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

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!

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!

When you don’t have much time to make something fancy, then caramelized bananas could be your answer. Simple and quick… yet tasty!

Ripe Bananas – 2 nos
Sugar – 1 tbsp
Clarified butter (ghee) – 2 tsp
Coconut shavings – 2 tsp

1.    Heat ghee in a pan and add sugar to it till it melts into a brown liquid
2.    Add bananas and stir. Keep it for 2-3 minutes till you see the banana pieces are nicely coated in sugar syrup.
3.    Sprinkle coconut shavings.
4.    Serve

Till tomorrow….happy cooking!