Eggless Lemon Cake

My family members are ardent fans of Starbucks - coffee, muffins, breads, cakes, etc. For a while now, I have been trying to recreate their lemon cake/lemon loaf. Ina Garten's lemon loaf/lemon yogurt cake recipe is excellent and according to me, is even better than the Starbucks' version. But the recipe requires eggs. Wanting the best of both worlds, I have been trying to bake an eggless lemon cake that  at least comes close to the real deal. Adapting from Piece of Cake, this is the recipe I used to make the eggless version.

Ingredients:

1. 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 1 teaspoon baking soda
4. 1/2 teaspoon salt
5. 1 - 1.25 cups milk (I used 1.25 cups of 2% milk)
6. The zest of two whole lemons (a lot, I know)
7.  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8. 1 tablespoon  lemon juice
9. 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used just a little more than 1/4 cup because I added extra milk)

For the glaze: You need 1/3 cup lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar. Heat the sugar and juice on medium heat, constantly stirring, until the sugar completely dissolves and makes a syrup of desired consistency. You can't go wrong with this. This glaze makes a difference to the cake - trust me. Do not skip it.

Preparation:

1. Butter/grease an 8 or 9 inch pan (I used a 9 inch pan). Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Mix the dry ingredients (advisable to sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together). Mix in sugar along with the flour-soda-salt. 
3. Separately mix the wet ingredients, except lemon juice. I was nervous of directly adding it to milk. First whisk together the milk, lemon zest, vanilla extract, and then whisk in the oil. 
4. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir slowly and gently until just incorporated. Finally, add the lemon juice and give a final stir. The batter will look fizzy and more liquid-y than usual cake batters. It's fizzy because of all the lemon, soda, salt action. Don't worry, the cake will turn out fine. 
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then gently loosen the cake by running a knife around the edges and flip it onto a plate. With a fork, poke some holes on top of the cake. Pour the lemon syrup/glaze over the cake and let it soak in for 15 minutes or more before serving. It's not necessary to use all the syrup. Use as required. 

The cake is intensely lemony, moist, and quite light. It's not dense or chewy, but arguably not as fluffy as the version that takes eggs. Still, people liked it and went for second helpings! This is a good lemon cake that's easy to make to go alongside coffee and tea. 

Green (Monster) Smoothie

We usually prepare a week's worth of smoothies every weekend for a quick breakfast/evening "snack" when we are too tired to make something. Our favorite smoothie combination is berries, banana, apples, natural protein powder, and milk. And no sugar ever. This week, inspired by the Green Monster Movement, I tried a green smoothie and it turned out yummy! It does need more ingredients than a regular fruit smoothie that requires just fruits, milk and protein powder. But the nutritive value of this green smoothie far outweighs the cost of spending a few minutes to assemble the ingredients. And it tastes good too! The husband detests kale and raw spinach, but even he called it "decent", which is saying something. I don't receive any superlative adulation ever (or hardly any adulation for that matter) so "decent" and "okay" are gold standards to aspire!

This smoothie is nutritious, easy to make, filling, and pleasant on the palate. I added a bunch of other ingredients to mask the bitterness and raw taste of Kale. Peanut butter and yogurt are for protein and probiotics, flax seeds are for fiber and omega-fatty acids, almonds for texture, taste, and more omega goodness, and maple syrup for flavor and slight sweetness.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup blueberries
2. 1 banana
3. 3 handfuls spinach
4. 2 handfuls torn Kale leaves (about 4 leaves)
5. 1/3 cup yogurt
6. low fat milk (as needed to thin the smoothie to desired consistency)
7. 1/2 cup almonds
8. 1/4 cup peanut butter
9. 3 tablespoons flax seeds, or ground flax seeds
10. 2 tablespoons maple syrup (optional of course)

Blend everything together to make a yummy smoothie! This makes 5 cups of smoothie. You can get creative and add other combinations of fruits, nuts, cocoa powder etc. I plan to add spirulina powder and wheat grass the next time. My smoothies are going green from today!

Banana Crunch Muffins

I seem to be always behind on updating this blog. Ignoring my backlog of recipes from as far as two years back, I am posting this quick one. I tried baking banana muffins last month and they turned out quite decent. All credit goes to Ina's fabulous recipe. I highly recommend the recipe. It's foolproof.

The muffins turned out light, fluffy, and moist - just as how muffins should be. The top was crunchy and the inside was soft with a few crunchy bites. They are packed with crunchy granola, plenty of walnuts, slivered almonds, raisins, coconut flakes, and mushy bananas.  The riper the bananas the better the muffins would be. You could also add a handful of toasted oats to make this is a fitting breakfast muffin.