Daring Bakers Challenge -April Armenian Nutmeg Cake

I did it, I did it...I finally did it.

The daring bakers Challenge for April was an different looking and new cake....I had checked the recipe and downloaded it, just didn't get around to making it...till the last minute.

Well ,the day before the blog post was due.

And I'm happy I made the effort.

Actually ,it was hardly an effort at all.

Armenian Nutmeg Cake....In all my cookbooks and cake books, there is no mention of a technique like this.

I was super sceptical,but I am glad I tried it.

The flavour is awesome...nutmeg and butter make for an interesting combination!

Somewhere the crust merged with the cake...almost like water colours....you don't know where one ends and where the other begins.

yum yum yum!

The pictures don't do justice to the cake....my only excuse,I'm pressed for time.... and how.Today, right now ,as I post, I've got a fancy schmancy lunch of Aloo Tikkis and Papri Chaat on the menu...by demand of hubby dear and sweet child ,who are sick of eating normal lunches...a birthday cake to frost and this blog post to type.So today we recreate this and add the papri chaat.

Crazy huh??

You don't know crazy till you've spent some time in my house.

Sometimes the kitchen seems to be my sanctuary.

Tell me ,do you face such dilemmas too??

Without further ado lets get on with the daring bakers challenge for April.

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.

for the

Daring Bakers Challenge -April The Armenian Nutmeg Cake....

you need

1 cup cold milk

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 cups brown sugar(I used jaggery-gur )

3/4 cup/170 gm butter cut into cubes

1/2 cup walnuts(never to be found in my house...substituted with almonds)

1 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg...fresh

1 large egg

All this sugar has been making me akin to the pimply monster,so I decided to half this cake and make it a small cake. Sceptical remember? Didn't know how sweet child et al would react to the flavour of nutmeg.

Everything was half, I only used the tiniest egg -laid by a hen...relax I could find, Its surprisingly easy to get small eggs if you pay the same amount of money!

And finally,I used the smallest of the springform tins...

A word of advice...Grease and flour the tin.

I did not,, and the cake was a little tricky to remove.

Lets start...Oven on at 180C/350F.

To the milk,add the bicarbonate of soda and set aside.

In another bowl, take the brown sugar-in my case the grated jaggery-gur...which was a little less than 1 cup(...to which I added 2 tsp granulated sugar),sift in the flour and baking powder and add the butter cubes.

With a pastry cutter- in my case my own two hands..blend this all together to resemble bread crumbs. At this time sweet child entered and sampled my wares....he was intrigued. New flavour profile here mum...he stated!

Divide this in half and press one half into the bottom of the tin with the help of your hands.

Now for the nutmeg...fresh from Kerala,which hubby dear bought for me...with a ton of other organic spices..as a gift....believe it!Broken out of its shell!

In a bowl ,mix the tiny egg and the grated nutmeg.

And when whisked well add the milk mix.

Add to this the leftover crumb mix and whisk till most of the stuff dissolves. the batter will be thin. So no worries...Poured over .

Now we sprinkle the nuts...walnuts would have been great...but here ,almonds rule!

Into the oven for about 45-55 minutes

It could have done with 5 minutes less, but the flavour was richer and toastier...so no regrets.

The only thing we knew about Armenia was Mother Teresa...See baking improves your education!

Moist ,delicate and sublime...the dominant flavour of the jaggery/gur was lost...what emerged was AMAZING!Thank you Jason from Daily Candor for this new flavor Profile ...in the wise words of sweet child!

Worth trying out!

Now to get back to lunch!

So what are you baking today???