Baking my own Cake

Cakes and Cookies are the specials I do when I come to the United States. Nothing elaborate. Just the basic ones. I understand that it is no big deal to do the same in India. All one has to do is get a decent oven which is exactly what I have not done so far. So when I did think of baking as soon as I came here, I was lost because I did not have a recipie. And as they say for Baking, you just follow the recipie. While I started my hunt, I was provided results of all exotic cakes from the regular blogs I visited.

Finally I did end up with a video which provided an easy way of baking the basic sponge cake, but to add to my agony, did not provide the measurements. So I ended up making my own cake with my own measurements except the number of eggs. By recording this, I will not be wondering the next time I decided to bake a cake. This cake came out fine and so this will be the way I bake this cake henceforth.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Cane Sugar - 1 cup
Baking Powder - a pinch
Salted/Unsalted Butter - 20 gms
Eggs - 4 Nos.
Vanilla Extract - A few drops

Method:

In a large bowl, (Place this bowl into a bigger bowl/tub with hot water. Warm water enhances the air bubbles created due to the beating process) beat eggs using an electric beater at speed 2 for less than a minute. Add sugar and beat at speed 1 till the mixture becomes a nice soft fluffy mixture. The batter should not sink when lifted. It should leave a ribbon like line when lifted and made lines by the beater.

Once this stage is reached, add the vanilla extract and mix lightly. Sift in the flour and baking powder mix and fold it in the beaten mixture. Care should be taken to do this process gently. Once the flour has blended well with the mixture, add melted butter and fold the batter with the butter. At the end of this 'Oh so gentle process', the final batter should be light and fluffy. Pour the batter into a greased pan.

Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Pop the batter pan into the oven and bake it for 20-25 minutes or check for the cake to rise.(Mine got a wee bit overdone since I was'nt too sure of the bake time. Will keep doing it till I get it right. :) Also open to advice) Check for the done stage and enjoy it with your family tea time. Else layer it with frosting and make it into a delicious cake for any special occasion.