Orange Layer Cake with Orange Bavarian Cream for Diwali

Diwali fireworks are bursting around us as I type. We have all been sitting in the balcony with the little one who is enjoying the pretty starbursts with his great-grandmother, my Ammama. Although he does not like the noise too much and is now sitting on her lap with his fingers in his ears, staring at the sky! Ammama looks so happy, she has come to my parents home here in Coimbatore all the way from her beloved farm in Kerala, just to be with our little monkey. This moment is such a blessing.
  

Hope my Indian friends are having a wonderful Diwali filled with love and laughter and great food of course! 

Diwali is a Hindu religious festival celebrating the return of Rama and Sita after years of exile and is spread over five days. It is great that I was able to be in India during this time.You just cannot help getting caught up in the excitement. I enjoy the fireworks, beautifully bedecked women in their finest saris, jewelry and with jasmine in their hair, but most of all - sweets! It just would not be Diwali without the mandatory boxes of ghee and cardamom scented sweets that would arrive from friends. 

Cake is not typical to Diwali but I was inspired to make this cake yesterday- layers of soft, airy sponge with a touch of citrus zest and just sweet enough orange Bavarian cream with segments of fresh orange that burst as you bite them-citrus fireworks in your mouth!

The sponge cake is made with a lot of eggs but no butter. It is quite dry and slightly eggy-smelling on its own. But it absorbed the simple syrup I made with orange juice and sugar like a...well, like a sponge and becomes moist and tender with a filling and frosting. So for a layer cake, do not look past this simple sponge cake which is also quite easy to make and very easy to remember. If you are looking for a plain tea cake to eat on it's own, check out these instead. I was itching to add a dash of cardamom powder which  think would have been perfect with the orange but my kid brother (no longer a kid really) does not like cardamom too much so I controlled myself. Besides Diwali brings about a cardamom overdose anyway!Which ever way you try it -with or without the cardamom and for whatever reason you find to bake it, you will love it! Even if your Bavarian Cream does not set like me -I don't know why :( and is a little runny, it still tastes really, really good! 

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Hello from India!

Hope you are all doing great. I missed you! Thank you to all of you who wished and prayed for our safe trip here. Our flight down could not be more pleasant. The monkey was as good as gold, charming the Flight Attendants who took turns carrying him around.Though often he tried climbing over my shoulders which was not fun for me, trying to stand on my head to converse in very confident streams of gibberish to the amused co-passengers behind us!

I must confess I hardly missed blogging otherwise, these last two weeks that I was without the internet and all its attractions/addictions! We were busy travelling to my mom's and dad's homes in Kerala and enjoying meeting our large families, who were meeting the little one for the first time. 

We have been marveling at sights like this:

He makes climbing coconut trees look easy

And rekindling memories

The old Amby that is about the same age as me. Wait, that didn't come out right!

And creating some new ones!

My flower obsessed little monkey

The little monkey is completely enjoying all the attention he is getting though I am hoping he doesn't get too used to it! He is also gleefully discovering such  new and fascinating (for him) things like colourful clothes pins, ceiling fans (a-FAN-uh!) and crows (Kaa-kaas)  and most of all newspapers ( shame on his net addicted parents). Everyone is disappointed that he has ignored their gifts of fancy toy cars with flashing lights and beeping horns and other toys and prefers rolling a big plastic bucket around and throwing news papers in the air and chasing bits of paper around the room. I am thrilled that he finds so much glee in such simple things- atleast at the moment! 

Of course his mamma is more interested in all the awesome food. Oh the food! I have been FEASTING eating many wonderful meals like this:

Pearl spot (Karimeen) Fish Fry, Dal ( Parippu), Beef and Chinese Potatoes ( Koorka)

And cooking and baking and learning a lot from my grandmom and aunts and now that I am connected to the net again I will be posting some awesome recipes. See you soon with a recipe and not just pictures!

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