Garam Masala Cake

I’d had to buy a bottle of garam masala back when I was trying the spicy lentil dahl recipe. As soon as I took the lid off and smelled it, I said to myself, “I need to bake with this.” So I experimented and here’s the result, a light, moist cake with an intriguing flavour. You can serve it plain, but it’s better with a vanilla frosting. 

7 ounces margarine

1 ¼ cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 ¼ cups flour

3 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons garam masala

2 tablespoons instant espresso

1 cup milk

 

Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease (if using non-stick) a 9 x 13 cake pan. Cream margarine and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla. Combine flour with baking powder, garam masala, and coffee powder. Add into creamed mixture alternately with milk. Spoon into pan and bake for 25 minutes.

I think raisins and chopped walnuts would go well in this, but I haven’t actually tried it since I’m the only one in the house that would eat it. Hmm.