healthy recipes: Fruit Sponge Cake

Fruit Sponge Cake I prepared this cake on my hubby's bday...He liked it a lot.
Fruits like Peaches, lichee and kiwi along with some berrys like strawberry, blueberry, raspberry etc will be usually seen on any fruit sponge cakes.

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour (or Maida)- 1 and 1/2 cups
2. Eggs - 2
3. Butter - 1/2 cup
4. Sugar - 1 cup
5. Milk - 1/2 cup
6. Baking powder - 1 and 1/2 tsp
7. Vanilla Extract - 2 tsps
8. Oil - 1/2 cup
9. Dry nuts powder - 5 tsps (Optional, I used it for nice taste)

For Decorating: (You can use fruits of your choice. I used these below)
1. Apples - 1 Big
2. Grapes - 10 to 15
3. Pomogranates - 1
4. Oranges - 1

Procedure:
1. In one bowl beat eggs, add vanilla extract to it.
2. In other bowl whisk butter and sugar properly.
3. In another bowl sieve flour, add dry nuts powder and baking powder and sift the flour carefully into bowl of sugar and butter mix and whisk properly. Meanwhile add egg mix and milk to this.
4. If you have an electric whisk then you can add all the above ingredients at a time and can whisk easily.
5. Grease a pan or steel bowl of desired shape square, rectangular or probably a round pan particularly with a flat bottom and grease using oil or butter.
6. Pan of any shape particularly flat bottomed ensures even baking of the cake.
7. After greasing the pan you can apply a parchment paper or wax paper on it and then pour the above cake batter into the pan. Using such paper is optional. But greasing is mandatory.
8. Instead of using paper, it is preffered to sprinkle some flour on the greased tin and pat along sides and bottom and remove the excess flour which oozes out after sticking to the greased pan.

Using Oven:
9. Once you pour in the cake batter into the pan, place it in the oven which is pre-heated to 350 degrees F(175 degrees C) and then bake for about 30 to 40 minutes.
10. Cake is done when you insert a knife or toothpick in the cake and it comes out clean.
11. Take out the pan and allow it to cool for 1 hour approximately. After cooling cut the cake from along the sides of the pan. Then you can refrigerate or cut and serve. Plain vanilla cake is ready to eat.

Using Pressure Cooker:
12. In the absence of oven you can bake the cake in normal pressure cooker as well.
13. For this, pour water upto 1 inch high in a pressure cooker which is of 3 litre and above capacity.
14. Now place a stand in the water and then place our pan with cake batter on this stand.
15. Close the cooker with lid.
16. Do not put whistle.
17. Steam for 30 minutes on a medium flame.
18. After 30 minutes, open lid and allow steam to escape.
19. Now heat without lid for another 5 minutes. Take out and cool the cake at room temperature.

I skipped icing the cake. Its upto your choice. After baking the cake, cut it to 2 horizontal halves, apply a thick coat of icing on one layer and cover it with another layer of the cake. Also apply icing on top and on all sides of the cake and then proceed for garnishing with fruits of your choice.

You can use fruits of your choice and availability.

Procedure For Decorating:
20. First place the cake in a plate or a turn table on which you desire to serve the cake.
21. Slice apple as shown in the pic.
22. Take out the outer skin of orange wedges and keep the fruit within aside.
23. Deseed grapes, extract seeds from pomogranate.
24. Now, Place apple slices carefully on the top and around the sides of cake as shown in pic.
25. Between 2 apple slices on top, place orange pieces, sprinkle some pomogranate seeds and place a grape.
26. Now pour pomogranate seeds around and on top of the cake.
27. Place some grapes on center of the top as in pic. And here's ur fruit sponge cake ready to serve :).