are ideal) and bake them at 200 degrees C for 20 minutes.

6.  When baked, remove from the oven and cool for a minute and carefully remove from molds.  Your kappa tarts (tartlets) are ready.  Fill with the ready spinach filling topped with tomato sauce and serve immediately.

Notes:

To avoid puffing up of the dough while baking, prick in the center of the tapioca cups with a knife or a fork.  I also placed a small, greased aluminium tartlet cup in the center to avoid puffing up and to get a cup shape after baking too.

Any filling of your choice can be used viz., soya, paneer, egg, or mixed vegetable dry curries.