A Walk Down Memory Lane
My husband and I were reminiscing over our childhood memories on New Year’s eve. Living away from your home country makes you go down a burrow of memories from time to time. Is it because we miss our homeland so much? Is it to remind us of who we are and where we come from? Some of those cherished memories almost always revolve around food.
Iconic Foods from Madras/Chennai
Some of the iconic foods we totally miss from our hometown Chennai are the following:
- The infamous Iyengar bakery puffs in Dhandeeshwar Nagar, Velachery
- Anything from Shakes n Creams in Adyar because there was nothing of the kind back in the 90s. (Side note: also the Bajji Kadai right next to Adyar bakery and shakes n creams)
- Samosa chaat, khandvis, pav bhaji, and dhoklas from Shree Mithai/Gangotri
- Alsa Mall parathas
- Just plain ol’ idli, dosa, vada sambhar from Karpagambal Mess in Mylapore.
- Wheat Halwa from Gomathi Shankar T Nagar.
Anyone from Chennai would know exactly what I’m talking about. These places remain iconic even today. They hold a special place in every Chennaiites heart. NRIs love to visit these spots on every visit back home. If you are visiting Chennai and want to eat some delicious food from down-to-earth spots, the above list is it!
Honey Cake from Chennai
There was one more item in that list that we spoke about that day. It was the honey cake sold in bakeries across Chennai that my husband seemed to remember from his childhood. I have to admit. I have never eaten cakes out of our local bakeries mainly because we were more into hot snacks than cake. There were a few sweet dishes that made a regular appearance like the mysorepa, pastries from Adyar bakery, and halwas from Kanyakumari/Tirunelveli. But never the infamous honey cake.
I have passed a gazillion bakeries in Chennai in my childhood and have seen those squares of cake laden with a bright red jam and freshly grated coconut placed carefully in glass boxes for the world to see. Nevertheless, it is not something I have tried. Kar had his own doubts whether he would actually like the red jam if he were to try it again.
Altering Ingredients to Suit our Adult Tastebuds
So I decided to recreate this special cake for my husband’s birthday. Instead of the gooey red jam and coconut, I decided to make a simple vanilla cake with an orange honey glaze that seemed like the perfect swap for our adult tastebuds. This is also the first year that our mandarin orange tree gave us oranges. They obviously had to make an appearance in making this special cake.
Love for Bundt
Thanks to the slew of festivals in the last quarter of 2020, I knew that a frosting-laden cake wasn’t going to make an appearance for at least 6 months. I opted to bake the cake in a stunning bundt cake pan from Nordicware. This recipe makes a little more than 4 mini bundts. I poured the excess batter into a muffin pan and tweaked the bake time.
Notes:
You can also make some simple syrup. Poke a few holes in the cake using a toothpick once it is out of the oven. Put the simple syrup onto the cake a tbsp at a time and allow it to absorb the moisture before using the glaze to make it extra moist!
Speaking of cakes, I have an easy winter cake recipe that is the perfect addition to your tea time routine. Check it out and leave me your comments!