But, I will never forget the first cake I ever baked. It was in Mogadiscio, Somalia when I was 8. My parents had gone to the vegetable market that Friday morning (Their weekly holidays were Fridays and Sundays). My brother George was still asleep and I wandered into the kitchen determined to bake a cake. I had seen my mother bake millions of delicious cakes and I had a fairly good idea of what went into it......I gathered the ingredients, threw them all into a large mixing bowl, mixing with a wooden spoon. The funny thing is I did not measure anything. I just threw in the ingredients!!!! Lined the cake tin with butter and flour, poured the mixture into the tin and popped it into the oven. When my parents returned I had this beautifully risen perfect cake waiting for them on the dining table! It looked perfect. Smelled perfect. Was of the perfect consistency.... until we bit into it. It was totally salty!!!! And that was my very first cake. I guess nearly 50 years on I have perfected the art of baking!!!! :)
Here is a recipe which will never go wrong. It works every time. I use Amul butter and Century or SIF maida. The secret is your eggs MUST be absolutely fresh and at room temperature. And the milk should also be at room temperature.
Start with your eggs. Weigh them. Then, using the weight of the eggs weigh the same weight of butter, sugar, flour. Have some milk at room temperature handy. You will need one bottle of vanilla essence (the small bottle) and one level teaspoon of baking powder. And for a rainbow cake you will need food colours. And for the final effect a paper doyle and 100s and 1000s.
Heat your oven to 150 degrees F .
First sieve your flour and baking powder seven times. Yes, the magic to your cake rising is for you to sieve the flour and baking powder SEVEN times... leave this aside.
Line your cake tin with butter and the sieved flour.
Now, place the sugar and butter and eggs into your mixing bowl and use a hand held mixie and mix. Throw in the vanilla essence and continue to mix until it is fluffy, light and smooth. Throw in the flour and mix until all the flour is mixed in. Pour in small quantities of milk to get the desired consistency. The cake mix should only fall off a wooden spoon into the bowl at a slow count of 3.
Drop one drop of food colour into a corner of the cake batter. Mix it and then ladel it into the cake tin. Use another colour and do the same. Use at least 4 to 5 colours. Finally mix the remaining cake batter with all the left over colours and pour into the cake tin. Place the cake in the centre of the middle shelf of your oven and allow it to bake for about one hour and 20 mins. Check with a clean knife by gently piercing into the cake. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready.
Take the cake out and let it cool on a cooling rack. Place a lace paper doyle onto the cake platter or in this case the cake carrying box from tupperware. Sprinkle the top with 100s and 1000s and voila! Your cake is ready!