So I decided to rusk it.

When you have parents who work, there is a certain advantage, they both bring home 'khau' ( snacks) on their way home from work. 

My parents worked in V.T (Yes, I still call it that) Fort area and  there were several bakeries, snack shops  and dairies in the vicinity and many famous for a single item, which was usually sold out by evening. 

We were regulars at Pancham Puriwala a humble food joint serving  deep fried heaven on a platter. Or the fabulous Mathura Pedha  and of course a small dingy store which sold baked items, we started out with their crisp and light, flaky and calorie rich khari biscuits and go on to other mouth watering items like  Mawa cake, fruit cake, were regular items in our cookie jars. 

And then came the cake rusk/cake toast. I fell in love with those. I don't remember when exactly I first tasted  cake rusk, but  I do remember the taste and how much I liked it and  also remembered I had not tasted these in 4 years! A few months ago, when I was still living in Los Angeles, my friend Vandana dropped in and  gave a big box of cake rusk for my Son. Well, he did not eat so many, actually, he probably had a couple, umm... one, maybe. M and I devoured the lot! Down to the last crumb. Delish! 

We ate, we liked and we forgot. 

A few days ago, I made Banana nut cake and to own the truth, I was distracted. Too many things going on and some where I knew I should have stopped, but  the oven was pre-heating and I decided to go ahead.

To cut a long story short, I made some mistakes, no idea what - multi tasking when baking = bad idea = mistakes, but the cake turned out dense and could have done with a tad bit of extra sugar. I was disappointed, I was so looking forward to handing over a warm, soft slice to S and watching his smile as he ate it. 

Oh well, that bombed :(
As the cake sat cooling on the rack, the image of  cake rusk came floating on my mind and I decided to risk it!  I mean, rusk it!
The oven was still hot and the pizza stone was inside. I quickly sliced the cake and placed the slices on the pizza stone and baked them for about 10 minutes ( turning once) until golden brown. Cooled them and store in airtight container.

Verdict: YES!! loved it :) this does taste like the regular cake rusk/ toast you can buy at the Indian store for  $5 or $7, but so much better and cheaper when you make at home  ( even if you bungle it up!)

Try this with eggless banana bread  and you cannot go wrong.

Just to round it up nicely:

Bake Banana cake/bread using the above linked recipes or any cake recipe of your choice.

Cool the cake completely

Cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

Place the slices on a hot (pre heated) pizza stone or if you do not have one, line a  oven safe tray with  foil / parchment paper and place the slices in a row and bake for about 10 minutes, turning once so as to bake both sides. 10 minutes is not the exact timing, use it as a guideline only, keep an eye on those slices ! 

Remove from oven once they are golden brown on both sides

Cool completely and store in an air tight container 

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