Showing posts with label Cake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cake. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Baking | Eggless Butterless Chocolate Indulgence Layer Cake...


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  Yes.... You heard it right.. An eggless Chocolate cake.. and guess wot ?? It didnt taste any different and the texture and the softness stayed right throughout :) This was one of my happy baking...time and I will truely cherish.... Using an egg is not an issue at all.. The thought that if I bake a cake at any point of time in India, the elderly crowd wud just stay away coz its got an egg... So didnt want to drive them away from such delectable desserts .


Well.. since this recipe has my first layering & frosting effort... I did read a couple of blogs , webpages to know how its really done and tried to understand the different kinds...Felt it was difficult .. only until I started the process. Didnt realise when it was all done...
Madhuram's Eggless Baking is the lovely blog that I came across everytime in my search .Totally appreciate her for the choice of ingredients and  the substitutions. For the Original Cake Recipe click here . I have done a couple of variations - Used Self Raising flour instead of All Purpose flour ,Low fat stirred yogurt instead of Silken Tofu. Used Low fat Baking Vegetable Oil instead of Canola Oil & eliminated the use of salt. I tried a Ganache frosting and not the one in the recipe..

Sending this lovely delectable layer cake to



Let me wish all my blog friends a Merry Christmas and a Happpy New Year. On this note.. I would like to add that  I will be on a break until end of Jan.Will b missing all the beatiful blog posts and would love to catch up when time permits.  See you all in the new year .

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INGREDIENTS:

For the Cake:

Self Raising Flour:2 Cups
Baking Powder: 1 Tsp
Baking Soda: 2 Tsp
Unsweetened cocopowder: 3/4th Cup
Granulated White Sugar: 1.5 Cups
Low fat Vegetable Oil for lighter baking : 1 Cups
Hot Coffee Decoration: 1 Cup
Milk: 1 Cup
Vanila Extract: 1 Tsp
Low fat stirred yogurt: 1 Cup


Yogurt is an excellent and an easily available egg substitution.  We replace every 1 egg with 1/4th cup of Yogurt. So egg lovers can make the same recipe with 4 eggs .

Ganache Frosting :

Butter :2 Tsp
Chopped Dark Chocolate: 80gm
Chopped Milk Chocolate: 100gm
Creme fraiche or ( Heavy Cream): 300ml
Vanilla essence: 2 Tsp
Royal Icing Sugar ( Silver Spoon Brand): 200gm

DIRECTIONS :

Preparations:

  • Hot Coffee Decoration: Mix 1 tsp of Dogwe Egbert Instant coffee with 1cup of Boiling Water .
  • Yogurt Mix : Mix every 3 table spoon of stirred yogurt with 1 table spoon of water.

Method:

Cake Preparation:
Method for any cake preparation is the same..Preheat the oven . Mix all the dry ingredients & wet ingredients separately. Prepare a well and incorporate the wet ingredients slowly  into the dry and blend well.We follow just the same process here too.

  • Preheat the oven to 180 C . In a large mixing bowl , mix Self Raising Flour , Baking Powder , Baking Soda  & Granulated Sugar . Swift them well with a spatula and make a well kind in the center.
  • Add the butter at room temperature , Hot coffee mix , Milk , Vanilla essence  & stirred yogurt one by one with regular mixing after each incorporation.
  • Using an hand blender , wisk the mix for about 1-2 minutes until all the lumps are gradually gone.
  • Grease the Cake tin with a lil butter and dust a bit of coco powder all around. Pour the cake mix in the tin  upto 3/4th and place it in the oven.  Remaining mix could be poured into a muffins mould.
  • Bake for nearly 1h -1.10h until a wooden skewer inserted comes out neat. (My cake wasnt done in 30 minutes like most recipes said.)  Let it rest in the wire rack for a while( about 30 minutes) until the cake cools.This is a highly impatient period when we cant wait to see out results of our efforts.
For Frosting :
  • Heat the sauce pan filled upto 3/4 full of water in a medium flame and place another vessel over it.
  • Add 2 tsp of butter and once it begins to melt , add  the broken chocolate pieces in batches and keep stiring until they all melt. Incorporate Creme fraiche and a couple of drops of vanilla essence and keep stiring for 30 seconds. Include the icing sugar and stir for another 2-3 minutes.
  • Keep this indulgent frosting aside for 30 minutes (room temperature) until it cools a bit and starts holding itself.

Assembling:

  • Carefully turn the cake upside down from the baking tin and place it in a large plate. Since I didnt use 2 separate cake tins , I had to carefully slice it horizontally with a large knife and keep it aside in another large plate. This gives us 2 layers. We will need aditional flat spatula's to move and lift the cake coz there is a tendancy to break.This procedure requires FRAGILE handling.
  • Now over one of the cake layers , spread the frosting with a knife and allow it to flow in the sides.
  • Gently and carefully place the second layer over the first . Pour the frosting all over the cake and gently spread over the top and sides.
  • I didnt have any decoration... Wasnt prepared with it.. SO used  Dark Chocolate chips to do the decoration bit.. and  my Indulgence chocolate cake was ready to be served.
  • Allow the cake to cool and settle and serve after an hour or the next day.
KITCHEN NOTES:
  • I have used less of sugar in my cake preparation  as the frosting was extra sweet and I was sure the taste will blend well. 
  • For those who are interested in trying just the cake , increase the sugar by another 1/2 cup.
  • I do not use Salt in my Cake or muffin preparations. I feel the flour already has some salt.. I have had a horrible experience with my first muffins too. I did add 1/2 tsp salt as in the recipe.. and it tasted awefully salty.. and had to bin the whole thing.
  • Being a layer cake , I should have ideally used 2 cakes baked separately and then piled one above the other. But since I had all the ingredients , I didnt want to wait for another tin but decided to bake 1 cake in 9" round cake tin and cĂșt them when cooled. It had to be done really really carefully and requires a special skill.
  • I somehow managed to cut them horizontally ( on a sad note , it did chip a bit . I rectified it by sticking a few broken bits. Ganache frosting was melting on it and it did the needful.)
  • The cake tasted moist and better the next day and even better when kept in the fridge the day after.
    Updated: This mix yields 2 sandwitch tins sized 21 cm and 1 medium sixed cake tin of 21cm.

Cheers

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Monday, November 23, 2015

Tried n Tasted - Pound Cake & Choco Biscuits

 Love the color , Love the simplicity of its taste , Love it for the way it is !  The Pound Cake.
2 weeks ago , we were invited to a friends place for a dinner to celebrate their newest arrival's 3rd month Birthday... Until the kids turn 1 , we just cherish every moment and love to celebrate any milestone.
So decided to make this special ones birthday a little more spl with a Pound Cake and some  Condensed Milk Cookies.
They loved it ... Infact half was over in a day at home & rest of it , the baby's mother finished it the next day. :) She anyways doesnt have to worry about calories and fat  ,coz she is still feeding .





Isnt it delicious.. Well Well.., I have no intentions in taking any credit for this Pound Cake recipe . I got the recipe from here. 



Updated : My Version for the Pound cake.
I have eliminated the use of Salt and also used low fat condensed milk in the process.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/3 cups Plain Flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup unsalted butter plus more for greasing the pan
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup Low fat sweetened condensed milk
3 large eggs

DIRECTIONS:
  • Preheat the oven 325 F. Generously butter an 8 1/2x 4 1/2 loaf pan and set aside.
  • Sift together dry ingredients -Flour & Baking Powder and keep it aside.
  • In a medium sized bowl ,add Butter(at Room Temperature) ,sugar and vanilla extract and whisk well with a hand blender.
  • Now incorporate one egg at a time and blend well again. Add all the condensed milk at a strech and pulse the hand blender few times.
  • Add the sifted dry ingredients and pulse until no traces of flour remain, about 10 times. Make sure the dry ingredients are incorporated well and a smooth batter is obtained.
  • Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake until the top is dark golden brown and a tester/skewer/fork inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Incase it does not come out clean , bake for some more time.
  • Cool completely in the loaf an on a rack, then unmold.


CONDENSED MILK BISCUITS

I had about 1/2 can of condensed milk left over from the Cake .. and was wondering wot to do.. Thats when this post on chocolate-hearts from Sushma's blog popped up.
Just did a little a variation by not adding nuts & used dark chocolate chips instead of milk ones.



INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup condensed milk
1/2 cup Butter
11/4 cup maida
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup Dark Chocolate Chips


DIRECTIONS:

  •  Combine all the above ingredients and obtain a smmoth dough. Add more Plain Flour if the dough is sticky.
  • Now roll the dough and cut it in the shape of gingerbread with a cookiecutter.
  • Bake it in preheated oven at 180'c for 10 to 15 minutes or till it is slightly brown on the edges.Cool it on a wire rack .



KITCHEN NOTES :
The cake was moist n fresh for 4 days when stored in an airtight container.
I got a feedback from neighbour granny that  the biscuits were fresh and delicious.. even after 2 days:)

Cheers

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Saturday, November 21, 2015

Eggless Mango Cake


Y ellow is the color !! Spring is in ...Flowers are blooming , minds are getting fresher , enthusiasm is gearing up .. so what is the wait for.... Let the doors open... Get springy in season and self :)

A fresh mango was sitting in a corner of my fruit basket.. for the last 1 week.. Before it went any stale.., H placed it at the edge of the kitchen counter... This was an indication tat I better not forget it...  Errr... was the first expression came from within... Then a big smile... saying "What are u waiting for ? " Lets get baking... To my coincedence , I had a can of sliced mango also nearly lost in my pantry cabinet...   This was the chance to get both to action and clear my stock toooo ....
Verdict... of my experiment... Delicious , yummm , super moist Mango Cake.. And its eggless too..
I did have eggs stored , no dearth of dairy products too... But dunno why... Just could not accept the fact of bringing Mango and eggs together for my cake.... So wot did I use ??? Ener - G , the egg replacer .. Thanking my brother who brought them for me couple of months back...





INGREDIENTS:

Plain Flour11/2 Cups
Granulated Sugar3/4th Cup
Sunflower Oil1/4th Cup
Mango Puree11/2 Cup
Ener - G1.5 Tsp
Semi Skimmed Milk 1/4 th Cup
Vanilla Extract1 Tsp
Baking Powder2 Tsp

Decorations:

Icing Sugar for Dusting
Pieces of Mango
Broken pieces of walnuts





DIRECTIONS:
  • Wash the mango and scoop out the pulp from the mango from the spoon . This mango was kind of a big one ..Wouldnt say of the sweet varieties I have had... but definitely categorise to the mango clan :)
  • Puree the mango using ur handblender or mixer.. make it up 11/4th cup + . I have used parts of canned mango for the puree tooo and saved few pieces of fresh mango for the topping!!
  • Finally they made it up to 11/2 Cup. Alternatively you can use Mango puree.. Beat in the sugar into puree until the right sweetness is obtained. Since the mango puree wasnt very sweet , I have used 3/4th cup . The cake was mild in sweetness. If the puree is sweet enof , reduce the sugar accordingly. Beat in the vanilla extract and the oil .
  • Onto another clean mixing bowl , bring together plain flour & baking powder . 
  • Prepare the Ener- G mix , our egg replacer by bringing together : 1.5 Tsp and 2 Tblspn of water. Mix them well. Alternatively you could use 1/4th cup of yogurt or 1/4th cup of silken tofu beaten smooth.
  • Egg lovers can use 1 Egg if you are not keen on getting eggless.
  • Gradually add the mango puree mixture onto the flour mix and give it a good whisk in between additions. Add the whole puree in 3 batches. Now lets incorporate Ener-g mix with a good stir too.The batter was seemed quite thick , I have included 1/4 th cup of milk to give it a good consistency.Final good whizz and we are all set to pour the batter in the cake pan.
  • Preheat the oven to 180 C . Grease a 8" cake pan and now pour the batter .Give the pan a good shake by gently tapping it on the counter. This enables the batter to be spread evenly. 
  • Fingers crossed and I placed the cake pan into the oven. 30 min Up and the suface was slightly brown. Put through a skewer to check and we were all done !!! Voila...  
  • Unlike most times , I kept myself patient and allowed the cake to cool in the pan itself after bringing them out in the oven. Got my limelight settings ready in the mean while and clicked pics of this yummilicious tea cake& everything that was surrounding.. My lil one seemed to be soo much co-ordinated with the color that I couldnt resist clicking.

  • For decorations , I have dusted some icing sugar . Topped it with mango pieces and walnut bites . Serve the mango pieces on them only when ready to eat .This could make the cake soggy otherwise.
  • Enzoy this lovely cake and do join me in welcoming our much awaited spring!!!!

Cheers
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Friday, November 20, 2015

Black & White Wednesday | Share the slice with me

A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.- Benjamin Franklin 





My this week's entry to Black & White Wednesday is this gorgeous dark chocolate cake from Cafe Ritazza.. Just the black and white together on this gorgeous cake and its carry bag made it kind of mandatory for me to post it to the event.
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Thursday, November 19, 2015

Pound Cake with a Lemon Glaze

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Little did I realise , I will be writing this post with a pound cake recipe..  I made this Cake to impress my little one & H , who wanted me buy them a second pound cake slice from Starbucks over the weekend..  I turned down their request and told them they will get one from my kitchen the next day…
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Crayon Promise V !! is all I told him…  Don't you laugh reading crayon promise.. I have been trying to teach lil V to keep up ones words… That’s how.. the crayon promise took form . Like a Good Mummy , I decided to make one straight away… and I knew I have  a recipe that is already posted in my space before – Pound Cake. Made  healthy substitutions to suit  the available ingredients in my store.

_MG_9998
INGREDIENTS:
Plain Flour 1 1/3 cups
Baking powder 3/4th Tsp.
Caster Sugar 1/2 Cup
Sunflower Oil 3/4th Cup
Vanilla Extract 1 Tsp.
Low Fat Condensed Milk 1/2 Cup
Large Eggs 2 No's
Low Fat Yogurt 1/4th Cup
Lemon Glaze:
Icing Sugar 2/3 Cup
Lemon Juice 2 Tblspn
DIRECTIONS:
  • Preheat the fan assisted oven 180C. Lightly oil a large bundt tin and 2 min bundt tins set aside.
  • Sift together dry ingredients –Flour , Baking Powder and Sugar .
  • In a medium sized bowl ,add in oil ,vanilla extract , yogurt and give it a good whisk.
  • Now incorporate one egg at a time and blend well again. Add all the condensed milk at a stretch and pulse the hand blender few times.
  • Add the sifted dry ingredients and pulse until no traces of flour remain, about 10 times. Make sure the dry ingredients are incorporated well and a smooth batter is obtained.
  • Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake until the top is dark golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 40-45 mins. In case it does not come out clean , bake for some more time.
  • Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes and then unmould.
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  • Prepare a lemon glaze by mixing icing sugar and lemon juice together. Make sure to mix well without any lumps. Pipe all the mixture into a zip lock bag and hold it tight .
  • Snip off the edge to make a little hole . Pipe even lines over the cake and let it sit aside to set.
  • Cut and serve with Tea or just like that …… However you like Smile







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Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Chocolate Indulgence Layer Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting


Boooom !!!!! We had a double birthday bang along with a valentine party that I have been planning for Soo long  on Sunday , the 14th of Feb.!.. A sooper dooper hit...
I would love to thank all my blog friends who helped me in finalising the menu for the party... Guess wot?? My H decided to print a Menu card for the party ...so that every person who comes in , gets to know the ingredients and its authenticity :)



 
I managed to click shots for most of the delicacies except the Veg Biryani :) Will be posting them in subsequent posts.

Also presented my home made Birthday cake for the boyz celebration... Verdict was.. it was clean sweep... I got my best evercompliment for it.. It tasted better than a professional baker's cake. Wot more wud u expect ?? :)


I made this Chocolate Cake on Friday ( on the Maha Shivrathri Day) - 2 days before the D -Day. So cudnt taste the ingredients as I made it with egg this time. But it did look Yumm... :)
Coming to the recipe ... I have used my own Eggless Chocolate Indulgence Cake  recipe but with a few replacements & Tried a Chocolate Fudge Frosting here.

Ingredients  :

For the Cake:
Self Raising Flour:2 Cups
Baking Powder: 1 Tsp
Baking Soda: 2 Tsp
Unsweetened cocopowder: 1/2 Cup
Plain Chocolate: 75gm
Granulated White Sugar: 1.5 Cups
Low fat Vegetable Oil for lighter baking : 1 Cups
Hot Coffee Decoration: 1 Cup
Milk: 1 Cup


Large Eggs : 4

I had forgotten to include Vanilla essence during the  cake preparation .Realised it after baking the Cake :) .So Added it in the frosting Ingredients.

Frosting Ingredients :

Chocolate(Dark ,Plain,white):225gm
low baking fat butter:100gm
Icing Sugar:200gm
Really fresh double thick cream:170gm
Vanilla Essence:1 Tsp


Decorations:

Smarties
Piping Bag
Cheese Grater
Dark Chocolate /Plain Chocolate
Icing Sugar
Candle

Directions

Preparations:
  • Separate the white and yolk from the egg.
  • Melt the Butter at Room Temperature.
  •  Prepare the hot Coffee Decoratation by mixing 1.5 Tsp Dogwe Egbert Instant Coffee Powder with 1 Cup of Water.
Cake Preparation:
  • Preheat the Fan Assisted Oven to 180 C. In a large Mixing Bowl , add Butter & Sugar. Beat them well using an electric mixer until really smooth.Now incorporate the yolk and beat well.
  • Add the dry ingredients - Self Raising Flour , Baking Powder , Baking soda & coco powder followed by wet Ingredients - Hot Coffee decoratation & Milk  one by one with regular mixing after each incorporation.
  • Beat the White separately until a rising peak is achieved . Now add the chocolate pieces after melting them in the microwave for a minute to the Egg White Mixture. Mix Well. Add this White Mixture to the large mixing bowl containing the rest of the ingredients.
  • Using an hand blender , wisk the mix for about 1-2 minutes until all the lumps are gradually gone.

  • Grease 2 Sandwitch Cake tins of 21cms with a lil butter and dust a bit of coco powder all around. Pour the cake mix in the sandwitch tin upto 3/4th and place it in the oven. Remaining mix could be poured into a muffins mould.
  • Bake for nearly 45minutes until a wooden skewer inserted comes out neat.  Let it rest in the wire rack for a while( about 30 minutes) until the cake cools.This is a highly impatient period when we cant wait to see out results of our efforts.

For Frosting :
  • Add all the chocolate pieces in a large microwave safe bowl and melt them in the microwave with regular stirring every 20 secs. By about 2 minutes everything will be melted. Incorporate the melted butter, fresh double thick cream, vanilla essence and icing sugar and stir until all lumps are gone.
  • This Chocolate Fudge Frosting begins to hold itself right from the begining. Incase it gets a bit hardened because of cooling, just microwave for 30 secs to achieve the desired consistency.

Cake Assembling:
  • Carefully turn them upside down from the sandwitch tin over the large plate. Make sure they dont crumble.
  • I did hurry a bit , so my cake from the large cake tin did crumble.(Moreover it was of the silicone variety).
  • Traditional tins did the wonder.
  • First decorate the cake drum . I dusted a bit of icing sugar all over and scrapped a few dark and milk chocolate pieces on them. Now place the first cake over it. Using a knife spread the Fudge Frosting all over the cake and in the sides. Dip Knife in Hot water inbetween spreads .It did help me .
  • Gently place the second cake over the first.  Spread the Frosting all over and allow it to flow over the sides too. Using a clean knife , spread them neatly in the circumference of the cake.



Decoration:
  • Preparare a mixture for the piping bag. Take a little of the mixture aside and add the icing sugar and mix them well . This mixture will be thicker than the frosting one. Fill the piping bag and draw lines all around the cake , just like I did.
  • Add  chocolate crumbles at the tip of the cake to complete the cake drum.
  • For the top decoration , use  a cheese knife and grate dark chocolate and plain chocolate alternatively in the sides to achieve curls & cover the cake. Decorate the edges with smarties .
  • I chilled this cake for 2 days and put it out of the refrigerator few hours before the cake cutting.
  • Enjoy this preparation of my birthday cake with your loved ones.

 Kitchen Notes :
  • A Cake with egg bakes faster than an Eggless Mixture .
  • This measurement yields 2 sandwitch cake tins of 21 cm and 1 cake tin of 21cm.  



Cheers

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Monday, November 16, 2015

Victoria Loaf for my little one


J  ust 10 min of preparation and rest on the baking time!!! My  21/2 yr lil one would always stop himself by the cake section inTesco's when we buy bread.. Poor thing , I would tell him  letz go home and I will bake u one... Dont know wot preservatives the sponge cake's have got at the store...

But this time I kept up my promise and baked the cake as soon as I returned from the grocer. Victoria Sponge is the easiest I could do and very quick..... Ved did not allow me to take lot of clicks as he was desparately craving.. for more pieces..  I thoroughly enjoyed it.. baking and serving .. It has been an absolute pleasure...



VICTORIA LOAF

For Printable Recipe ,click here

INGREDIENTS:

Unsalted Butter175gms
Caster Sugar175gms
Eggs3 Nos
Self Raising Flour175gms
Baking Powder1/2 Tsp


DIRECTIONS :
  • Preheat the fan assisted oven to 170 C . Grease the  20 cm Loaf with a bit of butter.
  • Cream the butter and sugar together using a hand blender until its light and fluffy. Add in the beaten eggs one by one followed by the addition of the flour & baking powder. Make sure to beat well after each addition.
  • Spoon the mixture into the loaf and create a dip in the centre , using the back of the spoon. This will ensure that there is no bulge in the centre.
  • Bake for roughly 40 minutes  Use a skewer to insert into the centre of the loaf and check it comes out neat. You can tell when the cakes are cooked because they should shrink slightly away from the sides of the tins and the tops will feel springy to the touch.
  • Leave the cake to stand for 5 minutes then turn it out onto a rack to finish cooling. Cut the slices and serve with tea or just serve your little ones just like tat...



Adapted from Good Food Channel


Cheers
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Sunday, November 15, 2015

Chocolate Pound Cake

“Look, there's no metaphysics on earth like chocolates.” - Fernando Pessoa 


Its Raining Chocolate everywhere.. And why not ?? Its the trend ingredient of year 2014.. Last year was Kale!
Do u believe or try to keep up with the cooking trend too?
Fashion who doesnt like to live up with ??? Like it has been down jackets in winter , colored jeggings for spring.. Large dial facet mat golden watches for a while now.. Something to ponder !




Chocolate is an absolute indulgence to me.. A perfect treat, tid bit and what not can this C ingredient can do. I lust after this C  thingy !! There is no justifiable time to chew this cud.
If ever we open a Cadbury Dairy Milk Bar, Lil V being the best kid to his mother would just have 2 pieces. Dada would have another 2 pieces.. Miss S would have them all if she could. But mama ( mia me) would give her one of them and she will have it all over her face.. Indulgence.. isnt it!!  And I would like a lovely partner in crime have 2  pieces first.. But then the Dairy milk would gawk at me as if summoning " Come and grab me !! What are you thinking ??" I would sneakily have two more .. By night , when the packet is left with the last bit, I just cant resist and wud finish them all.. Aah Absolute sense of contentment !!!


 Oh yes !! To top it up , V brings a book about Chocolates to read. I was soo snoopy like the Curious George, trying to sneak in every page as he read , grasping as much wisdom I can in my little head. Some Interesting facts that did call for attention, were about 4 Chocolate Giants in the Industry. .We all know the brands.. but little did we know who started it all...  I did feel the necessity to share the facts , so that my lovely readers could read more about them and their inspirational stories when they get a chance.



Cadburys  - founder was John Cadbury
Hershey's - founder  was Milton S Hershey
Ghiraldelli - founder was Domenico (Domingo) Ghirardelli
Lindt -  founders are David SprĂŒngli-Schwarz &Rudolf SprĂŒngli-Ammann


Today , here I present Chocolate Pound Cake. Absolutely butterry, moist, yet light and totally a tea cake. Oh Yes!! We loved it plain. It doesnt need icing too..

Recipe adapted from Joy of Baking . I love this space for the structured explanation and the measurements.


Recipe :Chocolate Pound Cake



Preparation Time : 15 minutes
Baking Time : 55 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

Cocoa Powder
¼ Cup
Boiling Hot Water
¼ Cup ( 60 ml)
Baking Powder
1 tsp
Salt
A pinch
Unsalted Butter
1 Cup (226 gm) at room temperature
Sugar
1 Cup (200gm)
Eggs
3 Large No’s
Cake Flour ***
1 ½ Cups (180 gm)
Vanilla Extract
1 ½ tsp

*** If Cake Flour un available, make your own Cake Flour, like I did.

1 Cup Sifted cake flour can be substituted with 3/4 cup (84 grams) sifted Plain/All Purpose Flour + 2 Tbsp. (15 grams) corn starch.
DIRECTIONS
1.       Preheat the oven 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) ,Gas Mark 4 . Lightly oil a loaf pan and line the bottom with a parchment paper.
2.       In a bowl mix the cocoa powder into the boiling water until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.
3.       In a separate bowl, Sift together dry ingredients – Flour, Baking Powder & Salt .
4.       In a medium sized bowl, beat the butter until softened. Now add the sugar and beat until fluffy (approximately 3-4 minutes). I do not have a hand mixer or an electric mixer, so my muscle power can handy.
5.       Now incorporate one egg at a time and blend well again. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in vanilla extract and the cooled cocoa mix. A gentle whisk to combine them well.
6.       Add the sifted dry ingredients and mix only until well combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top with a back of the spoon. Bake for about 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes and then unmould.

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Ultimate Chocolate Cake

T hese come straight from my diwali get together ... I had baked them as a surprise dessert for our party... But looks like most people had anticipated a dessert from my end :)

Just as the name.. An ultimate chocolate cake with just chocolate n chocolate.. For chocoholics.. this is bingo!! Kids came up for 2nd servings and most of them relished it to the max.
My best critic Mr SK felt there wasnt sufficient frosting between the layers and hence cudnt rate it the best cake to his standards. Probaby I had to spread more bits between the layer and should have allowed to cool down before sandwitching. Whereever there were extra frosting bits , Mr SK loved it.. and said we could have more of them..
Loosely adapted  this recipe from here . Altering  wee bits to suit my available ingredients.





This measurement yields 1 layer cake and 4 muffins.

INGREDIENTS:

Plain Flour / Maida85gm
Self Raising Flour85gm
Large Egg2 Nos
Sugar400 gm
Unsalted Butter200 gm
Bicarbonate Soda 1/4 Tsp
Dogwe Egbert Coffee Granules1.5 Tsp
Dark Chocolate 150 gm
Coco Powder 25gm
Low fat Stirred Yogurt4 Tblspn

For the Ganache:

Lindt Dark Chocolate150gm
Hershey's choco syrup50gm
Caster Sugar4 Tblspn
Fresh single cream250 ml


DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat the oven to 180C. Line 2  21cms sandwitch tins with butter paper.
  • Break the chocolate into small pieces and tip it in into a microwave safe bowl .Drop in the butter, coffee granules and about 125 ml water . Melt them all in microwave for roughly 5 minutes stirring in between.
  • Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat the eggs in a bowl and tip the stirred yogurt + 1 tblspn of water. Slowly incorporate both the wet mixtures - chocolate mix and the egg mix into the dry ingredients and whisk until everything is well blended .A smooth  - running consistency should be achieved.
  • Pour them into both the lines tins until 3/4th  and bake for about 1 hour - 1.15 hour. Make sure to give a dip in the centre inorder to avoid any bump forming in the centre.  Check with a skewer after 30 minutes and there after every 15 minutes to check if its done. If you push a skewer in the centre it should come out clean and the top should feel firm (don't worry if it cracks a bit). Allow it to cool in the tin and then carefully turn onto the wire rack and cool completely.
  • Lets prepare the Ganache frosting inbetween the waiting time.Chop the chocolate into small pieces along with the hershey's chocolate syrup and tip into a bowl. Pour the cream into a pan, add the sugar, and heat until it is about to boil. Take off the heat and pour it over the chocolate mixture. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.


ASSEMBLING:
  • Once the cake cools down completely , place the upside down cake onto the cake plate . Carefully & generously spread the frosting over the first cake .Allow it to settle before you sandwitch the second layer. I was quite in a hurry  and did it immediately.. This did reflect in the taste with the frosting reduced between the layers.
  • Sandwitch the second cake with the frosting in between.Pour the rest of the ganche over the cake  letting it fall down the sides and smoothing to cover with a knife. Decorate with  white chocolate curls.

EVENTS:
Sending this delectable cake to Champa's Bake Off event.

Cheers
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