CHECKERBOARD CAKE

As promised,here is the recipe for the checkerboard cake:

Ingredients:3 oz/85 gms baking chocolate

4 cups/508 gms cake flour

2 cups/400 gms sugar

1 tsp salt

1 &1/3 cup/316 ml milk

1 cup/225 gms butter

1 tbsp Vanilla extract

4 eggs

2 tbsp baking powder


Method:Melt chocolate over hot water and keep aside to cool.

Combine together flour,sugar,baking powder,and salt.Stir with a fork or a whisk until well mixed.

Add the butter and 1 cup milk.Beat until well mixed.You can do this either by hand or a hand mixer.

In a separate bowl,whisk together the eggs,vanilla and the remaining 1/3 cup of milk.Add to the flour-butter mix in 3 parts.Beat well after each addition until the mixture looks homogenous.Remember to scrape the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Divide the batter into half and add the melted chocolate to one half,Mix thoroughly.


Grease and flour three 9 inch round pans.Line the bases if you like.

Now,Place the divider in one pan, and pour the chocolate mixture in the outermost and innermost rings.Pour some white mixture into the middle ring.Remove the divider carefully and place it in another pan.Repeat the above step.

Take out the divider carefully and wash it.Dry it well and place it in the third pan.In this one,pour the white batter in the outermost and inner most rings and the chocolate mixture in the middle one.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 mins.Let cool in pans for five minutes and then take out onto wire rack to cool the cakes completely.



Assembling the cake:

Use a thin layer of chocolate buttercream to join the layers together,with the white-chocolate-white cake in the middle and the chocolate-white-chocolate cakes forming the upper and lower layers.

Ice with the buttercream and decorate as wished.





The Chocolate butter icing :

85 gms Baking chocolate

6 tbsp/90 ml Milk

3 cups/380 gms sifted icing/confectioners sugar

6 tbsp/90 gms Butter

1 tbsp Vanilla extract

Method:Melt the chocolate on low heat.

Heat milk to boiling and immediately remove from heat.Add confectioners sugar and beat thoroughly.

Add melted chocolate and mix well .Cool to lukewarm.

Beat butter in another bowl until creamy.Add a pinch of salt,vanilla and the cooled chocolate mixture.Beat vigorously until smooth and creamy.Spread immediately.


I use The Perfect Buttercream recipe from Baking911 and it is literally,perfect except that I use only a small quantity of shortening and a major portion of butter.Sometimes I use all butter.


My Notes:I always use margarine for my cakes, and this one is no exception.you can use it too,if you are concerned about your intake of too much saturated fat.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,V!!

Life has become so busy all of a sudden,instead of finding myself time to blog and read more blogs about food,read books and spend my time in a leisurely manner,I am now running out to finish my chores both at home and outside before the kid comes home from the nursery.Coupled with all that,the weather here has been very rainy here and pretty dampening.And so the days passed by until a little bird reminded me that it is hubby's birthday soon.And with that began one more errand of frantic shopping amid plans of what to make!

Finally I decided to make a cake and a very simple dinner.Then comes the kid into the kitchen and says,"Mom,its my birthday today.Can you make me a cake (pronounced "kaik",dutifully in UK accent,learnt at the nursery)please?"So I decided,OK,just a small cake.

Here are the pictures of the cake I made.This first one, a heart shaped one is for Little A,who wanted to cut a cake along with her dad.Her friend Neel helped her cut the cake.

This is a plain chocolate cake,made in two layers and sandwiched with chocolate buttercream.The stars have been piped using whipped heavy cream.They held up their shape beautifully.


This one is the cake I made for dear V.I really am blessed to have him by my side in this life.Apart from being so good to me in general and never complaining,
not once has he grudged when I wanted to buy the numerous cake pans--fancy,plain
et all, the icing sets,the weighing scales and the measuring cups and spoons (which ,however many I have,I am not satisfied)!Now that surely makes me a foodie if not anything else.OK,so back to the main person in this post(
V somehow always admires all the fancy things I do,like decorating cakes, and baking marble cakes and the like.Which is why he was very happy when I made him this:

This cake was made in a checkerboard cake pan set in 3 layers and frosted with chocolate buttercream.My first attempt at dipping the strawberries in white chocolate was not that bad afterall.

The recipe is a very simple one, and can be found online too.I used the recipe that came along with my checkerboard cake pan set.For the heart shaped cake,I used only half the recipe with the chocolate and baked it in two 7 inch heart shaped pans.

New Updates, and Some of my Recent Work

Hello friends,

I am so very thankful to you all for your concerns and wishes.The happiest update is that Ananya has now adjusted well to the nursery.Today it is exactly one month since she started going.Today she waved a very happy "bye" to me.I felt so relieved I could have danced then and there!

In between,I managed to bake a few cakes,and decorate them.Here are a few snaps:

I baked this Van Cake for my friend M's son Neel.He turned 3 this year on 12th this month.He had a grand party with all the lovely food cooked by his mom.




Here is another peek:


I baked this Barbie cake for my friend D's daughter Aditi,who turned 2 on 17th this month.



Aside from that,I tried making Baklava for the first time from a recipe that I had copied into my computer long ago.I will post the recipe with my modifications in my next post.Take a look at the result:I had only made a small quantity,so I could not take pictures of individual pieces-they went direct from the pan to our mouths!:)


I am glad to say that I can be back to posting regularly now.Thank you all,once again,for your wishes.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Hello dear friends,

I am back!We had a grand party yesterday.It was a lunch party.Ananya loved the cake and was very very eager to open her gifts as well.She has got beautiful gifts from all of her friends here.The party went well and everyone enjoyed the food.

I had prepared Coconut rice ,Navratan Korma,Sambar,Bobbatlu(Puran poli),Curry puffs and DahiVada.My friend Mahua made my work easier by taking on the task of making PalakPaneer(and might I add,she makes the best palak paneer I have ever tasted).There were a total of 25 guests and 9 kids.

All of my friends pitched in to help me while I was making the preparations for the party.Some helped in decorating the room while others helped me while I was preparing the vadas for the Dahi Vada.One of my friends helped me make the coconut rice,so all in all,it was a great time we had together.

I am thankful to all of my friends who helped me.Here are some pictures of the food:

Cupcakes for the kids:
The Party Platter:


Clockwise in the bigger plate:Coconut rice,Curry puffs,Navratan Korma and Palak Paneer.

Clockwise in the smaller bowls:Sambar,Puran Poli,Cake,Dahi Vadas.

The Birthday Cake was a Strawberry,Vanilla and Chocolate layer cake sandwiched with a thin layer of buttercream and iced with buttercream flavoured with a strawberry extract and a few drops of red food colouring to give it a nice pink.I could not take a better picture of the cake,as you all know how it is with a nervous birthday girl surrounded by her friends all eager to get the cake cutting underway and having the cake.I am hoping some of my friends might have a better picture of the cake so as soon as I get a nicer picture,I shall post it here.And of course,there was the ubiquitous Coke and the Fanta.

I made the cupcakes for the kids as most were about 2 or 3 yrs of age.I tried a little experiment by making three layer cupcakes, and thankfully,they came out well.One of my friends told me that even though they are for kids,they were great.I guess,all Mums might have had a taste of the cupcakes too.You all know,that kids are interested in cake so long as there is cream, and the leftover is always for Mom to finish off!

I am glad that the party was a success and we all had a good time together.I was very very tired at the end of the day,but the best thing was that my friend Deepa brought us some freshly made hot coffee in the evening when all the guests had departed.It freshened us up a bit but most importantly,made me realise that life is no good without the affection of loved ones.I will remember this party to the end of my life because not only did I cook for 25 people,but also without all the help from my friends,I would never have been able to do it.Through out the week when I was busy shopping for the party(the veggies,disposables,gifts for kids)I would leave my daughter with my friends and they took care of her for me for a few hours every day.Even on the day of the party,I left my daughter at my friend Deepa's place until I had finished some preliminary work.I cannot tell you how blessed I feel I am to have such good hearted friends.And I am glad to have you all too,to read your wishes and comments for Ananya and appreciation for me makes me feel so proud.Your comments on the heart shaped cake I made for Ananya boosted my confidence a lot and this time,even though I made 3 layers and larger amounts of the cake,it was literally a breeze.Thank you All of You,for being with me all the time!God Bless you all and keep you happy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,ANANYA!

Hi Aunties,Uncles and friends,

I am 3 years old today!I am a big girl now,although Mummy still thinks I am a small "big girl"..Anyway, Mummy made me a cake and all my friends came over.It was a party only for me and my friends and for those who could not come for the cake cutting,Mummy agreed to go and give them some cake!It was fun.My mum and dad bought me a new dress,and I got some gifts too today.I love playing with my friends.

I love strawberry juice ice cream(my version of the colour PINK:D),so Mummy made me a clifford-big-heart-cake(my way of saying HEART SHAPED CAKE).Take a look at the cake and enjoy.Mummy is going to make another big cake for the big party this weekend.


Mummy is posting some pictures here,so take a look and enjoy!I wish you were all here too for my party.Oh,I forgot to tell you,Mummy made me vanilla and strawberry cake..I loved it and so did my friends.:)



And this was all left of the cake but Mummy saved it specially for me...I love you,Mum!

Thank you all who sent me Birthday wishes,hugs and kisses.I truly enjoyed yesterday.

Enjoy!

Love,

Ananya.