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.

My New Cake Decorating Project

After my daughter's birthday party,quite a few of my friends wanted to learn how to make the cake that I had baked for my daughter.So today I was busy with that and I taught my friends how to make the cake.My friend Ruchi wanted me to decorate the cake as well,so that is what I did this evening.here is the cake I decorated today:I was not entirely satisfied though,because the writing got a little irregular.But I am learning...



The only difference is that for both my daughter's birthday cake as well as this cake ,I used margarine instead of butter.This cake was baked in a 9 inch square pan and I increased the proportions too.This is quite an easy and versatile recipe which can be adapted to any flavour.Here are the proportions I used today:

25o gms of self rising flour

250 gms of margarine

250 gms of sugar

5 eggs

1/2 tbsp vanilla essence/extract.

The original recipe for the cake ,mixing method and the temperature for baking the cake can be found HERE.

CHOCOLATE SPONGE

This is the recipe I used to make our anniversary cake.

Ingredients:4 Eggs

1 cup Castor sugar

1 1/2 tbsp Butter/Margarine

2 1/2 tbsp Cocoa powder

4 tbsp Boiling water

1 1/4 cups Self rising flour(See note below for substitution)


Filling and topping:250 ml heavy cream/double cream/whipping cream

4 teaspoons Confectioners sugar/Icing sugar

Grated dark chocolate for decorating

Milk chocolate kisses or any other small chocolates to decorate

Method:Heat the oven to 350F/180 c.

Grease two 9 inch round pans with butter and line the bases.

Beat the eggs until the yolks and whites are combined well.

Add the sugar in 1/3rd portions and beat till the sugar dissolves and the mixture becomes lemon coloured and thick.This will take about 15 mins.

Now add the butter and cocoa powder to 4 tbsp of boiling water and stir well to dissolve.The mixture should be smooth and lump-free.

Add to the egg and sugar mixture and beat well to combine.Add the flour by the tablespoon,just sprinkle on top and fold gently,but smoothly.

Divide the mixture into the two tins and bake for about 20-25 mins.

Let cool in the pans for 5 mins ,then invert onto cooling rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Filling:Mix the confectioners/icing sugar into the heavy cream/double cream and put in the refrigerator along with your beaters for atleast 3-4 hours.The colder the cream is,the faster it will whip.

Whip until stiff peaks form.

Place one layer of the cake on the serving plate.Brush the top lightly with simple sugar syrup(See note).Then put a 1/3rd of the whipped cream on the first layer,spread with a spatula or knife until evenly spread.Place the second layer on it,and repeat the icing.

With the remaining cream,frost the top and sides.Smooth the surfaces. Sprinkle grated chocolate on top.Take some of the grated chocolate in your hand and stick to the sides.I suggest that you place 3 inch wide wax paper strips under the base of the cake just to catch these chocolate gratings so that you can reuse them.


Now put the remaining cream into an icing bag fitted with a star tip.(I used my icing gun to do this).Pile swirls on top and little shells or whatever other design you prefer on the sides of the cake at the base.Decorate the swirls with chocolate kisses.I used star shaped chocolate that I had on hand.


My Notes:Self rising flour is all purpose flour mixed with salt and raising agents.If you cannot find this,make your own at home:Take one cup of sifted all purpose flour(Sift first,then measure by putting the flour into the cup loosely and levelling off with a knife),remove 2 teaspoons of the flour, and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.This makes 1 cup,you can make your own and store it for atleast a few months(depending on when the baking powder expires).

Instead of castor sugar,just grind granulated sugar in the food processor.That is what I did.Castor sugar is just finer grained that granulated sugar.

For making simple sugar syrup,just heat equal quantities of sugar and water(by volume,not weight) until it reaches boiling point.

I like the texture of this cake.The mixture will be thinner than normal cake batters and this makes fairly thin layers of cake.But the texture is really spongy and goes very well with the whipped cream.I hope you will enjoy it as much as my family did.

Marriage Anniversary

This is the cake that I made for our 6th marriage anniversary today,16th of december.I shall be posting the recipe and other details on Monday.I just wanted to share my joy with everyone,especially Swapna who put up beautiful flowers on her blog along with her wishes to us.
I thought this would be a good occasion to present to you all my daughter,who is turning 3 in Jan 2007.She is Ananya:(Her friend Vaishnavi calls her Aneena:))

Added on 20th Dec:Dear friends,Thank you all for the best wishes you have sent for us and our daughter.I have removed my daughter's photograph from this post for security reasons.I hope you will understand.

EGGLESS SEMOLINA/SOOJI CAKE

Since I started blogging,thanks to all the inspiration I got from friends in the blog world,my penchant for trying out new recipes is on the rise.So I fished out a recipe for an eggless sooji cake from Recipezaar.I was sceptical at first,but you can see the result for yourselves!

Ingredients:1/2 cup Sooji(Semolina)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup yogurt/curd

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp green cardamom/elaichi powder

6-8 pistachios,sliced(Other nuts like cashews,almonds,and even raisins can be used)


Method: Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line a 7 inch sandwich tin with greaseproof paper.This is important as the cake tends to stick to the pan.


Now mix the semolina,sugar,yougurt and oil.Mix well so that the batter is lump-free.Now add in the elaichi/cardamom powder and the baking soda.Add in the sliced pistachios,reserving some for garnishing.It helps to toss the nuts in a little plain flour/maida before mixing into the batter:It prevents the nuts from sinking to the botton.Mix well,pour into the prepared tin and bake immediately for 35-40 mins.

My Notes:I took the cake out after 35 mins and it was done.It was more like a baked sooji halwa,Best eaten warm.I suppose you could even out saffron in this to jazz it up a bit.I will do that the next time.

Also,this cake does not rise really high as it uses semolina and semolina results in a denser structure than flour.As you can see from the picture,it is about 3/4 inch high.

EGGLESS DATE AND NUT CAKE

I love Dates.They are so full of nutrition that often I pop a few into my mouth when I crave a snack without a lot of fat in it and which also satisfies my sweet tooth.I remember having baked a date cake long ago(almost 8 yrs ago,to be frank!) and my sister always asks for that recipe.Unfortunately,I don't have that recipe anymore.And thus began my search for a date cake that would be only mildly sweet .I was surprised to find a recipe by Delia Smith which is low in saturated fat as well.I made a few changes to the recipe,so here is the recipe with the changes.You can find the original recipe at Deliaonline.So,here is the recipe with the changes I made:

Indgredients:175 gms stoned dates(About 3/4 cup)

225 gms All purpose flour/Maida(2 cups)

50 gms White sugar(1/3 cup)

25 gms Margarine-I used "I can't believe its not butter(1 tablespoon)

75 gms Walnuts

75 gms Cashews

1 tsp Baking soda

2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder

1 Clove(I crushed it in the mortar with 1/2 tsp of sugar)

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp Vanilla extract

1 tbsp Ground flax seeds

4-5 tbsps Water

Icing:110 gms Icing/Confectioners Sugar

1 tablespoon margarine

4-5 tablespoons warm milk


Method: Put the ground flax seeds along with the water into a microwave safe bowl and microwave it on high for 1 min.The flax meal will have absorbed some water and become thick.Set it aside to cool.

Heat the oven to 400F/200C and roast the nuts until they turn light brown,this takes about 8-10 mins.Let them cool,then chop coarsely.

Reduce the heat to 350F/175C.Line a 7 inch square cake pan with 4 inch high sides,with parchment or wax paperMy favourite trick to making wax paper is to spray a normal white sheet with oil and then use it to like my cake pans.We were living in a small town where parchment or wax paper was not really available,so I came up with this trick to reduce the mess a date cake can make.You can also grease your tin but if you do,grease it well with some shortening/ghee.This cake rises high and is moist too,so making it in sandwich type pans would make the cake too thin and dry.

Chop the dates and soak it in 1 cup(250 ml) of boiling water.Add baking soda and the margarine .Set aside.

Sift the flour with cinnamon powder,clove powder,salt and the baking soda.I generally measure it all, and them put it into a bowl and aerate it well with my wire whisk.

Once the flax meal has cooled,the consistency will be exacly like an egg,very slimy and gooey and almost mud coloured.Now take this into a mixing bowl and beat it with spoon.I like to use a flat melamine rice server to beat my cake batters with, as melamine does not absorb water.Add the sugar and beat well till the mixture is a little lighter in colour.

Crush the dates by hand to make a coarse paste.You can leave it like that if you like date chunks in your cake.

Add this to the mixing bowl and beat well.Now add the flour to this in two parts,mixing well to incorporate it fully.Lastly,add the chopped nuts.Coat the nuts with a little flour that you have measured for the cake.This prevents the nuts from sinking to the bottom after the cake has baked.

If the batter is a little too thick,you can add some milk,about 5-6 tbsps.I did have to add the milk to bring the batter to a pouring consistency.

Pour it into the prepared cake pan.Bake for 1 1/4 hours.The cake will smell done, and the top will spring back when touched lightly.I baked in in my anodised Silverwood pan and the cake was done in 55 minutes.


Mix the ingredients for the icing and pour over the cake.

VICTORIA SPONGE CUPCAKES

Hello everyone,

I made cupcakes today with the victora sponge cake batter.I have made this cake many times before, and I can tell you it is a no-fail recipe.Use it to make gateaus,sandwich cakes, or even trifle.So,without further ado,here is the recipe:

VICTORIA SPONGE CAKE

Ingredients:

150 gms butter

150 gms self rising flour

150 gms sugar`

3 eggs

2 tsp Vanilla essence

Method:Preheat oven to 375 F/180C.

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy and creamy.Add the eggs one by one and beat well after each addition.

Add vanilla essence at this point.

Now add flour,mix until incorporated.Pour into two 8 inch round pans which have been greased and floured.Bake for 30 mins.Keep checking and cake is ready when a skewer inserted comes out clean.Cool .

MARBLE CAKE

Some months ago,I bought a new heart shaped heavy aluminium bundt pan.A bundt pan has a tube in the centre, and high sides.Mine is about 3 inches in height.I so wanted to bake something in it, and this cake,that I got from joyofbaking seemed the perfect recipe for it:

Ingredients: 2 oz(55 grams semi-sweet chocolate

1 Tablespoon brewed coffee

2 ¼ cups (290 gms)cake flour

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup(113 grams)unsalted butter

1 ¼ cups white sugar(granulated)

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla essence/extract

¾ cup(185 ml)sour cream

1/3 cup(80 ml)milk

Method: Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

Grease a 10 inch tube pan.A tube pan is one which has a central tube to facilitale even baking.The capacity of the pan must be around 12 cups.In order to check the capacity,pour water into it upto the rim and measure how much water it takes.

Boil water in a saucepan.Over the boiling water,place another bowl and melt the chocolate with coffee in this.Make sure the water does not touch the chocolate.

Sift together flour,baking powder,baking soda and salt.

Cream butter until soft, and then add sugar.Keep beating until light and fluffy.I like to powder the sugar as it dissolves much easier and the creamed mixture becomes much fluffier.

Beat each egg and add to the creamed butter.Beat well after each addition.Add vanilla essence to this.

Mix milk and sour cream.I used normal home made yogurt/curd.Incorporate flour into the butter mixture in three additions alternating with the milk and sour cream mix.

Remember to start with the flour and end with it as this makes for a much smoother mixture.

Pour half the batter into a separate bowl and add the melted chocolate to it.Stir well.

Place alternate spoons of white and chocolate batter in the pan.Pour the whole batter into it.Using a blunt knife or the handle of a long spoon,swirl the mixture once or twice.Don’t over do it,or the marble effect will be lost.

Bake for about 1 hour.Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 mins before removing the cake from it to cool completely.

This cake has a nice texture.I used normal All Purpose Flour/Maida as I could not find cake flour.Cake flour is a finer flour which is low in protein than normal all purpose flour.To substitute with all purpose flour,use 1 cup minus 2 tablespoons of maida for 1 cup cake flour.

I served this cake as it is.This would go well with ice-cream too.

BUTTER CAKE

BUTTER CAKE

Ingredients:1 ½ cups all purpose flour,

1/2 tsp salt,

2 tsp baking powder,

1/2 cup butter,

1 cup sugar,

2 eggs,

1 tsp vanilla essence,

3/4 cup milk

Method:Preheat oven to 350 F/175C.

Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy.Add eggs abd beat till light and fluffy.

Sift flour with baking powder and salt.Add vanilla essence to the butter mix

.Now add flour,alternately with milk.Start with flour and end with flour.Batter will be smoother.

Pour batter into an 8 inch round pan (which has sides of atleast 2 inches) which has been greased and floured.Bake for 50-55 mins.Remove from pan,and cool completely.

You can add nuts,candied cherries,raisins, even fresh blueberries.Just remember to coat them with flour before adding to the batter.Otherwise,they sink to the bottom.

I I baked this cake in a pan measuring 6 inches by 9.5 inches,and I also used fresh blueberries in the cake instead of nuts. It was fabulous.

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

I have a small group of friends here in London,and we regularly have potlucks.It is a nice time for us as well as the kids.They get to see other people too(only Mummy is tooo boring,right kids?).So anyway,who can forget 15th of August?That is the day we gained independance from British rule.We decided to celebrate our independance day in our own way.We all prepared foods and decorated it as close as possible to our flag.We also sang the National Anthem.

I baked a chocolate cake, and an eggless one at that.So here is the recipe:

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE(WACKY CAKE)

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar(powdered)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp cocoa powder

1/3 cup oil

1 tbsp vinegar(substitute with equal quantity of lemon juice if vinegar is not available)

1 cup cold water

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F/175C

Mix all the dry ingredients together.

Mix liquid ingredients separately and mix into the dry.

Mix just to combine and pour immediately into a 8 by 5 inch pan.bake immediately for 30 mins.

Donot delay as soda starts to react as soon as the liquid ings come in contact with the solid.

I made this in a rectangular non-stick dark finish pan.But in light coloured aluminium pans,it may cook a little longer.Check after 25 mins.

Icing:
100 ml heavy cream
3 tbsp icing sugar
A few drops each of red,green and blue food colours.

Chill the cream overnight.Also chill the whisk with which you are going to whip the cream.This makes the job easier and faster too.
Divide the cream into 3 portions,add red food colour to one portion,green food colour to another portion, and let the third portion remain white.

Now whip each portion until firm peaks form.You should do this in a cool place(Not near the stove )or else,the cream will not whip well.

Put the cream into the icing gun/bag(I find it easier to work with an icing gun) and pipe small whirls over the cake.Repeat with the three colours.For the Chakra,reserve a small portion of the white icing,add a few drops of blue food colour into it and gently fold it.Be careful not to deflate the cream.Pipe on the white potion in the shape of a chakra.

If your cream does deflate,put in back in the refrigerator and let it get cooler.Whip lightly again.

I chose to serve this cake directly from the pan.You can take it out,cool it completely, and then frost even the sides.In that case,you will need double the amount of heavy cream/double cream.