“Remember, no matter what life throws at us, we can always bake a cake!” – Sarah Ban Breathnach
So, this quote by Sarah Ban Breathnach says a lot about life. No matter what the situation is, how bad your day was, you can always fix it with a cake. Cake has the power to turn a situation around. It has a happy vibe which is why every happy occasion has a cake. I have experienced how a cake can change your mood, here is a small story from my graduation days.
I was studying in Chandigarh, staying in a hostel and things were tough. Back at home, I didn’t have bad days because I knew when I go back home, my mother would welcome me with her bright smile and delicious food. It wasn’t the same in the hostel. I had to come back according to the strict hostel rules, a warden who I am sure hated me, and a room I had to clean. It was one of those days when nothing seemed right, and I was missing home. To add to my misery, I received the result to my internal test for Math (which was one subject I didn’t like). I had scored low, like class average low. I was feeling perturbed, and it was quite obvious from my facial expression. When I entered my room, my room was messier than usual and that’s when I yelled at my roommate Vanya. She was startled but somewhere down the line, she knew that I didn’t have a great day.
After all, we were classmates and she knew that I had scored low in Math. Vanya calmed me down and promised to clean the room, but she also promised to make my mood happier. I remember her words- “I promise I’ll clean the room, but before that, I have something for you and I promise you’ll be in a better mood by night.”
The official lights-out time was 10:00 pm, while unofficial was 3:00 am. As soon as the warden went to sleep around 10:30 pm, Vanya introduced me to the oven hidden under her bed and said: “Here is how I will make your day better.” She had never used it or mentioned it. I knew about the oven but never told her that I do. I guess the fact that she wanted to hide it was okay because if the warden knew, she would kill us. She loved to cook and she had every kitchen ingredient one could think of.
“What about it?” I asked
“We’ll bake a Cake!” Vanya whispered with a glow in her eyes.
“But we don’t have Maida & Eggs” I replied instantly
“But we do have Atta(Whole Wheat)” She said
Cooking was her therapy, and I didn’t really like to cook which is why I didn’t argue and also because I wanted a cake. Here is how we baked a simple eggless whole wheat cake.
Whole Wheat Cake Recipe
Ingredients:
2 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour
½ Tablespoon Baking Powder
1.5 Tablespoon Soda Bicarbonate (meetha soda)
2 Tablespoon Cinnamon Powder
1 Cup of Curd(It was always available in Hostel Refrigerator)
¾ Cup Refined Oil
Water
1-2 Cups of Jaggery(Gur)- As per your taste
A handful of Dry Fruits like Walnuts, Raisins, Almonds, and so on
Procedure:
- Pre-heat the Oven at 200 Degree Celsius.
- Mix all the Dry Ingredients- Wheat, Baking Powder, Soda Bicarbonate, Cinnamon Powder, Dry Fruits, & ground Jaggery(Shakar) in a large bowl.
- Mix curd and oil in another bowl, and make sure to blend it well.
- Now start adding the mixture of dry ingredients slowly into the bowl of curd and oil.
- Add water to bring dripping consistency to the batter.
- Take the baking dish and coat it with oil at the bottom.
- Pour the batter slowly into the baking dish and bake it 180 degrees Celsius for about 40 minutes. Keep checking it at intervals with a fork.
- Serve it once it is cool, although we didn’t really wait.
By the end of the entire procedure, I was beaming with joy. Seemed like cooking with her was fun. The cake was super delicious, and a whole wheat cake for sure made me feel at home. Since that day, Whole Wheat Cake is happy food and Vanya is my happy person.
