Eid, Younis Khan,The Captain, and Cake

It's a great, fabulous day today!  It's Eid, the test match between Pakistan and South Africa was a draw due to the magnificence of the most excellent Younis Khan and Misbah ul-Haq, and finally, I'm going to show you how to make cake.  It's a trinity of great things today:  Holiday, draw, dessert.  It  does not get better than this!

First things first;  today is an Islamic holiday.  It's Eid al Adha, or Greater Eid; and it commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God, but was able to sacrifice a ram instead by God's command.  So, today, to celebrate, traditional muslims will be slaughtering a sheep, a goat or a cow, and distributing the meat in three ways:  1/3 for the immediate family, 1/3 for relatives, and 1/3 for the poor.  Children are also given small gifts, and families spend the day together.  And of course, there is lots of good eating due to the abundance of meat!  So, to everyone, Eid Mubarak (Happy Eid)!

Secondly: Younis Khan and the captain of the Pakistan test squad, Misbah ul-Haq, blew those South Africans out of the water with their all-day batting session yesterday!  It was crazy!  It was pandemonium!  Day 4 looked like it was curtains for Pakistan because South Africa were scoring run after run after run.  They declared before they were all out because they thought their bowlers would annihilate our lovely lads!  Wrong!  On Days 4 and 5, Azhar Ali scored 63 runs, the captain of my sports heart Younis Khan scored a whopping 131,


Younis Khan in all of his magnificence

and Misbah ul-Haq, captain of the team scored a glorious 76.  I was afraid my lungs collapsed I cheered so hard!  My lungs are in fact, just fine, but my goodness, what an innings from Pakistan!  Younis Khan...you are great!  Misbah ul-Haq...great leadership and showing the young'uns how it's done.

Misbah ul-Haq showing us how it's done

Rock on, Pakistan!  All of that hard work deserves something special, like cake!  Here's a little recipe which I always use.  It looks a little plain, but it's delicious, goes well with tea, and with a little bit of cooked fruit on top, makes a lovely treat for a special occasion.

Plain Cake
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1.5 cups of white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder

optional fruit topping:
about 1 cup of chopped fruit (mango, blackberries, cherries, blueberries, etc)
1/4 cup sugar

Pre-heat oven to 350 F or 177 C.
Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until creamy.
Blend in the milk.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add flour mixture to the batter, and stir until everything is just moistened.
Pour into a non-greased pan.
Bake at 350 F or 177 C for about 40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool, and if you're going to add the fruit topping, poke holes in the top of the cake with a fork.

Fruit topping
In a pan, combine the fruit and sugar.
Cook on low heat until the sugar is melted.
Pour and spread on top of cake.



You mean I get cake if I score 100?  BONUS!!!

There are several variations to this cake; you can add a teaspoon of vanilla to the batter if you wish, or you can add some grated lemon rind to the flour mix and that will make a lemon cake.  If you want a zestier fruit topping, just add the lemon juice to the sugar and fruit.
Have a Happy Eid, Happy Cricket, and Happy Cake!