It takes me a while usually to compose myself a good deal of writing here, that's if I have stayed too long away from thinking or haven't perched my fingers on the keyboard for a while. Although this not being the case always, I still feel like a sophomoric with words, for today. Where do I begin? What do I tell you?

We are past a week since the 4th of July and I hope you had a wonderful one like we did. Usually, for us, the 4th of July passes by without notice. That's if we were in India, it would have been just another day. Just like how the 3rd of July rolls up on the calendar, follows into the 4th and then into the 5th. But here in the US, it means more than just that.

I did not grow up learning a lot on American history. I don't remember a streak of it either. 4th of July passed as just another date on the calendar. Many years later when I started working, as part of the corporate curriculum, we were trained on the nuances of American lifestyle, their culture, and in general, their ways of life. We were taught, that while dealing with American clients, how one had to roll their tongue to get the 'R's right; a lesson or two that might impress an American and make us sound like one among them. It also preceded into understanding their holidays - the most essential and beneficial part of the training which came with some promises that every offshore engineer had an obligation to know. A promise of leaner workloads on those holidays, one that each of us looked forward to, a promise that one could possibly take a day off and travel far off place to meet their loved ones and share an extra day for the weekend. A promise that we could catch up some extra hours of lunch and coffee breaks that day. There were just a handful few to remember. Those handful that could be counted on fingertips, all defined well by dates and not by planetary movements like ours did. What thrilled us beyond all was the fact that most of these Federal public holidays were observed on the day preceding or succeeding weekend, irrespective of the day of week or weekend it falls in the year.

It intrigues me often why American Independence Day is always greeted with 'Happy 4th of July'. It could well be wished as Happy Independence Day! But like how most cultures are woven through customs and long time traditions, this one still remains to be called Happy 4th of July. So, I ask I hope you had a good one! And, if you know better, let me know why its a 'Happy 4th of July' and not 'Happy Independence Day'!

While the blog-sphere has vast variety of recipes flooding most spaces with the symbolic red and blue colors of the American national flag, I set out to bake some red and blue berry dotted muffins as a tribute to this tradition. My plans to bake Blueberry Raspberry Muffins toppled when I realized I was out of stock on Raspberries and was in no mood to rush out early in the morning. Nevertheless, these Blueberry Muffins were made and devoured for our breakfast, just the American way.

Blueberry Muffins

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup all purpose flour + 1 tbsp to toss blueberries into
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 small egg (If using a large egg, suggest to use 1/2 an egg)
1/2 cup yogurt
3/4 cup fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 380 degrees F.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Separately toss the blueberries with a tbsp of all purpose flour and set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, egg and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and stir the mixture gently using a wooden spoon in figure 8 motion. Add the blueberries to mixture, stir them in, reserving a handful of blueberries to be topped on the muffins.

Scoop the mixture to muffin cups and fill up to three quarters. Sprinkle the remaining berries on top of muffins and poke down lightly. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Remove from oven and turn out, and allow to cool completely. Serve warm or store in airtight container for 2 to 3 days.

Over the past 2 months that we have been here in the US, I have baked only once. And that was when these Banana Cardamom Muffins were made, much on demand by my husband. While banana bakes don't make it to the list my top favorites, I love baking with them and I am now slowly getting closer to loving and appreciating them too. I have come to appreciate the way bananas lend an inherent sweetness to a dish and that helps to reduce the overall amount of sugar. And this one certainly did!

It seems ages since I whipped butter with sugar or whisked batter to make good ol' cakes. On our visit to the States last year, I splurged on baking and took advantage of the large convection oven that the homes here are bestowed with. This time around I made a conscious decision to stay away from baking a ton to avoid all that sugar overload.

I cannot possibly imagine a home that does not stock bananas. Its such an easy takeaway fruit with easy-peasy peeling and no de-seeding. So clean, mess free, hassle free and completely satisfying to a sweet tooth!

We get panic attacks at home when we run out of them! Seriously!

I believe every blogger should have a repertoire that boasts of a couple of recipes starring 'the bananas'. Cakes and muffins take the lead here. A banana muffin is the easiest bake you can ever put together and there are little chances that you will go wrong. It replaces egg with utmost ease adding loads of flavor. And it hardly matters how its flavored additionally. It could either be the classic vanilla scented or chocolate studded or just none at all! Either ways, they all taste delicious. Bananas sing by themselves. They have a characteristic sweet flavor of their own. So should you leave them by themselves, they will yet shine. May be a kick of aromatic spices will add bounce to them.

These muffins were made on a lazy afternoon to go along with our evening cup of tea. As I set out the muffin liners and put the batter together, I realized that my pantry had run out of stock for vanilla extract. A BIG sin for any baker, I guess! But here's where traditions come to rescue. Our by-gone generations have sworn by the fact that bananas and cardamoms make a match in heaven. And I cannot deny that! We have grown up eating desserts and sweetmeats made from bananas heavily scented with cardamoms. So, when these muffins were made, they swept our home with warm, mellow headiness from cardamoms, the jaggery and bananas, making these undeniably irresistible to wait till they cooled. Couple of them were downed warm right as they were out of the oven. These muffins certainly make a lovely tea time treat. They are wonderful to carry out on picnics and long drives.

As for me, they brought back warm fuzzy memories of home and my mother's kitchen where the pairing of bananas and cardamom ruled the roost on many occasions.

Banana Cardamom Muffins (Eggless, Vegan adaptable)

Yields 9 large muffins

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup mashed bananas (about 1 large over ripe banana)
1/2 cup milk (replace with soy milk / nut milk of your choice for vegan option)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup powdered jaggery (packed)
1/4 cup fine sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fresh cardamom powder
Handful of chopped walnuts and raisins

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Line the muffin tin with paper cases.

Mash bananas along with milk, jaggery and sugar in a food processor. To this, add vegetable oil and whisk well. Set aside.

In a separate glass bowl, sift the all-purpose flour and fresh cardamom powder along with baking soda.

Make a well in center of sifted flours. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Fold gently. Few lumps are perfectly okay, but do not over beat. Finally fold in the walnuts and raisins. The batter should be thicker than the regular cake batter.

Scoop out spoonful of the muffin batter and dollop them into the lined muffin tins. Scatter a handful of walnuts and raisins. Bake for 25 minutes at 180ºC or until a skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool before removing from pan.

Today, my daughter and I decided to walk to the mall. With less than 3 days for us to head back to India, she insisted on an outing that I could not disobey. She has her favorite spot in the mall. Its the 4 buggy cars for toddlers, each in blue, pink, yellow and white that stand in a queue by their sides, their fascinating shapes and colors pompous enough to draw any child's attention. One, that resembles an ice cream; another, a train engine, and rest that I don't register. They hold a quiet, yet, prominent position in the mall. Right at the entrance, next to tall bubble gum candy loaded glass canisters where you drop in cents or drool over the colored candies. I bought one for myself too. I can barely resist.

There, she played for hours pretending she was driving a car, humming her favorite rhyme she's hooked to these days. The Driving In My Car by the Mother Goose Club. A rhyme that I don't remember learning myself as a kid. We play and listen it in loops, in good doses enough for both of us to know it by heart. She played and played, hopping from one to another at intervals, fluttering her petite pink frilly skirt each time with her moves, the characters of disney fairies flying all over with their wands on her tees, like they were in game with her, crooning through and pretending to drive. 'Mama, why is there no seat-beat in my car like Mama Goose has?', she asked. It's sometimes tough to convince her.

My favorite spot in the mall is the Barnes and Nobles bookstore for two reasons I love. One, she gets to play Lego and two, I get to read. It makes me pretend I own that bookstore, at least momentarily. Wouldn't it be nice if we all had one such big library at home? Oh yes. I dream all the time. I tell my husband - 'we'll have a nice library at home some day'. We are not voracious readers, yet, I am convinced there would be enough to stack up there - handful of my favorite collections, classics, magazines, my books of art, his books of birds, geos and travel, my ever-brimming collection of cookbooks and enough that will come in years from my little one too. A quaint little space of our own which will have silence like none. Where, the only sounds came from flipping of pages, clattering of the coffee cups, may be crunch from a cookie or two or the bat of eyelids to adjust glasses. Books stacked in wooden cabinets from their floor to ceiling, corner to corner, a big wooden armchair and a coffee table by their side, like the one this bookstore has. It's always full, occupied by aged folks in their 60s and 70s mostly. Retired and settled in life. They are the ones who have ample time in the world to sip coffee over hours and bury themselves behind books. To squander their day flipping pages in slow motion, adjusting glasses that have grown older and heavier like their age. There's no worry or hurry to get back home or anywhere, like we do.

So there she was, perched on the gray baby couch at the play table with piles of blocks that I had emptied from the bucket. Sadly, those blocks in same colors and shapes have been cornered with remote interest at home. There are wooden trains and rails for her to explore, well, just in case she lost her interest in these. I stood behind her with my presence lingering around so she could tap me from the corner of her eyes. It matters the most to her, least she knows mama dear is just around. My eyes gently wandering around for books that interest me the most. Legos are for her, not me; I make them mine for her. Its not time for fiction, nor classics. They need hours, not minutes that I have at hand. Spirituality and religion have a long long way to go. Magazines go into my bag for billing. Cookbooks are just what I need. Deep there with my eyes fixed, as I scanned books after books, there came a recipe for blackberry tea cake from one among them, 'English Tea and Cakes'. That reminded me of the box of berries we bought a fortnight ago. They just needed the right recipe to be consumed.

Boxes of little black jewels, plump and rounded, stay stacked in my fridge since over a week. I could string them to a beautiful necklace or stud a couple of ear danglers, oh the little darn beauties they were; but I held them - for a dear recipe instead. Enough berries were smothered in bananas berry smoothies to bore all. A berry tea cake from this cookbook was inspiring, however not far from the pound cakes I made in the past. I gorge a lot of it when I bake big batches of tea cakes, loaves or brownies, so it wasn't the day for another tea cake or a loaf. I had promised myself to resist. Patience, I know is tough. Persistence, is even tougher. Instead these tiny bites of my all time favorite brownies interspersed with these black jewels were made. These cupcakes help me resist that urge. The urge to eat a ton. Like a glutton. The urge to taste the ingredients, the batter, the after baked test tasting, the break snacking and mid night cravings, slices after slices. Mini treats like these keep me in curb.

I would hate to admit if someone asked me, 'How many cupcakes did you consume in a go?'. Half a dozen? Or did I miss anymore?

Blackberry Brownie Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Loosely adapted from Joy the Baker

1/2 stick salted butter (or 1/4 cup)
1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate (72% cacao), coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup (60 grams) of yogurt (was substituted for 1 egg)
1 tsp. vanilla powder (or extract)
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
10 blackberries, sliced to quarters
8-10 pecans, chopped
Chocolate Ganache for Frosting
Handful of blackberries for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare mini cupcake moulds separately. I did not have a cup cake tin / muffin tin. Hence these cupcakes are free standing ones.

Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

Melt butter in a medium steel heat proof vessel. Once the butter has melted and is hot, remove from heat and add chopped / grated chocolate. You can do this in a double boiler method too, however I like it this way since it consumes less time and is faster hence. Stir well so that the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. Whisk well and allow to cool to room temperature. Then add in sugar, yogurt (or egg), and vanilla extract. Whisk well. Add the blackberry slices and pecans and whisk them in. Pour into the prepared paper cups, up until 3/4th of each cup and bake for 10-12 minutes. Keep a firm eye on them so that you don't over-bake.

Allow to cool these cupcakes completely on a wire rack. Then frost with a topping of your choice. I chose a Chocolate Ganache frosting, the recipe for which can be found here. Stud each cupcake with blackberry.

Note:

If you skip the berries and choose to bake these brownies alone, they may be slightly more cakey in nature and less fudgy. If you like fudgy brownies, then you can skip the baking powder and reduce the flour to half a cup in them. The blackberries add a bit of moisture to these brownies.

I was five years old when my mother first enrolled me into learning dance. The classical one - Bharatanatyam. It was in suburbs of Bombay (the then Mumbai) that my mother conscientiously learnt driving our first blue Fiat car to drop and pick me from those dance classes after school. I spent 3 years attending those after-school classes with deep rancor and resentment. My pale memories of my lack of interest to learn, teacher's constant chastisement at my dancing abilities, my mother's distress at my own inabilities to deliver, to forage excuses in all manner possible to avoid attending classes; stay as stale stories of my childhood; reminding me often how my mother had harboured a dream to see a dancer in me, while I stood cold feet and barely moved my bones to the tutelage. They are bleak and faded in blotted patches, but clearly there for me to remember, like the photograph of me in my dancing costume with my brows raised, my hands in action and a tight smile on my lips. That was probably clicked to save this memory.

So it took 3 years, a stage dance where I was made to stand (read hide) in the third row behind tall girls, one transfer of dad's posting to a far-distanced-remote district location for my mother to realize classical dancing was not my cup of tea. She gave up on me finally and let me live on my own. To let me explore what I could do better over dancing.

I had harboring interests in other aspects of art. My mother took up to learn nib painting in her free time. Canvas, oil paintings and nibs lay scattered all over the house. She was a pro at sewing and would stitch dresses and accessories for us with utter ease. Scraps of leftovers were handed over to us for play. It got over to me too. Sketching, painting and craft as a hobby became dear to me with time. I had a creative side in which I fared quite well and gained good scores at competitions in school. I received encouragement from all. There was no pressure to perform, no one coerced me to bring accolades, no teacher to reprimand. It was for me to develop and bloom my hobby the way I wanted to. My mother supported and fostered my interests beyond all. And I did reasonably well for many years.

I pursued this interest for long till I got married. They gave me sincere company when I was living by myself. I bought several painting books from the bucks I made while in college teaching painting in my free time to kids at a school. They are stacked neatly on my book shelf even today. Plastic binders don the books. Not a dog-ear that you can spot. My parents have my sketches and paintings framed that adorn their walls at home. The guy whom I was dating then (my husband today :)) told me once that he liked Sushmita Sen over Aishwarya Rai. I spent an entire night sketching her out for him. She has a look of shock on her face! Now that's what a night out does to you! That was probably the last time I held a pencil over paper and dipped brush into the paint box. And then we got married.

Charcoal over paper

Marriage changes life. It changes hobbies as well. That happened to me too. New families were embraced, following traditions - his and mine became important and career brought in responsibilities. Life became focused and busier, so hobbies distanced by virtue. Cooking took over as feeding family became a priority. With time and a baby it became a coherent part of my life that couldn't be ignored. So I accepted to love it instead of moaning. Cooking became a hobby. So did photography to feed the blog. Sayonara to all other forms of art.

Sadly, these artistic skills have been least helpful while icing cakes. I set out to bake these cupcake last fortnight with a batch of Raspberry-Strawberry Jam I had at hand. While the cupcakes themselves were a simple to make, considering how much little effort I had put into making them apart from just blending all ingredients in the blender (following Nigella's directions on one of the episodes I had seen in the past) they were moist and delightful to devour. I assumed my artistic skills would really be put to use while frosting them. But boy, I was so wrong and boggled at what mess I had created out of the canned frosting. Fortunately no butter or cream wasted. Just 3 cupcakes topped and stopped at that ordeal. I decided to stay out of it for the rest. I thought you should see my shabby work at frosting too!

Raspberry Strawberry Swirl Cupcakes

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 cup salted butter, softened at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup any berry jam such as Strawberry, Raspberry or blueberry (store-bought or homemade)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with liners and set aside.

Blend the first 7 ingredients, except the raspberry jam in a clean blender till the mixture is incorporated well and is light, pale yellow and fluffy. This should take just about 30 sec of whiz. I like to throw in the wet ingredients first and then the dry ones. Divide batter evenly among the cake liners, filling each about three-quarters full. Drop a blob of the raspberry-strawberry jam into each cupcake and swirl them gently in the cake batter using a toothpick. Bake for about 20 minutes, or till the cake tops and edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and let me sit for 5 min. Transfer to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely. Frost them with any choice of frosting.

For a long time I did not come across a lemon cake, a lemon tart or a lemon pudding that really deserved an applause. At least not until last week. On occasions where I tried the lemon cheesecake from the best of the restaurants served as a part of their buffet menu in Bangalore, it was terribly disappointing; all failing to leave the lasting impression that would instigate my taste buds to bake and recreate the same lemony desserts at home. Probably that's why I often show least enthusiasm towards all desserts lemony or intensely tart. I made some rarely at home with unsatisfactory results and the ones I ate out were too tart for my tastes. I like to leave the matrimony of lemon and sugar for a well deserved lemonade or those flavored Ravalgaon lemon candies - if you may remember, our parents gave us to suck on for hours as kids while on travel in those dilapidated State Transport buses to fight nauseating attacks.

We went out shopping for groceries yesterday. Yes, it was mid-week, but we had to go. That way we make an excuse to drive and take our daughter out every evening.

Three big lemons went into my grocery bag last evening, of sizes that resembled the country oranges we get in India. They are a must in my kitchen, in almost every dinner I make. Today, a part of it went into making these lemon poppy muffins, quite close to the one we had for our breakfast in Buffalo, NY last week.

I set out to make these muffins for another trial (sadly some of my past trials with all lemon based desserts had ended in the bin), but they turned out so good that I wanted to record them. So here are the muffins, 4 domed ones I got from the said measurement below. Tweaked, tried and tested over many attempts till I found them good to strike their delicate balance in sweetness, the zest and tang. Good bye to those lemony treats in the past that went into my garbage bins, because they were not to my expectations and rendered futile effort. These will not twitch your brows, nor make you wink with their piquancy. They have perceptible fragrance, gratifying flavor, neither intensely tart, but zesty enough to tickle and refresh your taste buds. They are really really subtle and gentle, so forgive me if you find them too low on lemon notes. And just in case you are like me, you will certainly like these.

There's my little one, cross legged on the black floor couch in the living room, digging down deep into those muffins. She refused to eat her breakfast today. These muffins were made to bribe.

Lemon and Poppy Seed Muffins

Makes 4 regular muffins or 8 mini muffins

INGREDIENTS

Dry Ingredients:

1/2 cup heaped all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 cup poppy seeds

Wet Ingredients:

Zest from 2 large lemons
1/2 lemon juice squeezed
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 olive oil
1/8 cup milk
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 350 deg F. Line a muffin tin and set aside.

To make muffins, use the fingertips to gently rub the zests from 2 lemons into the sugar till the lemon oil and its flavor are released into the sugar. I recommend spending at least 5 minutes doing this, since it brings out amazingly refreshing flavor and pale yellow color. Next add the egg, oil, milk, vanilla extract and whisk well.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into the wet ingredients. Then add poppy seeds and gently mix the wet and ingredients till just combined. Few lumps here and there is just fine.

Spoon the batter to muffin cups up till the 3/4th and bake for 20 minutes at 350 deg F. Remove and allow to cool on a rack to room temperature and serve.

In zeal of year end celebrations, it’s the piquancy of winter season that makes the last leg of the year very commemorative. We live in a country that swears by warm, sunny weather through most part the year, so when December welcomes you with gusty cold winds you yearn for, you can’t ask for something better! Apt for the season, it’s cold these days and the days are shorter. A bit of lethargy sneaks in as we snuggle deeper into the comfort of our quilt, unwilling to wake up to the bite of cold. As the alarm clock ticks itself to the wakeup call, I indolently push it to snooze only to catch up with couple of more minutes of my siesta. Not that my deep slumber holds on to me, but my head is dizzy to wake and I am half woken by the clock’s ring. On the fore, if sleep hovers itself, in the background, my mind is at unrest fighting away fears of waking up late and missing my office bus. Sleepy mind at unrest, that’s what cold winters can do to you.

Pulling off myself on the 2nd or 3rd ring of alarm, the floor is pitch cold as I hastily search for my slippers in the muffled rays of dawn that penetrates my room. Outside its cold and dark and as the first rays of amber sunshine begin to warm the sky, I drag my feet to the main door in sleepy eyes to reach out to the pack of milk that is door delivered by the milk man, as early as 4 in the morning. A splash of cold water on my face freshens me out of my slumber like a refreshing mint in a foul mouth. Before my man and my baby wake up, the milk is boiled, tea is made, while priorities race through my mind as I gear to organize for the day ahead. A quick round of discussion over a cup of tea with my hubby helps clear my thought process. But then that’s a daily facet.

There are some things other than the mundane that perk up our lives. If cold rainy winters can be dull and gloomy, I like to see the blessed part of it too. December brings about several comforting thoughts to my mind, about winter, the nip in air, waking up to be caressed by misty chill mornings, vibrancy of bounty fresh produce our markets will boast of, Christmas holiday baking, New year partying, which gives me good enough reasons to feel peppy about. Like the sight of first seasonal peas in the market or the Christmas tree in its glittery décor that has been put up in the nearby mall, year-end sales catching up at fast pace, obvious that we are chasing the last lap of the year that will soon be gone.

True to December, our markets are flooding with fresh produce of green leafy vegetables, cauliflowers, assortment of apples, juicy Nagpur oranges and bright pink strawberries. We are seeing first signs of fresh peas in the pod and I’m eagerly looking forward for more of litchis and figs. We are bringing apples, melons and pears in bulk. With Christmas which is hardly couple of weeks to go, I am pinning hopes to make use of all that bulk my refrigerator is currently stocked with, make time for some bakes that will keep my kitchen warm and cosy, roiling out dishes from the freshest of produce my markets have to offer. Food can be emotive in many ways!

I have already made a start with these breakfast muffins that make it perfect for the season. Healthy, flavoursome and quite festive too. Packed with health from fresh fruits, goodness from wheat, bran and cornmeal, crunch from nuts and eggless to boast, these will make a perfect beginning to my year end baking marathon.

Breakfast Muffins

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat flour
2 tbsp. cornmeal
1 tbsp. rolled oats, powdered
1 tsbp. coconut flakes (I've used frozen one here)
1 tbsp. wheat bran
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp. baking powder
2 bananas (I've used yelakki bananas here)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup apple, cored and finely chopped
1/4 cup pears, peeled and finely chopped
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. chopped cashews
1 tbsp. raisins

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C. Line the muffin tins with paper cups and set aside.

Blend the bananas along with milk, vanilla and dark brown sugar. Add the oil and vanilla extract and pulse again. Transfer to a bowl and set this aside. This becomes the base of our wet ingredients.

In a separate mixing bowl, mix all the dry flours, like all purpose flour, wheat flour, cornmeal, rolled oats, coconut flakes, wheat bran together along with baking powder and cinnamon powder. Add in the chopped fresh fruits, cashews and the raisins and toss well. Make a well briefly and add in the wet ingredients to these dry ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Spoon into muffin tins, almost to the tops of the rims.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool in pans for 10 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Note:

The cup measurements mentioned here are standard Indian tea cups.

Cornmeal does have quite a distinctive flavour which may not be in favour of everyone's palate. So skip it, instead substitute with equal amount of wheat flour or all purpose flour. The batter will be slightly thicker than the regular cake batter.