WW22 : Merry Xmas

Tags

cake, festivals, home, Ojas, pictures, santa, wordless wednesday, xmas

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Brownie Cheesecake Marble

Tags

baked, baking, brownie, cake, cheese, cheese cake, chocolate, dessert, Friday Feast, marble cake, recipe

I love marble cakes…. There is something about the pattern which takes my heart away… And hence when I saw this at nupur’s blog it was an instant love. and what is not there to love… there is a bake cheese cake, there is a brownie and they are marbled together… totak win situatio. So I had bookmarked this dish and waiting for something to happen so that I can bake it and than came Diwali when I decided to make the giveaway basket myself… It was one of the most treasured items of the basket for me… the texture brilliant and the brownie and the cheesecake perfectly complimenting each other. We loved this one and I am sure will make it again

What I used

For the cheesecake

• 170gms cream cheese – I actually used hung curd, hang curd in a musling cloth or put it in a sieve overnight so that all the whey can go away. Remember to keep this whole thing in fridge else the curd will turn sour
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the brownie

• 7 tbsp. melted butter
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

How I made it

• In a bowl mix together all the cream cheese ingredients till blended
• In a another bowl beat all the brownie ingredients well.
• And now starts the layering… In a greased and dusted baking pan pour most of the brownie mixture, I poured about 2/3rds of the whole
• Pour the cream cheese portion on top of it
• Now pour some dollops of the brownie mixture on top of cream cheese and swril a knife or toothpick to get a nice pattern
• Bake in a preheated oven at 175C for about 30 mins till done

Serve hot and wait for it to get over in a jiffy… its abs yummmm

Mandy I know this leave with depressed but darling much love passed your away, I hoping that this will motivate you to buy a oven and we can see Baking Buddies back in action

and this is off to a event hosted at Nupur’s blog… off to Blog Bites : The Holiday Buffet

Suggestions Please?

Tags

bussiness, cake, giveaway, names, suggestions

Ok most of you by now know that I am taking a step towards the biggest item in my bucket list, the most important item in this years resolutions and naa I am not talking about weight here 😉

I am taking about giving a shot at opening something I can call my own, being my own boss 😉 To start with I am going to start something small and something near my passion and something I am good at… no points for guessing its food 😀

So I am planning to start something on the lines of party catering, birthday party snacks and desserts, cocktail bites…. u get the hang of what I am saying…

So what I need your help here is suggestions for the name of such a bussiness… I have something running in my mind but I want more options…

I am going to collect some of what u say and than probably put up the top 3 for voting and if the one that you have mentioned gets selected in top 3, I bake a cake for you that’s a promise… and if you are not in Bangalore, I will try and make something which will survive the courier and send it accross…

So come on be innovative and come up with ideas…. there is no limit to the number of entries you can have…. go ahead and fill the comment space 😀

PS: did u check out Shruti’s giveaway post… please go and tell her u came from here 😉

Apple Raisin Cake

Tags

apple, baking, cake, Friday Feast, maida, raisin, recpie, whole wheat

Baking was off from quite sometime in our household because of the neck but now from sometime Ojas wants the baked goodies with a vengeance… as if he wants to make up for the missed time 🙂

I baked honey raisin cake from Tara’s blog in a loaf tin and we had it all for breakfast… ojas with jam, N with honey and me as it is 🙂

And as soon as that got over, he started the story yet again “mumma make cake” sigh… So I made Apple Raisin cake… I love fruit cakes… they are moist, soft and u dont need to put in too much sugar…

All of us really enjoyed this cake (yeah I am so guilty of eating everything under the sun since the workout has stopped due to the neck, gosh… someone please stop me)

Ingredients

• 3 apples
• 1 cup maida
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method

• Cut the apple and grind them to a paste with the peel , add the oil and milk while grinding
• Add sugar to the apple and mix well
• Add the vanilla essence
• Add one egg at a time mixing well
• Mix the flours and baking powder together and sift
• Add half the flour mixture to the apple egg paste and mix, then add the rest of the half and mix well… dont over mix
• Add the raisins, mix gently
• Bake for about 40 mins at 175C or till the cake its done

I was surprised at how the apple peel turned green after baking… does it happen with everyone or did it happen with me only

Recipe Adapted from Aayi’s Recipe. Check the original too, I have replaced the maida with half maida and half atta, reduced the oil and put some milk. Also reduced the amount of sugar which worked very well as my apples were really sweet. Thanks Shilpa for the brilliant recipe

Savory Semolina Cake

Tags

baking, cabbage, cake, carrots, Friday Feast, recipe, semolina, snacks, sooji, vegies

Everyone here knows how much I love baking and everyone here knows how calorie rich baking is and that I am trying to desperately lose some weight… As a result I am always always on the lookout for some healthy baking recipes. So when I stumbled upon this Savory Semolina Cake recipe I knew I had to try it out and I am so glad I did….

It was so nice, a little nutty and crispy from the outside and soft from inside… the taste was like a mix of dhokla and upma… both things the things that I really like…. It was just yum and its fully guilt free

Ingredients

• 1 cup semolina/rava/sooji/cream of wheat [I used the fine variety a little roasted]
• 1 cup plain yogurt (I used the proboitic low fat one)
• Salt, sugar (I skipped the sugar alltogether)
• Turmeric a pinch
• 1 tsp baking soda (I used baking powder)
• 1/4 cup water
• Sesame seeds (for topping)
• For Seasoning:
• 1.5 Tbsp oil (I used 1 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• ½ cup onion, finely chopped
• ½ cup chopped coriander leaves (I added a handful of curry leaves too)
• 1/3 cup shredded cabbage
• 1 finely chopped green chillies ( I put 2 as ojas after taking out little batter out for ojas)
• ½ tsp grated ginger
• ½ cup shredded carrots (u can use whatever veggies u like or are available)

Method

• Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease a baking pan (I used a loaf pan)
• Take a large bowl and mix together the semolina, yogurt, salt, sugar until incorporated. Let it sit aside.
• Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, onions, green chillies, ginger until the onions have sautéed. Add the carrot, coriander leaves, and cabbage and cook for a minute or two.
• Add this to semolina mixture and mix well. Add little water if the mixture is thick.
• Add in the baking soda; mix in pour the batter into the greased pan.
• Garnish the top with sesame seeds and place it in the oven.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a knife/toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool Slice into bits and serve as is or along with spicy chutney.

So come have a slice with me 🙂

Where I secure my place in mommy heaven

Tags

., baking, birthday, cake, icing, mommy heaven, Ojas, recpie, train

Isn’t there is this rule that you if you bake a fancy cake for your son you go straight to mommy heaven 😀 well then I have secured my place there he he

I made a train cake for Ojas this time…  and here I present it to u….

Last time when I asked you guys for some icing recipes in my mind I was wanting to make a car cake but when I searched the internet for some pictures and TMM sent me this link, I got really scared of the shaping involved. This being the first time I was going to try anything so elaborate I was just not getting confidence on looking at those cakes

Then I remembered that she had made a lovely train cake for the munchkin’s first birthday and I told her I might just pick up her idea and generous soul that she is smiled and said go ahead 🙂 thanks avanti  (its a different story that my cake is not half as pretty looking as her’s but I am happy with mine too 😀 )

So with that lead and the icing recpies you lovely guys had sent me… I started out to bake the cake for Ojas….

The bogies and the engine are actually all baked in rectangular break tin’s or tea cake moulds. I bake in total of 5 such cakes and assembled them together.

The engine is Chocolate Temptation (for those of you who asked I have updated the post with the rec) in which I have layered half of the second cake on top of the first to give it the engine look.  There is a ginger bread man sitting as the driver of the bogie on the side and the chimney is half cut ice cream cone filled with gummy bears and on top of that I put the 2 year candle

The three bogies are plain pound cakes with this butter cream icing (which I modified to replace shortening with white butter as the shortening was not really available anywhere near my house and later when A sent me her frosting recipe I realized its the same :D) flavored with Green Apple essence and green color

On the first bogie I put some chocolate rolls as logs, the next one I lined up with gems and wrote Happy Birthday, the next one had Ojas written on it…

The last one the guard box is the left over half of the chocolate part of what I put over the engine… again there is a ginger bread man sitting there as a guard and the icing is the same as above but an orange flavor.

All the bogies and the engine are joined together with chocolate wafers and the wheels are the coin chocolates.

I would be kidding if I say that oh it was very easy there was a lot of effort that went into it, I baked all the cakes and made the icing ready on Sunday evening and then put together the cake on Sunday afternoon but the end result gave me an amazing amount of satisfaction and ofcourse the place in mommy heaven 🙂 may be next time I will really be brave enough to try the car cake.

Temptation

Tags

Abc Wednesday, Abc Wednesday Round 5, cake, choclate temptation, chocolate, wordless wednesday

T is for temptation… chocolate temptation

Need I say anything else 🙂 and that makes this post eligible for a Wordless Wednesday too 🙂

PS: thank u all for sending in those icing recipes, i am having a ball trying all those out 🙂 blogsphere does rock

Edited to add : recipe on popular demand

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup pwd sugar
• 2/3 cup ordinary sugar
• 2/3 cup curd
• 1/3 cocoa pwd
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 11/2 cup(200 gm) plain flour
• 1 tsp soda bicarb
• ½ cup (90 gm) oil

To Soak

• ½ cup cold milk
• 1tbsp sugar
• 1tsp rum/brandy (optional)

Chocolate Cream Filling

• 150 gm cream (3/4 cup)
• 3 tbsp pwd sugar
• 3-4 tbsp cocoa pwd
• ½ tbsp vanilla essence

Topping

• 50 gm fresh cream
• 1 tsp butter
• 2 slabs (40 gm each) dark amul/nestle/bournville

Method

1. Grease an 8-9 inch round tin. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius/350 degrees F
2. To prepare cake, mix ordinary sugar, curd, vanilla essence and cocoa in a pan. Beat well till sugar dissolves. Keep aside
3. Beat pwd sugar and eggs till frothy and double in volume.
4. Add oil to the eggs gradually, beating all the time
5. Sift flour and soda together
6. Add ½ the flour and ½ the beaten eggs to the cocoa mixture. Mix well. Add the left over eggs and flour and mix gently till smooth. Bake at 180 for about 40 mins. Remove from oven and cool.
7. Cut through the cake horizontally with a sawing motion with a serrated knife. Separate it, keeping the inside surfaces facing up.
8. Mix ½ cup cold milk with 1 tbsp sugar and rum. Soak the cake pieces with this milk.
9. To prepare filling, beat chilled cream with sugar, cocoa and essence till soft peaks form. Beat further carefully till stiff peaks are formed
10. Place a piece of cake on a serving plate. Spread the chocolate cream and invert the second piece of cake on it.
11. To prepare topping, break softened chocolates into small pieces. Heat cream in a heavy bottom pan on low heat. DO NOT BOIL. Add chocolate pieces and butter and stir continuously till chocolate melts.
12. Pour this over cake immediately. Spread with a long knife dipped in cold water. Keep in fridge for 30 min for icing to set.
13. Decorate as you want

Recipe Source : originally Nita Mehta’s bakes and cakes, sent to me by gracious Uma

Marble in a Bundt

Tags

baking, bundt cake, bundt tin, cake, Friday Feast, marble cake, recipe

I have been wanting to get  a Bundt Tin like forever in my life… But when I would go to a shop and ask for it half of the people would look at me with a face which is a mix of shock, ignorance and disgust sigh, some will be polite to ask what it is and then I would have to have the task to explain them how does it look while they give me a what are u talking about look…….. and the few very few who will know what it is just wont have it… and inspite of this I would insist that they take down my name and number and call me back when they get it…

So imagine my state when last week I got a call from a store saying that they have got it… I couldn’t believe my luck, really couldn’t 🙂 and without wasting any time rushed for the shop zest someone take away soon to be mine Bundt Tin 😀

And day before yesterday I baked my first bundt cake… there is something ceremonious about them isnt it 🙂 I baked a simple marble cake… I personally thought the marble didnt come out very well inspite of the fact that I have made the marble cake with this recipe like umpteen number of times but the softness and the texture of the cake was brilliant… I will have to master the art of getting the marble right in the Bundt…

Anyways here is the recipe…

Ingredients

• 300 gms flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 300 gms sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 200 ml fresh cream
• 6 eggs
• 4 tbsp coca powder
• 2 tbsp butter and a handful of powdered sugar for dusting the cake

Method

• Divide the flour in two equal parts, to one part add 1.5 tsp baking powder and sift them together thrice and keep aside.
• to the other flour add the coca powder, baking powder and sift thrice again… u can also add coffee to it… i usually skip it because ojas loves to eat cakes
• Beat the eggs, sugar till fluffy and then slowly add cream to the mixture and beat some more
• Divide the above mixture into two
• And add one part to the above created and sieved flour mixtures… Add vanilla essence to the one which doesnt have the coca powder
• mix both well to have a smooth batter… so now u have two batters for the marble to be created
• Pour both the batters alternatively to achieve the marble effect….
• Bake at 200 deg C for about 35 mins or till the knife comes out clean
• when the cake is hot brush it with butter and sprinkle the powdered sugar on it

how about some tea and cake 🙂

7th is ojas’s second birthday and this time I am thinking of being brave and making the cake for the party myself, only problem is that I am not too good with the icings… if any of u have a fool proof icing recipe, pls send to me… pretty urgent please as I want to give it one trail run before deciding on whether to order or make at home

A Day full of surprises

Tags

bengali food, birthday, cake, cocktails, damro, drunk, friends, oh calcutta, rain, surprise party, wine

33 is a strange age to be, 3 times eleven… two 3’s…. none of the numbers is intersting isnt it? Naaah… I think 30’s rock… I mean seriously… When I entered 30 I was a paranoid  oh my god I am becoming old but I think its a brilliant age to be in… I am having total fun since I have turned 30 🙂

So all you guys out there afraid of the 30’s dont shy away… be happy 🙂 30’s indeed rock!!!

For me birthdays have always been a big thing… the celebrations and the planning starts well in advance and usually we make a trip somewhere outside Bangalore considering its always a holiday its not so difficult too but this time when the swine flu scare on we were in the town and nothing was planned… infact no shopping was done too sigh!!! and for a change I wasnt even cribbing about this…

Then suddenly on thursday N said that I will put leave tommorow and we will go shopping for your birthday and now when a man proposes shopping only a women out of her mind will deny 😉

So the lifestyle store was raided with an Espirit sun glasses, two pairs of footwear, a lot of junk and silver jewelery and yet another handbag… clothes, shoes and handbags never fail to attract me actually all form of shopping doesnt 😉  and this when he had decided that for sometime we will gift each other house furniture on birthdays and anniversary considering its almost 4 years since we have moved into the house and still doing with the old furniture…

After raiding lifestyle we went around the town looking for good furniture and zeroed in on a Sofa cum bed that we had shortlisted about a week ago for our lounge… We were actually very very impressed with Damro, the stuff and the service both were very impressive…

After brilliant retail therapy and a biggggg hole in the pockets we caught an evening show of Kaminey and my word its a brilliant movie… fimply fuperb for those who have feen it and for those who havent (Prats I know I know) its a speaking problem that Shahid has in the movie. Its not a movie in the class of Maqbool and Blue Umberlla but a brilliant watch and I think Shahid has finally arrived with this, he is showing his acting genes and is ol la la yummiliocus specially in Charlie avatar. Read the Great Bong’s Review here, he has said exactly what I want to so better 🙂

We came back home at around 11 pm and N started pretending that he has lot of office work to catch up, I knew he is upto something 😉 U know ur spouses well after 5.5 yrs plus we have always celebrated birthdays at 12…  and at 12, he raised a toast with wine and we drank and drank and drank…. and then the rains god decided to shower us with a kind of rain that I had almost forgotten and those who know me, know my love for rains… so at 1 am inthe night happily drunk on wine I went and got drenched in rain… it was really heavenly…

Woke up to a tea in the bed and kiss on the cheek by Ojas saying happy…. that moment I could have died happily… Can I get better in life? At that particular time I realised that probably the only thing that really matter in life is love… truly nothing else matters… u can deal with absolutely anything if you have people around to you shower you with love… touch wood… Thank You god for your blessings and all my friends and family

And then I made sooji halwa for me birthdays have always been associated with sooji halwa,  since as long as I can remember we would get up on birthdays to the aroma of rawa… and have it first thing in the morning earlier it used to be made by badi mummy (the yummiest halwa I have ever eaten) and then mom. This year though I made it myself and it turned out pretty good too… Mom I miss you…

I also made some yummy baked omellete for breakfast… ya u guessed right after dieting for 4 weeks food was the focus point

And just after I had finished the breakfast I saw Indy’s lovely alert…thank u indy… muah….

And then I started sulking a little because N  had not talked about any other plans for the day… no cake and when I asked him about the cake he said come on we are grown ups, cake is for Ojas now not for us…

Anyhow I started getting ready thinking atleast  I can do this much 🙂 and then suddenly N vanished somewhere… I asked everyone and no one seemed to know…I sit down on my laptop and and then suddenly the bell rings and no one opens the door… I got slightly agitated specially because the maid and the mil were both sitting there… nonetheless I walked up and opened and I could see was flowers and ballons and cake and all I could hear is the happy birthday and the surprise shrieks 🙂

Really I dont think I have words to describe how I felt… happy yes very very but a little strange…. It took me a while to digest the whole thing and that it had been very well planned, the food ordered, the drinks planned, everyone collected outside our colony gate and N went and fetched them so that the security doesnt call home… yes yes so much thought 🙂 and everyone in the house, my friends knew about it and the only person who didnt know was me… Thank you guys u really made my day…

One thing is sure surprise parties are fun and make you feel totally blessed and loved…

the ballons for the baby 🙂

Crafty dear sorry in all this excitement I forgot to take a picture of only the cake but here is one with Ojas put in as a bonus… now u cant crib 🙂

As if it was not enough there was another surprise lined up… the boys in my life decided to pamper me with a appointment booked at my parlor… wow!!! I was amazed…

Thanks V for the effort you put in there 🙂 Cheers !!! I couldnt go the same day but went the next day and indulged in 4 hours of pure bliss 🙂

The day was well spent with Chinese food, beer and loads of chit chat… and in the evening after everyone left and I was still trying to count my blessing and letting the whole thing sink in… There came a lovely bouquet of roses all the way from Sharjah, UAE… Goofy you are a darling thanks a ton!!! Immediately followed by the call from Pixie to shower some of her angelic dust upon me… And at this time I actually cried… Love is a very strong and overwhelming feeling…

The evening me and N decided to have a quiet dinner and went to Oh! Calcutta and I was blown away by the place. We ordered thier Complete Platter and the food was amazing… Actually much more than food I think we enjoyed the service and the cocktails… I had a vodka with aam panna, a combination I had tried for the first time and loved it… N had vodka with tender coconut water something which is my favorite anyways…. the server was serving with the love of a dotting mom, suggesting what dip will go with each starter, keeping each piece with so much love and affection, I only wish I could give food to Ojas with half that love but then he has to be ready to pounce on the food like us too 😉

All in all I think this will surely go down as one of the best birthdays I have ever had…. Thank God and all my friends for this!!!

PS: If u have reached till here thanks for reading, didnt meant this post to be as long as it turned out to be but I think its still nowhere compared to Indy’s and oflate Swaram’s post… gee where do I go to save my life… cant even run from my own blog 🙂