Cake in a Jiffy - Plain Vanilla

I had been doing quite an amount of research for quick cake recipes for my son. It so happens that each site just begins the recipe with "Pre-heat the oven...". It is frustrating in India, as mostly people have convection-microwave ovens at home. So most of the cooking directions need a rethink to adjust to our devices.

So, I started trying out with microwave and went through 3 baking sessions till I found a near-perfect way to manage cooking it in the microwave and convection.

Here goes the recipe..

Dry Ingredient:

1. 2 cups flour
2. 2 cups sugar (ground in mixer)
3. 1 tsp baking powder
4. 1/2 tsp baking soda (or if you dont have, add another 1 tsp of baking powder)

Wet Ingredient

1. 2 eggs or 1/2 cup yoghurt (should be thick , preferably the ones available in the market)
2. 3/4 cup butter (90-100 gms) OR 1/2 cup canola oil mixed with 1/4 cup water.
3. 1 cup milk
4. 1 tsp vanilla essence

Steps:

1. Mix all DRY items together
1. Sieve the flour esp if it is not fresh from market.
2. Mix all dry ingredients together and keep separate. Use your finger to gently whisk through the mixture, so that it is uniformly mixed.
2. Mix all WET items together
1. Put all the wet ingredients into mixing bowl, whisk using handheld mixer or use an ordinary mixer.
3. Mix BOTH together
1. In the mixing bowl, slowly mix the dry and wet ingredients together (in small parts) and fold them in using spatula. Keep adding the ingredients alternately, till all is mixed.
2. Take any baking dish and rub oil or butter on the inside
3. Pour the batter into the dish upto half the height.
4. COOK in microwave
1. Place in the microwave at 70%-80% power for 7 mins. The batter will expand. Keep a watch as it might overflow.
2. Then put it into convection mode at 180C upto 4 mins
5. CHECK
1. Use a knife or wooden skewer to pierce the cake, and pull it out. Check if it is dry. If it is still wet, consider microwaving for additional 1 min at 70% power. Repeat the check. Keep doing this until the knife comes out dry.
6. FINISH by cooling it down.
1. Once done, take the cake out and leave it cool for around 20-25 mins.
2. Using a knife, run it around the inside edge to free the cake from the wall.
3. Place a plate on the baking dish and turn it upside down to get the cake out.

Points to note:

1. Use butter paper for inner bottom of the baking dish
2. Whisk the batter to fold in as much air as possible
3. Check the cake during first microwave  phase in between. If it is overflowing, dont panic. Complete that step. Then take out the baking dish and  clean the overflowed contents from outside. Put it back and continue.
4. In case, you want to add nuts or raisins, then add it after 2-3 mins of the microwave phase. If you add in the beginning, it will all settle down and probably burn or stick to the bottom. Not much fun ...
5. For less sugary version,  increase the flour by 1/4 cup and decrease sugar by 1/4 cup.