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Found it!



It turns out my friend wasn't looking for pound cake at all. What finally met his approval as "THE CAKE" was this simplest loaf cake from Dorie Greenspan. At least, it started as Dorie's cake. Given the number of changes I made to the recipe, it's purely accidental it turned out to be as good as it did.

But there's no mistaking the fact it's incredibly simple. First off, I set my oven to preheat at 180C. Then, since I figured my silicone loaf pan could be a part of my previous cake problems, I lined the bottom and sides of a 7 inch metal cake pan with parchment.

My second problem, I reckoned, could have been the baking powder. If you are happy with the taste of commercial baking powder, by all means use that. I made my own by combining 2 parts cream of tartar with 1part baking soda. Sifted 2 tsp of this mix with 1 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 tsp salt.

In another bowl, I mixed 3 eggs, a cup of sugar, 1/2 cup yogurt and 2 tsp vanilla extract. Except I run out of caster sugar after I filled 2/3rd of the cup, and had to make up the quantity with confectioner's sugar. Who knows, the cornstarch in there might have helped the cake! And by the way, Dorie used sour cream not yogurt so switch to that if you like.

Whisk all these things until smooth, then add your sifted flour. Stir to combine and blend well with the liquid mix. Since this sounded way too plain to me, I also added a handful of candied citrus peel at this stage. Finally, pour in 1/2 cup canola oil. It will look like it will never mix with the batter but keep whisking and you will eventually have a glossy, well-blended mixture.

Pour in the cake tin and bake for around an hour. Start checking at 50 minutes and take it out when the toothpick inserted in the center comes out with no crumbs.

PS: If you are in Bombay and looking for canola oil, it's in one corner of the olive oil shelf at Hypercity.
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Comments

notyet100 said…
glad to knw u got the recipe,..cake looks too good,..
October 11, 2010 at 1:53 PM
Unknown said…
I've made this one, loved it too. It looks delicious. I always use regular sugar instead of castor, it isn't available anywhere nearby :(
October 11, 2010 at 11:26 PM
CurryLeaf said…
AWESOME the cake looks.I trust DGreenspan.the recipes are doable/adaptable.
But where do you get cream of tartar.I have never ever seen it.I always substitute it with lemon juice.
October 16, 2010 at 1:58 PM
Suma Gandlur said…
Cake looks wonderful and thanks for that lovely kadhi pakora recipe. :)
October 19, 2010 at 1:04 AM
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