An email some motivation and tears of joy – Almond cake

// 37 Comments
It may sound familiar if I say “there are many  individual from childhood days I have lost contact “. Let me give you a short glimpse of my yesteryear’s. Say 10 to 15 yrs back during my school days. I was an introvert who had countable number of friends. I was overshadowed by not being a bright student of the class, don’t be surprised if I say, I was never good with my studies, since I hated competition (still do) and intelligence being constantly compared to marks got in exams. According to me intelligence is something a person achieves in any of his/her field of interest which finally gets noticed by people but never compared as each individual has their own originality.
From countable number of friends, one girl Bexci Christy who wore only white and black dress, as that was her fav, that too exactly similar pattern whenever we had a chance to wear color dress in school, was first to cross my mind when I thought of her. We studies together, she is taller than me so we didn’t share same bench nor we giggled during class hours but ….i don’t remember anymore it’s 1 AM now my brain is hibernating. Slowly as we moved to higher grades we got dispersed to follow the blueprint with an urge to achieve what we intended in order to survive in the competitive world and to make our parents feel proud one day!
Years rolled, out of sheer hate, trust me it’s “the” honest truth, I took physics, since I couldn’t get thro’ medical. Thank God for that, I have my own way now. Slowly I fell in love with physics, got to know about research and then a way to attain Dr. before my name. That is the ‘only’ goal in life. I forgot the world when I moved to Finland, since I was seeing the future I dreamt off. Didn’t expect it to be a cake walk but neither did I envisaged it to be hard like diamond, huge like mountain, scary as snake, deep as well, unreachable like ocean and lonely like forest. Getting lost period started, thanks to social-networks. That’s when I started to get back in contact with my old friends, we had endless thing to share, talk and  above all  it made me feel like I gained human-connection, without which am a dead girl.
Slowly my blog baby shaped, not even in my wild dreams I thought it would reach this level, thanks to all who gave/giving me a push to do it and believed I could make it. Last week I received a friends request from Bexci and with small message asking for my email id. It was joyful start for the day, it took me back to those innocent days, loved it. She sent me a mail, which brought “tears of joy” in my eyes. It was filled with encouraging, appreciating and motivating words. I was on cloud9 and indeed had goose bumps. We are sharing long replies, about what’s going on in each other lives and what are we up to. She is a prof. at a college teaching Visual Communication in India stepping in to area of research, I was super impressed. Getting a designation Prof before ur name isn’t easy. It’s a pile of hard work ,dedication and intelligence. That exactly proves marks doesn’t matter!Kudos Lady!
She did create an impact in me for past few days, since I was again at my lower minima going through tough time with PhD. Like they say how small things makes large difference, it actually worked for me. So thank you Bexci and this is a special cake for you darling for making me realize “though I loose one little thing  I gain something precious!”
This is an ultra simple cake, if you are by any chance in nutty mood then this is the cake. Original recipe is from David Lebovitz made few changes, reduced the amount of butter and quantity of eggs. Indeed shared with Vinoo, we loved the cake, as it was subtle chewy of course bit heavy as it contains only nuts but great with tea or for breakfast!
Ingredients250 gram sugar
225 gram coarse almond paste
140 gram  flour
150 ml margarine ( you can use room temperature butter, original recipe asked for 225 gram,  I would say 150 gram will be more than enough!)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

4 large eggs, at room temperature

Method

Soak almond overnight, peal the skin and grind into coarse paste ( I wanted it chewy, its up to you make it smooth or coarse). Preheat the oven to 170 C.

Line the bottom of a 18cm  cake pan with a round of parchment paper, butter the pan and dust it lightly with flour, tapping out any excess. With an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and almond paste until smooth. Add butter and beat for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Now add egg yolk and vanilla mix well.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the batter until well incorporated.

Beat white egg until single peak.  Gently fold the egg white into the batter.

Transfer the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The baking time may take bit longer due to the variation in oven and the way you grind the nut. Cool the cake on a rack before serving. This cake is extremely moist and will keep well for up to a week if well-wrapped.

37 comments

  6. Tanvi says:

    You opened your heart out with that post Ananda…could relate to every word of it :) Friends like Bexci are the most treasured pearls of life…glad that you found her back:)
    As usual cake looks really yummy , supersoft and moist!
    Sinfully Spicy

  8. Pari says:

    Hi Ananda,
    I could feel that u opened ur heart out, it’s important to vent out and I truly feel our blogging friends and surely all ur friends too would understand your feelings. That’s a sweet gesture for an old friend.
    FOODELICIOUS

  10. Priya says:

    I have to say its really very touching post..hope ur friends will understand ur feelings, love the beautiful gesture of Bexci..

    Almond cake looks super gorgeous and moist..prefecly baked cake..

  12. Andrea the Kitchen Witch says:

    the cake is beautiful! I’m happy for you that you & your friend reconnected, that’s so cool!! Recently an old school friend and I reconnected on FB as well, pretty cool that social networking can rekindle old friendships :)

  18. rhisfoodieworld says:

    thank you for sharing such a touching story. I’ve lost touch with so many people over the years,and I think now it’s time to make contact again. The cake is beautiful, so elegant!

  21. MaryMoh says:

    A lovely post about relationships and it’s priceless value. Love your cake too. Would love a slice of that with a cup of hot tea. It’s so cold here up north. Trying very hard to smile 😀 Thanks for your friendship. That warms me up and always brings smiles 😀

  24. Afsal_ Alif says:

    Ohh…ur childhood memories abt the bonds of frendship makes me emotional…..Truly said,Ones intelligence won’t reflect in their progress(report)cards….,Its smthng based on their aptitudes….!

  26. Tamanna says:

    wow….that was an eyeful read. eyeful with held back tears and emotions. i know exacrtly how you feel …it is a real pleasure going down the memory lane after reuniting with a long lost friend =)

    that cake looks really neat and i wish i could have a slice with my morning chai now.

  35. Ananda Rajashekar says:

    An Open Book said…
    Glad that it could relate to many of you, thank you:)

    Umm Mymoonah
    Oh yes it is thanks :)

    Sanyukta Gour(Bayes)
    Oh thanks a lot :)

    Padhu & Madhuri &Sharmilee! &Sarah Naveen &TREAT AND TRICK & aipi &Fathima &Sarah-Jane &Aparna S Mallya &Satya

    Thanks a lot dear ladies :)

    Tanvi
    yes i did Thanvi, thanks to you for welcoming it :) Absolutely she is, thanks :)

    Pari
    yes it help me to vent my heart out :) Thanks for understanding oh yes it was :)

    Ushnish Ghosh
    Thanks Ushnish, ha ha kind of you Thank you :)

    Priya
    Thanks a lot, yes she did, she is the one who inspired me to write about it :)

    Andrea the Kitchen Witch
    How sweet is that …oh man it rocks, Thank you :)

    Wendy@The Omnivorous Bear said…
    Oh yes it is wendy most difficult to relate, Oh thanks a tons for that, loving it and need the most :)

    Gulmohar
    Oh yes i am thank you :)

    Sanchita Karmakar
    Thanks a lot, i means a lot :)

    rhisfoodieworld said…
    My pleasure, wonderful that sounds, I bet it will make you the happiset person on earth, trust me…thank :)

    Radhika
    Oh yes it is, exactly you never feel the difference after a long reunion thanks :)

    MaryMoh
    Glad it brought a smile on your face, oh yes it is getting cold, all i need is some warm tea and something to much all the time :)

    Kairali sisters
    Thanks for stopping by, thanks for your kind words of appreciation :) ha ha thanks a lot for those words, actually am not 😀 he he

    Kulsum@JourneyKitchen
    Oh thank a lot :) Citrus is my new fav too :)

    Afsal_ Alif
    Glad you found it good and agree with my words thanks a lot :)

    Roshan
    Thanks a lot :)

    Tamanna
    Oh how sweet thanks a lot, oh it is….. how nice :)

    Babli
    Thank you :)

    Akila
    Thanks a lot, thanks for stopping by :)

    Heavenly Muse
    Oh that means a lot thank you :)

    Shabitha Karthikeyan
    Oh thanks for stopping by and for your kind words of appreciation :)

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