About Donovan Fandre Expertise I had the only
nationally televised cooking series on microwave cooking that aired on
PBS and The Learning Channel for 8 years and I`ve also written 5 best
selling microwave cookbooks. I have been cooking by microwave for over 30 years and have accumulated expertise in cooking, defrosting, reheating, craft activities with microwave, dehydrating, and generally everything and anything pertaining to microwave use.
Experience
Past/Present clients Rubbermaid, Del Monte, Alaska Fish & Seafood, Sugar Council, LG Electronics
Question How to prepare a cake in the microwave oven which has Microwave, Convection, Grill etc., modes and what shud be the procedure to use the microwave oven to prepare a simple cake (3 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup Ghee, half spoon essence, 2 cups Maida & two & half spoon baking powder.
We were tring to make the cake on microwave in both convection mode as well as in microwave mode. But the cake was not becoming spongy as it was becoming hard.
What shud be the temperature, how much time should it be kept?
Kindly help me out in this regard as the literature we got from the Samsung company from where we bought the Microwave oven doen't talk about the procedure.
Waiting for an early response.
Answer Dear Mujeeba, thanks for your query. Most cakes bake beautifully by microwave and/or convection. From your question it sounds like you're cooking too long but since I don't know the power or size of your oven I'll offer some general directions. Use a round, straight sided, glass, plastic, or ceramic pan with a 2 liter capacity. Grease the sides of the pan with ghee or vegetable oil spray. Mix the batter and add to the pan. Microwave on high power for 8-10 minutes or until the cake has set and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean. If there's residue on the pick, cook another minute or two. OR, Use the convection mode set at the highest temperature and bake for about 20-25- minutes or until the cake has set and is completely baked. Use the pick technique as suggested in the microwave method. Since I don't know the power of your oven you'll have to try these techniques and pay attention to the cooking progress and stop cooking when the cake looks done and then test to see if it is indeed done. Use trial and error until you get the times right and always undercook so you can add more time if necessary. If you overcook you can't subtract cooking time and must use the cake for other things like feeding the birds or dogs. Good luck. I lived in Bombay for a time and never knew that Indians loved cake so much. I get more questions about baking cakes than any other food.
