Baker's Dozen

When I was in college, I used to cook quite often. Garlic mushroom tapas, Penne with tomato sauce, killer ommelettes and the king of conundrums - a vegetarian biryani..

But my favorite was dessert. I used to churn out light chocolate mousses, cakes and pastries. I learnt to make my mom's famous apple crumble, gooey brownies etc. My special creation was a chocolate sponge layered with chocolate mousse, covered with icing and studded with chocolate chips.

This weekend, after months away from the kitchen, I finally got to cook again.

Three chefs (My mom, sister and me)..


..started from scratch..



..to create..



.. the perfect cake!
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Update : The recipe

The recipe calls for equal amounts of egg, sugar, flour and butter - making it one of the simplest recipes. 200 grams of each would make a small cake that'll serve about six as dessert.

Combine 200g of slightly melted butter and sugar in a large bowl and whisk together with a wooden spoon. Keep whisking until mixture forms peaks when lifted with a spoon.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together 200 gm of eggs (this should be about 3 eggs if you're cooking in India). Whisk well until mixture has a lot of air in it. Once this is well whisked, add to the bowl containing sugar-butter mixture.

Mix well. Sieve the flour thrice with a tablespoon of baking powder. Add this flour to the egg-butter mix in small quantities. Mix with a metal spoon.

Preheat an oven to 180 degrees Centigrade. Grease a baking dish and pour this mixture into the dish. Bake for about 30-40 minutes. Check if it is done by inserting a fork into the center. If the fork comes out clean then the cake is done.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Icing can be made by mixing butter and icing sugar with a few drops of vanilla and chocolate powder. Ice cake. Add chocolate chips and vermicelli as desired.

Bon Appetit!