Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Its time for the Sweet Punch and this month’s challenge was Chocolate Almond Biscotti from Joy of Baking.

But before I move on to that, let me tell you a little about our weekend excursion to the ‘Chocolate Factory’, well, Cadbury World to be precise since the visit to the factory was just a part of the whole experience. We went on a Saturday and reached there after a long drive of more than 2 hours, but it was totally worth it. Being a complete chocolate lover I was more excited than little S, more so because I had a very good excuse to eat as many chocolates as I wanted on the day. How can you restrict eating chocolates when you go to a chocolate factory. So in short I had my fill without feeling guilty at all, collected some more to bring back home and generally had a great ‘chocolatey’ time and brought back this mug to motivate S to drink up her milk!

Coming back to the challenge, as usual I made it on the last day, hoping all the time that I dont make any mistakes as I didn't have enough time to make it again. Thankfully everything worked out fine. This was my second experience with a Biscotti and it made me wonder why I dont make them often as they are very easy to make, take very little time & preparations and have very little room for going wrong.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

 

Makes about 12-15

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• a pinch of salt
• 2 Eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup blanched almonds
• 110 gm Chocolate, coarsely chopped (or chocolate chips)

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C (160 deg for an electric fan assisted oven). Line a baking sheet with baking paper.

Sieve together the flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside. Roast the almonds and chop them coarsely (you can pulse them in a grinder but make sure they are not powdered).

In a bowl, combine the eggs and the sugar and beat with an electric mixer until the mixture turns pale & fluffy. It should leave a trail when you lift the mixer.

Add the flour mixture to this and mix well. Add the almonds & chocolate and fold in.

Transfer this dough to the baking sheet and shape it into a log (roughly) and bake this in the pre heated oven for about 20-25 minutes.

Transfer the cooked log on to a wire rack and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile turn down the oven temperature to 165 deg C (145 deg for an electric fan assisted oven).

Cut the log into slices (about an inch thick) and place them on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the sheet from oven and turn the biscotti the other way and bake for another 10 min until they start turning brown.

Remove on to the wire rack and cool them completely.

My Notes: I used Dark chocolate and followed the exact recipe otherwise. The Biscotti that I got felt very much like the ‘Rusk’ we used to have with the tea, so I guess I got a good result, as Biscotti (singular:Biscotto) is the Italian version of the Rusk!

Banana & Strawberry Muffins

Its time for a Sweet Punch and the challenge this time was to make Banana & Strawberry muffins, following a recipe from the blog Joy of Cooking.

This was one of those rare occasions where I had completed the challenge just days after it was announced. Usually I manage to leave it till the last minute and then have to struggle to cook/bake, take pictures, draft the post and publish, all within 2-3 hours. Completing the challenge well in time also enabled me to make it again before the posting.

This challenge also gave me a chance to get adjusted to the new oven in the new house. It is an electric fan oven and I am still trying to get the hang of it. I have realised that I have to reduce the temperature by about 20 deg c than what is mentioned in the recipe for a convection oven. Also it is a good idea to keep checking near the end of the baking time to make sure they dont char. Do you have any experience with this and have tips to share?

The first time I made these muffins, I halved the recipe but still got about 10 small muffins. The second time I made the full batch and got exactly 12 muffins as the recipe says, it must be something to do with the amount of batter you pour into each cup of the pan!

Banana & Strawberry  Muffins

 

Makes 12

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups Plain Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon powder
• 3/4 Cups Sugar (The recipe calls for light brown but I have used Caster sugar)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed well
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, cut into small pieces (the second time I made these muffins, i used mixed berries – strawberries, blackberries & raspberries)

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 177 deg C (160 deg C if yours is an electric fan oven like mine!). Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In a big bowl, sieve together the plain flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the sugar and cinnamon powder and mix well. Add the cut berries to this flour mixture and combine well to coat each piece of fruit.

In a different smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, vanilla extract and mashed bananas. Add the melted butter to this and mix well.

Add this wet mixture to the flour mixture and combine gently. Do not over mix as the muffins will turn out hard.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan and bake in the pre heated oven for about 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick and check, if the toothpick comes out clean, the muffins are cooked through. Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the muffins to a wire rack to cool down.

My Notes:  The muffins were absolutely delicious both the times.  The second one however had a lot of seeds because of the other berries. I love all the berries but sometimes its too much to handle the seeds. Can something be done about this?

Fresh Fruit Genoese (Day 7 – BM#4)

It seems like only a few days back that I had held little Shreya in my hands and she had looked back with her large beautiful eyes, as if to ask – where am I and what is happening? It must have been a few days back when she started her nursery and I was so apprehensive about how she would take it. My fears were put to rest when she happily hopped inside the nursery, leaving me a with tears rather than her crying for her mummy!  Time certainly has flown by and my little princess is going to be 4 yrs next month.

If I can feel that for 4 long years, 7 days have definitely disappeared without any sign, except of course the posts on this blog! Today is the final day of the blogging marathon and I have mixed feelings. I am happy I completed the marathon, without missing any post, an achievement in itself, if you ask me. I am also a little sad thinking that I would really miss this excitement. I hope I will be able to participate in similar marathons again.

As they say, save the best for the last, so it is here. Today’s cake is another favourite for Birthdays. If it isn't Black Forest, it has to be the Fresh Fruit, fresh cream cake which looks so elegant, you sometimes dont want to cut it at all! The whipped cream filling and topping has been my favourite of this cake but the fruits also form an integral part and most often have to be reserved while the cake is being cut. ‘ Give me apiece with strawberry’ or ‘I want the one with cherries’ are some things you would definitely hear when this cake is being cut. Picking out a particular fruit is also not unheard of and all this add on to the excitement of the Birthday.

 

Fresh Fruit Genoese

 

Makes one 7” Round Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 1 1/2 Cups Plain Flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 Eggs
• 1/2-3/4 cup Caster Sugar
• 6-8 tblsp Orange Juice

For the filling and Topping

• 2 1/2 Cups Double Cream (Whipping)
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3-4 Tblsp Sugar
• 1 cup Mixed Fruits such as strawberry, Kiwi, grapes, Pineapple, cherries, roughly sliced (Or Mixed Fruit Jam). Reserve some whole fruits for decoration
• 1/2 Cup Pistachio, roughly chopped

Method: Pre Heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line a 7” Round Cake tin and keep it ready.

In a bowl beat together the eggs and the sugar until thick and pale, the whisk should leave a trail as it is lifted.

Sift in the flour and the salt into this and gently fold to mix, making sure there are no lumps remaining. Pour this batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Take the cake out of the oven and let it cool in the tin for 5-7 minutes and then transfer it to a wire rack to cool down completely.

Once the cake is completely cold, cut it horizontally into 3 layers and whisk together the double cream, vanilla extract and sugar till it holds soft peaks.

Place the bottom most layer on a cake board or serving plate. Sprinkle some of the orange juice on this to make it moist. If you are using the mixed fruit jam instead of fresh fruits, spread it over the layer now and follow it up with the cream. If you are using fresh fruits, spread the cream on the layer first and then place some of the sliced fruits on to it. Place the middle layer of cake over this and sprinkle some orange juice on this too. Follow the above procedure once more and finish with the top layer.

Spread the remaining cream on the top and sides of the cake to cover it completely. Decorate with the reserved fruits and press on the roughly chopped pistachio on the sides of the cake. Chill in the fridge and serve.

 

My Notes: Absolutely delicious! I could not believe how simple it was to make and the end result was so luxurious. Even if you are not very good with cake decoration, you can just arrange the fruits on the top and it would still look fabulous, thats what I have done essentially here, anyway.  The Pistachio also help to cover any imperfections on the side of the cake and look so stunning against the pure white of the cream.

As I have mentioned, you can either use fresh fruits as a filling between the layers or Mixed fruit or any other fruit jam. I would recommend the jam if you are making the cake a day ahead or if you think the cake will not be finished within a day (This cake has to be stored in the fridge and finished within 2 days). The reason being that if you use fresh fruit, they get squashed with time, and thats not very pretty. The jam would serve almost the same purpose and look neater and would be easier to handle. Most shop bought cakes have jam in the filling and fresh fruits are only used for decoration!

Check out what my Blogging Marathoners are doing (BM#4 hosted by Srivalli)

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ

Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya

Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P

Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,

30 Minutes Meals: Archana

Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

Orange Victoria Sponge Cake (Day 6 – BM#4)

Another classic today but with a slight twist. The Victoria Sponge cake was named after Queen Victoria and traditionally consists of layers of cake sandwiched together with raspberry Jam and whipped cream. The whipped cream is a must, otherwise it is just a jam sponge cake and Not A Victoria Sponge Cake! Read more about it here.

The twist in my cake came from a book which has recipes specifically for an English afternoon tea. Afternoon Tea also known as Low Tea is typically had between 3pm and 5pm and consists of a light meal along with the tea of course. Sandwiches, Scones, cakes, pastries etc constitute the light meal and an elaborate Tea will have a whole lot of choice of these food items. Apart from being delicious, presenting them well so that they look pleasing to the eye, is also a main criteria when choosing dishes for the afternoon tea.

Here the traditional Victoria Sponge Cake is given a makeover to taste different as well as to look great. Instead of Raspberry Jam, Orange Marmalade is used. I have made some changes to the original recipe and putting that here.

Orange Victoria Sponge Cake

 

Makes one 7” Round Cake (Adapted from Afternoon Tea)

Ingredients

For the Cake

• 3/4 Cup Butter
• 3/4 Cup Caster Sugar
• 3 Eggs
• 1 1/2 Cups Self Raising Flour
• 1/4 cup Milk
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

For the filling

• 1 cup Orange Marmalade
• 1 cup Double cream
• 1 tblsp sugar

2 Tblsp Icing Sugar (For Dusting)

Method: Pre Heat the Oven to 160 deg C. Grease and line a 7” Round tin.

Whisk together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition.Stir in some of the milk and then follow it up with half the flour. Mix well. Repeat again ending with the flour. Mix well so that there are no lumps.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the pre heated oven for about 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean with just a few crumbs.

Take the cake out of the oven, turn it on to a wire rack and allow it to cool down completely.

Meanwhile gently warm the marmalade so that it is a little easier to spread on to the cake. Beat the Cream and the sugar in a bowl till it holds soft peaks.

Once the cake has cooled completely, cut it horizontally into two (or three). Place the bottom layer on the serving plate. Spread the marmalade onto this generously and follow it up with the whipped cream. Continue with the next layer if you have more than 2 layers. Place the top layer on the cream and press lightly to hold it in place. Dust with Icing Sugar and serve.

My Notes: This was a good change from the original Raspberry Jam. The Orange Marmalade tastes great along with the slightly sweet cream. Make sure that you dont heat the Marmalade too much, otherwise it can start getting a little bitter.

Also You can save some of the whipped cream and coat the whole cake with it instead of dusting with the icing sugar.

Check out what my fellow Blogging Marathoners are doing (BM#4 hosted by Srivalli)

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ

Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya

Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P

Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,

30 Minutes Meals: Archana

Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

Espresso Coffee Cake (Day 5 – BM#4)

When I started taking baking seriously, there was one blog that I regularly visited for ideas and inspiration.Deeba’s Passionate About Baking still remains one of my favourite sites whenever I want to refer something for baking. The lovely pictures and well written recipes have helped me a lot and some of the recipes have stuck with me as regulars.

This Coffee cake was one of the earliest ‘decorated’ cakes that I started to make. A simple yet beautiful cake, it was a treat for some one like me who liked coffee so much. Although initially I was concerned about the bitter coffee taste in the sweet cake, it turned out to be a very good combination, the best part being that the cake just has the flavour of coffee without being overpowered by it. It could easily be converted into chocolate cake by substituting the coffee granules with either cocoa or even melted chocolate, but really there is no need. Even though I am a chocolate lover, I would prefer this cake with the coffee flavour in it.

 

Espresso Coffee Cake

 

Makes one 7” round cake (Adapted from Passionate About Baking)

Ingredients

For the cake

• 2 Eggs
• 1 1/4 Cup Caster Sugar
• 1 1/4 Cup Plain Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 Tblsp Instant Coffee (I used Nescafe, any other would also do)

For the Filling and Topping

• 500 ml Double Cream (Whipping cream)
• 2-3 Tblsp Sugar
• 1.5 tsp Instant Coffee (Less if you want the coffee to be very subtle)
• Chocolate (1-2 tblsp grated and some melted), to decorate (optional)

 

Method: Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line a 7” Round Cake tin.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and the salt and keep aside.

In a bowl combine the eggs and the sugar and whisk until the mixture turns pale and fluffy, leaving trails when lift the whisk.

Add the vanilla extract and mix. Dissolve the instant coffee in 1 Tblsp of warm water and then add it to the mixture and mix well.

Now add the flour mixture and fold gently until there are no lumps.

Pour this batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 30-35 minutes. Once the cake is done, take it out of the oven, leave in the pan to cool for about 5 minutes and then remove it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cake is completely cooled, prepare the filling and the topping. To do that, combine the cream, sugar and the instant coffee (dissolved in 1 tsp of water) together and whisk until soft peaks are formed. The coffee will give it a nice beige colour.

Now cut the cooled cake horizontally into two. Place the bottom portion on to a cake board or serving plate. spread 1/3 of the cream onto this. Place the other half of the cake and cover the top and the sides with the remaining cream. decorate with the grated chocolate. The melted chocolate can be used to make patterns on the cake for decoration.

My Notes: Again a very simple to make but delicious looking cake. You can cut the cake into 3  or 4 parts to have more layers sandwiched with the cream filling. You might need to use a smaller deeper pan to make the cake so as to make these layers.

I have used the grated chocolate to decorate the cake. Chocolate curls or caraque can also be used. I have also melted some milk chocolate to create a random pattern on the cake.

Blogging Marathoners (BM#4 hosted by Srivalli)

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ

Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya

Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P

Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,

30 Minutes Meals: Archana

Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

Carrot Cake (Day 4 – BM#4)

This is the fourth day of the Blogging Marathon, so we are halfway through. I am already feeling great about having done this as I have come back to regular blogging and also writing about baking, which I am very fond of. Also my cakes are getting a chance to see the light of the day and that is very good.

Today’s cake is a classic recipe and one that I  had not tried for a long time because I thought that it would be a weird combination having carrots in a cake. Yes, although this cake is an internationally accepted classic, I wasnt convinced about the combination. I only recently started making this and the first  time was because I had run out of options for a simple cake and had lots of carrots in the fridge!

It turned out to be very good and made me realise why its counted amongst the classic ones. You can make it as a simple cake, top with cream cheese frosting or like in this case, cover it with glaze icing.

Carrot Cake

 

Makes one 8” square cake

Ingredients

For the cake

• 1.25 cups Plain Flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2/3 cup Soft brown sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 100 ml Sunflower oil
• 1/2 cup Carrot, finely grated
• 2 tblsp Chopped walnuts
• a pinch of salt
• Butter for greasing

For the glace icing

• 1/2 – 1 cup Icing Sugar
• 1-2 tblsp Water (or lemon juice)

Method: Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease an 8” swuare cake pan. Sprinkle some plain flour and then tap the pan to get rid of the excess flour so that there is a coating on the pan too. This will help to prevent the cake sticking to the pan once it is baked. Alternatively grease and line the tin with baking paper.

Sift the flour, salt and cinnamon into a bowl. Add the brown sugar and stir to mix.

Add the eggs and oil and mix. Stir in the carrots and chopped walnuts. Pour this mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the pre heated oven for about 20-25 minutes. Check if the cake is completely cooked and once done, leave it in the pan to cool for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack.

To make the glace icing, sift the icing sugar and add the water drop by drop, stirring in between. Stop adding water once the desired consistency is reached. You can make it quite thick so as to spread the cake or a runny one to lightly coat the cake.

Pour the icing over the cake and let the excess icing fall down over the sides. Cut into bars and serve.

My Notes: The cake tastes great just on its own and the glace icing adds that extra sweetness to it. I would recommend using the lemon juice for the icing instread of plain water. Also this cake can serve as a base for an elaborate cake with buttercream icing.

The addition of water (or lemon juice) to the icing sugar has to be done very carefully as a just one or two drops go a long way in this case. Once you add a few drops, stop adding water and mix it well and give it sometime to reach its actual consistency and then decide if you need any more water. As you can see from the picture above, my icing was quite runny and I would have preferred a slightly thicker one.

Also, dont leave out the chopped walnuts, they are very good to bite in every now & then.

 

Check out what the other Blogging Marathoners are doing (BM#4 hosted by Srivalli)

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ

Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya

Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P

Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,

30 Minutes Meals: Archana

Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

White Chocolate Truffle Cake (Day 3 – BM#4)

The Easter Holidays have started and the biggest task on hand is to keep Shreya occupied constructively. By that I mean not allowing her to sit in front of the TV for the whole day but at the same keep her entertained. Catching up with her other friends is taking us out of home for most of the days but on days when we are not meeting any one, it is quite difficult. Story – reading, play dough, colouring, crafts, blocks etc notwithstanding, there comes a time when both of us dont know what to do. What do you do to keep your children occupied during the holidays?

By evening 6 pm I myself need some change and so I put on the TV to watch a quiz program called Eggheads on BBC. S is also quite interested in it although she doesnt really understand the questions or the answers for that matter. she keeps asking what the host is saying and I have to explain everything to her. She is so much ‘into’ this now that when we guess something (mainly her clues about animals, birds, fruits or vegetables) wrong, she quickly says in that typical tone ‘ I am afraid thats the wrong answer, you cant play in the final round!’

Another thing that we do during holidays is bake either cakes or cookies. Her favourite, needless to say, is the Chocolate cake. In fact there was a phase when I used to bake only chocolate cakes because we all like it so much. But then we wanted a change but somehow could not let go of the chocolate part and luckily I found this recipe which is now a regular. I have made it as Shreya’s Birthday cake last year and bake it everytime we are in the mood for something special.

If you want something looking luxurious and tasting likewise but without the complications associated with making it, this one is for you. It is so simple to make that when I had made it for the first time, I was sure that I must have left out something from the recipe!

The recipe calls for a Springform pan to be used for the cake and it is a must in this cake. I generally used to substitute the springform with whatever pan I had at home but I have now got a Springform pan which I bought specifically for this cake and it is totally worth it.

White Chocolate Truffle Cake

 

Makes one 8” round cake

Ingredients

For the cake

• 50 gm White Chocolate
• 2 Eggs
• 1/4 cup Caster Sugar
• 3/4 Cup Plain flour
• Butter for greasing

For the Truffle topping

• 300 ml Double Cream
• 350 gm White Chocolate
• 250 gm Mascarpone Cheese
• Cocoa powder for dusting

Method: Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line the base of an 8” Springform pan.

Melt the white chocolate in a double boiler. To do this, fill a saucepan with water so that it comes up to about one fourth of the saucepan. Bring this to boil. Once boiling reduce the flame and let it simmer. Place a heat proof bowl over this sauce pan so that it fits on the rim but doesnt touch the boiling water. Place the chocolate broken into pieces in the heat proof bowl and stir as the heat from the boiling water in the saucepan will melt the chocolate. Keep aside.

In a bowl whisk together the eggs and the caster sugar until pale and slightly thick. When you lift the whisk, it should form ribbons and leave a trail. Sift the flour onto this and gently fold it in until there are no lumps left. Add the melted chocolate and combine. Pour this batter into the prepared tin and bake in the pre heated oven for about 25 minutes or until done.

Once the cake is taken out of the oven, allow it to cool in the pan for 3-4 minutes and then turn it over onto a wire rack to cool down completely.

To make the topping, bring the double cream to boil in a saucepan, stirring in between. Switch off the heat and then add the white chocolate and mix until the chocolate is completely melted. Leave this aside to cool completely. Now add the mascarpone cheese and mix.

Now return the cold cake to the springform tin and pour the topping over it. This will form a layer of almost the thickness of the cake. Keep this in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours to set.

To serve, use a sharp knife to get the cake free from the edges of the pan and then remove the base and loosen the pan to get the cake out.

To decorate, lightly dust cocoa powder all over the cake just before serving. You can also use stencils to make shapes. Alternatively decorate by placing chocolate curls in the middle of the cake.

My Notes: This is a melt in the mouth kind of cake and it will take a very strong resolve to stop at the first slice/helping!  As I have mentioned at the beginning of the post, the springform pan is an absolute necessity for this cake. This is because the topping is quite liquid when it is poured on to the cake and the springform pan can hold it there while it sets. It is also easier to remove the cake from a springform pan after the topping is set.

This is the Birthday cake that I made for Shreya last year using this recipe. The flower on the cake is made with fresh cream (whipped), with added colours.

You can try this cake with Milk chocolate instead of white chocolate and it should turn out great and you will like it especially if you are a chocolate fan like me!

 

Here is what my fellow Blogging Marathoners are doing (BM#4 hosted by Srivalli)

 Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ

Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya

Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P

Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,

30 Minutes Meals: Archana

Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

Eggless Marble Cake (Day 2 – BM#4)

Continuing on with the Cake fest, I have an eggless one in this post. Although I have made eggless cakes earlier (Date & Walnut), this was different because unlike the earlier ones, this is not a dense cake. You can hardly make out that there are no eggs here.

The original basic recipe is from Divine taste, which was for a Golden Yellow cake. I have adapted it to make a marble cake. The picture in the original post was tempting enough for me to try this but I was in the mood for a chocolate cake, so I ended up making this to have both!

Now, as I have mentioned earlier in a number of posts about my impatience to try a recipe, in this case too I rushed into things and did not pay attention to the fact that the Corn flour was to be added to the milk and then mixed with the flour mixture. I sieved it along with the plain flour and then realised my mistake. I went ahead anyway and was not disappointed with the result. So I am maintaining that in the recipe below but I will try it the right way next time and update this space if I find any difference to the end result.

 

Eggless Marble Cake

 

Makes 2 Nos of 7” Square cakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups milk
• 1.5 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract + 1 tsp
• 1 cup Butter
• 3 cups Plain flour
• 1 cup Corn flour
• 4 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 Cup unsweetened Cocoa
• 2-3 drops of yellow colour (optional)

 

Method:

Pre Heat the oven to 160 deg C. Grease and line two 7” Square cake Pans and keep aside.

Warm the milk gently. Dissolve the sugar in this and let it cool down a bit. Now add the butter and the vanilla extract and whisk to mix properly.

In a separate bowl, sieve together the plain flour, corn flour, baking powder and the baking soda.

Make a well in the dry mixture and add the milk-sugar mixture. Stir to mix gently until properly mixed and there are no lumps.

Remove half of this batter in another bowl. Mix the cocoa with 2-3 tblsp (as reqd) of hot water. Add this paste to one half of the batter and fold in to mix.

To the other half add another tsp of Vanilla extract and the yellow colour, if using. Mix well.

Now, alternate spoonfuls of both the batters in the lined pans i.e. add a spoonful of the plain batter and then follow it up with the cocoa batter and then the plain batter again. Carry on doing this till you use up all the batter. Now swirl the batter randomly using a toothpick to create a pattern.

 

Bake the cakes in the pre heated oven for about 45-50 min. The time will depend upon the oven. Check for the cake to be cooked after 45 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the centre. If it comes out clean with just a few crumbs clinging on it, the cake is done.

Take the cakes out of the oven and let them cool in the pan for a couple of minutes. Then take them out on a wire rack and let them cool completely. This cake can be stored in a air tight container for about 2-3 days.

My Notes: As I have mentioned, this was a very good ‘eggless’ experience. This cake can be had just like that, served with custard to make a complete dessert or it could serve as a base cake for more elaborate iced cakes. I think a buttercream frosting would go great with this one.

Check out what the other Blogging Marathoners are doing (BM#4 hosted by Srivalli)

 Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ

Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya

Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P

Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,

30 Minutes Meals: Archana

Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

Black Forest Cake (Day 1 – BM#4)

Today I am embarking on my first blogging Marathon. I will be posting every day for the whole week, which is a huge feat in itself for me, considering how my posts appear in bursts on this blog, more so because of my new job nowadays. As if life was not hectic enough, I now work half days and somehow try to manage all other things in the other half. I am now in complete awe of all you ladies who manage a full time career with kids!

Coming back to the blogging marathon, my chosen theme is ‘Seven Days of Cakes’. Now thats another ‘new’ for this blog. Although I bake every other day and make cakes almost every week, this blog is yet to see most of my creations. That is one of the major reasons that I chose this theme. This will ensure that I post all those lovely cakes that I have tried and have been making regularly.

I start off the week with Black forest Cake, which for us, is synonymous with a Birthday cake. This is our favourite cake when asked to choose, just like so many other people I am sure. Back in India, planning for a Birthday either meant ordering a big Black Forest cake (if we were expecting a lot of people for the party) or picking up a 1/2 Kg cake on the way back home in the evening (when the celebration was restricted to the immediate family). And more often than not, Monginis would be the chosen bakery, for the major reason that it was conveniently located.

Once I started baking, I tried to re create this at home and it took around 2-3 attempts to get it exactly the way it should be. Moist, chocolaty and with lots of fresh whipped cream. The recipe for the basic cake has been adapted from Meeta’s Chocolate cake, which has never let me down till date, whenever I have used it as a base for Iced cakes or even when I have been in the mood for Chocolate indulgence. The rest I have settled on after trying out a couple of things. But really once you have the chocolate cake, most of the job is done and all you need to do is put together the cream and other things.

 

Black Forest Cake

 

Ingredients

For the chocolate cake

• 1.5 cups Plain Flour
• 1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
• 2 Eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup Butter, softened at room temperature
• 1/2-3/4 Sugar (Increase if you want the cake sweeter)
• 2.5 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 80 gm Cherry/Blackberry preserve (I sometimes skip this)
• Milk (About 250 ml)

For the Filling and topping

• 300 ml Double cream (or whipping cream)
• 3-4 tblsp Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 Can of Black Cherries in juice
• 1 cup grated chocolate (or chocolate shavings)

 

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease and line 6” Square Pan (or 6”-7” round )

Cream together the butter & sugar till completely mixed and looks light & fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, keep whisking/mixing after each addition till it is mixed well. Mix vanilla extract & the preserve.

Sieve in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and the cocoa powder into this butter-sugar mixture. Pour in the milk & mix gently. Pour the batter in the prepared tin and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour. The baking time depends upon your oven.

Once it is cooked through (check by inserting a tooth pick, if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked), take it out of the oven and let it cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. then turn it onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Once the cake is completely cooled, cut it horizontally into two & keep the bottom portion on a serving plate or a cake board and reserve the other half. 

Now to make the filling, add the sugar & vanilla essence to the double cream and whisk till it starts to thicken and you get soft peaks when you lift the whisk. Chop the pitted cherries from the can roughly and keep aside. Reserve some (about7-8) whole cherries for decoration.

Sprinkle the bottom part of the cake, placed on the serving plate,  with some of the juice from the cherry can & spread about 1/3 of the cream on it, taking care not to spill out too much on the sides.

Then place the chopped cherries on this and top it with the other half of the cake. Before placing it, sprinkle some juice on this half too.

Now spread the remaining cream on the top and sides of the cake, completely covering it. To get a neat and crumb free look, cover the cake roughly and chill in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes. This will ‘set’ the first coat of the cream and will prevent the crumbs from sticking out. Once it is chilled top it again with the remaining cream and give a generous coating to completely cover it.

Cover the sides with grated chocolate and decorate some more with whipped cream & the reserved cherries.

My Notes: As I have mentioned, the chocolate cake gives it a very good base and the cream filling & topping makes it really delicious and hard to resist. And of course you have the satisfaction of having made it at home!

Check out what my other Blogging Marathoners are doing (BM#4 hosted by Srivalli)

Diabetes Diet/Management: PJ  

Kid Friendly Recipes: Suma, Priya Suresh, Divya

Seven Days of Soup:Ila, Smita P 

Seven Days of Indian Bread: Monika,

30 Minutes Meals: Archana  

Seven days of Condiment: Kamalika, Srivalli

Whole-wheat Almond Cookies (Eggless)

If you are looking for something very delicious but dont want to spend too much time making it and want it to be as simple as possible, then these cookies are for you. This month’s Sweet Punch sounded too good to be true and even turned out that way. I couldnt believe that the cookies could be so good after the minimum amount of time & efforts it had taken. But they were absolutely perfect with the right amount of crunch.

I have already made these twice since the challenge was announced, they were that good. I even doubled the quantity the second time I made them since they had disappeared in no time when I had made using the original recipe, which was chosen from Manjula’s Kitchen.

Although some of the members found them to be a little sweeter than required, they were perfect for me, not too sweet at all. It might have something to do with the kind of sugar, I used Caster sugar. The recipe did not specify the type of sugar to be used but I feel that it would help if the sugar is not very granular. If you have bigger granules in the sugar, coarsely powder it by pulsing it in a mixer.

 

Whole-wheat Almond Cookies (Eggless)

 

Makes about 35

• 2 Cups Whole wheat flour
• 1 cup Butter, softened at room temperature
• 1 cup Caster Sugar
• 2-3 tblsp Milk (Or as required)
• 1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
• 1/2 cup Almond Slivers (Optionally some more for decorating)

Method:

Pre Heat the oven to 180 deg C. Keep your baking sheet ready, no need to grease it.

Mix together the flour, sugar, cardamom powder and the almond in a bowl. Now add the butter and mix well to make a dough. Add 1-2 tblsp of Milk if required to gather the dough together. I didn't need to do this.

Now pinch off lemon sized portions and roll them between your palms and then flatten them slightly to shape them. Keep these on the baking sheet and lightly press an Almond sliver on each cookie to decorate. Bake the cookies for about 15-18 minutes in the preheated oven.

Once the cookies start to turn brown on the edges, take them out of the oven and let them cool on the sheet for 2-3 minutes, then shift them to a wire rack to cool down completely. Store them in air tight containers.

My Notes:  As mentioned earlier, they were just perfect! The Cardamom flavour came across very nicely and I loved the aroma that filled not only the kitchen but also the whole house as these cookies were baking.

I feel that some flavours like Saffron will also go very well with these cookies and will be definitely trying that the next time I make them.

Currant Slices with spiced Apple syrup

Having missed a few of the recent Sweet Punch challenges, I was determined to make it this time. The challenge itself for the month of February helped a lot because it was very simple. The end result though was absolutely delicious and provides me with a great option for dessert whenever we might have guests over.

There was however only one hitch. Since I got down to make it only at the last minute, I didn't have enough time and could not find black currants, which are supposed to be the main ingredients – after all they were supposed to be currant slices! But as I said I didn't want to miss out on the challenge, so I went ahead and substituted the currants with something that was readily available – Sultanas. This tells you more about both of them.

Currant (Sultana) Slices with spiced Apple syrup

Recipe Source: 1 Mix, 50 Cakes

Ingredients

• 175 gm (1.15 cups) Black Currants (I used Sultanas)
• 300 ml Apple Juice
• 1” Cinnamon stick
• 175 gm (1.75 cups) Plain Flour
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 175 gm (0.75 cup ) Butter
• 175 gm (0.9 cup) Sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

 

Method:

Mix together the apple juice, sultanas and the cinnamon stick in a saucepan and bring it to boil. Once it starts boiling, switch off the heat and let this mixture stand for a few hours. I left it for about 6-7 hours.

Once the waiting is over, strain the Sultanas, reserving the juice too. Press slightly on the Sultana to get the juice out. Pick out the cinnamon stick and add it to the reserved juice. Keep both the juice and the Sultanas aside.

Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease and flour a 12”x9” rectangular tin and keep ready.

Sift together the flour and the baking powder. Cream the butter and sugar together till it is pale yellow and fluffy. Add the beaten eggs and the vanilla extract and beat together. Now add the flour little by little and mix to get a smooth batter. Add half the reserved Sultanas and mix well. Spoon this mixture into the prepared tin and sprinkle the remaining Sultanas on the top.Bake in the pre heated oven for about 30 minutes until its cooked.

Take out of the oven and let it cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning it out on to a wire rack.

While the cake is cooling a bit, bring the reserved apple juice along with the cinnamon stick to a boil and continue to heat on high till it reaches a syrupy consistency.

Once done, discard the cinnamon.

Serve a warm slice of the cake along with the apple syrup spooned over it. Enjoy!

My Notes: This was as simple as it could get. I could put together everything in under 15-20 minutes once the Sultanas were soaked and ready.

I did find the batter to be a little on the dry side and at one point had to add a little milk to get it going, but once the cake was done I thought that it could have done without it too.

The tangy syrup and the tangy Sultanas were a good contrast to the sweet cake. I felt that it would be great with some custard too, will try that combination next time!

Molten Lava Cake

I cant believe how difficult it is to resume writing once you have had a long break from blogging, never mind that it was unintentional. There are no specific reasons for the lack of posts. Of course I had been cooking everyday during this time and some of the things I made definitely deserve to be mentioned here but somehow I didn't get around to it. As usual I will blame it on the hectic schedule. The daughter has started her nursery and is away for 3 hours everyday now, but I still dont seem to have the time to do what I want. Thank god for some events which jolt me back into realising that I need to take care of this blog in addition to numerous other things!

The Sweet Punch this time was really sweet and something I have wanted to bake for a long time. I seem to be saying this for every other challenge but thats how it is. My ‘to-cook’ list is so long that any challenge that I attempt will already be on that list anyway!

Anyway, we made Molten Lava cake (recipe from Show me the curry) this time and while mine did not really have any ‘lava’ in it, it was delicious all the same.

 

Molten Lava Cake

 

Ingredients

• 113 gm Baking Chocolate (I used Milk chocolate)
• 113 gm Butter + extra for greasing
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup plain flour

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease 4-5 ramekins and keep them ready.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Once melted add the butter and mix till it melts into the chocolate. Resist the temptation to finish this bowl off! Keep aside.

In a bowl whisk together the eggs and the sugar till the mixture turns light and fluffy. I used an electric hand mixer for about 5-6 minutes to achieve this.

Add the chocolate mix to the egg mix and combine. Add the flour and mix well.

Pour the batter into the ramekins till they 3/4 filled. Bake in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes.

Ideally serve warm with cream or vanilla ice cream but they taste great on their own too.

My Notes: I had to increase the baking time since mine were completely uncooked at 10-12 minutes. So I baked them for an additional 10 minutes but by then I had lost the gooey middle and the end result was soft cakes almost like chocolate fudge. I wasn't complaining though as we liked them very much just like that.

A Sweet Punch thats Savoury – Golden Onion Quiche

To be very honest, I am not a Quiche person at all. The main reason being that I dont eat eggs, not in their usual form at least. I only tolerate them in cakes, muffins, cookies etc. Apart from that I am not at all comfortable with eggs, mainly because of the smell. That may explain why I am buying Vanilla essence every other week. I add it to recipes that dont call for it but have eggs in it, just to neutralise the smell.

Having said that, I have always wanted to try making a quiche because it requires some skills to get the pastry right & also to get the filling set to the right consistency. Its always good to challenge yourself even though you know you are not even going to touch the final product, right? But again, this is not my first attempt and the reason this blog hasn't heard about my earlier attempt is that it was a miserable failure to say the least. I think I went wrong at the basic – the pastry and then went on to mess up the filling as well. So the end result was a patchy & cracked pastry case with a runny, curdled and horrible looking filling. That put me off Quiche even more.

But since I had decided to try my best to complete all the Sweet Punch challenges, I had to give this one a go, if only to see if I had it in me to get it right. And I did get it right and was very pleased with the result. So much so that I could not resist eating a slice, although my original plan was only to feed GM :)

The recipe was quite straight forward and simple. I used red & green peppers along with Onions for the filling and also reduced the quantity of eggs to 2 for the filling. Apart from this, I also blind baked my pastry before filling it & baking it again. It was my opinion the last time I made quiche, that I failed because the pastry wasn't cooked properly so this time I decided to cook it before putting the filling. For more details please read the below recipe.

Golden Onion Quiche

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1/4 tsp Baking powder
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 100 gm Butter, chilled (I used salted and skipped the salt in the recipe)
• Cold water as reqd ( approx 1-2 tblsp)

For the filling

• 1 tblsp Olive oil
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 1/2 each of green & red pepper, diced
• 100 gm Cheddar Cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• salt & pepper

Method: Pre heat the oven to 200 deg C. Have 8/9 “ round tin ready.

Sieve the flour and baking powder in a bowl. Add the chilled butter and mix/ rub to get a breadcrumb consistency. I did this using a fork and rubbing the butter into the flour. This works really well because you avoid touching the butter which in turn ensures that the butter stays chilled.

Now add the egg and bring together the dough using as little water as possible.

Flour the work surface and roll out the dough to a thickness of approx 1 inch and enough for the tin.

Now line the tin with the rolled out dough such that it fills it completely and also covers the edges. Press lightly at the corners and secure.

Now to blind bake, cover the surface with baking paper or foil. Place some baking beans or any beans or even raw rice. This is done so that the pastry doesn't rise & puff up and is baked evenly.

 

Red Kidney Beans for blind baking                 All baked & ready for the filling now

Slide this into the pre heated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until it starts to turn light brown. Once done, remove from oven, take off the beans and the baking paper. Let it cool for 2-3 minutes before proceeding with the filling.

While the pastry is being baked, heat the oil in a pan for the filling. Once hot, sauté the onions till they turn golden brown and then add in the diced peppers. Cook for another 3-4 minutes and turn off the heat.

Transfer this into a bowl and add the milk, cheese, egg and season with salt and pepper.

When the pastry is ready, fill this mixture into the pastry up to the brim and then bake in the oven again for 20-25 minutes or until set, firm and golden on the top.

Enjoy warm.

My Notes: I did have a little bit of the filling left although I made a small quiche in a mini pan as well. So the quantity of milk can be reduced to 3/4 of a cup, I think.

As mentioned earlier the end result was superb. Will I make it again? Definitely! Will I start eating Quiches more frequently? Maybe. I would like to try some more flavour combinations before I have a definite answer for the last question. I have to find something which might mask the strong smell/taste of the eggs. Any suggestions?

Hazelnut Chocolate Bars

Typical scenario on  the day that I am planning to bake something:

Get up in the morning, take the butter & eggs out of the fridge. You never know when I can sneak in a chance to bake & I dont want to have cold & hard butter staring at me then. Besides its a tip I have picked up regarding baking – unless otherwise mentioned, all the ingredients should be at room temperature for you to have a chance at the desired end result.

Once I see that I might have some time on hand, I switch on the oven to ‘pre heat’ to the specified temperature, then go about my other chores along with getting together the ingredients for the bake. I start taking the flour out & if S happens to be in the kitchen at that time, I have to postpone it because she always likes to stick her hand in the flour and make a mess, however hard I try to prevent it! Then I have to either wait for her to go out again or make an excuse to send her out to her toys because if I tell her to go so that Mum can work on something she is sure to stick around in the kitchen to ‘see’ what Mum is up to so that she can replicate the same in her toy kitchen the next day & impress everyone!

I somehow manage to get the dry ingredients at one place & keep everything ready for the wet ones. Then I take a quick look to check if S is duly occupied & not up to any mischief, if I find that she is indeed doing something she is not supposed to, the ingredients have to wait some more till I resolve that. So after I have scolded S for whatever she was doing, reading a story to her just to pacify her, playing with her & getting her to play on her own, I return to the kitchen to the well ‘pre heated’ oven & the forever waiting ingredients.

By the time I finally manage to put everything together & slide it into the oven, the oven has been in the ‘pre – heated’ state for at least 2-3 hours. Thats the minimum by the way and I realised it last time I baked something. So this time I put on a timer just to determine how much time it takes

I almost always bake in the afternoon, either after S has settled into her high chair with the lunch or after she has gone to sleep. If its something complicated like a layered cake or a new recipe I wait for GM to be at home to ensure there are no interruptions.

I always wanted to try out something with oats. Imagine baking some cookies & enjoying them knowing that they dont have any plain flour to threaten your health, although I admit, this recipe almost makes up for it with the amount of butter involved! Remember my very modest first investment in a cook book? This recipe comes from the same book.

Hazelnut Chocolate Bars

Makes about

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups rolled oats
• 5 tblsp Hazelnuts, lightly roasted & chopped
• 1/2 cup Plain flour
• 8 tblsp Butter (extra for greasing)
• 7 tblsp light brown sugar
• 2 tblsp Golden syrup
• 5 tblsp Chocolate chips (I used plain chocolate)

Method: Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease a 9” shallow square tin or any other equivalent tin.

Mix together the oats, hazelnuts & flour in a bowl and keep aside.

Combine the butter, sugar and golden syrup in a saucepan and heat gently on a low flame until all the sugar has dissolved.

Pour this into the oats mixture and mix well. Add in the chocolate chips and combine.

Put this mixture into the prepared tin, level as much as possible and then bake in the pre heated oven for 20-25 minutes until firm to touch.

Once you take it out of the oven, mark the surface using a sharp knife into pieces as you like. The recipe called for triangles but I made them into rectangles. Once you have marked them, leave to cool in the tin.

Once cooled, cut into pieces and remove from the tin and store in an air tight container.

My Notes: This was super easy! How simpler can it get? The bars were very tasty and got over in no time.

The original recipe called for chocolate chips which would have resulted in something like chocolate chip cookies. But I did not have the chocolate chips so I used plain chocolate instead. This gave the bars a chocolate flavour but the chocolate was uniform throughout and we couldnt really bite into the chocolate. We didn't mind it though.

These bars are off to Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen for the Bake-off event.

Devil’s food cupcakes

There is nothing devilish about them apart from the calories perhaps, but at least they dont pretend unlike some other food items which look quite innocent but pack loads of calories. Now thats what I would call devilish! These cupcakes can only be called delicious, yummy, superb and other such adjectives.

This is my first Sweet Punch and we had to make Devil’s food cupcakes with a vanilla cream filling and the frosting was optional. I halved the given recipe and omitted the frosting. I thoroughly enjoyed making these cupcakes, although I did have my share of misfortune. I attempted to make them 2 weeks back and the end result was not what I wanted. They did taste absolutely fantastic but I could not get them out of the muffin tin and retain their shape. Those pieces were used in an impromptu pudding, drizzled with some custard and that was tasty! Having tasted them I could not help but try again and this time I was smart enough to use cupcake cases.

This recipe was from Baking Bites, a blog which I follow quite ardently.

Devil’s food cupcakes

 

Makes 12

Ingredients

For the cupcake

• 1/4 cup Butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 cup All purpose flour
• 1 tsp Baking soda
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 2-3 tblsp sour cream (I used Crème fraiche)
• 2-3 tblsp Cocoa powder
• 30 gm Dark Chocolate
• 1/2 cup boiling water

For the Vanilla Cream filling

• 1.5 tbsp All purpose flour
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Method:

For the cupcakes:

Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease & line (with cupcake cases) a 12 cup muffin pan.

Sieve together the flour, baking soda and salt and keep it aside.

Cream together the butter and the sugar until pale & fluffy. Beat in the egg and whisk some more.

Add half the flour mixture and mix properly. Add in the sour cream and vanilla extract and mix.

Add the remaining flour and combine thoroughly.

Add the cocoa powder and dark chocolate to the boiling water and stir well. Add this mixture to the batter and combine well.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin. Bake in the pre heated oven for about 20 min until a toothpick inserted in the cupcake comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool in the tin for sometime and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Vanilla cream filling:

Whisk together the milk and the all purpose flour and cook this in a non stick saucepan on low heat. Keep stirring to prevent the formation of lumps till the mixture thickens like custard. This will hardly take 4-5 minutes. At this point, transfer it to a bowl straining through a fine mesh, cover with Clingfilm and allow it cool completely.

Once the above has cooled, cream together the butter and sugar till fluffy. Add the milk & flour mixture and beat well for about 5-7 minutes. The end result should be very light & fluffy. Spoon this into a Icing bag or use a zip lock bag with the corner cut off.

To fill the cupcakes:

Take a cooled cupcake and using a small sharp knife, start scoring the top of the cake into a circle just inside of the edges. Cut off a cone shape in this manner giving you a cavity in the cupcake. Cut off the pointy edge of the cone to give you a disc shape, keep aside. Repeat this with all the cupcakes.

Now, fill in the cavities of the cupcakes with the vanilla cream filling and then top each of the cupcake with the disc of cake to keep the filling in place.

Chocolate Butter cream Frosting (I skipped this)
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat, with an electric mixer, until frosting is creamy, 3-5 minutes. Add additional powdered sugar as needed to achieve a thick, but not stiff, frosting that is easy to spread. Add additional milk, if necessary, to thin the frosting if it gets too thick.

Cover the cupcakes with the above frosting.

My Notes: This was a great experience. The cupcakes were very soft and chocolaty, just the way we like them. We didn't miss the frosting at all.

I had to bake the cakes for a longer time (20 min) than specified in the recipe (13-15 min). I have done all the whisking and beating by hand on this occasion as I was baking at night & didn't want to wake my daughter up, although even I made quite a racket. But the point is it turned out quite well even without the electric mixer.

Madeira Cake (Butter/Pound Cake)

It has been quite a while that the same picture stares at you whenever you visit this blog. The only consolation was that it was Ras Malai :)

The past couple of weeks have been very hectic, more than the usual that is. The daughter turned 3 years and it was like a week long celebration with 2 parties & the whole time went in planning & executing them. But S was very happy & still keeps talking about how much she enjoyed everything, so it was worth while.

This Birthday also saw me baking the Birthday cake. I do bake cakes & other stuff at home, but I had never ventured into making a Birthday cake as big as this one – to serve 40 people. I was very glad that it turned out great & was even more happy to receive compliments! 

Having said all that I am not presenting that cake in this post. I feel that when it comes to cakes, I should first mention the one that got me started and then slowly graduate to the more elaborate stuff :)

This is the cake which has endured all my baking trial & errors. I started to bake with this one and after having had some bad & not so bad results I can easily say that I have perfected it now. From preparing for the whole day to taking just 15 min to put the cake into oven, I have come a long way, almost 3 years!

I remember I used to feel nervous for the first 3-4 times that I put this cake into the oven, wondering if it will turn out good this time. I could barely hold myself from taking it out and having a look again & again – now that definitely spoils your cake!

Although it has been a while since I wanted to post this here, I always forgot to photograph it every time I made. By the time I remembered it would be too late i.e. the cake would have been long devoured. Even this time I can easily say that the cake is far more delicious than the photo gives credit, I guess my trials & errors on that front (the pics) will have to continue a lot more. But really I am a great fan of this cake & GM is a bigger fan. He wants me to make this everytime I am thinking of baking something.

Butter Cake (Madeira Cake)

Ingredients
2 Cups All Purpose flour (Maida)
2 Eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Method:

Pre Heat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease & flour a 9 inch round cake tin and keep ready.

In a bowl, combine the butter & sugar. beat them together until light & fluffy using an electric mixer or with a whisk.

Sieve together the flour, Baking Powder & salt and keep aside.

Add the eggs and beat until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla extract & beat for another minute.

Now add the 1/3 of the flour mixture & beat on gently to combine. Add half the milk and mix until blended. Add the next 1/3 of the flour & continue as earlier with the remaining milk.

Finally add the remaining 1/3 flour and beat till combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl to ensure that all the ingredients are mixed together.

Pour the batter into the prepared Cake tin and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes. Ti check if the cake is done, insert a sharp knife in the centre of the cake & if it comes out clean without any batter clinging to it, then it is all done.



Tale it out of the oven & let it cool in the tin for sometime before turning it over on a rack to cool down completely.

If it doesn't get over immediately, store in an air tight container. This stays well for about 3-4 days.

My Notes:

Although I have mentioned a round tin to be used,I have earlier made this as a loaf & also a square cake. Make sure to use a pan equivalent in terms of volume. This time I baked it in a smaller round tin and also made 2 tiny ones.

I generally use salted butter instead of adding extra salt. The sugar can be adjusted as per your taste but the above quantity yields a cake which is not too sweet but just the way we like it.

I can easily say that this is a tried & tested recipe and never fails me. Of course I arrived at it after a lot of trials as I have mentioned earlier in the post.

Julie & Julia and Delia (With Gratin Dauphinoise)

This must be first time ever that I was struggling to finish reading a book. As I have mentioned earlier in numerous posts, I can read anything & everything, then why did I have to keep counting the pages remaining, and wondering when I will be able to reach the end?

The answer might lie in the way Julie Powell writes -  totally haphazard, without any organisation or sequence and too many unnecessary and minute details.

I am talking about Julie & Julia, by Julie Powell which was the Book Club’s pick this month, well actually last month. As you can see I am quite late with the post here, but my hectic schedule for the past couple of weeks combined with my lack of interest in the book after a few pages, are to be blamed.

The prior knowledge that this book didn't really have a story but it only chronicled the experiences of someone who work in a government organisation by the day & tries to emulate the legendary Julia Child when she is cooking, did not help either.

I would not have even minded that, if her experiences were something out of the ordinary or even if they were written with a little more flair or if the food references were appealing. I did not find any of these in the book and so was totally uninspired in both the culinary & the literary sense.

I am only hoping the movie is much better than the book itself because I really want to see it, the sole reason being Meryl Streep, who I find absolutely amazing.

Although the book didn't inspire me to cook anything, the mention of Julia Child’s ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ led me to try something french.

I have spoken about this book earlier. This has become for me what MtAoFC was to Julie Powell I guess. I have been trying out recipes one by one although I dont have a set target like her. I am hoping to make all the recipes given in the book.

I found this Gratin Dauphinoise recipe in this vegetarian collection by Delia Smith. See, now do you see the reason behind the title of this post, I just couldnt resist it!

The first thing that struck me about the recipe was its simplicity but still I knew that with this combination of the ingredients, the end result was sure to be delicious. The original recipe was to serve 4-6 people, I scaled it down to make it for 2.

Gratin Dauphinoise

Serves 2 as a side dish

Ingredients

1 Large Potato or 2 medium ones
1 small clove of garlic, crushed & chopped finely
30 ml Cream

30 ml Milk
1 tblsp Butter + extra for greasing
Salt & Pepper
Some nutmeg

Method:
Pre heat the oven to 150 deg C. Generously butter a baking dish, approx 4” in size, and keep ready.

Wash & peel the potato. Slice it very thinly preferably using a mandolin or the slicing blade of a grater. I dont have a mandolin and my grater badly needs to be replaced as its gone very blunt, so I achieved the impossible of sorts by slicing it by hand with a knife. Although the slices were not comparable to mandolin ones, they did nicely.



Keep these slices immersed in cold water to get rid of some of the starch. Drain and then wipe them dry on a kitchen towel.

Arrange some potato slices in the baking dish, slightly overlapping. Sprinkle some crushed garlic, salt & Pepper.

Arrange the next set of slices and repeat the process until all the slices are used up.

End with a sprinkle of salt & pepper. Now, mix the cream & milk together and pour into the baking dish.



Lightly sprinkle some freshly grated nutmeg over this. Dot the surface with the butter and bake in the pre heated oven on the top most rack for about 1.5 hours.

Yes, you read that right. It is 1 1/2 hours, it takes that long for the potatoes to cook to perfection, with the flavour of garlic permeating and the cream & butter working their magic.

This being such a rich dish, I served this alongside a soup, the recipe for which is coming soon. Together they made a very hearty dinner for us.

My Notes:

Although I scaled down the recipe, I also used a bit of judgement on my part when using the ingredients, so follow accordingly. This can easily be turned into a main dish by just increasing the quantity. I wouldn't really mind it on its own if I can ignore the amount of calories in it.

It was really delicious and made me understand why Julia stressed so much on the butter & the cream in most of her recipes. They really do wonders!