Lemon Raisin Chocolate Cake and an award!

It’s the month of romance,day of exchanging chocolates,flowers,gifts between loved ones all in the name of St Valentine.He was one of the most popular priest/saint in Rome .One of the kings (I seldom remember his name) decided that single men made better soldiers than the once with families. Valentine disagreed, fought for this injustice and secretly got young lovers married. What a thought!! And finally the King got to know about his deeds and put Valentine to death. I believe V-day is celebrated to commemorate the anniversary of his death.There are many other stories regarding this day,whatever it is,I suppose Valentine is undeniably a romantic figure. I bet most of the men would have loved to beat this guy who made this day possible coz they wudn’t have to buy flowers/chocolates/expensive gifts everytime:-P. Don’t you think women get more stuffs all the time????? They even have a day for themselves “Women’s day”.I think it’s time to have a “Men’s day” and appreciate all men who have made some difference in our lives:)

I had a wonderful time yesterday,thanks to P. I never knew he cud surprise me so well…very thoughtful of him.We had a lovely dinner at a Lebanese restaurant,my first tryst with Tabouli and it was yumm! And not to forget the belly dance there,which was surely a coincidence. The way we were seated,P was facing the dancer,I ensured we exchanged seats once the program started.Am sure Varsha might say "you too Brutusii” again:D. Post dinner it was Icecream time at Coldstone and then we watched Pink Panther 2 which I din’t enjoy much,felt it was a l’il slow.I somehow didn’t find Aishwarya Rai Bachan all that great,she wasn’t very appealing in this movie,age was showing up on her!

I guess liking “Chocolaty” stuff is a girl thing. A lot of men don’t prefer chocolate. As a matter of fact, P doesn’t prefer it much too,so I baked a “Lemon Raisin Chocolate Cake” for him. Though it was for him,knowing the “meanie wife” I am ,I had to ensure that it suits my taste buds too,thus added li’l bit of chocolate chips which he din’t mind:-P



Ingredients:-

All Purpose Flour – 3cups
Sugar – 2 cups
Eggs – 3
Butter – 2 sticks(1 cup melted)
Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
Lemon Zest - 2- 3 tsp
Raisins – ¼ cup
Chocolate chips – just a li’l (I used ¼ cup)
Milk – 1 cup
Baking Powder – 2 tsp

Method –

1.Sift Flour and baking powder together. Keep aside
2.Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.Add eggs and vanilla essence.
3.Continue beating, add the flour l’il by l’il.Add milk accordingly to get a batter like consistency.You may increase the quantity of milk based on the requirement.Add in the lemon zest.Mix well.
4.Transfer the batter to a greased pan,sprinkle raisins and chocolate chips.


5.Bake at 350F until a needle pierced in the centre comes out clean/till it turns brown. Allow it to cool and then serve.



At the end,it was a gorgeous looking cake:)



Generally, after baking because of the weight,raisins/chocolate chips would have resided in the bottom of the cake,so l’il bit of flour is mixed along with it before sprinkling on the batter. However, I didn’t do this, the raisins and chips were evenly spread in the cake.



Yasmeen of the Healthnut blog has passed on this award to me. Thanks so much Yasmeen:)