Ghee Cake 

(Indian Take on the traditional Pound Cake)

I first had this delicious cake during my early days of traveling in Kerala, at an unassuming bakery in Palakad. I so fell in love with this simple, melt in your mouth cake that every time some one would even think of going to Palakad, I would make them swear to bring me back at least a couple of these cakes or else….

Pound cake refers to a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. The traditional recipe makes a cake much larger than most families can consume, and so the quantity is often changed to suit the size of the cake that is desired.

As long as the ratio is preserved, the resulting cake will be identical to that using the traditional recipe. Hence, any cake made with a 1:1:1:1 ratio of flour, butter, eggs, and sugar is also called a pound cake, even if the quantity used is smaller or larger than an actual pound.

All ingredients remain the same except that instead of using Butter we use pure Ghee.

Ingredinents:

250gm       Maida.

1 tsp           Baking Powder

¼ tsp          Baking Soda

250 gms     Pure Ghee

250 gms     Castor Sugar

4 Eggs        Yellows & Whites separated

½ tsp          Freshly grated Lemon Zest

2 tsp           Fresh Lemon Juice

½ Cup        Milk

2 tsp           Sugar

1 tsp           Vanilla Essence

Method:

·      Sift together Maida, Baking powder and Baking Soda.

·      In a large bowl, beat together Ghee and powdered sugar with an electric beater on medium speed until light and fluffy.

·      Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each inclusion.

·      Add the lemon juice and lemon zest and beat for another minute.

·      With the beater on low speed, alternately add flour and milk to Ghee mixture, beginning and ending with flour.

·      In another bowl whisk egg whites stiff, then gradually add 2 tbsp sugar and vanilla essence and continue to beat until stiff.

·      Fold egg white mixture in to the Ghee mix.

·      Pour in to a well-greased cake tin and bake in a pre-heated oven of 180 Deg C for 50-55 minutes, or when a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.