Cake please !!!

Oh no, rest in peace! This post is not about the French revolution or Marie Antoinette! Its the refrain my ears have been buzzing with these days!

V2 hates food. He has the appetite of a supermodel along with the airs of a diva. I would choose an hour of third degree torture over coaxing him to eat. He approaches each meal with an arched eyebrow that all but shatters your self confidence. Before V2 came along, I used to consider myself a brilliant cook. Now I am not so sure.....

Subtlety obviously is not his forte! More times than not, he just lays his meal on the floor and rolls a truck over it. And then, just in case you were not quick to catch the hint, he makes his point crystal clear by stomping over the remains with his tiny feet. Or if he is in a generous mood, he just hands you back the plate with one simple word "No"! 

"Why?" you may ask, you may plead, you may threaten with loss of privileges.

But V2 remains adamant. "No" he says and No it is till you give him a bottle of formula to compensate.

Earlier I would attempt things like make 4 different options and lay a buffet for him. Or on hearing a No, I would get up, make an omelette or a paratha or piping hot dosas, if we had batter at home. We even tried to take him to the garden downstairs or the pool to entertain him while he ate. I soon realised, 

a- it became a habit, so everyday, irrespective of what we served, he wanted to go out and eat his meal.

b- The returns were never commensurate with the effort - he would play and roam outside but the meal still lay unfinished

c- Worse of all, it was instigating the more peaceful and completely non fussy V1 to revolt!

One of the things that stressed me out every day was what to serve as snacks. Now while V1 ate his yogurt with great interest, V2 would run away the minute he saw one. V1 loves fruits of every kind. V2 on the other hand, has a internal antenna much like bats do, that points him in every direction but fruits. No matter what fruit you serve, even one he is not seen before, he will take one look, one whiff and go "No!", spit, "No", spit. So what does one do? How many types of biscuits and crackers can you serve? Tried canapes, he ate the cover and threw the filling out. Tried bread pizza, he took one look at it and left the room. 

Luckily, quite by chance, we discovered V2 loves cake! LOVES! He goes and holds the handle of the oven (when its NOT in use, incase someone is thinking of calling Child Services), uses it as a monkey bar and sings "Keyk", ""Keyk"! And there are days, when much like Marie Antoinette, he thinks we should substitute it for bread. Or rice. Or pasta. And in exasperation and helplessness, we do.

When I mentioned this on Facebook, a few friends asked me for the recipes of these cakes. So here they are. 2 simple and easy to bake cakes, whose recipes Angel 2 dredged up. 

1. Banana Cake

Ingredients

1/4 lb butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon bicarb of soda

3 mashed bananas

1 cup sugar

1 and ½ cups Self Raising flour

2 tablespoons of milk

What to do?

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, then milk and soda and mix together. 

Add flour and then the mashed bananas. 

Place in cake tin. 

Bake 40 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees

Viola! Cake ready!!!

2. Yummy Carrot cake

Ingredients

1 cup plain flour 

½ teaspoon cardamom and cinnamon powder

1 cup castor sugar

½ cup chopped nuts

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

½ teaspoom bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon ginger

1 and ½ cup grated carrots

½ cup chopped sultanas

3/4th cup oil

What to do?

Sift flour, soda, cardamom and cinnamon powder, ginger.

Add carrots, sugar, nuts and sultanas.

Make a well, add eggs, oil and vanilla (don't lose heart if the cake looks real messy at this stage)

Beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon

Pour into a greased tin ring

Bake at 180 degrees for 40 -50 mins. 

Let it cool for a few minutes before turning out

Icing - 

Beat 125gm of softened cream cheese with 3/4th cup icing sugar plus a squeeze of lemon. Beat until smooth and then spread over the cake

Personally I feel it tastes way better without the icing. And why give sugar to kids when you could do without the sugar rush!

And result. There is V2 below, polishing off an entire plate of keyk, while brother is busy polishing off his bowl of fruits!!! ;)