Baking Experiment- Pound Cake with Craisins and Almonds

Schools have closed for the summer and I feel that after a marathon I am finally due for a bit of rest. Relaxed no rush days will be the norm for the next couple of months.

I have read baking is an exact science unlike cooking where straying from the list of ingredients and measurements is usually not disastrous. Whereas with baking usually sticking to the measurements and steps is a good thing. Alas, I feel alive only if I tweak and change a bit of this and that. They have worked most of the time but in the last one I did one too many substitutions and the result though not a complete disaster was not a grand success either. The kids ate them with their usual enthusiasm and also give a bit of praise in the process. Thank God! for kids. On the other DH's face said it all. The cake turned out denser than usual and a tad sticky. With the craisins the cake looks beautiful though.

The recipe I have and which never fails calls for 2 cups of flour and 2 sticks of butter. I substituted with a cup of whole wheat flour (atta - used for making chapatis), cut out one stick of butter, added 16 oz of unsweetened flour. I should have stopped there, I added a 1/4 cup more whole wheat flour because the batter was slightly loose which probably was the undoing. I tried the same recipe before but with 2 sticks of butter and the Whole wheat flour and it was really good. I will present here only the recipe that worked and gave good results and I will stash the experiment for now till I actually have it working.

Pound Cake with craisins and almonds
1. 2 Cups Flour (1 cup whole wheat flour + 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour)
2. 2 Sticks butter (16 tbsp)
3. 4 Eggs
4. 1/4 cup milk (optional)
5. a pinch of salt
6. a pinch of baking powder
7. handful almonds run through the food processor once
8. handful of craisins
9. 3/4 cup sugar
10. 1/2 cup maple syrup
11. 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
- Preheat the oven to 375F
1. Prepare the cake pans by coating the sides with butter ( I used a loaf pan)
2. Beat the butter and sugar together with a egg beater
3. Whisk the eggs separately
4. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt to mix
5. Add the flour to the butter and sugar mixture slowly and whisk it in.
6. Add the eggs as the mixture starts to get dry.
7. Add the milk only if the mixture is too dry
8. Add the vanilla extract
9. fold in the crushed almonds and craisins.
10. Pour it into the pans and let bake for 40 minutes till the sides are brown and a knife inserted comes out clean.

Have a great summer everyone. Will talk to you all from near the equator when we meet next time.

Bird Watching!

I like to watch birds! Who doesn't? Spring time is a bird watcher's paradise and the backyard serves as a fertile ground for bird watching. Linda sent the girls a goldfinch bird feeder and now we have a steady sightings of gold finches.

It is a joy watching these tiny birds as flit among the branches of the trees. This year we refilled the feeder with multi bird feed and we have been seeing lot more of them. The usuals like the robin, cardinal, finches, grackle and occasionally a indigo colored bird.

Can you spot the bird singing mournfully at dusk one day?

The grackles have single handedly eradicated the tent caterpillars. While a few summers ago there were everywhere this summer all of them had been eaten by these birds before they could spin their cocoons. Photgraphing these birds has not been an easy task. When the camera is handy the birds are nowhere to be seen and when we catch sight of a beautiful birds, you get the idea. I have a lot more apperciation of nature photographers.

Can anyone resist ducklings?

The robins who had nested in my neighbor's bushes during early spring have raised thier young and flown away. I was walking around camera in hand trying to take a picture of a lone robin when grandma from the neighbor's house ran out frantically calling her cat's name. It seemed to have gone through the fence to explore the woods and missing. But grandma was frantic repeating that her daughter(my neighbor and a middle aged lady) will cry. It is her grand daughter's cat entrusted to the care of mom while she is away practising as a lawyer and mom to her mom who takes care of the cat in the mornings. We ran around searching the neighborhood and the woods but no sign of Ginger(that is the cat's name). Keeping my fingers crossed for Ginger to return safely. I feel sorry to see grandma so unhappy and clearly not looking forward to inform her daughter of the cat's disapperance. Hopefully he will get home by this evening.

This little one seemed lost but knew exactly where it was going!

Occasionally we have some nice quiet visitors. This one stayed with us for 5 days before he was on his way.

Sweet!

Spring!