12 YEARS OF MARRIAGE AND A CAKE

Today we celebrate 12 years of our wedding!!  Yes 12 years have passed and a two lives from the North and South of the country came together and mingled to become a family.

Our marriage was a movie story kinds.  The boy - a North Indian Punjabi Hindu and the girl - a Delhi born and brought up Keralite Christian girl.  My family was so totally against the marriage and they tried all tactics and tricks and emotional blackmail to pull me away from this so called alliance that I had sought for myself.  And his family had happily accepted me as a part of their family because they knew that their son had made up his mind and they would not be able to change his mind.  My parents finally gave in to their stubborn daughter after a lot of melodrama and mein shaadi karoongi to isse nahi to kunwari reh jaoongi!!!

Today we have withstood a lot of phases in our lives and stuck by each other through thick and thin.  Ups and downs of lives and careers, making tough decisions and enjoying the sweetness that life offered us.  Most importantly a beautiful daughter who is the light of our lives, and the most precious gift God could give us.

Life witthout each other would be incomplete and infathomable and so I pray that God blesses our togetherness now and till death do us apart.

This cake was made some while before but I am posting it today, since the anniversary cake was brought from the market.  I had made this cake on the occassion of the farewell of a good friend of mine leaving Kenya and resettling in Canada.

For the first time I made a 3 layered cake and I must say it was HUUUGEEE.  The cake must have weighed at least 3 kgs..............but it was delicious.  I had strawberries and a fruit cocktail can that Rajeev had brought from the Del Monte factory, which I also wanted to use fruitfully :)

Ingredients :-

For the sponge

1 cup - maida / refined flour

1 cup  - atta / wheatflour (I add to increase the health quotient of the cake)

1 tspn - baking powder

1 tspn - baking soda

1/2 cup - warm milk

3 eggs

1 cup - butter or refined oil (I mostly use oil to increase the health quotient of the cake)
1 cup - sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tspn - vanilla essence

Recipe

Seive the flours, salt, baking powder and soda together
Separately beat the oil and sugar together till creamy
Add the egg one by one till fluffy
To this add the vanilla essence
Add this mixture to the flours and mix well
Add the milk mix well
Pour this into a greased and dusted pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg cel till 45 minutes

For the strawberry frosting

Ingredients
1-1/2 cup - fresh cream
1 cup - icing sugar
1 tspn - strawberry colour

1 tspn - strawberry essence

Recipe

Beat the cream till soft peaks form

To this add the icing sugar and beat till stiff peaks form

Add the stawberry colour and essence and mix till you get the desired colour

Put this in the fridge till you are ready to use it

For the assembling

Ingredients

1 cup - juice (use any flavour you like but orange or pineapple goes best, I used the residue from the fruit cocktail and some pineapple juice)

Fruits from the fruit cocktail

Strawberry fan to garnish

Recipe

Cut away the top of the cake to make a smooth surface

Now cut the cake carefully with a big serrated knife into three slices

Keep these safely and separately

Now on the tray you are going to serve put the first layer and sprinkle juice on this till it is well moist

Spread a layer of the cream on this and spread small peices of the fruit cocktail on the cream

Next take the other layer and sprinke juice till well moist

Very carefully place this on top of the fruit and creamed layer.  Press lightly and again spread the cream and fruits

Now add on the last layer and this time cover the whole cake with cream.

Top this with strawberry fans which I made by cutting slices of strawberry but without cutting right through and spreading these slices with very soft hands I used a fork to make a design on the cake and added some sprinkles on the corners