Coffee Flavoured Eggless Banana Walnut Pista Cake.

"Coffee Flavoured Eggless Banana Walnut Pista Cake" ... my obsession for trying out cakes continues ... managed to prepare a soft and tasty cake today and my home was filled with a lovely aroma of coffee ... Ahhaa now my confidence to bake is building ... Enjoyed a large tummy filling piece ... Yummilicious ….. 

** I have baked a cake thousand times that were perfect only when I went to take a bite of it, did it vanish poooffff … and I woke up to find that it was a dream. Dreams are dreams, but if pursued can turn to reality and that is exactly what I intend to do with baking. No, I won’t give up till I can churn out good bakes of cakes, cookies, breads, puffs and buns. These have been my childhood favorites and I have always craved to eat a few that are now not available in stores. I have already written a few times about my age-old oven, 30 yrs old to be precise which was purchased just after my marriage but never saw much of baking. A few milkmaid cakes were what I made during the initial years and after that, it has always been only pizzas. Well, I do intend to buy a new one, but first I need to assure myself that it will be put to best use, so until then it has to wait. As for the bakes, somewhere in my mind I always wanted to bake cakes that were healthier as we really do not know anything about the behind history of the beautiful looking cakes adorning the bakery shelves not to mention the cream toppings which I really do not like much. 

** Till a decade back the cream toppings were a lovely flavored layering that we loved eating lip smacking but in the recent years I find that it is mouthful of cream and there is actually very less of cake in it and it leaves a distaste in the mouth, sort of sticky layer all round inside the mouth, which really needs a good hot water wash to be gulped to be cleaned from within. I have actually stopped eating those cakes that are filled with layers of cream, though the ones with a layer on top of the cake is fine. That is really from when on I have wanted to bake cakes, especially the ones with different healthier options of flours and I sure will one day by God’s grace. It is only due to my shoulder problem that I have to move with care and not overdo things which may end up into other issues which I really do not want at this point of life. This recipe was sent to me by my friend, who had received it from somewhere else, tried it and found it good and almost foolproof. So, there I was rest assured that this recipe was a good one which I could give a try, added to it was coffee flavour, which I have always loved in Ice creams too. So that's enough to start with Isn't it ???

** Here is the recipe for "Coffee Flavoured Eggless Banana Walnut Pista Cake" …. My Style … 

** Ingredients : 

Whole Wheat flour/ Ghenvu ka Atta/Gonva Peeta : 1.5 cups 

Oil : ½ cup (any edible oil, I used Sundrop) 

Bananas/Kela/Kele : 3 large sized 

Sugar Powder/Sakkre Pitti/Pitti Shakkar : ¾ cup 

Milk/Doodh : ½ cup 

Baking Powder : 1tsp 

Baking Soda : ½ tsp 

Salt/Namak/Meeta : ¼ tsp 

Instant Coffee Powder : 2 tsp (I used Nescafe')

Walnut/Akrod : 10-12 

Pistachios : 15-18 

** Sift wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a wide bowl and keep it aside ready. Also, sift the sugar powder and coffee powder together separately and keep it ready aside. Chop the walnuts and pistachios roughly into small pieces and put them in a bowl. Sprinkle some flour and toss them well together and keep this ready aside. 

** Preheat the oven at 180 deg. C. Prepare and keep a aluminium baking dish ready by applying the butter/ ghee/oil all over the inner side in a thin film. Now sprinkle a little bit of the wheat flour from inside and tap it all over evenly without touching with hand. Invert and tap it so that the excess flour falls away. 

** In a wide bowl, peel and add in the bananas cut into pieces. Mash them well with a fork or the back of a spoon. Add in the sugar powder to which coffee powder is added while sifting, mix well and then add in the oil. Now with a beater/whisker mix it well till it has been well blended in. Finally add in the sifted and kept flour little by little and fold into the mixture till all is done. 

** Do not use the blender for mixing flour, but just mix in well. Now add in milk little by little till you a get a well mixed thick batter. If you feel that the batter is too thick add in a little bit more of milk, if not add in lesser. The addition of milk depends upon ingredients used as sometimes the amount of bananas used and texture of the flour gets accountable too. Mix in half of the chopped nuts into the batter and give it mix. 

** Immediately pour it into the prepared and kept baking dish in one go. Tap it slightly on the platform to get a leveled top. Sprinkle the remaining nuts on top taking care to see that you have spread it in an even layer on the top of the mixture. Gently press it down slightly with the back of a spoon so that it slightly sticks into the batter. 

** Place the tray into the preheated oven and bake at 160 /180 deg. C for about 35 to 40 minutes or till done/till a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean. The actual time of baking differs from each oven and their temperature level, so do use your own judgment. Also if your oven heats up too much at 180 deg. C and burns the sides of the cakes, then bake it at 160 deg. C, like how I do. Takes a few minutes more, but gives results. 

** When done, remove from the oven carefully with the help of oven tongs and place it on a platform and allow the cake to completely be cooled, say for about 30-40 minutes undisturbed. Now run a blunt knife through the side edges to loosen the cake tin and then gently invert it on a flat plate/tray and then flip it back again on top side. Cut it into slices/pieces or the shapes desired by you and put it into an air tight container. 

** "Coffee Flavoured Eggless Banana Walnut Pista Cake" is done and ready to be served. Serve them fresh cut into pieces of shape and size of your choice and enjoy them fresh with your family and friends. This is a small sized cake that will give you about 12 medium sized thick slices if prepared in a loaf tin. If you need smaller and more pieces, just give a horizontal cut so that the cake is cut into two pieces and then slice them. Do try them out they are delicious and if you love coffee, you will love the flavour of it in the cake too. 

** I must mention here that I have always been skeptical of oil based cakes as deep in my mind cakes turn out best with butter as that was the way it was way back when we grew up. Again, a few flops with cakes prepared using oil myself had also made me think so. But looking at all my friends perfectly baked oil based cakes, I felt that I was going wrong somewhere in preparation. Well, the saying that practice makes man perfect holds true. Not that this one is perfect but close to it. 

** I have miles to go in baking, but I am slowly improving, now I have begun to understand the desired batter texture etc. which I think was where I was going wrong too. There are many more in my to-do-list with eggs and without, and I sure will give them a try as and when I get the time. Now that my confidence has been slowly built up, I am waiting for the next one to be tried and my hubby is asking for the next slice of the baked one, so this one is sure to be over soon. So, I urge you all to keep trying, even if there are a few flops, that’s fine and I assure you the best way to learn.