Whole wheat berry sponge cake for my Valentine!

Well, since I've been bragging about gifting 'HEALTH' to my love this Valentine I baked him a whole wheat cake as an after dinner indulgence (dinner was 'Oh! so vegeterian')!!! :D I must admit though; the thought of a wheat cake made me really nervous as I wasn't sure how it would turn out but I guess there were no complains at all! Lucky me... :)

It is the season of berries and I am sure if you don't find any you could resort to dry fruit berries (which is exactly what I did!) as they work well too... So here it is...

Ingredients:

Wheat- 125 gms

Baking powder- 1 1/2 teaspoon
Butter- 125 gms

Sugar- 75 gms

Eggs- 2
Milk- 1/4th cup

Vanilla Essence- 1/2 teaspoon

Mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries)- 175 gms

( I used dried blackcurrants, dried apricot and dried figs as I couldn't hop out to buy the berries! But I suggest you use fresh berries of the kind listed as they will surely add an authentic taste to the cake.)

Method:

• Pre-heat oven at 180 C. Grease a deep 20cm cake tin. Shape as per your liking! I used the heart shape since it was Valentine's Day.

• I used a blender to mix the butter, egg, sugar & vanilla essence. First I whisked the egg. Then to this I added the butter and sugar. Whisked till it turned fluffy. At this point I added the essence and gave the blender a quick twirl.
• Now, empty the contents into a large bowl. Gently fold in the wheat alternating with berries and milk. Mix thoroughly to form a thick but viscous consistency.
• Spoon out the batter into the earlier prepared cake tin.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes. I used a fork to test whether the cake was baked. When you poke the cake with the fork it should come out clean. 
• Leave the tin to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
• Once the cake has cooled completely (approximately a couple of hours) remove from the mold by turning the tin upside down.
• Now turn the cake over. Cut it from the center to make it into a half.

Some more experiments with the cake:

My toddler & his friends singing 'Happy Birthday dear Valentine'!

Garnish the cake with some more berry flavor. You can be innovative here. In my case I did a quick shortcut. I had some strawberry sauce at home. I took about a couple of tablespoons of the sauce and mixed it up with a couple of tablespoons of mixed fruit jam. I spread it evenly on one half of the cake and once done topped it with the dry half of the cake. Then I placed it on my cake dish and drizzled some more strawberry sauce around the edges of the cake. Since there was no cream I decorated the cake with a lone candy from my fridge along with some coloured edible candy sticks (thanks to my 2 year old)! 

Left over portion from the party... I feel very proud! :)

Voila...we celebrated Valentine's day in style! :)