This is the bake that got Ovenderful its first ever order. I baked 10/11 of these of as tea-cake loaves for Diwali gifting. At that stage, in end of 2013 this was a all-purpose flour one. Soon after, I reworked on it to make a wholewheat one with changes in the recipe.

Now you know why this is an extra special recipe for me – because I was totally clueless about all the non-baking related aspects. How to price it, how to plan the baking – I had an 18 litre Morphy Richards OTG that barely took in 1 loaf. I had an extremely hectic full-time job and a year old baby.

But do you know what are the things I will never forget? The money I earned for this order is what I will never forget. The frantic way of trying to create a pricing “approach” is what I will never forget. The 10 times that I mixed batter and 10 times that I washed that single loaf tin in which I was baking because that was all I possessed – I will never forget.

Because of the faith of a single friend who thought I could do it for her. She knew it more than I did.

A glimpse of how I had packed the loaves in 2013 for Diwali.

Wholewheat Lemon Walnut Cake

Recipe Ingredients

115 g butter

100 g sugar

2 eggs, separated

Grated rind of 2 lemons

2 tbsp lemon juice

215 g wholewheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

125 ml milk

55 gms walnuts chopped

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 cup cream cheese ( if you want to make the sauce topping)

2 tbsp icing sugar

Recipe Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a loaf tin and keep it ready.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar, until light and fluffy.
3. Beat the egg yolks into it one at a time.
4. Add the lemon rind and juice and mix well until blended.
5. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and baking powder 3 times.
6. Fold it into the butter mixture, alternating it with milk.
7. Fold in the walnuts and set aside.
8. Beat the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form, fold in the eggs whites into the walnut mixture carefully until just blended.
9. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake until the knife/toothpick inserted in the centre of the loaf comes out clean.
10. Baking time is about 40-45 minutes.
11. Whisk the cream cheese with the icing sugar.
12. Top the cake with the cream cheese once it has cooled off.

My Tip: The tangy flavours of lemon and cream cheese go beautifully with the earthiness of walnuts and wholewheat.