Mom's caramel cake

My mom has always baked this cake ever since I can remember. I even celebrated a birthday in school cutting this cake with my best friend. It has been a family favorite for years and is the simplest of recipes to prepare. I've called it a caramel cake because some of the sugar is caramelized before adding it to the cake mixture. And this is how you do it.

Ingredients:

1. Flour - 3/4 cup
2. Sugar - 3/4 cup powdered
3. Sugar - 1/2 cup for caramelizing
4. Unsalted butter - 50 grams
5. Eggs - 3
6. Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
8. Powdered cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg - a pinch of each 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Caramelize the sugar. To do this, heat the sugar in a bowl over medium heat till it melts and turns a dark reddish brown. When that happens, remove from heat and add a dash of water and mix well. This stops the caramelized sugar from solidifying. Be careful when you add the water. There will be a lot of spluttering. 
3. Beat the eggs, butter and powdered sugar on medium speed till creamy.
4. Mix the flour, baking powder and spices and fold it into the egg mixture. 
5. Add the caramelized sugar and vanilla essence and mix well.
6. Pour into a greased baking tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.
7. Take out, cool and serve. 

This works brilliantly well as an accompaniment to your evening tea and also with some ice cream!

Homemade buns

For the Easter holidays, we went on a trip to London, which meant quite a long drive. So on the day we were supposed to leave, I packed a few burger sandwiches for the road. But, we ended up postponing the trip by one day and had those burgers for dinner that night instead. The next day, I was out of bread so opted to make buns instead of walking all the way to the store. :) I know each one is of a different size but it was fun to make and tasted quite decent too.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 egg

Method:

• In a small saucepan, heat milk, water and butter until very warm.
• In a large bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix milk mixture into flour mixture, and then mix in egg. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
• Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, and place on a greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Cover, and let rise for 30 to 35 minutes.
• Bake at 200 degrees C for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.