It was whirlwind of activities, planning, packing, last minute cooking etc ever since Dear Husband planned a beach side vacation for the family 2 weeks ago. Everything fit right in, the hotel reservations, travel arrangements, time off from work, the temperature. The vacation was just what the doctor had ordered to get away from the usual grind and seemed like a glorious way to end the year 2007.
Both me and my husband love munching on stuff, chatting, listening to music, enjoying views during long drives and so I always make it a point to carry lots of goodies and keep it within hands reach in the car. So even this time around I wanted the same. However, because of lack of time I did not have time to prepare lots of stuff and had to rely on store bought stuff. However for a long time I had this cake in mind as it is easy to make and also requires very less ingredients. I hurriedly made it in the morning and even managed to click some pictures before the travel. I was however not disappointed by the taste and texture to say the least.
For this recipe, I have made some changes to the original recipe to suit my requirements and here is the process:
PS: I completely forgot to mention that this was going to be my contribution to AFAM:Dry Fruits hosted by Latha and Lakshmi of the Yum Blog. Blame it on the vacation and holidays and I hope it is not late now.
Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
5-6 cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups raisins (chopped coarsely)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Method
1) In a pan, combine brown sugar, water, shortening, cloves, cinnamon and raisins. Bring to a boil, and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
2) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a pan.
3) Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4) In a large bowl, combine the raisin mixture with the flour mixture. Pour into prepared pan.
5) Bake for 55 minutes, or until knife inserted into cake comes out clean.
The cake looks brilliant, but what are the red fruits on your plate?? don’t tell me they are grapes, b’coz I’ve never seen anything like that!!
aha! this is what differenciates foodies from others..we will make sure khana-pina is perfect ;)..glad u got some R&R and the cooks yummers..i have the same Q as mansi above 😀
have a fun and fulfilling 2008.
Beautiful photography RC
am sure cake looks yummy !!!
same question as Mansi and Rajitha. The berries look berry cute 🙂
And I agree… we foodies always like to get the food and drink right!! Seems yummy… I’ll try soon.
Gorgeous cake and love all those colors, it makes it more wanted now!!
They are not edible berries are they??I have one in my garden and birds feast on them.
i really need a piece of that cake now. 🙁
As everyone else has asked i too have the same question, what are those berries?
Anyways, i just prepared the cake as it looked sooo simple to prepare and it turned out awesome ! Everyone loved it, and it was quick, and the most simplest cake i have ever made till now 🙂 Thanks for sharing dear.
Gee! Thank you all so very much. Actually those are the berries from the Holly tree and unfortunately not edible. We have a tree in our front yard and I thought that they looked beautiful. So I used it only to add some color to the picture, but did not eat it 🙂
Thanks for the lovely entry dear! 🙂 Yeah lakshmi is a teenager and I am in my early thirties!! 😀
beautifulllll picture red chillis and cake looks delecious
Cake looks really good!!! Thanx for sharing the recipe
wow the color of cherries just match well with your theme 🙂 looks great. Happy New YEar RC!
How lucky you could get away to beach this holiday break! Usually, we go to beach at this time too but Trisha was volunteering in the hospital for few days, so we had to stay put. Glad you had a great time!:)
I have never made any cake without eggs, looks delicious though. Great entry RC.