Flaming Fruit Pudding

This is a simple and awesome dessert........A delightful variety of fruit bites tossed into a bed of vanilla custard covered with whipped cream and top it with  thick broken bits of strawberry flavored jelly.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

I made this cake a month ago - did not post it here. Love it so so much that I kept it for the 100th follower of A Portion to Share. And this goes out to Anita of Recipe with pictures......an interesting space filled with tested and tried recipes.

This is a very light and spongy cake from Joy of Baking............. so well described in the video and the post as well. I'm not repeating the recipe here ,because I have followed the JOB recipe word to word. Great cake...must try !

Swiss Rolls !

I have always admired people who can do the Swiss Rolls. Even at the class my tutor did it with ease and I thought its wiser to leave it to experts.The bakers rush took me over yesterday and I decided to give it a shot. First, sponge cracked up as I had over baked it, which now has been stowed away for trifle someday soon. Made another sponge, waited by the oven and got it right !! 

Coffee Mousse Cake

The thought of making a mousse cake is always a little tedious but when you get down to work, its a cake walk.....and the restless me .......finally put it up together like this ...

Chocolate Almond Cake with Chocolate Icing {Reine de Saba avec Glaçage au Chocolat}

Chocolate &almonds are a wonderful combo and when its laced with rum/coffee it makes all the more heavenly. The Baking Partners choice of recipe for the month is  Julia Child's Chocolate Almond Cake with Chocolate Icing. Swathi promptly sent us the recipe - well researched with detailed instructions to guide a first time baker.

Mango Mousse Cake

Mangoes are almost going off the shelves at the markets......and when we got our small basket, we relished our share of this King of fruits. The last three mangoes stayed wrinkled and I though the best way is to make a mousse and finish the season.

Choco- Almond Cake

Am happy to be back with a Choco - Almond cake. Summer holidays and the kids got nothing much to do..........that's when they wanted a frosted cake. I haven't been baking in a while and I guess they were missing it. The idea to include Maltesers on the cake came from them......and this is the outcome.....

Wedding Anniversary !

 23rd January 2012 - so to say our 12th Wedding Anniversary -

Banoffee Pie

The Sweet Punch baking adventure continues.... what I like most is the fact that we participate and bake a recipe which we would have always wanted to do , yet would put it off for another day. These Sweet punch recipes creates an initiative to bake.At the same time when we look at the round up its a whole new learning experience,not to miss the comments which is truly encouraging for a baker !
Happy New year everybody ....................!!
January Punch is Banoffee Pie adapted from Swapna's Cuisine. The origins of this amazing dessert is well explained in Wikipedia.

Banoffee Pie

Choco Vanilla Gateau

2011 passed by and here we are in 2012  a brand new year !!! Wishing all my friends and family across the globe a very happy new year ! May the new year bring you good health, love, joy and peace...God Bless !

With all the preparations ahead , we welcomed the new year with this Choco Vanilla Gateau.

To assemble this gateau the Vanilla Sponge and the French Butter Cream was kept ready...........and here we go........

First cut the sponge into half in a way that's convenient, I always pass a thread through the cake to get an even slice.I am comfortable using this springform pan to assemble - just to avoid the mess.
Place the first layer at the bottom. Spray the sponge with water from a spray bottle or pat with a brush. As a normal practice the sponge is soaked with sugar syrup. The butter cream is sweet enough and hence I used water to balance the taste as the purpose is to make the sponge moist since they usually appear dry. 

Spread the butter cream on it - use a piping bag for a better finish if you have the time. With an offset spatula spread it evenly.

Place the second layer of sponge, spray water and cover it up with the butter cream and set it to cool in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. This step only helps in getting the ring off neatly. When I run short of time, I can't handle the stress of doing a touch up :)

Whip up some whipping cream, and cover the cake on the sides.....I managed to decorate with a few sprinkles just to add color.

Ignore the calories and enjoy the slice - every bite is heavenly!!! its new year after all - plan a work out later :)) 

Happy New Year once again ! 

French Buttercream

When I decided on making this French butter cream as filling for the Vanilla sponge I wasn't quite sure the way the whole thing would turn out. I wished I had a candy thermometer and such other stuff to get it right. I believe some trials do not usually end in errors.........this is one of them!!

So for the ingredients :

• 3/4 Cup sugar
• 60 ml water
• 3.5 tsps Liquid Glucose 
• 3 Eggs
• 1/3 heaped cup sugar
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 100 gms semi sweet chocolate chips

, In a thick bottomed sauce pan, heat the first three ingredients - sugar,water& liquid glucose.

If liquid glucose is not available, light corn syrup is a good alternative. While heating, do not stir too much,yet see that the sugar dissolves completely.Turn off the heat when it starts to boil (see pic )

Step 2 : While the sugar boils , beat the eggs and sugar at a medium speed in a stand mixer until they become pale.

Step 3: This is a very tricky step where extreme caution is to be taken as you have now pour the hot sugar syrup into the egg mixture while the mixer runs at high speed. I say caution as the syrup can splash all over and could cause burns if ever it touches the spinning whisk attachment. And no one loves that, do we? So, when you pour out the hot syrup,pour it onto the pan in a steady thread, therefore avoiding the syrup touching the whisk ,yet the syrup would emulsify.

Step 4: The mixer at a high speed ,emulsifies the mixture and it results in a thick,glossy and a smooth mixture as seen in the pic. Run this at high speed until it comes down to room temperature or cool enough to touch.Now switch over to the paddle attachment.

Step 5: Two sticks of unsalted butter should be left at room temperature to soften. The butter should cut into neat cubes,which means the exteriors should be soft and the interiors of the block should still be firm to touch.The mixer now runs at a low speed until all the butter gets blended.Never add butter all at once, instead,add them cube by cube. Once all the cubes are added, run the mixer at high speed. Scrape down the sides. The mixture might look as if its curdled. Not to panic,instead let the mixer run for an additional minute, and you will see how fast it all blends together like this....

Step 6: Melt the chocolate chips on a double boiler, stir to clear the lumps allowing the mixture to cool too.

Step 7: Fold the chocolate into the cream & run the mixer on high for about 40 seconds. What you get is a rich,creamy, silky, glossy & smooth buttercream frosting! This makes some beautiful swirls on cup cakes too:)

Vanilla Sponge

2011 ends in a few hours ................and I have made no plans for the night and no resolutions either. Instead decided to bake a Vanilla sponge cake first then assemble it into a Gateau. Now, what is a Gateau????

Gâteau is the French word for cake. It is generally a more delicate and complex confection than an American layer cake, with a génoise base and a cream or buttercream filling. It can be light or rich, rectangular or round, and often has fresh decoration such as fruit or whipped cream that makes it perishable. Gâteau can also be very elaborately decorated with spun sugar and chocolate.Source

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup + 2 tablespoons All purpose flour
• 1tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsps fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsps vanilla sugar
• 6 tablespoons warm milk

Steps:

1. Sieve flour, baking powder - three times. If making a chocolate sponge , just replace the 2 tablespoons of flour with cocoa powder and sieve.
2. In a stand mixer beat the eggs and salt, gradually add the sugar and beat until they turn pale. Add vanilla sugar and lime juice , continue beating until creamy and the mixture has soft peaks.
3. The sifted flour would be very light , hence add spoon by spoon and fold into the cream gently, so that it does not lose its volume.Add milk and fold well.
4. I have used a springform pan here and lined it with wax paper.Just place the paper at the bottom of the pan to be safe ,but don't grease the pan with butter. Pour out the batter .
   
5. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius ( gas oven) and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes max. Check if  a skewer comes out clean. Take it out and let it rest for another 20 minutes. Pass a knife around the pan and declamp it. set it to cool on a wire rack.

As the cake cools on the rack, I shall get ready with the butter cream filling.
To be continued..........................................................

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

This is one cake I have always looked up with awe:) am not a daring baker........I have this weird habit of pushing certain recipes for a later day and some I just bake with a rush of blood.This is one such example. Have seen a lot of pics but never tasted it......so here is my first attempt - my way :) Love pineapple...and the simplicity of this cake.

Coffee and Banana Custard

This is a layered custard pudding, with  a handy ingredients or sometimes from leftovers while making fruit salad or banana pudding or banana cream pie. A store bought custard powder would also do but I always make mine.....

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

Love this Dessert - The Chocolate Mousse...........never tried it though. I had to push myself to do it, i have a fair idea how to go about it, but could never go around it.Anyways, when pantry clearing was imminent, I tried it like this.


Ingredients: 

• Baking chocolate one bar - about 200 gms
• 3 tbsps water
• 1/4 cup Icing sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites
• 1.5 cups whipping cream

Step 1: chop chocolate into small chunks, add water & melt it on a double boiler. Stir and see that there are no bits left and chocolate is smooth.Remove from heat. Add icing sugar and mix well.
Step 2: Add egg yolks one at a time and stir well .
Step 3: Whip cream in a stand mixer to soft peaks and set aside
Step 4: Beat egg whites to stiff peaks
Step 5: Add egg white to the chocolate mixture and fold in slowly.Once they are well blended add a portion of the whipped cream. The cream and egg whites should be added & folded in alternately.Pour into glasses and pipe a dollop of whipped cream on it.
Step 6: Allow it to set in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

Once set the Mousse is ready to serve .....................