Plain Cake with Chocolate Icing

Happy Birthday to my dearest sister! :)
But, are we really happy? That thrilling feeling is missing and we seem to be moving around as if in a daze. It is so weird!! I thought we were all grown up now and can handle mom being out of town for a couple of days. Alas, no! We miss her big time and can't wait for tomorrow. The real icing on the cake which turned out so well would have been mom being here with us on my sister's special day.

So bored of baking the same old chocolate cake. Being a special day, the cake ought to be special too. Something I have never tried before. In fact, scared to try and see it fail. There has to be a first time for everything. So here is my first cake, complete with layers and icing.

For the cake:
(Split ingredients in two portions to make two cakes)
Refined flour: 1 cup
Whole wheat flour: 1 cup
Baking powder: 1 1/2 tsp
Cooking soda: 1/2 tsp
Eggs: 2
Sugar: 2 cups
Butter: 1 cup

To make one cake, sift half cup of refined flour, half cup of whole wheat flour, 3/4th tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp cooking soda and set aside.
Grease a cake tin and dust it with flour.
In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup sugar and 1/2 cup butter to form a fluffy mixture. Beat in one egg until frothy.
Add the flour mixture a little at a time and fold it in along with the egg mixture.
Pour the cake mixture into the greased tin. Bake it.

I used a pressure cooker. For instructions on baking in a pressure cooker click here.

For the chocolate icing:
Icing sugar: 1/2 cup (I powdered 1/2 cup of granulated sugar and added 1/2 tsp of corn flour)
Cocoa powder: 2 tbsp
Butter: 2 tbsp
Water: 2 tbsp

Warm water and set aside.
Sift icing sugar and cocoa powder. 
Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a mixing bowl and remove from fire.
Add the sugar and cocoa mixture a little at a time and mix well. Add a little water if too thick.
Leave in the refrigerator until the cakes have cooled down completely.

Spread a thick layer of icing on the one side of a cake. Place the other cake over this one such that the icing forms the middle layer between the two cake layers. Spread the remaining icing on the top surface and sides of  the cake. 

Malai Kulfi

As a kid, I would always tag along behind my older cousins and found myself in eateries they normally frequented. One such eatery was called Maheshwari Chaat Shop.
I don't know about the chaats (I still remember how my cousins would oooh and aaah over those chaats), but I can tell you, I am yet to find a place that can come as close to matching the malai and kesar kulfi that was served by Maheshwari Chaat Shop. Sadly, they closed down several years ago :(

I have a book in which I make note of recipes that I should try someday. I was leafing through this book yesterday and I came across a recipe for malai kulfi, I had noted down almost 2 years ago. I know I can never imitate the yummy kulfi I enjoyed as a child. Nevertheless, I decided to give it a try.
Boiling and reducing the quantity of milk takes ages. At one point I even considered abandoning my plan. Now, after having eaten a spoonful of kulfi I made, I am glad I did not follow my stupid spur-of-the moment thought.

I can't resist sweets and ice creams even a little. I had this in mind and began making the kulfi after dinner so that I would be asleep when it was setting in the freezer!!!

Ingredients:
Milk -1 1/2 ltr
Condensed Milk - 1/2 tin
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Citric acid powder - 1/4 tsp
Almonds - 2 tbsp, coarsely crushed


> In a thick-bottomed vessel bring milk to a boil and add sugar. Allow to simmer and bring down the volume to 3/4th its original. Stir intermittently to avoid the milk burning at the bottom of the vessel.
> Split the milk into two portions. In one half, add citric acid powder, pinch by pinch, until the milk curdles. Beat well.
> Add remaining milk, condensed milk and cardamom powder. Throw in the crushed almonds. Mix well and pour into moulds and freeze overnight. I did not have kulfi moulds. I used ice trays.

> To serve, dip the moulds in water and slightly rap the mould to let the kulfi slip out. 

Sweetilicious Banana

Cooking banana is something I cannot stand. I get nauseous with the very thought. Since there are exceptions to every rule, I love this dish and am always ready to dig in. I don't know what this dish is officially called but I call it Nendran pazham sweet. An aunt who hails from Kerala made it very often for me and I had no other thoughts while I relished the sweet. However, when I made some today and was eating the piping hot sweet, my sister happened to wonder if it would taste good with ice-cream. Well, that is exactly what I am going to try during the week. Ooooo, can't wait!!

Ingredients:
Nendran banana - 1, ripe
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 3 tbsp

Method:
1. Peal and chop the banana in to small pieces.
2. Heat ghee in a pan and fry the banana until golden brown. The banana will give off a very sweet aroma.
3. At this point, add sugar and mix well. Continue cooking until the sugar is caramelized.

I tried to look up the English and Scientific name for nendran banana, but in vain. Below, I have included a picture of this variety of banana, if you have never had a chance to see it before.

Biscuit Pudding

I have always wanted to try making chocolate biscuit pudding and this happy chance came upon me on Saturday. It all started when my sister was describing the recipes that her class was planning to try out in their home science lab. She mentioned a chocolate based recipe and the urge to make biscuit pudding over powered me. The best part about this sinfully delicious dessert is the simple ingredients and ease of whisking it up in a jiffy. My biscuit pudding after a delicious south-Indian meal that my mom had prepared was a perfect finish to a lazy Sunday afternoon.


This is what you will need:
Marie biscuits - one packet
Cocoa powder - 2 1/2 tbsp
Coffee powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
Fresh cream - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Corn flour - 1 1/2 tbsp
Sugar - 1 cup
Butter - 1 tsp
Grated dry fruits - 1/4 cup

Method:
1. Mix the cocoa powder, corn flour, 3/4 cup sugar and add a little water to make a thick, smooth paste. Add butter and milk and heat for 3 minutes on a low flame with constant stirring till the mixture reaches a sauce consistency. Set aside.
2. Mix the coffee powder with water.
3. Mix the fresh cream with remaining sugar and set aside.
4. Dip each biscuit in coffee such that the biscuit is damp and place in a container. Apply a layer of cream.
5. Then place another layer of biscuits dipped in coffee. Apply a layer of chocolate sauce.
6. Continue to alternate between layers of biscuit, cream and chocolate sauce.
7. In the penultimate layer add the grated dry fruits. Then place another layer of biscuits. Finally pour the remaining chocolate sauce over the biscuits.
8. Refrigerate this container [do not freeze]. It takes about 2 hours to set.
9. Cut into pastry-sized pieces and serve.

Parupu Payasam

This sweet dish is prepared in most south Indian households for festivals and other important occasions. This perfect blend of dals, jaggery and milk leaves you with the feeling of having had a meal fit for a king.

Ingredients:
Green gram dal [moong dal] - 1 cup
Channa dal - 1/4 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Water - 2 cups
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Green cardamon - 2 pods, crushed well
Cashew nuts and raisins


Method:
1. Heat ghee and roast the cashew nuts and raisins. Set aside.
2. Soak both dals in water for about 1 hour. Pressure cook along with water and milk.
3. Add the crushed cardamom and jaggery and allow to boil on a low flame until well blended and slightly thick.
4. Pour the ghee, roasted cashew nuts and raisins over the payasam and serve hot.

Honey Cake

I usually work from home on Tuesdays and am usually very productive. Today was one of those off days. I was supposed to complete an online certification and my mind just did not want to cooperate. As usual it started wandering to what appeals to me the most - FOOD!

I was thinking about a cake that my cousin, Roshan and I baked at his place a really long time ago - it was a honey cake. I remember I had the recipe written on a piece of paper. I always make it a point to put such notes into the recipe book I have. I hardly needed 2 minutes to decide which was important - my work or my growling tummy!!

I pulled out my recipe book and started looking for the honey cake recipe. I almost had a heart attack when I did not find it. I was frantic and woke up my mom from her noon nap to ask if she could find it in my old books that are still in Bangalore. She was really irritated and did not comply :(





I vaguely remembered the ingredients. The base for a cake is mostly the same - flour, butter, sugar, egg and so on. This obviously had to have honey and I recalled that the cake had a strong coffee flavour the first time I ever baked it. I decided to take the risk and give it a try. I again used a pressure cooker to bake the cake. Well I can tell you that it turned out great - a very mild sweetness that lets you have loads :D


This is how you prepare the batter:
1. Add hot water to 1/2 tsp of coffee powder and set aside to cool.
2. Mix 4 tbsp of sugar and 1/2 cup of butter into a fluffy mixture.
3. Add two eggs to this and whip well.
4. Sieve 2 cups of flour and a tsp of baking powder.
5. Fold and mix the flour with the egg mixture.
6. Add 8 tbsp of honey, brewed coffee and about a pinch or two or cinnamon powder. Mix well.
7. Pour this into a greased and dusted cake tray and bake.

Enjoy the plain, hot cake or whip up some fresh cream to go along with it.

Sweet Rice/Vellam sadham

Vellam is Tamil for jaggery. This dish is very similar to sakkarai pongal, only you don't add milk while cooking the rice. It is very simple to make and extremely yummy. Let me tell you, this tastes amazing with a bite or two of hot, spicy vada.

Ingredients:
Rice - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 1/4 cup
Water - 4 cups
Ghee - 2 1/2 tbsp
Elaichi powder - a pinch
Cashew nuts
Raisins



Method:
- Pressure cook the rice in three cups of water.
- When done, add the remaining water and jaggery pieces. Allow to boil until the rice and jaggery have blended well.
- When the water is almost gone, add 1 1/2 tablespoon of ghee and elaichi powder. Stir well.
- In the remaining ghee, roast the cashew nuts and raisins. Pour this over the rice and serve hot.

Semiya Kesari

I have a very bad case of sweet-tooth and I try really hard to avoid sweets during meals. I was doing OK all these days until my husband asked me to make something sweet for lunch today. This was all I needed to start drooling and lose my resolve.

I usually end up making sakkarai pongal or rava kesari when he asks me for a bit of sweet. However, this morning I thought of making javvarisi [sago] kesari. As a kid, this was my favourite sweet - mani sojji as I'd call it :P
Thinking about it, I realized that it had been a really long while since I had had some. So, I called up my mom to find out how to make it. It sounded fairly simple and I got down to making it. Well, it turned out to be a disaster when the javvarisi dissolved in the water and there was no mani left.

By now my sweet-tooth had reached the point of no return and I had to have something sweet. I was wondering what to make and that is when my eyes fell on the box that I store semiya [vermicelli] in. The kesari bath turned out really yummy which was bad because I hardly got three spoons full!!



I do promise to try out my favourite mani sojji and post the recipe here. In the meantime, here's the recipe for semiya kesari:

Fry a cup of semiya in a teaspoon of ghee until golden brown. Set it aside.

Add a cup of water to a cup of milk and bring to a boil.

Add the fried semiya and cook until the water has almost been absorbed.

Add 3/4th of a cup of sugar, a pinch of cooking colour and elaichi powder.

Add a tablespoon of ghee and stir well until the sugar dissolves.

Fry cashew nuts and raisins in another tablespoon of ghee and pour it over the kesari.

Heaven at home

I am a BIG chocolate freak - I LOVE chocolate in any form: Cakes, chocolates, spreads, milkshakes, cookies. Believe me, I could go on and on!! This afternoon I was thinking about one of my brothers. Every time I went to his place, he'd bug me till I agreed to make chocolate sauce.And we'd have it with biscuits, rusks, bread, ice-cream and have the time of our lives! :)
Today, I came back from work with chocolate on my mind and decided to try making some at home. Without further ado, I give you the simple recipe to make some yummy homemade chocolate spread.



Ingredients:
Oat meal digestive cookies - 3, crushed into a fine powder
Sugar - 3 tablespoons
Milk - 1/2 cup
Butter - 3 tablespoons
Cocoa powder - 5 teaspoons
Chopped alomonds, cashews and raisins - 2 tablespoons

Note: You can substitute Oat meal cookies with any plain biscuits.

Method:
1. Add butter to a pan and heat it until it melts. Add the dry fruits and allow them to roast a little.
2. Add the crushed cookies, sugar, cocoa powder and stir so that no lumps are formed.
3. Add milk and keep stirring till the mixture becomes thick.
4. Pour it on a greased plate. Allow to cool a little before using.



You can prevent the chocolate from sticking to the bottom of the pan by placing a pan of water beneath the first pan, thereby providing an indirect source of heat.

Pressure Cooker Cake

I wanted to bake a cake for my hubby's birthday this year. Since I do not own an oven I was wondering how to go about making a cake. The advertisement for Pillsbury Homemade Cake played vaguely in my mind and I recalled that it involved a pressure cooker. The key to using a pressure cooker in baking is to omit placing water at the bottom.

The ingredients are pretty usual,however, the technique of cooking is not.

Ingredients:
Refined flour [Maida] - 1 1/2 cups
Powdered sugar - 1 cup
Plain butter or refined oil - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/4 cup
Egg - 1
Cocoa powder - 3 heaped tablespoons
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon

Just after I opened the lid:


Method:
Sieve the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder such that no lumps are seen.
Beat the egg and set aside.
Mix the sugar and butter into a fluffy mixture and add the beaten egg to this.
Fold in the flour with the egg mixture. Add milk if the batter becomes too thick.
Grease an aluminium tray and dust with flour. Pour the batter into this tray.
Place the cooker plate [the one with holes] into the cooker, but do not add water.
Heat the pressure cooker on high flame for 2 minutes.Place the tray with batter and close the cooker. Do not place vent.
Lower the heat after 2 minutes and cook for 40 minutes.
Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before opening the lid.



I know 54 minutes is a really long time to bake a cake, especially when an oven could do it in under 5 minutes. But it was worth the effort for the cake turned out soft and really tasty.