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 !

Chocolate - Banana Cake

Do bananas sitting over the counter stir the baker's rush?? Perhaps it does for me. There should always be 2 leftover bananas that should smile back at me from a bunch - and all I can think of at that moment is a banana cake - I guess I should start thinking out of the box.. and here I begin with a Chocolate banana cake.

Neapolitan Christmas Cake

This is a very delayed post, part of the Baking Partners challenge for December. Been busy and travel schedules popped up though I managed to complete it ahead of time. 

Happy Birthday Aditeya !!

UAE celebrates its 41st National Day, Schools closed since friday.........we have a long weekend and it is festive all around. And here I celebrate my son's 12th birthday....time sure flies.....he has grown..........no demands - happy with the new PS3 game he got as gift.
No birthday goes by without a cake and here is what I baked for him - Topping with Ferrero Rocher Chocolates was his idea , so to mark the 12th birthday - I managed to place 12 of them ......

The cake inside is 2 9" chocolate sponge , soaked in coffee and kahlua. I made a batch of Swiss Meringue Buttercream and  this time I owe it to the cool weather here in Fujairah. Never before have I got such a smooth,glossy and silky  butter cream.

I repeat what I wrote on facebook this morning......
12 years today, all grown,clear about choices..know too well how to get ur things done by me,even naming me your "helpful device"....one thing that has not changed is that ur still n always will be my bumble bee....Happy birthday Aditeya....much love n hugs !!god bless u n keep u safe always !!
Some day we will read this together and share a smile ..:)

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.

Coffee Cake

Feb 2012 - Valentines day - am posting this at the tail end of the day....Not been well today ,and when my lil one insisted that I should bake a cake - this coffee cake is something I made in a hurry.

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.

Marble Cake

A Sweet Punch theme for this month is " Your Choice" - and I chose the Marble Cake. I just love this cake - the way it is - its always Yummmm....

Eggless Cocoa Cake

After all the cakes I have baked over a period of time,the eggless version is one cake I've never tried or even remotely thought of trying. Well then, today I did ...............like this. Found the recipe in an old booklet that once came in free with a pack of Cadbury's cocoa powder......this offer I guess was sometime in the 80's.

Step 1 : Seive One cup all purpose flour and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and set aside.
Step 2 : Take 2 tablespoons of crisco ( butter flavor) and 3/4 cup of granulated sugar and beat with a hand mixer till creamy.Add 1 teaspoon of Soda Bircarb to this and mix well.
Step 3: Take 1/2 a cup of yoghurt, add a pinch of salt .
Step 4: Fold in the flour into the sugar cream mixture alternating it with the yoghurt.
Step 5 : Pour out the batter into a lined pan and bake for about 40 minutes at 180 degrees ( in a gas oven) Test with a skewer , if it comes out clean - get the cake out and set aside for cooling.

 Thats the slice - perfect texture and taste ..............!

TIROLER CAKE

The name sounds more like a tongue twister............and so is the taste. JUST YUMMMMMM:)

Never heard of this cake before until my friend Divya mentioned about this.She is now based in Germany and once when we got chatting ,told me how she went all the way to Swiss to fetch this cake -  what fascinated me was the name  and I google searched  this recipe.Voila ! i found this link ....

http://www.food.com/recipe/tiroler-cake-185869?mode=metric&scaleto=12.0&st=null

Tiroler cake has its origins in the Swiss and with all basic ingredients for a cake it is loaded with teeny weeny bits of hazelnuts and  dark chocolate. I have followed the recipe as in the link. Since I couldn't find hazelnuts in Fujairah..........I have used almonds instead.

Ingredients:

125gms Butter unsalted

125gms Sugar

250gms All Purpose Flour

3 Eggs

1 Tbsp Baking Powder

80gms Chopped Hazelnuts ( read almonds here )

80gms Dark Chocolate chopped

1Tsp + 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Sugar or Vanilla Essence

1/4 tsp Salt

150 ml Milk.

Method:

1. In a stand mixer cream butter,sugar,salt and vanilla sugar until light and creamy.

2. Add eggs one at a time.Scrape down the mixture and beat for another 3 minutes.

3.Take the bowl off the mixer, fold in  flour and milk alternating them in batches, the last addition should be   flour.

4. Add choc bits and the almond bits, fold it into the batter.

5.Pour into a greased loaf pan and set it to baking at 170 degrees( in a gas oven) for about 50 minutes.

The batter

The cake just out of oven

The baked Tiroler loaf

well..........thats the slice :)

Happy baking !Thanks Div ....u inspired me to do this:)

HONEY CAKE :)

Ever since I heard  it on the radio this cake has been on my mind for a while now . I came across this site http://shahiya.com/english/default.aspx by accident and as i browsed through i found this recipe for Honey cake - which seemed quite simple & easy to make.

Well, I have followed this recipe word to word........as posted in this link ..
http://shahiya.com/english/recipes/honey-cake-2995 However, shall  re post the ingredients  for convenience sake & given below is my version of the instructions...
trust me ..........this cake is a must try :))

Ingredients:

250 g flour

4 eggs

150 g sugar

100 g honey

250 g butter, softened

1 tablespoon white rum

1 teaspoon baking powder

A  pinch of salt - if using unsalted butter

Method:

1. In a stand mixer beat the butter, sugar & salt  until it is creamy .

2.Sieve flour and baking powder three times.

3.Add the eggs to the butter and sugar one by one. 

4. Add honey and then the rum .Beat well after each ingredient.

5. Add flour mixture all at once & fold it in until it is well combined ensuring the batter is airy as well.

6. Pour the mixture into a buttered cake tin, preferably lined with wax paper and put in the oven on 150 degrees for 45 min.

This is what you get after it is cooled on a wire rack.And now for the         "slice of the cake" .................

There is this someone who couldn't resist the cake .....got impatient with my hubby's photo session.............and now,for the results  - it is all in the lookl I guess ...Mwah!!

My daughter Aditi.:)

Vanilla cake layered with Chocolate Ganache

This is a very very basic,simple & easy to bake vanilla cake recipe...I use it all the time and can make it even in my sleep.:) The measures are too little, ideal for beginners - once you master this recipe - it will be something u could call a "quick fix". So, here we go........

Ingredients :

1 cup All purpose flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
4 Eggs 
1 cup Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Essence
1 cup Vegetable Oil
A pinch of salt to taste


Method:
1. Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature.
2. Sieve flour & baking powder together - 3 times ideally.
3. Beat eggs,and salt using a hand mixer or a stand mixer with the whisk attachment on medium speed.
4. While beating add sugar to the egg & increase to high speed.
5. Add Vanilla essence to the egg - sugar mix. (I use essence because that is the only this available in the place where i live)
6. Beat until the mixture reaches a pale creamy texture. At this point reduce speed and add oil. Now, oil could be corn,sunflower,canola etc. I am happy with the sunflower oil results.
7. Once the oil has mixed in well,stop and remove the bowl off the mixer.
8. Now, with a ladle or a spatula - mix in the sieved flour & baking powder spoon by spoon. I say this- so that you don't stir in so fast that it loses out all the air.
9. Pour into prepared pan. Put into preheated oven to bake at 180 degrees for about 45 minutes.
10. Important tips :
i. Since this is a layered cake, you could slice the cake into equal sized layers. what i did was i baked it in separate pans -  therefore the 5 layers as shown in the picture.
ii. Always grease the pan - either flour dust it or lay a wax paper to play safe.
iii.Oven temperatures differ gadget to gadget, always better to leaf through the instruction manual to ensure the details. I use a gas oven and this set temperature works just fine for me. if nothing else works, set oven to the lowest temperature, this would take a longer baking time - yet would give perfect results.Always preheat oven & for the first 20 minutes do not open the oven door.
iv. As the baking is on - there would an aroma of vanilla - do not assume that the cake is done at this point, wait for the aroma to fade away & then open the oven.Prick the cake at the center with a toothpick/skewer. If it comes out clean - the cake is done !

Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack.Now prepare the Chocolate Ganache........ 

Ingredients: 
250ml Heavy cream
200gms Baking Chocolate
1tsp Butter 

Method: 
1. Chop chocolate into chunks and melt it in a double boiler. make sure no moisture seeps into the chocolate while it is melting.
2. In a saucepan heat cream to boiling point.
3. Pour the hot cream into the melted chocolate & keep stirring till the chocolate & cream mixes well.
4. Stir in butter  - this will add glaze to the ganache.

SUGAR SYRUP: In saucepan,stir in 1 cup of sugar in 1cup of water till it dissolves completely, remove from heat when it reaches boiling point.Let it cool. 


LAYERING:
Step 1:
Place the first cake slice on a plate. With a brush dab  the sugar syrup on the cake & see that its moist all over. Pour ganache over the cake until it spreads all over.

Step 2:
Place the second cake slice on the ganache and dab with sugar
syrup to make it moist. Pour ganache over it and spread.

Step 3:
Repeat the process through each layer. When you have reached the last layer - dab with sugar syrup and pour the entire batch of left over ganache on it - so that it covers all over the cake.Allow it to set for an hour or so.
Alternately - if u have buttercream on hand - crumb coat the last layer and pour the ganache over it. This is how it will look when it is ready to eat :)) 

Trust me - this is YUM! YUM! YUM!