Hi friends!
I am getting little irregular in posting, as I am going through a terribly busy schedule... but can't help really... everything is part of life! However, this does not mean that I have stopped my baking projects. My weekend baking spree is still on... and in this gap, I have already gathered enough stock for couple of my next posts. One of these, is this one - Cherry and Cashew Topped Vanilla Cake.
This is a complete tea-time cake or good for your between-the-meals snack craving. You can also use this as breakfast by topping with your favorite jam or jelly. Obviously this type of no-icing cakes are best for your kids lunchbox and most of the time, I prefer to bake these ones. On the health-side, this one is better, as it does not have any creamy icing on top. But, this is definitely not a dessert cake.
These days, whenever I visit my friends or relatives place, I make it a point to bake for them. I believe, a home-baked fresh cake is much, much better than the store-bought ones - because, it has this personal touch, which is simply priceless! And I have seen, all my close friends and relatives - they do enjoy to have a freshly baked cake from me - that really gives me extreme pleasure. So, this cake was baked with the same intention. I specifically avoided an iced-cake, as I had to carry this for long distance.
I did not have much time to shop for the ingredients, so I decided upon this cake, as everything was available in my stock. The cashews were brought from Goa, and I wanted to use these cashews, in various ways - not only in cake, but also in other recipes. But, before I could make extensive use of the cashews, the pack was about to get finished all of a sudden. People, at my home, were lavishly snacking just on cashews. So, I grabbed the last part of it and could use only in few of my cakes... :) The cherries which I had in stock, was dried type. So, I soaked these cherries in a cup of warm water for couple of hours, and they were ready to use.
The process is very simple. The batter was similar, as of the Basic Vanilla Cake. I took, 1/2 cup of cherries and 1/2 cup of cashews. Sprinkled some flour on top and then 3/4th part of this mix, was added to the batter. The rest of the cherries and cashews were placed on top of the batter, after pouring it into the greased pan. Pre-heated the oven at 160C and baked the cake for 30-35 minutes.
Once the cake was ready, I left it in the cake pan itself, to cool down at room temperature. Then wrapped with cling wrap for carrying the cake through long distance driving.
Happy baking, friends...
