"ChiCake"= Big Cake

I have to blog about my favorite breakfast food and to show everyone the amount of work that goes into making a banana-bready-type-cake here. In order to "bake" something, at my house in Malawi, we create our own "oven" effect by placing coals on top of the pot and leave a small amount of fire on the bottom. Our Chicake recipe is the following:

DRY INGREDIENTS

1 cup of corn flour

1/2 cup of cake flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda (I always forget the one I really need and so we put both)

WET INGREDIENTS

8 small bananas mashed

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. cocoa powder

*When available: Peanut butter, coconut milk, and pumpkin*

For the girls, this was so much fun to learn. This cake is a spinoff from a village cornbread. People love to taste it but normally we are too selfish to share. We cook it at night over coals after we have cooked our dinner. It takes about 35-40 min. Although it is a basic banana bread recipe to Americans, my girls call it "Wedding Cake" and think its the best! Thinking about adding chocolate chips that Ericka is sending! That will rock their world! Anyway, we eat with tea (as pictured). We boil the water the night before and keep the water in a large Thermos (called Flask here). This way we save firewood and time in the morning! I love this stuff!