Purely Pedestrian: Ending 2013 on a Sweet Note - Gers Ogaily, a saffron cardamom flavored cake

We are at the close of 2013 and it has been a year that brought some good and some not so good things. Personally, my year has been a simple, unmomentous one and I close the year knowing my family and true friends are around and will be there for me through thick and thin. They are not physically near me but easily reachable with a big helping hand from all the technology available today. This year did bring more than my fair share of health issues, but now all of it is in the past and I look forward to the dawn of a new year bringing with it a bagful of experiences. I thank God for the gift of this year and ask for his blessings to make the next year a meaningful one. And wish the same for all of you.

And on this note, I would like to end 2013 on a sweet note with this cake called Gers Ogaily. Gers Ogaily is a traditional, saffron and cardamom flavored cake from Kuwaiti cuisine. This cake's taste is not an unfamiliar one to the Indian palette since a lot of our desserts use saffron and cardamom as flavoring agents. This cake is springy to the touch and is extremely soft with just the right amount of sweetness. I referred to the recipe given on this blog and can be referred for the original recipe. I added my touch to it and hence it is a modified Gers Ogaily.

Ingredients

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups

Caster Sugar - 1 1/2 cup

Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled - 1/2 cup*

Coconut Milk - 1 cup

Eggs - 4

Sesame seeds, toasted - 4 tbsp

Saffron - 1/2 tsp

Cardamom pwd - 1 tsp

Vanila Essence - 1 tsp

Rose Essence - 1.5 tsp

Baking pwd - 1.5 tsp baking pwd

Milk - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp*

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius / 350 degree Fahrenheit. Grease and dust the bundt / cake tin and keep aside. Powder the saffron with a pestle and add the tablespoon of milk to it and keep aside to steep.

Sift together the maida and baking soda and add the sesame seeds and cardamom powder and keep aside. Separately combine the melted butter, coconut milk, vanilla and rose essences, mix and keep aside. In a big bowl combine the eggs and the sugar. Beat it till the mixture is frothy and has tripled in volume. Fold in the maida mix and the butter - coconut milk mix little by little into the egg - sugar mix. When adding these, start and end with the maida mix. Once completely combined, pour into the prepared bundt pan. Sprinkle the rest of the sesame seeds on top and bake for 35 to 45 minutes. After 35 minutes, pierce a toothpick / knife into the cake to check if done. Depending on the oven you may need 35 to 45 minutes to bake this cake.

Like I mentioned earlier, the Gers Ogaily is mildly sweet cake. So when serving, feel free to sift some icing sugar on this cake.

Notes:

- All ingredients should be at room temperature unless specified other wise.

- If powdering cardamom in a mortar and pestle add a bit of sugar to make the powdering easy.

- Leave the saffron strands intact instead of powdering it if you like and continue to the next step of steeping it.
- * If using salted butter omit the salt. I used Amul butter since getting unsalted butter in India is so difficult.