The Oats Alternative

We have known each other for quite some time now. It was fun Ogling at each other as teenagers. Dreams of togetherness controlled us later. We have had our fair share of problems but then again, life, as all of us know, should have it's complications as well.

 These husband men all over the world are all the same, I tell you. They wouldn't hesitate to work those extra - long hours to gift you that much awaited Euro trip, but cringe at the faintest sound of getting the groceries. Their strong hands will carry all your heavy suitcases but inevitably drop that yellow, oily gravy on your favourite, pristine white bedsheet. Being funny will be his forte when you're upset but sense of humour will be afar if you ask for the remote to watch the comedy series when the game is on. Well, all of us have our own brightness and dark so I guess," you can run, you can hide but you can't escape each other".

Me and this individual from whom I can't escape anymore, have few things in common though. One of them is our mutual adoration for cakes. Though baking is my department and he loves to simply hover over them, seldom does he enter the kitchen while I make them. So, the first time he horrifically watched the loaded butter, maida ( flour ) and sugar which goes into the making, he called the local pathology centre to book for a Lipid profile and a Glucose test the next day !! That day, in spite of all our differences I got a feeling " Aww !! We might even grow old together " - like in the movies ( the much cliched happily ever after part ).

Since eating healthy is the minimum we can do today to maintain a proper lifestyle, my search for alternative cake ingredients ( started the day he got us tested for baking cakes ) finally came to an end with oats and bananas. Yes ! You read that right. Rich in fibre, oats can be easily grinded into flour. We usually throw away the bananas when they over - ripen, instead they can be used as a natural sweetener and can reduce the proportion of butter to half in cakes. This recipe of mine just turned out to be an "Eureka !" moment when my husband man couldn't even guess the main ingredient as oats. Thus a guilt - free indulgence.. with much love..

Ingredients

• Oats - 1 bowl, grind it in the mixer as fine as possible, patiently.

• Corn flour - 1 tablespoon
• Bananas - 2 medium sized.
• Curd ( room temperature ) - 1 bowl
• Sugar - 1/4 bowl ( You can completely substitute sugar with one extra banana.)
• Butter ( room temperature ) - 1 tablespoon
• Vanilla essence - 1/2 teaspoon
• Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
• Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
• Milk - 1.5 tablespoon
• Cocoa powder - 2 tablespoon
• Nuts - of your choice. Here I used cashews.
• Cinnamon powder - 2 teaspoons
• Bread crumbs for dusting the pan

Procedure

• Cut the bananas into pieces and mix in with the sugar in the mixer to form a smooth paste.

• Add in the curd, the butter and the vanilla essence and mix everything in the mixer for 3 - 4 secs. Your wet ingredients are ready.

• In a bowl, take the oats flour and add in the baking powder, baking soda, the corn flour and a pinch of salt ( if using unsalted butter ).
• Mix in the wet and the dry ingredients gradually. You should get a consistency similar to the photo below.

• Take your baking pan, grease it well with a dollop of butter / oil and throw in some bread crumbs. Coat the pan well. ( You can of course use butter paper / parchment paper instead. )

• Now, put in half the cake mixture. Take the cinnamon powder and sprinkle on the cake mix. Tap the pan. Add the nuts.

• Pour in the other half of the cake mix. It would now look like this one below.

• Its time to bake. Preheat your microwave. Set the temperature to 170 degrees and bake the cake for 50 minutes in the convection mode.
• After the microwave beeps, patiently wait for 10 more minutes before opening the door of the oven.
• Its time for cooling the cake down for at least 15 - 20 minutes after which you can easily take it out the mould.

• Pardon me for already taking a bite..

• You can enjoy it this way itself with a nice hot cup of coffee OR have some frosting on top.
• Take the milk, warm it and add in the cocoa powder (sugar in this step is optional, as the cake itself will be sweet ).Stir in to get a smooth consistency and then finally pour and spread it evenly on the cake to get that look.

The perfect guilt free way to end a day

Love.. actually can inspire !!!