Gluten free plum & cardamom loaf cake | Glutenfreewhisk

 This cake turned out to be an absolute delight. The sweetness of plum and the moistness of the cake just works so well. Plum goes really well with vanilla, cinnamon and it turns out cardamom also is a good spice combination with plum. I am making a gluten-free loaf cake and to add a color I am using pumpkin seeds and pistachios for the garnish. I created a layered cake with half the batter followed by homecooked and delicious plum cardamom spread, then another layer of the gluten free cake batter and finally on top the plum cardamom spread. And as you can see in the second image, the layer is evident and the rise of the cake is just perfect.

Using Greek yogurt or even curd for that matter in an eggless cake recipe really helps making the cake moist and give it an appropriate rise because there is a science behind it. The baking soda reacts with the tanginess of the curd creating a bubbling reaction. If you add oil or ghee to the curd and then add baking soda you will see the reaction will be a slow and delayed one. So, I will suggest you do all the preparations like cooking the plum spread, greasing and lining the cake tin and pre-heating the oven prior. Not just for this recipe but for all eggless baking recipes where you add anything tangy like curd or lemon juice to your cake batter because you want that rise in the cake and you don't want the bubbles to settle even before you have baked your cake.

If you have seen my recipes so far, you must be aware that I bake eggless cakes mostly. Although, I eat egg but baking any cake with egg gives me chills. I have had a bad cake baking experience very early in my baking journey. That is when I was a kid and I wanted to try baking in the microwave oven and it was a smelly blunder. And from then I absolutely avoid egg cakes. And another reason is, I love how my house smells when a cake is been baked but when a cake with egg is being baked all I smell is egg and I just detest it. Recently, I have used egg while baking burnt Basque vanilla cheesecake and mango Basque cheesecake. The experience of baking them was really different, not a bad or smelly one but I would definitely love to try an eggless version of Basque cheesecake for sure.

Baking for me has always been a process where I get to bake my own version of cakes and cookies that I absolutely love having. There are so many combinations and flavors to try and bake still but I really like my gulkand cake with chocolate ganache, rice flour cake with apricot jam, mini maize flour lemon cookies, moist orange and fennel cake and more. This plum and cardamom cake is one such recipe that I will make again and again. Maybe a muffin version of the same recipe the next time.

I don't really measure my ingredients and eyeball everything. I just don't have a habit and since I started baking from a very young age, I am used to eyeballing ingredients now. Learned from the OG (mom obviously) and from television shows where I developed the habit of eyeballing to understand the textures and consistency. Because there was a screen between the program and me and every time I saw a new indulgent recipe I wanted to try it. So, I learned like that. I definitely make mistakes which never happens if you measure but I guess I want to make mistakes that even when I am baking half lost, I will remember what quantity of ingredient I have to use. Mistakes help you learn and become better. And nothing is perfect not even a cake, it should be flawed (just a little) so that there is always a scoop of improving.

Have your own flavors and happy baking!

INGREDIENTS -

For plum spread

4 ripe plum, chopped

Brown sugar, to taste or as per the sweetness of plums

1 tsp cinnamon powder 

Half a tsp Black cardamom powder 

1 tsp Ghee

A pinch of salt

30 ml water

For Gluten-free cake

1 cup oats flour

3/4 cup rice flour

1 tsp baking soda

4-5 tbsp ghee

1 tsp baking powder

Brown sugar, to taste

Pinch of salt

water to make batter

5 tbsp Greek yogurt

1 tsp cinnamon powder 

1 tsp black cardamom powder 

3 tbsp pistachios, chopped

3 tbsp pumpkin seeds 

For garnish on the side

Pink Bougainvillea flowers

Tulsi leaves

METHOD -

1. In a pan take ghee, add chopped plum to it followed by Brown sugar, the spices like cinnamon powder and black cardamom powder. Add the water, cover and the plum cook in this on a low flame or heat.

2. Once, the plum spread thickens and the plum becomes soft and mushy, remove from the heat and let is cool.

3. Now pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Line a loaf tin with butter paper and grease it with ghee. Set aside.

4. Next, in a bowl take oat flour, rice flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ghee, Greek yogurt, cinnamon powder, black cardamom powder and water. Make a good cake batter.

5. Pour half the batter in the greased and lined loaf tin, followed by half the plum spread. Add another layer of the gluten-free cake batter followed by final plum spread. Tap for the batter to settle and remove any air voids. You can check the YouTube, link below, for the recipe visuals.

6. Garnish with chopped pistachios and pumpkin seeds and bake at 180 degrees Celsius in a pre-heated over for 30 minutes.

7. Allow it to cool completely, slice and indulge in this gluten-free plum and cardamom loaf cake.

Note- Butter paper is optional. You can just grease the loaf tin and add the batter. You can use any sweetener of choice like white sugar, condensed milk or even stevia.

If you are looking for a loaf cake tin or bread tin, then you can check this rectangular carbon steel cake tin.

Check the full recipe on YouTube (Gluten_free_whisk) - Gluten-free plum & cardamom loaf cake recipe.

Gluten free plum & cardamom loaf cake | Glutenfreewhisk 

Plum & cardamom loaf cake | Glutenfreewhisk