Wholemeal fruit cake (with chia seeds)

I have used a very basic sponge cake recipe to make this melt in the mouth fruit cake. I have however, replaced all purpose flour with whole wheat flour and white sugar with brown sugar. The addition of 1 cup of fresh strawberries made it a lovely fruit cake. You can add any fresh or dry fruit of your choice.

The addition of chia seeds is optional. I had them stocked up so I used 1tbsp of whole chia seeds in the recipe.

raw whole chia seeds

This Link will give you all the nutritional information on chia seeds and its potential health benefits.

Here's what you will need to make this fruity fresh cake

Preparation time - 15 minutes

Cooking time - 35-40 minutes

Serves 7-8 people

Ingredients

200 g whole wheat flour

200 g butter (at room temp)

200 g brown sugar

2tsps baking powder

4 medium eggs

1/2 cup warm milk

1 cup fresh chopped strawberries

1 tbsp chia seeds(whole)

Method

• Pre heat oven at 200 degrees C. Grease and dust a cake tin and and set aside.
• Take the butter in a mixing bowl and heat it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds so that it mixes well with the sugar. Remove and add sugar to this and beat until creamy. Brown sugar doesn't mix in that easy so if you are beating for over 5 minutes with no luck, it's ok. It will settle in once all the ingredients are added in and mixed together.

• Add eggs one at a time and beat. The mixture will now become light and fluffy.

• Add the sifted flour and baking powder to this 2-3 tbsps at a time and mix well giving enough aeration.  

• If you find the batter getting very thick, alternate the addition of flour with milk and continue mixing. The milk was a last minute addition for me because I found the batter too thick. The original recipe doesn't use milk. Addition of milk made the batter smooth and of good consistency for a perfectly soft cake.

before adding milk

after addition of milk

• Once the batter is smooth add the chopped strawberries and chia seeds and mix in.

• Pour the batter into the greased cake tin, with a spatula even out the top and pop it into a pre heated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes.

• Prick the center of the cake with a toothpick to check if done. Remove and cool on a wired rack. Once cooled, loosen the edges and overturn onto a plate.
• Serve hot or cold with a cup of tea or a scoop of ice cream.

Enjoy!
Notes

1. Using wheat flour and brown sugar was a personal choice. All purpose flour and white sugar can be used to make this fruit cake as per original recipe. All quantities remain the same
2. You can use dates and walnuts or any other fruit of your choice instead of strawberries.
3. Buttermilk can be used instead of warm milk in the cake mix.
4. After 20 minutes check on the cake and if you feel the cake is getting too brown/burnt on the top cover the cake with foil and let it continue to bake. 
5. 1tbsp whole flaxseed can also be added instead of chia seeds to this recipe. Addition of any seeds are not necessary if you don't have them handy.

Shabnam
I will be linking this recipe to I love baking event hosted by Radhika