Coconut Cake Pic: Priya Q

I had dessicated coconut lying in freezer for sometime. Since non of us are too much in barfi kinda sweets; I didn’t know what to do with it till an idea flashed … we love cakes..so why not a coconut cake! and Voila was it delicious!? Nah, my 1 year old was not the only taster but many other friends who passed that verdict . Do try it!!

Unsweetened Desiccated Coconut – 1 and 1/2 cups
Unsalted Butter – 1 cup (softened)
All-Purpose Flour (Maida) - 2 cups
Baking Powder – 1 tsp
Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
Castor Sugar – 2 cups
Whole Milk – 1 cup
Salt – 1/4 tsp
Eggs – 3 nos

1. Preheat the oven to 185 degree C
2. Prepare the tin for baking (grease and flour method OR grease-butter paper-grease method). Keep aside
3. Combine flour, baking powder and salt
4. Beat butter with mixer
5. Gradually beat in sugar on medium speed till creamy
6. Add vanilla essence to it, keep stirring
7. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time
8. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk in 3 batches over low speed
9. Raise the speed to medium and beat batter 1-1/2 minutes till soft
10. Now fold in coconut with a spatula
11. Tip in the mixture into the greased mould
12. Bake for about 40 minutes at the temp of 185 degree C and another 10 minutes at 200 degree C (till a toothpick comes out clean)
13. Cool cake on a rack
14. Dust it with dessicated coconut
15. Serve

*All ovens vary so use your judgment pertaining to temperature !

have fun cooking!

Carrot Cake Pic: Priya Q

Starting the first blog of 2012 on a sweet note… Oh well, I need not say anything about this cake except warn you – it is so damn yummy that you might finish it in one sitting especially if your friends and family is around.. Very simple and easy Carrot cake recipe just for you )

To get the best result, it is highly advisable to use baking measurements – cups, spoons, scale etc

Refined Flour (Maida) – 2 cups
Castor Sugar – 2 cups
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking soda – 1 tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Cinnamon powder – 1 tbsp
Grated carrots – 3 cups
Eggs – 4 nos
Oil – 1 cup

1. Prepare the tin for baking (grease and flour method OR grease-butter paper-grease method). Keep aside
2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl
3. Add carrots and oil and mix well with hands or a spatula
4. Add eggs and blend it using an electric mixer. Start at a low speed and when blended, turn to high speed for about 2 minutes
5. Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree C for 10 minutes
6. Tip in the cake dough into the prepared tin
7. Bake it for about 1 hour at 180 degree C
8. Remove on a wire rack and let it cool
9. Once cool, dust with icing sugar
10. Serve

*I use the grease-butter paper-grease method for cake tin
** If after 45 minutes you feel the cake is way away from done. Then increase the temperature to 200 degree C for the last 15 minutes. All ovens vary so use your judgment

*** add 1/2 to 3/4 cups of chopped walnuts and you have Walnut Carrot Cake

wishing you all  a sweet and delicious New year! Binge on!

Priya

Chocolate Banana Cake Pic: Priya Q

This one is for my friends Akhila and Adheeth….Akhila finally I get to posting the recipe! Adheeth…its quite a simple cake recipe you can use! I will be posting more in the time to come

Ripe Bananas – 3 nos

Castor Sugar – 3/4 cup

Refined Flour (Maida) – 185 gms

Baking Soda – 3/4 tsp

Baking Powder – 3/4 tsp

Eggs – 2 nos

Olive Oil – 3 Tbsp

Milk – 1/4 cup (roughly 60 ml)

Dark Chocolate – 100 gms

1. Lightly beat eggs and keep aside
2. Grate Chocolate and set aside in the fridge
3. Prepare the baking dish – Grease, line butter paper and re-grease
4. Sift the flour with baking soda and baking powder once
5. Mash bananas nicely and combine with sugar
6. To the sifter flour add eggs, olive oil and milk and gently mic with a wooden spatula/spoon
7. Preheat the oven at 180 degree C
8. Fold in the grated chocolate
9. Pour into the baking dish
10. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean
11. Cool the cake on a rack before slicing
12. Serve warm or cold

* I had punctured few holes in the prepared cake while cooling it off and poured some chocolate sauce over it to get a marbled effect

** you can add walnuts to it after adding chocolate for a walnut chocolate banana cake!

*** I have used both baking powder and soda since chocolate is being used for this cake recipe

Till next time….happy cooking!

Black Forest Cake Pic Credit: Priya Q

I made this cake for my husband’s birthday an year back and everybody had good good things to say

Chocolate sponge cake
Tinned canned cherries and syrup – ½ portion
Fresh whipped cream – 1 cup
Powdered sugar – 3 tbsp
Vanilla essence – 1/2 tsp
Grated dark or plain chocolate

1. Beat the cream over a tray of ice cubes with a hand beater. Do not over beat. It should form soft peaks. Fold in the sugar and vanilla essence. Mix gently.
2. Put some icing in a icing cone leave the rest in the bowl. Refrigerate both
3. Slice the cake into two halves.
4. Fill cherry syrup in a sprayer and spray evenly on each half. Allow to soak for 10 minutes
5. Spread the cream icing on lower half and cover it nicely
6. Place the cherries on the cream and place the other half of the cake on top
7. Decorate your cake using icing cone
8. Decorate with cherries
9. Sprinkle chocolate flakes all over the cake

Sponge Cake used for Black Forest Pic credit: Priya Q

This is fatless version that can be used as a base for many cakes like black forest, white forest, logs, swiss rolls etc

Eggs – 4 nos
Refined flour (maida) – 85 gms
Baking powder – 1 and ½ tsp
Cornflour – 1 tbsp
Sugar powder – 160 gms
Vanilla essence – 1 and ½ tsp
Brandy – 1 tbsp

1. Sieve together – refined flour, baking powder and corn flour
2. Separate egg whites and yolks
3. Beat egg whites till stiff and dry (it should form firm peaks)
4. To the yolk add sugar powder, brandy and vanilla essence and 1 tsp of water. Beat till you get an off white mixture
5. To the yolk mixture add 1 tbsp each of egg white mixture and refined flour mixture and slowly and gently mix in cut and fold method. Keep repeating till everything has been incorporated
6. Pour this into a greased tray (greased, lined with butter paper and re greased)
7. Spread the mixture evenly
8. Bake it immediately in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 20 minutes*

*time varies from oven to oven. So check with a toothpick in about 15 minutes. If it comes out clean then your cake is done
* for a chocolate sponge cake add 20 gms of cocoa, ¾ tsp baking soda and ¾ tsp of baking powder to 65 gms maida

Apple and Oatmeal Muffins Pic credit - Priya Q

Tried this out yesterday after watching it made on one of the cookery show on TV albeit I made few changes of my own…. in the original recipe salt was added; however I though it wasn’t required since I was using salted butter. Also I added vanilla coz me thinks where there is egg add few drops of vanilla. I intentionally left out cinnamon powder since my husband kinda doesnt like it…hmmm whatelse did I change! Oh yeh I added ingredients going by my instinct not quite following the order that was suggested…. but the result was still good

All purpose flour (maida) – 160 gms
Butter  -125 gm
Sugar – 150 gms
Apples – 100 gms (peeled and diced)
Oatmeal – 40 gms
Eggs – 2 nos
Vanilla essence – 2-3 drops
Baking powder – 2 tsp

1. Dry toast on a pan oatmeal and keep aside
2. Sauté chopped apples in butter and keep it aside
3. Cream the butter and sugar using an electric beater
4. Add eggs and beat it again
5. Fold in the flour, baking powder, toasted oatmeal and blend
6. In the end add the apples and gently fold using a spatula
7. Line the muffin tray with muffin paper
8. Fill in muffin moulds with the batter
9. Bake at 170 C for about 30-35 minutes

*add cinnamon powder for enhanced flavor
* after baking I put my oven on broiler mode for about 10 minutes which gave me a nice crunchy crust

Easy Chocolate Cake Pic credit: Chitra Gupta

Thanks Chitra for the easy chocolate cake recipe

All purpose flour (Maida) – 1 cup (heaped)
Sugar – 3/4th cup
Refined Sunflower oil – 3/4th cup
Baking powder – ¾ tsp
Cocoa Powder – 1/4th cup
Vanilla essence- ½ tsp
Eggs – 4 nos

For Icing:  Chitra used the ready-made Pillsbury chocolate icing on this cake. To make your own home made icing you can use the following. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, add fresh cream to it. Initially it will become a bit hard, but keep adding the cream and stir well, till pouring consistency is reached.

1. Whip the eggs and sugar together in a blender, till the sugar dissolves completely, and the consistency is slightly creamy
2. Then add the vanilla essence and refined oil to the egg sugar mixture, whip again thoroughly
3. In the meantime, sieve together the maida, cocoa powder, and baking powder
4. Grease a baking dish and lightly dust with maida
5. Gently add the whipped mixture to the flour mixture, stirring continuously, beating the mixture till air bubbles are visible on the top.
6. Gently pour the mixture into the greased tin and bake in pre heated oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.
7. Check with a knife to see if done, cool.
8. Cut the cake into two equal halves, (use a thread to get a clean cut)
9. Slather the icing onto both the halves, join them again
10. Cover the cake with the icing, place in the fridge to cool and the icing to set
11. Later you can dust the cake with icing sugar, using a sieve, (can use any stencil too, to create patterns)

*for a healthier version, replace all purpose flour with wheat flour. The cake will be browner but tastes equally good.

Chitra Gupta is a homemaker and a mother of two lovely kids. She believes in making food interesting and enticing through lots of experimenting. She ensures her family has healthy food through the week. However, some days she believes in some sinful indulgence too!

photo credit: roygbivibgyor

Picnics, parties, school lunch break and any time snack; muffins are an all time favorite for most of us! Plain sponge, coffee, chocolate there are so many way one can bake muffins! This one is with Chocolate and Walnut. The last recipe for the walnut week. That definitely doesn’t mean no more walnuts! If I come across an interesting recipe, would definitely share!

Eggs – 2 nos
Sugar powder – 200 gms
All purpose flour (maida) – 130 gms
Cocoa powder – 4 tbsp
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking soda – 1 tsp
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Butter – 160 gms
Milk – 2/3 cups
Chopped walnuts – 150 gms

1. Sieve the flour with cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda and keep it aside
2. Melt the butter with milk but do not boil
3. Beat the eggs lightly till frithy and then add sugar powder, vanilla essence and mix
4. Gradually add the flour mixture prepared earlier and the butter with milk mixture. Beat lightly
5. Finally fold in the walnuts
6. Mix gently and pour it into paper lined muffin tray
7. Top with whole walnut and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 180 degree C

Till next time…happy cooking!

photo credit: avlxyz

Cakes are my weakness. More than having them, I love baking it for my friends and family . Cappuccino Walnut Gateaux is an absolute delight and sinfully delicious

All purpose flour (Maida)– 150 gms
Sugar powder – 200 gms
Eggs – 2 nos.
Butter – 150 gms
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Coffee liquor / Kahlua* – 1 Tbsp
Coffee powder cappuccino flavor – 1 tsp
Praline – 1 Tbsp (for caramelized nuts)

1. In a pan dry heat 2 Tbsp of sugar, 3 tbsp of walnuts (broken). Add the walnuts while the sugar melts into honey color
2. Keep stirring after adding the walnuts on a low flame
3. Grease a tray and pour the caramelized walnut and let it cool before powdering it (Praline)
4. Beat the butter in a bowl using an electric beater. Beat only in one direction till fluffy
5. Add sugar powder and continue beating in one direction till nice and fluffy
6. Add the eggs one at a time and blend in one direction
7. Add vanilla essence and beat
8. Add coffee liquor / Kahlua and coffee powder. Continue beating in one direction
9. Sieve maida or all purpose flour along with baking powder
10. Add all purpose flour to the prepared butter mixture little by little (about 2 Tbsp) and keep beating with an electric beater
11. Now add remaining flour with a spoon and mix lightly in cut and fold method with a spatula till you get a semi thick consistency
12. Grease the mould and spread the butter paper and re grease
13. Pour half of the batter in the center of the mould and sprinkle around 2 Tbsp of praline on top of it
14. Pour remaining of the batter and mix it with a spatula. This process is called spanning
15. Push the batter up on the sides so that it forms a dip in the centre. This is done to have uniformity else cakes tend to rise higher towards the center
16. Bake in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes at 180 degree C or 350 degree F or adjust according to your oven; since the timings vary from oven to oven

*If you do not have coffee liquor you can use 1-2 tbsp rum mixed with 1 tsp of instant coffee powder

Either you can serve as it or proceed with icing

Icing

1. Split the cake (after cooling) in to 2 halves
2. Add 1 to 1.5 tsp of instant coffee powder o butter icing
3. You can also add rum / coffee liquor to the butter icing
4. Spread icing on 1st half
5. Place the 2nd half of the cake and spread the butter cream / icing on top and all sides
6. Saute walnuts in butter
7. Decorate your cake with your imagination with sauted walnuts and praline

Kiwi White Forest Cake image: Priya Q

Rich whipped cream topping with green kiwis on a super soft spongy cake.  Kiwi White Forest is my favoritest (just coined to emphasize how much I love baking and eating this cake ).

Now before you attempt baking this cake or for that matter any cake, if you donot have a weighing scale / measuring cups /spoons….please do get them first. Trust me it makes a lot of difference and worth your investment.

Plain sponge cake

Cherry syrup / sugar water – 1/4 cup

Rum – 1 tbsp

Kiwis – 3-4 nos

Rich whip topping – 200 gms

Sugar powder – 2 tbsp

1. Cut the cake horizontally from the center with a serrated knife
2. Keep the top half of the cake aside
3. Mix the cherry syrup (from the cherry tin) and rum and put it in a sprayer
4. Spray the base of the cake on all sides liberally
5. Peel the kiwis and cut them in slice
6. Beat the rich whip topping stiff (the cream should not move and should form peaks). Add sugar powder and beat again.
7. Spread the cream over the base of the cake and line it with chopped kiwis
8. Spray the 2nd or the top half of the cake with the sugar syrup mixture and place it on top of the base with kiwis
9. Cover the whole cake liberally with the whipped cream on all sides
10. Clean the plate with a tissue paper off any cream
11. With an icing bag decorate your cake to your taste. I used the star nozzle for this cake (as you see in the picture)
12. Decorate with more sliced Kiwis
13. Cool in a refrigerator for atleast 15 minutes before using

Till next time…happy baking!