Super Moist Banana Nut Loaf

Let's start with a little note before we preheat our oven for this one - Where in the world have I been all this while? Well, to cut things short, I had been to you-seriously-cannot-be-this-lazy kind of a town. Yeah, so let me be brutally honest and agree with you if you think I've become so hopelessly tardy with my food blog. But, I still am trying to revive it and in that attempt I do hope to keep you entertained, engaged and satisfied with whatever little I share every now and then.

Now jumping into the Super Moist Banana Nut Loaf here...

Let me give you some time to jump in.

Done jumping?

This was my first baking adventure after a really, really long break of almost two and half years. And, then I took really, really long to post it, too. Good heavens, I made this sometime in summer and am posting it here in winter. But, well at least I am posting it, after all!

So yes, I made this one day to satisfy my sweet tooth and to serve up to a couple of relatives who dropped by for tea one evening. Ripe bananas come together in the oven with toasted nuts into a delicious, aromatic experience you too can feel, just after one bite into this loaf!

Karanji | Sweetened Coconut Filled Deep Fried Crescents

We're landing head-on into Christmas, and here I am, still blogging about Diwali goodies. Call me lazy, but hey, goodies are goodies - no matter when they're eaten. So, perhaps, you could make these sweet treats for your family and friends for these holidays, after all!

Now that you bought my excuse I feel a little lighter and free of guilt for not having these up around Diwali. But they're here now and they're still as good. These beautiful, crunchy crescents stuffed with sugar, coconut, cardamom and couple other things will have you clean up the platter and lick the left-over crumbs.

You can store these for over a week in an air tight container. No better reason than to stash away some right on your counter-top!

Cupcake Mania | Buttercream Frosting Recipe and Icing 101

There's really nothing much to be said on this post. I made this for a couple of close friends when we all met up at a new vacation home in the Poconos, that one of them had bought.

It was celebration time, so cupcakes were the perfect answer.

I baked over 3 dozen egg-less cupcakes. One batch of plain vanilla, one of vanilla with chocolate chips and one of good ol' chocolate. I then made blue, white and brown buttercream frosting and decorated them.

Here's the super simple recipe to the best and most popular frosting on this planet!

Buttercream Frosting Recipe


Ingredients
1 Cup Unsalted Butter/Vegetable Shortening, at room temperature
4 Cups Confectioner's Sugar, sifted
1 tsp. Vanilla Essence (Or any other flavour that you want to use, like almond, pineapple etc.)
2 - 4 tbsp milk (Or more depending on the consistency of icing you want in the end)

Other
Icing Colours (optional; as desired)
Electric Hand Mixer (Using a whisk would just take you much, much longer)

Icing Notes

1. Using Vegetable Shortening in place of butter will ensure you have pure white buttercream frosting

2. In order to make dark brown/chocolate colored frosting you will need to substitute one cup of sugar with cocoa powder. If it turns out too thin, add more sugar since sugar stiffens icing.

Method
- Place vegetable shortening/ unsalted butter and vanilla essence in a large bowl
- Add sugar about half cup at a time and mix using the hand mixer/whisk until all the sugar is well blended
- Add milk, one teaspoonful at a time to thin the icing to desired texture and mix well
- At this point the buttercream frosting is ready and you can colour it with desired icing colours

Icing Texture Guide
a) Very Stiff/Minimal Milk usage -This type of icing takes effort to spread because of its extreme thickness. It is best for icing flowers and decorations that need to hold their shape
b) Medium Consistency - This type of icing spreads when pressure is applied but still holds shape. It is best for cake borders and icing patterns
c) Thin Consistency - This type of icing spreads very easily and is perfect to cover cakes

Adding Colour to Icing
- Icing colour comes in the form of gel. If you plan on using liquid food colouring, remember that the liquid can thin out the consistency of your buttercream icing.

- Use toothpicks to pick colour from the icing gel tub and then dip into the buttercream icing. Mix in the colour using a rubber spatula.

- If you need to add more colour, always use a new toothpick to pick the icing colour gel

I hope you found all this information helpful. I am no professional at this stuff, but all this is based on what I've read, learnt and experimented with.

And, to end this post I'd like to share a picture that I personally love the most, even with some flaws in the frosting/frosting technique.

Drool on!

Microwave Dudh Peda

Let me start with a confession. This is no secret recipe. Google it and you will get umpteen links to the same one. But, here's why I made it. I wanted to try it, of course. And, it was Diwali. I heard it was a fool-proof, super-simple recipe so I got all gutsy and decided to make it anyway! 

Besides, who would want to stand next to the stove waiting for humongous amounts milk to reduce when you can just pop things in the microwave and being eating pedas instead?

I personally found that the final peda, although tasted exactly like the elaborate version one, was slightly sticky to bite into. Also, the butter was on the higher side as well. You can opt to reduce about 2 tablespoons.

This was the first of my Diwali line up of sweets and savory snacks. And to say it took less time to make than to roll out into sweets would be another confession. Just three main ingredients and a microwave is all you need. So, you know what you're making the next time you crave something sweet!

Ingredients
1/2 cup (8oz) Unsalted butter
1 Can (14oz) Condensed Milk
2 Cups Milk Powder
1 tsp powdered cardamom seeds

Other
Wide microwave-safe bowl

Method
- In the microwave safe bowl , toss in the butter and melt it in the microwave
- Add the rest of the ingredients and give a good stir to mix well (The bowl remains uncovered throughout the process)
- In 30 second intervals, microwave on medium, stirring frequently to bring the ingredients together into a soft dough-like consistency
- Once all ingredients come together, set aside for about a minute or two to allow to cool a tad bit
- Grease a plate with oil/butter, and using your hands make pedas out of the mixture. Go on, taste it and you will be lying if you said it did not taste delicious!
- Decorate with dried fruit and/or nuts

DO NOT allow the mixture to rest too long because it will dry up. Cover it as you make the pedas, lest you end up having cracked ones. Has anyone come up with a solution to this? My pedas cracked up on the outsides although they were staying together.

Makes about 30 to 35 one inch wide pedas

Homemade Caramel Sauce

Hot chocolate fudge, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, peanut butter, nuts,  fruit and the like - Please step aside. Welcome the queen of all dessert toppings - Caramel syrup. Golden and royal from head to toe, need she do anything to woo you? Svelte like velvet and sweet as sugar, you'd be lying if you said you were not in love with her - Again!

I'd be lying if I said this was my own concoction. But, yes, I did mix up two recipes to make this wonderful sauce. One from one of my favorite Food Network Chefs, Ina Garten (Recipe here) and another from yet another Food Network Chef, Anne Burrell (Recipe video here). 

I know you're wondering what the waffles are doing with the syrup. Shouldn't it be ice cream there? Boy oh boy, you're right. But, I could not wait to eat the syrup and paired them with whatever I had on hand.

Chef Garten has not added butter in her recipe, but I opted to have it in for extra creamy texture. Chef Burrell added lemon juice and corn syrup both of which I opted not to add. The end result was good. So, its up here for grabs!

Now, before you come to a conclusion that this recipe is made by chefs and it's something not in your capacity. Think twice. Or even thrice! I mean, you're going to have a whole jar of caramel sauce at your disposal, and here's the best part - ONLY FOUR INGREDIENTS!! Just as Chef Anne Burrell says in all her shows "You certainly don't have to be a restaurant chef to cook like one".

Baked Coconut Bites - Modak Makeover (Egg-less)

To say Lord Ganeshji is the most adaptable would be an understatement. He's been disguised into so many avatars by us humans every year when Ganesh Chaturti comes along. Ambedkar Ganapati, Cycle Ganapati, Computer Ganapati... I mean seriously?! God really has patience with us humans for all the antics we show him.

With all that said, every year, we all serve him with the one thing that's considered his favourite food - Modak. I personally love modaks, too. I made them for Ganesh Chaturti (and forgot to click pics to post it here, but will make it for you all again soon!) and they were over in the blink of an eye even with a minor glitch in them.

But here's what happened. I ended up having extra Modak filling. Plus, like I mentioned earlier about the slight mistake I'd done - I had used shredded dry coconut instead of grated dry coconut and my filling turned out to be very dry. Still, I'd say the modaks tasted good because the jaggery/gud melted when the modaks were steamed.

So, what do you do when you have left-over Modak filling? Of course, eating it up as is can be one idea. But, how about transforming it into something else? Like these crunchy baked coconut bites?

Now, we're talking. And, you agree don't ya? These coconut-y bites are so easy to make you could even use your gooey modak filling for the same as well. Just add more flour to aid in binding. I know Ganesh Chaturti was over two weeks ago. But hey, won't you just make that filling again to eat these crunchy munchies??

Hurricane Cupcakes | Egg-less Mocha Cream Chocolate Cupcakes

Did you know a woman named her child Tsunami because he was born when the natural disaster occurred? Well, I know its personal taste, but, really?! I thought it was bordering on absurd. I mean tsunamis are dangerous, to say the least. 

But when hurricane Irene decided to spend the weekend with us not too long ago, I was thinking of things more than dangerous. With hurricane warnings all over town, packed grocery stores, no bottled/packaged water and no flashlights available anywhere, Ms. Irene sure had pressed the run-for-your-life button in all of us along the East Coast.

Now, where was I? Yes, the woman who named her child Tsunami. Well, I did something sorta similar. But, before you get ideas and think I renamed my son 'Irene' and categorize me as a maniac...listen up!

I decided to celebrate that we survived Irene. No power outage, no flooding, no evacuation orders, no broken homes around our area and to top the list we were still alive! Oh yes, go ahead and call me a chicken all you want, but, I was freaked out.

But, we really lucked it out don't you think? And, yes, the oven was still working. So why not bake? I mean you could not go out, no traffic allowed on roads, trees ripped apart, heavy winds, flood warnings and you certainly don't want to see more of the graphic hurricane representation but you do want to eat good food. That's when I whipped up these egg-less mocha cream chocolate cuppies with my friend, DS. We had a great time baking, frosting and eating 'em up.

Need more inspiration than a hurricane to bake these? Try these cupcakes and top them off with Chocolate Ganache (Recipe here), fresh cut strawberries and mint.

Before I proceed to the recipe, I'd like to let you know that this recipe originally belongs to my friend Madhuri Kumar. It's an egg-less, butterless 5 minute chocolate cake made in the microwave. I have lost count of the number of times I've made it.  Need I say more to have you enter your kitchen?

Strawberries and Cream Popsicles

100 posts and 2 years. And, as if that wasn't reason enough to celebrate, I bought myself a Popsicle maker. Pretty obviously, I had to inaugurate it. And, I did. 

May 2010 was when SSTT entered her third year of life. Woot! I never believed I'd come this far with my blog. But, yes I have. Within two years, I've gained a lot more experience in blogging, many more co-blogger friends and certainly learnt so much more in the kitchen. At this moment, I was seriously considering deleting some of my initial posts (my first post being a simple version of Bhel Puri) because they all look so pathetic. Later, it struck me that I'd rather not. It is only when I have those old, badly written, terribly structured and picturized posts (not that I'm very good at pictures even now, but, I'm learning!) that I realize how far I've come in this culinary journey. Of course, thanks to all you readers out there and most certainly to all those of you who go ahead and try the recipes I share with you on SSTT.

Definitely, a little something to celebrate ought to be sweet. With temperatures soaring, all I could think of was a frozen treat. My little sonny enjoyed it to the hilt; I just had to take pictures of him gorging down these strawberries and cream popsicles.

You can even see the little orange bowl in which he loves to keep his munch-ables, whilst eating anything.

Egg-less Chocolate Pound Cake With Paneer

The end of winter makes you want to do new things. Spring rings in a new beginning. And, with this came a refreshing idea from my very close friend and co-blogger, Madhuri Kumar. She herself had been thinking about bringing in something fresh to blogosphere. Something that would bring together like-minded bloggers and get the creativity flowing in their respective kitchens. Of course it doesn't stop there. We go a step further and put across all these 'experiments', good or bad, on our respective blogs for the world to see. 

That said, she came up with a name for this group of bloggers. She christened it - Free Spirit Bloggers or FSB, for short. Yes, now you make sense of that little logo I have up on my blog. Well, the name says it all, right? Oh! Well, not quite. I'm sure you're aching to know more. Madhuri has a great write-up on Free Spirit Blogging on her site which you can take a peek at over here. Get to meet other FSB-ites and don't forget to bookmark their pages. All of them are awesome in their own ways. I am indeed honored to have been invited to be a part of such a group. Danke, Madhuri!

For those of you who want a quick piece of information right here...Be my guest. FSB is a group of eight bloggers who co-ordinate and come up with monthly themes for blogging. Something that will allow us to transcend from the mundane recipes to exciting culinary experiences. Each of us choose a theme, be it a cook, bake or something absolutely wild (in the kitchen ONLY! Ahem!) and work on it for a good 30 days before it gets presented on each of our blogs.

The whole of last month each of us were busy in the kitchen with our ovens. Why? We all decided to take up a theme based on cake baking. The month's theme was suggested by Madhuri. All of us tried different egg substitutes for a basic chocolate pound cake. I opted on trying using paneer in place of egg. You should check out what the other's used, too. Blog hop a bit over the FSB-ites pages. It's great fun.

So, in keeping with the 'spirit' I performed my experiment on one cold Spring afternoon. Here goes!

Ingredients

21/2 Cups All purpose flour (or Maida)

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cup Butter

3 heaping tbsp - Cocoa powder

1 Cup Paneer (I used paneer cubes)

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 Baking Powder

1 tsp Vanilla essence

1/2 Salt

3/4 Cup Milk (The original recipe for Chocolate Pound Cake calls for 1/2 Cup. I found the batter too thick and added more milk. I really think it would drink in more wet ingredients)

Method

- Preheat the oven to 350 F

- Prepare baking dish by applying butter/oil and dusting with flour till well coated and set aside

- Puree paneer in a food chopper until you have very, very minuscule pieces

- Meanwhile, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl

- Repeat the sifting process thrice to get a homogeneous mixture and set aside

- Cream together butter and sugar

- Add the vanilla essence, beat well and set aside

- Add the pureed  paneer to the butter-sugar mixture and beat well till it has been incorporated

- Now, add the sifted flour mixture to the butter-sugar-paneer mixture little by little and beat well till

blended smoothly

- Add adequate milk to achieve a batter of dropping consistency. Like I said, the original recipe called for 1/2 Cup. I added more to make the batter more smooth.

- Pour batter into the prepared baking pan, and bake at 180 deg C for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of the cake

- Cool completely before serving

Verdict

The final cake fell apart so easily that I was itching to rename this Chocolate Crumb Cake. But, I do know paneer is an egg substitute that people use. I should try this again. My suspicion is on the freshness and quality of the paneer. So, if you see another chocolate pound cake up here on SSTT soon, you know I really am working up the experimental cook in me.

Fresh Cream Fruit Cake

When it comes to sports or any other arena that requires a competitive spirit, people get diplomatic in talking about victory. We all, for that matter, would agree when one says - "It doesn't matter who wins or looses. What counts is playing a healthy game". So, it was just with this notion in my mind that I baked this 'Bleed Blue' themed Fresh Cream Fruit Cake to support the Indian Cricket Team as they competed for the Cricket World Cup against Sri Lanka. Bleed Blue was the caption/motto of the team (created by Nike? Did I get that right, ardent fans?) which was sported across social networking sites and got my attention. It certainly had my adrenaline running when I got to know my nation was in the finals of a game that's close on the heels of religion in India.

So, a couple of us friends got together with our families to witness what would go down in the pages Indian history. While our team gave their best shot and won the World Cup, it was taking us (still is!) to sink in and digest the heady win it was. Well, what was easier? Sinking our teeth into this sinful fresh cream fruit cake to celebrate victory. 

While in most cases fruit cakes are topped off with all kinds of fruit possible, I decided to go with fruit that came closest to the colours of our Indian flag. Saffron (Oranges) and Green (Kiwi) and added blue food colouring to write the very inspiring words.

Team India, we Bleed Blue for you!!

Dark Chocolate Ganache Covered Mocha Mousse Pastry

Remember my Oreo Peanut Butter Mousse Dessert that I planned to make for my cousin brother's family? Well, I ditched that whole idea. Not because it was not good, but simply because I decided to make something even more sinful. Even more drool-worthy. I mean, peanut butter is good, but chocolate is excellent! So, I traded the Oreo base for a rich chocolate cake and cut it into layers, doused it in a home-made non-alcoholic coffee liqueur and topped it off with dark chocolate ganache. Before you think it sounds so difficult, take a peek at what it looked like in the end.

This is SO worth every minute you spend making it....you will thank yourself that you tried making something on these lines. This was, quite literally, my first best chocolate cake ever. The recipe is a keeper if you think about making just a chocolate cake/cupcakes. And as for the liqueur, mousse and ganache...they just found their way into my cake and livened it up, like props for a great stage performance!

I urge you to go through the entire recipe and pick up all the ingredients before you start. You dont wnat to be half way through and realize you missed out something. No way! Also, Since this recipe is a bit long drawn I would like to break it up into parts, as below:

1 - Baking the Rich Chocolate Cake Base (Make this a day or two prior to when you want to make the pastry and store in refrigerator)
2 - Method to make non-alcoholic coffee liqueur (This and following two items, to be made on the day that you are ready to make the pastry and assemble it together)
3 - Cake assembly
4 - Method to make mocha mousse
5 - Method to make dark chocolate ganache and cover the assembled cake

Get ready for the joy ride. Just don't get bored half way through, for what you see below, is what awaits you!

Roll those sleeves up. Get in!

Oreo Peanut Butter Mousse Dessert

Last weekend's grocery shopping list did not quite include whipping cream, chocolate bars and cream cheese. But, I bought them nevertheless thinking I'll probably make a Black Forest Cake or something on those lines over the coming weekend to serve up as dessert as I've invited my cousin brother and his family over. Of course, with such inviting things sitting in the fridge you could only imagine my desire to whip up something new. I kept thinking about all sorts of desserts and I recollected having heard a chef on TV saying you could make mousse/mousse cakes without eggs by using cream cheese instead. Ah! The many ways that you can make a mousse...so light, yet satisfying! That said, I decided I would experiment with whatever I had on hand. WHATEVER I saw on my kitchen counter-top. And, I saw peanut butter! Now, of course, you could either make a mousse and spoon it into bowls or glasses for it to set before you serve. Pretty much what I did when I made White Chocolate Mousse. But, with this one I decided to take things a wee bit further since this was, of course, an experiment. So, I went ahead and pulled out my box or Oreo cookie to make a base for a dessert-to-be. I worked up my imagination, mixed ingredients and popped it in the fridge for a good 6 hours. The result - YUM!

The only sad thing about this entire experiment was that I made way too less. Boo hoo! I just had about one 3*5 inch layer of this sweet temptation. And, when I said layer, it was just as thick (or should I say thin?) as ONE layer of what you see in the above picture. I wished N number of times that I had churned up more and set it as a thick cake like dessert. Well, well...we'll get there some day. So I cut 1" squares of that one layer that I had, piled it up (in sets of three) and made what I call the Oreo Peanut Butter Mousse Dessert.

And as if this was not already filled with enough calories, I went ahead and made thick chocolate ganache and decorated each piece of dessert. Talk about indulgence!

Oh and guess what? Here's something I got to know from a friend. I had made this on 'National Peanut Butter Lover's Day'. Who knew March 1st was called so, eh? What a superb co-incidence indeed! Now, you need not wait another year to make this one. All you need is a guilt-filled trip to the grocery store just like me. Just this one time, come on. I'm giving you the permission!

Quick n Easy White Chocolate Mousse

I am a chocoholic. And, no that's no confession. It's a statement. Almost something that attributes to my personality. So much so that if you know me well enough, you would have no trouble in finding a gift for me if you're feeling overly generous when you drop by my place!

That said, I'd like to make things a little more specific. I am a milk-chocolate chocoholic. No other percentage of cocoa will do. And the absence of it simply fails to turn me on. Just like in the case of white chocolate. But once in a way we do buy these white angels, too. Unfortunately, for them, they do not get gobbled down as quickly as their relatively browner cousin. So...this half a bar of white chocolate sat in my friedge for a good 3 weeks. My eyes kept falling on them but neglecting them until yesterday, as I was browsing through Nigella Lawson's dessert videos on out very own web and something miraculous happened!

She fixed White Chocolate Mousse  out of almost nothing. And, I had just the 'nothing' available on hand. You need not guess what we had for dessert last night!

Nigella used mint to flavour her mousse, while I decided to use pineapple essence and top it off with fresh fruit as you see. And, here is what I see....you drooling like a baby!!!

Black Forest Cupcakes

What's better than good food and great company? Well, it is pretty simple - Good food, great company and LOTS of chocolate. And, what makes all this even better? Serving all this to a bunch of wide-eyed toddlers eagerly waiting at the door as you walk in with a box of freshly baked and frosted Black Forest Cupcakes. Pure joy, I say! That is precisely what I did for my little sonny S, when he moved from his playschool to prep-school early this September. I know, I know it is over a month now - How in the blue blazes did I not post it so long? Oh well, better late than never, eh?

The kids (and the class teachers) enjoyed this treat. I sure wish you would, too. Go on and make them. These gorgeous babies are only a whisk away!

Strawberry Shrikhand

This summer saw a lot of mangoes enter our home. Crate after crate, one after the other! And, there's almost no guessing who downed a major portion of the fruit. I ate mangoes as a part of breakfast, lunch, at snack-time, dinner, dessert, cooked, in-the-raw...and just every time I caught the tantalizing aroma of them ripening on my countertop. So, quite obviously bidding adieu to the king of fruit was'nt an easy task.

The one dish that we prepare at home without amiss every summer is Mango Shrikhand or Aamrakhand. This is a wonderful combination of mango puree and sweetened hung yogurt, blended with aromatic spices, saffron and pistachio. It find's its roots in the Indian state of Maharashtra, where this mouth-watering sweet treat is served mostly with puris (puffed-up, deep fried whole wheat dough circles).

As mangoes seem to be slowly vanishing from market stands, I decided to twist things up a bit and make the same dish using the fruit that was still in season - Strawberries! Of course, I skipped the spices and other additions because the berries and their seeds passed on enough flavouring and texture to the hung yogurt all by themselves. Try it out and you will know what I mean.

Oh and yes, I decided to take this to a whole new level with a simple change in the basic recipe. Read up to know more!

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Summer's is slowly winding down. Although the humidity has'nt given up, if you take a hard look at the trees outside you cannot miss the random yellow or orange leaf, hushing in autumn. And that, my pal, is enough excuse for me to not turn off the oven!! When you get hooked to baking, this is what happens. All you need is an excuse. Tee hee.

Weather is just one of the umpteen number of factors (read excuses) that automatically make my hand clasp the whisk and the oven mitts. These days it's my toddler! He's begun enjoying muffins after having eaten them at his playschool. Thank God for that...and that too right in time when I bought my new muffin pan, which I inaugurated by baking a batch of Carrot Muffins. This time around I decided I will pack in a punch of anti-oxidant rich blueberries.

The very idea of feeding him something as wholesome as a muffin that's home-made, with whole wheat and fruit, every morning with a cool glass of milk or juice for his breakfast has totally captured me. And, I am sure it sounds interesting to you too, does'nt it?

Oh, and I simply had to throw in those dainty, red raspberries for the picture. They're so photogenic, I tell you...they livened up the frame almost instantly!

Black Forest Cake

While baking regular cakes and frosting them for every birthday in the family became a routine, the only stone left unturned was to try and bake the master of all things pastry - Black Forest Cake. Just the three words all by themselves have the power to get anybody into an indulgent mood. That said, this year I decided I would take the plunge and try my hand at baking this divine dessert for my hubby's birthday (psst... and mine, too, which followed!)The last two weeks saw me making frequent trips to the grocery store as I tried to put together all the ingredients needed to make this fabulous cake long before the big day. Besides, since the procedure is a bit long drawn (But it is definitely not difficult! If I can do it so can you!!) I decided to spread the whole baking and decorating process over three days. If you love eating and baking, you will enjoy every single moment of putting together this luxurious cake!

So, two days prior to the birthday, I baked the Chocolate Cake which forms the base of the entire Black Forest Cake. One day ahead, I did the layering and basic assembly of the cake using sugar syrup, cherries and whipped cream. By this time, my cake had trippled in size and it sat the lowest rack in my refrigerator and I kept my fingers crossed that hubby dear would not notice it, since it was enrobed in cream and sort of got camouflaged into the white colour in the fridge. I decided to hit the sack early that night (although excitement of finishing up the cake decoration and all sorts of ideas kept me from falling asleep for a long, long time) and as I walked towards the bedroom I did the most stupid thing I'd have ever done in my whole life. I asked hubby - "Did you open the fridge this evening?". He was like, "Umm..No. But what kind of a question is that?". He obviously thought I was insane. Then I went ahead and said, "Oh why? Can I not ask you anything like that?" Good lord!! What was I talking? He smirked.

I decided that very moment to grab him down to open the fridge. Would you believe that? I showed him the cake that sat shabbily covered in whipped cream. I simply had to do it, lest he ends up dropping something on the cake if he wanted something from the fridge while I was asleep. I had done some random design on it with my star nozzle. Sadly, even after buying everything for the cake, I forgot to pick up piping bags for the frosting of the whipped cream and the damn nozzle kept slipping inside my zip-top plastic bag as I piped. So, I did the worst frosting work ever and ended up making the cake look like a pathetic attempt to decorate a wedding cake (which you see below) and decided to wake up early the next day to really fix things up to make it look perfect. He smiled on seeing the shabby cake and said "Thank you". I was like "Ugh! Guess what cake it is, will you?" (We women never quit, do we?) He goes, "How in God's world would I know....you have bathed the whole thing  in cream!!" That had us all in peels of laughter. So, I told him I would save at least that bit for his surprise the next day. And, on my hubby's birthday I gave the cake its finishing touches and final decoration just before he woke up - all in time for the surprise!!

Here's a pic of the disastrous decoration that sat in my fridge awaiting repair work.....

The next morning I woke up about half an hour early and fixed the decoration. I placed the done-up cake on the counter. The moment he freshened up and came out of the bathroom, I beckoned him into the kitchen to see and guess what sat awaiting him!

"Oh....Black Forest, huh! That looks good!". Was I relieved or what?! Now, so much for having bored you to death with that long story. But, good food is worth long stories, right? Ok. Ok! Here's the recipe!

Oh hang on!!! Before I jump into it, just one last thing. I've split up this recipe for a three layered cake into three steps:

STEP I - Baking the Chocolate Cake Base

STEP II - Layering and Basic Assembly

STEP III - Decorating the Cake to a Finished Product

I feel I've gone back to my Technical Writing profession talking about steps and procedures as write User Manuals all over again! Well well!

So, each of these steps can be done one day at a time. Now, that's easy, is'nt it?

STEP I - Baking the Chocolate Cake Base

This step involves baking a choclate cake which acts as a base to the entire finished product. If you intend to make Chocolate cake anytime, just follow this one and you'll have a moist chocolate cake ready in no time!

Ingredients for the Chocolate Cake (Base of the Black Forest cake)

1 Cup All purpose flour (Maida)

1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar/Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Butter - Unsalted, at room temperature

3 Extra Large Eggs, at room temperature (If you are using small eggs, use 4 nos.)

3/4 tsp Baking powder

3/4 tsp Baking soda

3.5 tbsp Cocoa powder

1 tsp Vanilla essence

1/4 Cup Milk

A pinch of salt

Method

- Preheat oven to 350F and prepare baking dish by smearing oil/butter all over the insides. Dust flour to evenly cover all parts of the dish to prevent the cake from sticking to it once baked

- Cream together butter and sugar and set aside

- In a large bowl, sift together all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Repeat the sifting process into another large bowl to make sure you have a homogenous mixture of all these dry ingredients

- Now, break eggs into another bowl and beat until fluffy/frothy (about 10-15 minutes) and doubled in quantity

- Pour the beaten eggs into the creamed sugar-butter mixture and beat again until well mixed

- Add the vanilla essense to this wet mixture

- Slowly pour and fold in small quantities of this wet mixture into the dry ingredients using a flat spatula, as you combine it all together to form a smooth batter.

- This batter may be thick, so pour in the milk gradually until such a point where you are easily able to maneuver your spatula in the same and batter is all creamy and dreamy

- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish (I have used a 9" round dish) and bake for about 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when pierced in the center of the cake

- Once baked transfer the cake onto a cooling rack to allow the cake to come down to room temperature

If you intend continuing to STEP II, make sure the cake is completely cooled. But if you want to go to STEP II the next day, go ahead and place the cooled cake in the refrigerator overnight.

STEP II - Layering and Basic Assembly

This step involves cutting the cake into layers, dousing them in sugar syrup and topping them off with whipped cream and chopped cherries. Sound's easy breezy, does'nt it? Go right ahead and do it!

Take your cake out of the fridge and place it on your contertop until you grab the ingredients required to layer and frost it. This will allow the cake to come back to a warmer temperature before you flip it over your cake board/plate (The one on which you intend cutting it in the end). Now, get hold of all the following things from around your kitchen/pantry.

Ingredients

4 Cups - Whipped Cream/Topping (I used store bought ready-made whipped cream to save me some time. If you intend making it from scratch, go right ahead. Just whip together, in a chilled bowl,  3.5 Cups of heavy whipping cream along with 1/2 Cup (or more if needed) of Confectioner's sugar  until it forms soft peaks)

1 Bottle of Maraschino cherries (without stems) in syrup

3/4 Cup Water

3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar (Regular sugar)

Method

- In a saucepan, combine the water and granulated sugar and set to a boil

- Once the sugar melts, turn off the heat and set aside to cool

- Now, head back to your cake and flip it over your cake board/plate. If you feel the cake is giving you a hard time flipping over (and if you have used a microwave safe dish to bake it) then toss the cake, prior to struggling to get it out of the baking dish, into the microwave for about 15-30 seconds. This will warm up the cake and allow for it to be easily lifted off (by slowly tugging at the sides using a broad off-set spatula) and flipped over onto your cake board. Yet, be careful as you do this so that you dont end up with a broken cake!

- If your cake seems to wobble, turn it back onto original position and smooth away any bulging parts (using the serrated/ridged knife) and flip again onto your cake board so you have a sturdy base to work with. You could place a paper towel below your work area for all the (yummy) mess that follows

- Using a serrated/ridged knife cut the cake into two slices horizontally to form a three layered cake. Remove layers and set aside. Remember in which order and direction you have placed them, lest you end up placing them back in the opposite/wrong way leading to an odd shaped cake after its all done!

- Separate the cherries (I used only 3/4th of a 16oz./1lb bottle) from the syrup. Do NOT discard the syrup. Keep aside in a bowl.

- Chop cherries randomly into small pieces and set aside in another bowl

- (Optional step) Now, take about 5 tbsp of the cherry syrup and mix it with the cooled down sugar syrup to give the cake some extra cherry flavouring.
- At this point you should have one layer (the lowest one for the final cake) on your cake board. If not, place it on the same and mount it on your turn-table (Or put together a make-shift turn-table like I do - I just flip a large steel plate to place the cake, and then I mount this on my round chapati rolling stand. You can see it in one of the images below. Works just perfectly!)

- Lightly drizzle about 1/3rd of the quantity of the sugar syrup (or sugar-cherry syrup if you've included the previous step) over this layer of the cake, covering the entire surface area. This step is what gives the final cake that super moist texture!
- Now, scoop about 1 Cup of the whipped cream and drop the humongous dollop onto the lowest layer using a frosting spatula
- Spread all over the layer covering it completely such that you have a thick layer of whipped cream on it. Add more cream if you think your cream layer is not too thick since this is dependant on what size of a baking dish you used/size of your cake. A 1/2 to 3/4th inch thick layers of cream seem fine to me, but indulge if you like more!
- Now, sprinkle the chopped cherries over this cream layer. Your done-up layer should look similar to the image below

- Place the middle layer on top of this. Smooth out any cream that seems to be seeping out between the layers and place in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes to set

- Pull out and mount the cake back on the turn-table. Repeat spplication of the the sugar/sugar-cherry syrup, topped up with the whipped cream and cherries to this layer and place the top-most/final layer

- To this top-most layer just drizzle the sugar/sugar-cherry syrup

- Now, using the frosting spatula drop about 1/2 to 3/4th cup of whipped cream and frost the entire cake. Your cake should look somewhat similar to the image below

- Don't worry too much if its not a very smooth coating all over since you can fix that in the next step

For now, place this frosted cake in the refrigerator overnight to allow all the flavours to marry, and try to get a good night's rest for the big day: The day you'd finish decorating and cutting and most importantly EATING the cake!

STEP III - Decorating the Cake to a Finished Product

This step involved coating the cake with a smooth layer of whipped cream and topping it up with all that you desire. Yup, yup! We're almost done and I am SO proud that you've read this far. Keep going...your divine dessert awaits you at the end of all this.

Ingredients

Left over whipped cream (You should have about 1.5 Cups left since we used only 2.5 cups before this)

4 oz bar of Semi-sweet Chocolate (I used Hersheys)
2-3 tbsp Chocolate syrup (I used Hersheys, again. I should probably rename this cake to Hersheys Black Forest cake, eh?)
A handful of Maraschino cherries, drained completely (You can use stemmed ones here if you wish)

Method
- Chop the chocolate into slivers/shavings using a sharp, ridged knife and set aside in a bowl/box back in the fridge, so as to avoid melting
- Take small dollops of whipped cream and apply a layer of cream over the sides of the cake as you simultanuously rotate your turntable. Use smooth back and forth motions to cover the entire cake (sides) evenly. Dont worry too much about tiny peaks and valleys. We'll work on them in a few steps.
- Drop about 1/2 Cup of whipped cream on top of the cake and spread out evenly using a flat spatula
- Run your spatula against the top edge to remove any excess cream between the sides and the top of the cake
- Now dip a steel frosting spatula, in hot water, wipe with a towel and spread out any uneven parts of the frosted cake as you rotate the turntable, to get a smooth finished look
- Using a wide spatula, dab on the slivered chocolate on to the sides of the cake. I hope you still have that paper under your turntable. Don't tell me that I did not caution you against this yummy mess!!
- Be careful while doing this so that you dont lose out on the smooth finish of the cake. You can still see some flaws in mine! I really have to work on frosting cakes!!
- Place cherries one inch apart on the edge of the top of the cake
- Now, pipe dollops of whipped cream between each cherry
- Drizzle the chocolate syrup in a zig zag pattern and voila!

WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!!! Pop the cake in your fridge for a couple more hours to set it. Take it out just about 20-30 minutes prior to cake cutting/serving time. I like it that way 'cuz it gets the juices flowing as the cake comes to room temperature. But, if you like it really chilled, go ahead and dig in.

You still here? Ok, nice! Now, cut up a slice of your Black Forest Cake (Ah! finally we get to call it that!) and thank the creator of this world to have given humanity the capability to create something this fabulous. As for me, I am off to sing the popular hindi song - "Tera mujhse hain pehle ka naata koi, yuhin nahi dil lubhata koi" (You share a long-lost bond with me...How else would somebody seem so dear to my heart?!)  to the last slice of my Black Forest Cake!

Makes 12 slices of pure joy!

I'm sending this one to Madhuri's Chocolate Fest  as she celebrates the first anniversary of her blog, Cook-curry Nook.

Madhuri's Microwave Chocolate Cake And A Li'l Gift For Her!

I have been having this on my mind for a long time now. I just did not find a good chunk of time to sit down and do this post at one go. So, I split it up in bits and saved pictures and drafts along the way.. and today, finally I hit 'Publish Post'! Yes, Madhuri, this one is (again) for you. Those of you who don't already know , Madhuri and I were school mates and have now connected through online networking and most recently through food blogging. If you have'nt already taken a peek into her space, do so @ Cook-curry Nook.

Although my blog happens to be couple months older (half a year I guess!)than hers, I must admit her repertoire of recipes is way more exhaustive and delicious than what I have stocked up. Her pictures speak for themselves and make you want to immediately get your hands on the ingredients and try out what she has put up. So, one such recipe that had me at the first look was her uber-decadent Eggless,butterless 5-minute Microwave Chocolate Cake. I simply HAD to try it. And, that I sure did.

But before we dive into the tried and tested recipe, I have a little something to share. These days if there is anyone's blog that I look up for recipes, it is Madhuri's. I love how she explains things out, making cooking seem like a very enjoyable task...especially for a person like me, who would run out of the kitchen given a chance! So, I designed this ...um, let's call it a badge, shall we? Yeah, I designed this JnJ Inspirational Blogger Badge for her, to let her know she does so in every way. JnJ?? No, that's not a typo! Read on - Yes Madhuri, you inspire me with your cooking pretty much the way Julie Powell was by Julia Child to try out all of her recipes. So here you go..this one is for you - The Julie & Julia Inspirational Blogger Badge!!

Madhuri, you could share this with anyone you think inspires you in a similar way - or better yet, just keep it!! :D

Now, for the ultimate, super-quick, super-yummmmmmy cake recipe. I downsized it a bit and made some adjustments, which I've written down to guide you through the recipe. The major change of course was that I added Chocolate syrup instead of Cocoa powder which made my cake very gooey and fudge-like in the end. I like cakes that way so it was fine. But, if you like your cakes a wee bit dry then go for the cocoa powder (Psst...I tried that version too. Just goes to prove how much I love chocolate cake, does'nt it?)

Ingredients
1 1/4 Cups All purpose flour/Maida
4-5tbsp Hersheys Cocoa Syrup (OR 1/3 Cup Cocoa powder)
1 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar, firmly packed
3/4th tsp Baking Powder
1/3rd tsp Baking Soda
1.5 tsp Vanilla essence
3 tsp Flax seed powder mixed in 3/4 cup warm water (substituting 3 eggs)
1/3 Cup Milk(I used whole milk)
1/3 Cup Oil (I used Corn Oil)
A pinch of salt

Method
- Sift the flour into a large preparation bowl
- Add the brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix
- Stir in the milk, oil and vanilla essence to make a smooth batter making sure there are no lumps
- Add the chocolate syrup and blend with your spatula
- Pour the flax seed powder mixed in warm water and mix well to make a silky textured cake batter
- Taste the batter to see if it is 'chocolatey' enough. If not add more syrup/cocoa powder
- Pour the batter into a microwave safe glass bowl. Madhuri suggests using a wide bowl, which is what I did
- Cover with cling wrap and make slits in the wrap to allow steam to escape
- Cook on high for about 8 minutes. Check and add more time if you feel the cake needs more cooking
- Once done, remove the cling wrap and allow it to rest up a tad bit - around 10 minutes.
- Insert a toothpick in the center of the cake to check if it is done. You could opt to check in another couple of spots too, since unlike the traditional/conventional oven, microwave heat (I think) does not spread very evenly.
- Let cool a few more minutes. Cut up into slices and decorate with your choice of toppings. I have used confectioner's sugar, clementine slices and dried blueberries.
- Serve warm (That's how I had mine)

This Makes about 12-15 thick, delicious slices of chocolate cake!

One helluva recipe I tell ya. I can see myself make it so very often! Danke, Madhuri...so so much! I just might try experimenting with it too, so watch out for this space.

Oh and yes, for those of you who loved the badge, go ahead - pick it up and share it with those who you think deserve it. Spread the inspiration!

Soft Sour Cream Cookies

If you have been following my posts lately, you'd have noticed the Sour Cream And Veggie Dip. Needless to say, I had sour cream left after I prepared this. I wanted to make something different and I could sense the baking ghost haunt me. And much to my interest, one of Food Network's popular chefs made these unique Southern American style of cookies. Not South American, but the southern reagion of the USA is where she hails from. From the past few years of my watching her shows, I've learnt that they have a lot of country style recipes that she shares. I thought I will try my hand at these...and share them with you. They turned out great...and if there was one thing that really intrigued me it was how the cookie would taste once baked. Would it be sour? Would it be sweet? Who knew! I simply baked! Much to my surprise, my little one who normally does not like sweet goodies, enjoyed this one. So, I can assure you it will be a hit with your kids. Go ahead and try it out...

Ingredients

1.5 Cups All purpose flour/Maida

1/3 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Confectioners Sugar
1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 Egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Method
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Cream together sugar, butter and the egg until fluffy
- Add sour cream, flour, baking powder and salt
- Mix thoroughly to make soft, pliable cookie dough
- Pull out small portions of the dough and make balls of about 1/2 inch in diameter
- Press slightly with the palm of your hands to flatten
- Place on greased cookie sheet and sprinkle sugar on top of cookies before baking
- Bake for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not overbake as these are supposed to be soft and not browned. Apparently, the cookies will turn out to be hard if overbaked - So keep an eye!

Makes 2 dozen soft cookies

Roasted Oat-Almond Smoothie

Smoothie and Lassi lovers rejoice - for your favourite drink has now scaled new heights.

I happen to love oatmeal. Yogurt finds its way into my daily diet, too. And invariably when we go grocery shopping my eyes do not miss out on the flavoured yogurt and frozen treats section. Key-Lime Pie flavoured yogurt caught my attention at once. It did taste good but had me thinking way beyond just eating flavoured yogurt. So, this luscious drink was born. It is thick and creamy with delicious notes of oats and almonds to make your taste buds dance.

Here's a drink that you can comfortably do a bottom's up without your guilt going up, too!

Ingredients
1/2 Cup Yogurt/Curd (I've used the low-fat variety)
1 tbsp Almonds
2 tbsp Rolled Oats
1 tbsp Sugar (You can opt to use honey or artificial sweetners, too)
2 tbsp Chocolate Syrup (Optional)

Method
- Roast the almonds and oats on a low flame until fragrant
- Blend to a powdery texture
- Whip this roasted oat-almond powder into the yogurt
- Add sugar and whip to a smooth texture
- Pour the chocolate syrup at the base of a glass
- Top with oat-almond smoothie
- Serve chilled

SERVES 1

A healthy drink to start your day if you do not mind skipping the chocolate! And, if you do use chocolate, make sure it is sweet because some syrups can be bitter. Add sugar/honey to sweeten the same to make a perfect snack-time drink or dessert. It is great to serve kids too!



This smoothie is travelling the miles from New Jersey to Namma Bengaluru to participate in Madhuri's Serve me Some...Juices, Shakes, Smoothies event. I hope you like this one, gurl!