I did Bake !

The oven arrived as we had planned with my parents who visited me last week. I was off to Madurai and did not get the time to have a test bake when they were around. They left last Saturday. I had promised Tejas that I will bake a cake for him on a holiday. Today was one so he made sure that I kept my promise.

This was a simple cake. No raisins, nuts or cherries. I didn’t even have any essence or flavour. What I did was  :

Beat eggs well, added a cup of refined sunflower oil and beat it again. Powdered a cup of sugar in the dry grinding jar of the mixie and added it to the beaten eggs and oil. Sifted a cup of Maida with a spoon of baking powder and added it to the mixture. Added 2 pinches of cardmom powder( for lack of any flavouring agent) too and after thoroughly mixing it all, poured the thick batter into a baking dish. Preheated the oven for a minute and placed the dish into it. Covered the oven and sat back with satisfaction that the cake was going to be ready in a while.

A minute later there was  a slight crackling noise within the oven and as I peeped in, a spark went off and so was the oven. The glow went off from the faces of the kids too. Now, had to quickly come up with an alternative to complete the baking.

Took my 5 litre pressure cooker, removed the gasket and the whistle, dried it completely. Kept an inverted lid on the base of the pressure cooker, set the cake dish with the mixture on top of it. Closed the lid and put the pressure cooker on low heat for about an hour. When the aroma that filled the room turned from a sweet baked smell to slightly burnt one, put off the fire and opened the lid.

The cake was ready. Took it out, cooled it a bit, cut into pieces. The kids had their first bites and the expression said it all. Not bad ! 

I am relieved! I thought I had forgotten to bake and might not be able to do it well anymore. The conking of the oven at the right time was another dampener. But ultimately, thanks to the saving grace of the pressure cooker, a savoury cake was ready.  So, bake, I did.