Moist Rich Chocolate Cake

A Moist Chocolate Birthday Cake with Rich Buttercream icing.

It was my neighbour’s birthday a fortnight ago. The first friend I have made in this new country. And I thought of giving her the best gift I could – A homemade birthday cake. I love making a birthday cakes complete with icing and the deco; it’s just so much fun. I decided on a simple chocolate cake. I had made this cake before for my niece’s birthday and it had turned out to be a success. The effort that went into baking and icing the cake was rewarded when I saw my friend’s face light up with joy. For me, that’s the best thing about cooking and makes me forget the hours laboured in the kitchen.

The secret to making a moist and delicious chocolate cake is using oil instead of butter as I have done. For the filling and the frosting I used buttercream. Filled with dark chocolate buttercream and iced on top with light chocolate buttercream. This was my first time covering a cake completely with buttercream. Piping is really not my cup of tea and so I usually stick to Fondant, Ganache or Whipped Cream to cover my cakes. But it didn’t turn out so bad after all. I made the little rose in the centre with fondant and dusted some edible food glitter on it for that lovely sparkle. Click here for my Chocolate Frosting recipe.
 

My husband had seen me make this cake for my friend and wanted some too. So the coming weekend I made the same cake again for him. Two chocolate cakes in a week, that was a bit too much, even for me. But both the cakes were delicious and well worth the effort.

For the second cake I baked for dear hubby, I kept it simple with no fancy piping work. For the filling I used chocolate buttercream and toasted walnuts (Yes I know, my walnut fascination never ends). But trust me, the nuts give the cake an oomph. I frosted the top with chocolate buttercream and added a sprinkling of grated milk chocolate.

This is for a single 6“cake. You can safely double the ingredients for a bigger cake.

What we need:

Sugar – 1 cup
All Purpose Flour – 1 cup
Cocoa Powder – ½ cup
Baking Soda – 1 tsp
Baking Powder – ½ tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Egg – 1 no
Buttermilk – ½ cup
Hot Water – ½ cup
Vegetable Oil – ¼ cup
Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp

You can substitute the hot water with Strong black coffee for a richer colour and flavour.

How we do it:

Heat oven to 180^oC. Line a 6” round baking pan with parchment paper. Grease and flour it.

Sift the dry ingredients (Sugar, Flour, Cocoa, Baking Soda, Baking Powder) into a big mixing bowl and mix well until combined.
 

 

 Now add the egg, buttermilk, water/coffee, oil and extract. Beat on medium speed for two minutes.

 

The batter will be thin and runny. Pour it into the prepared baking pan.

 

Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick or knife inserted in centre comes out clean. Let it cool before taking it out of the pan. Cool completely before you frost the cake.
 

I have cut my cake into two layers using a serrated (bread) knife and filled it with a thick layer of frosting. Give the cake enough time to cool and set after layering, before you start with icing the top. 

 

This an absolutely delicious cake and a must-try for chocolate lovers.
 

 

Try out my Chocolate Frosting recipe.

Love to hear what you think!

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Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting – A buttery and chocolaty icing that can be used for filling or frosting cakes, cupcakes, brownies or cookies

 

 

Butter – 1 cup softened

Icing/Powdered Sugar – 3 – 3 ½ cups
Cocoa Powder – ½ cup
Salt – a pinch
Vanilla Extract – 1 tbsp
Milk – 4-5 Tbsp

How We do it:

The butter should not be melted just softened. It is advisable to use unsalted butter for the icing otherwise the icing can become too salty.

 

Cream the butter until very smooth. Sift the sugar, salt and cocoa and add  in batches into the butter mixing until it is well combined.

 

Now add the vanilla extract and the milk and beat again for a few minutes. If you want the icing to be more stiff you can add more powdered sugar.

 

For a thinner or creamier consistency, you can add more milk – a tablespoon at a time.

This frosting can easily be piped any way you want.

Love to hear what you think!

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Apple Pie From Scratch - The Easy Way

I haven't posted anything for quite some time now. And for all of you who have asked me the reason for my vanishing act.. Well, my excuse is an old-fashioned one, same as my recipe today. I was just too lazy. :-)

Anyway, I decided to come back with a timeless and very popular dish. Apple pie is one of my all-time favourite desserts. I just love the flavour of apple and cinnamon in this classic popular pie. 

 

This recipe will give you a buttery flaky crust with a delicious mushy filling that is best enjoyed warm with ice-cream on the side.

What we need:

For the Pie Base:  Follow my Perfect Pie Crust recipe for a six inch pie-dish.

For the Filling:

6 large apples
Sugar - 2/3 cups
All Purpose Flour – 3 tbsp
Cinnamon – ½ tsp
Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp

Egg Wash:

One Egg well beaten

How We do it:

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples. You can use any one type or mix up two different kinds of apples for a more interesting flavour.

 

Combine sugar, flour and cinnamon in a large bowl. Now add the sliced apples and mix with your hands until the apples are well coated with the mixture. Finally add the vanilla.

 

Take the prepared pie base out of the refrigerator and spoon this mix into it evenly. This would settle after baking, so make sure the mix is a little over the dish.

 

Now take the second dough ball that you have set aside for the top crust. Roll it out and cut into equal 1 inch strips. Make sure it is long enough to cover the diameter of the pie. Place these strips one by one over the pie filling and gently seal the ends to the pie base.

 

Brush the egg wash on the top crust of the pie.

Preheat oven to 220^oC. Place the pie dish on the centre rack and wait till the crust turns golden, approximately 20 minutes. Now take the pie out and cover the top with an aluminium foil, so as not to burn the sides. Reduce the temperature to 180^oC and bake for another 30-40 minutes. At this point, if you take the top foil out, you should be able to see the juices bubbling inside. This means the pie is done. Take it out of the oven and let it cool.

 

The pie looks and smells so delicious at this point that it is highly tempting to cut a slice immediately. But patience is key and cutting it now will only cause the bubbling fruit filling to burn you. It needs a few hours for the filling to completely cool and settle down.

Enjoy warm Pie à la Mode with a scoop of ice cream or like I had, with a glass of Merlot. Pure Bliss!!!

 

Love to hear what you think!

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The Perfect Pie Crust – Easy as Pie

Home-made Easy Pie Crust

I love pie. I love to eat them and I love to make them.

The first few times I baked a pie, I made it with store bought ready crusts and while they turned out fine, it just never gave the pleasure that I usually get from my baking. But I always hesitated to bake my own crust as I thought it will be difficult and I may not get the right results. And at first it didn’t. But then I looked up a lot of recipes, did my own tinkering and finally came up with this fool-proof recipe that is not only easy but results in a delicious flaky-crumbly-buttery pie crust.

The same recipe can be used for sweet and savoury dishes. You just need to skip the sugar if you are making a savoury recipe. I use this recipe for my Easy Apple Pie Recipe.

I prefer to make the pastry dough on the food processor as its fast and does not create a mess. But you can use a stand mixer, hand-held or use your hand. After all, people have used their hands to mix pastry crust dough for ages. You need to follow the same instructions.

What you need:

Flour  - 2 cups (all purpose or cake flour)
Salt – ½ tsp

Powdered Sugar - 1 tbsp
Cold Butter - ¾ cup
Ice water - 6-7 tbsp
How you do it:

Combine together the flour, salt and sugar. Pulse for a minute, if using a food processor. Or else blend together using a whisk.

Now add the cold butter and mix it in.

This part is easy when you have a food processor. A few minutes and you have a crumbly batter that represents bread crumbs.

 

If using your hand, Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour. Make sure there are no large lumps of butter remaining. Work quickly so that it does not become greasy. It might be slightly more time consuming to do this with your hand and a spatula. But you can get better results because your hand will not break up the butter as much as a food processor will and thereby you get a flakier crust. But lazy folks like me stick to the machines.

Next step is to add the water. Make sure your water is Very Cold. Now, add it 2 tablespoons at a time and pulse the processor until the dough forms into a ball. 6 tablespoons usually gets me there. But it might take one or two more spoons. Even when mixing by hand, add the water gradually spoon by spoon. As too much water can ruin the dough.

Once your dough has formed a rough ball. Take it out and lightly knead it with your hands to smooth it out and make it shiny. Now divide the dough into two parts and wrap them separately in cling film and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

 

Take one of the dough balls out and roll with a lightly floured rolling pin. The rolled dough should be two to four inches more than your pie pan.  

Now carefully roll it over your rolling pin and lightly lift and place and unroll on your pie pan.

Without stretching the dough, press the pastry into your pan with your fingertips. Lightly trim off the extra dough from the edges. Cover over any imperfections using the extra dough.

 

And poke a few holes using a fork into the base of the pie. Your pie crust is ready for its filling.

Repeat steps with the other dough ball for the top crust.

Remember to refrigerate the bottom crust when rolling the top crust or when making the filling.

Once the pie is filled with your favourite filling, place top on top of filling, tuck the top under the base and lightly seal it in.

Bake pie according to recipe.

 

 

Love to hear what you think!

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Peach Nut Cobbler for a Rainy Summer Day

Try this delicious Peach Cobbler today and you will never look at fruit the same way again.

 

Don’t you just love the rains? The sweet scent of earth, the cool breeze, the wet leaves; everything looks so clean and fresh, like the world’s just stepped out of a shower. Summer is saying its goodbyes and everyday the mercury slips a little lower. This is the perfect weather for a warm delicious dessert to go with your evening coffee.

I always thought a cobbler was someone who fixed your broken shoes, until I saw it mentioned in one of the cookery shows on Food Network. It looked something like an upside down pie and fruit pie has always been a weakness for me.

I’m not a big fan of eating fruit as-is, but change their form by cooking or baking and I can’t keep my hands off them.

Cobbler is a very simple recipe and just needs some basic ingredients. The best part is that you can make it from almost any fruit. So if peaches are not available use mangoes or apples or even berries. Also, if you cannot be bothered with the peeling, you can use canned fruit as well.

The walnuts add a crunch to the gooey-fruity-lusciousness; you can skip it if you don’t like nuts.

You must try it atleast once and I promise you will want to make it again and again.

What we need:

Peaches – 4-5 nos

Walnuts – ½ cup roughly chopped
Brown Sugar – ½ cup (you can also use regular white sugar)
Butter – ¼ cup
Cinnamon Powder – a pinch (optional)

For the Batter:

Flour – 1 cup
Sugar ¾ cup
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Milk – 1 cup and a little over
Salt – a pinch

How we do it:

Pre heat your oven to 180^oC. Take a baking dish and put the butter in it. I’ve used a 9x13 rectangular glass dish. You can use a round dish if you want.

Place the baking tray into your oven which is heating up and the butter will get melted in no time. Once the butter is melted, take out the tray and prepare your other ingredients.

Peel the skin of your peach and cut into bite size pieces. Combine with the brown sugar and cinnamon and keep aside. There should be enough peach to cover your baking dish.
 

Making the Batter
Mix well all the dry ingredients well. Add milk and make it a slightly runny batter.

Assembling the cobbler:

Spread the peach pieces on the melted butter in your baking tray. Sprinkle the walnut on top of this.

 

Finally pour the batter evenly so it covers the fruit but do not stir it.

Bake for 40 minutes until the batter cracks at the top and turns a golden brown.

 

Your Peach and Nut cobbler is ready. Serve it warm with vanilla ice-cream. Yummm!!!

 

Love to hear what you think!

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Siberian Tigers & Mango Rice Pudding / Phirni

After almost a month of monotony, last weekend hubby dearest was finally able to take some time off from work and we went on a road trip to Krugersdorp to visit the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve . It’s a grand game reserve with some fabulous big cats in their natural environment. The highlight of the day was a chance to get up-close and touchy-touchy with some Siberian Tigers - Magnificent creatures.
 

Yup, those are my legs there.

We finished off the day with a trek to The Wonder Caves, an underground limestone cave with some amazing stalactite and stalagmite formations. The climb down was relatively easy but the hike back up wreaked havoc on my calf muscles.
 

Guess what that amazing stalagmite looks like!!

On our way back home after a tiring but highly enjoyable day, we spotted a black lady selling fruit on the roadside and bought a couple of delicious looking mangoes. They were juicy, sweet with a hint of tart. I wanted to make something interesting with them. That’s when I remembered a recipe by Sanjeev Kapoor, I had recently seen on TV. It was a Mango Phirni, made pretty much like a regular phirni with some mango in it. Phirni is basically a pudding made of rice and traditionally served in clay pots with some silver foil garnish on top.

 

It’s a simple recipe and brings out the sweetness and sourness of the mango fantastically. This is just enough for 2 portions.

What we need:

Mango Puree– 1 cup

Milk – 2 cups
Long Grained rice – 2 tblsp
Almonds – a few
Saffron strands – a few
Sugar – 2 tblsp

How we do it:

Soak the almonds in hot water. Skin the blanched almonds and slice them.

Soak the rice in some water and rest for an hour. Drain and grind the rice with just a little water. It should be a course mix and not a fine paste.
 

 

Boil the milk in a thick bottomed or non-stick pan. Once the milk boils, lower the flame and add the rice mixture. Keep stirring while adding the rice to ensure that no lumps are formed. Keep cooking until the milk thickens. Now add the sugar.

You can add more sugar if you want the phirni to be sweeter but take into account the sweetness of the mangoes too.

Keep cooking for a few more minutes till the mixture gets thick.

You can see how the texture changes.

Turn off the flame and add the mango puree to the phirni. You can puree fresh mangoes or use readymade pureed mangoes.
 

Pour the phirni into small cups or bowls and let it set. Garnish with some mango puree, saffron strands and the almonds

 

Recipe adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor’s Khana Khazana

Love to hear what you think!

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