Apple Cake

Apple Cake

            On a recent holiday to Kesroli palace fort in Alwar , I ate one of the most delicious coffee cakes. The flavours were so subtle that despite being a baker myself I had to ask the chef " what is it that I can feel but not pinpoint in it?" To my surprise the magical element was Grated Apple.. Yes!! and it tasted divine.

With apple season round the corner I decided to try  adding apple to one of my favorite basic cake recipes.. and Bingo! the cake was so delicious that it was eaten in a day..:P

I don't know much about varieties of apple. Nor do i care. they just needed to be juicy nd fresh. I used Shimla apples that have just started flooding the market.

here's the super Tasty easy Apple cake  for every1.

You need

125 gms Maida

125 gms castor or regular Sugar

100 gms Butter ( I use Amul/salted for this one)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking powder

few drops of lemon extract or lemon juice

1 apple peeled and grated.

pinch of powdered cinnamon 

pinch of nutmeg

How to make

1) Pre heat oven at 180 degrees. Dust a baking pan or  line with parchment paper.

2) In a large bowl mix Eggs, Sugar & Butter till fluffy. 

3) Add vanilla, lemon extract, Cinnamon and Nutmeg.

4) Mix the baking powder and flour. add flour to the butter mixture.

5) Peel and grate a large apple. And quickly add to the batter before it oxidizes.

6) Mix gently and pour in the prepared tin.

7) Bake for 40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

And the delicious cake is ready to consume.. :P

Chocolate Brownie

A Brownie differs from a chocolate cake in several ways.. It has a moist and more crumbly texture.. also ingredients wise it uses more eggs and very little flour. personally I prefer a brownie only with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream ( the recipe is soon to follow this one.. :D  ) you can add crushed Walnuts to the batter and get a walnut brownie. Alternatively you can add chopped chocolate or chocolate chips to get even more chocolate flavour..
And this is a perfect recipe in case you are a chocolate lover like my sister Bhanu.. she can live on chocolates.. :p
to make you need

150 gms cooking chocolate, dark or semisweet (chopped or in buttons)
1/2 Cup unsalted butter
1    Cup castor sugar ( or normal granulated sugar)
3     Eggs
2     Table spoons cocoa powder
3/4  Cup flour
1/4   tsp salt
1      tsp  vanilla extract

How to make
Dust a 8" square pan or line it with parchment. Pre- heat the oven to 180* C.




                         
In a glass bowl put chopped chocolate and butter.

Melt the chocolate and Butter in a Double boiler. Basically place the heat proof bowl over a simmering pan of water. The chocolate will melt in a few minutes. Take it off heat





Mix cocoa powder and Sugar.
Add the eggs and flour to molten chocolate.
Combine well. Add Vanilla extract and salt.

Pour it in the prepared tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

The Brownie will be moist when you insert a pin. but it is done.. Do not over bake the brownie. It is okay for the surface to crack.

Moist Carrot Cake

 Been planning this post for quite some time.. but cannot procrastinate it further since carrot season is too short for my antics..;). This cake is heavenly moist & the nutmeg cinnamon combination makes it smell yummy.. I have made adjustments to the original recipe given to me by my friend Aparna.. She is one of the most effortless bakers who practically taught me how to bake..:) so here is the moist carrot cake everybody loves..

You Need
2.5 cup flour ( maida)
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground Cinnamon (Dalchini)
1/2 tsp ground Nutmeg (Jaiphal)
3 Eggs
1&3/4 cups Sugar
2/3 cup softened Butter
3 cups shredded Carrot
1/2 cup Orange Juice
Zest of  1 Orange ( chopped or grated orange Rind)
Raisins (optional)

How to :

Mix the dry ingredients that is Flour, Spices, Baking Soda & salt.














In a large bowl whisk butter ,Sugar nd eggs.
















Grate roughly 4-5 carrots to get 3 cups of shredded carrots.

   











Add grated carrots, orange Juice nd orange Rind to the mix.
Add flour mixture to and gently mix.. Do not over mix. The batter
will be moist so don't panic. Add raisins now if adding.

Dust a large Baking Pan  or line with a baking parchment.
It is a fairly large cake.. I have used a 12" square pan.

Bake for 50 minutes at 180*C. Insert a needle to check if done.
ENJOY..!!

Very Berry Strawberry Cake

I love strawberry. and though the strawberry season in my city is no more than a few weeks i have been preserving it in my freezer for year long consumption.. here's a post link on how to preserve... http://chefshruti.blogspot.in/2010/03/strawberry-preserve.html

So while I love them with Ice creams and even my daily Wheat flakes, I am always looking for good recipes for the same. and here is one awesome recipe..  You can use any berry that u can get Blueberry, Raspberry etc if you are luckier than me..;)) Cake is really simple with a crusty exterior and soft mushiness inside.. Enjoy!!

You need -

1 1/2 cups sifted All-Purpose Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 cup softened Butter ( in case using Amul/ Salted don't add salt)

1 cup granulated Sugar

4 Egg Whites ( alternatively 2 whole eggs)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp Lemon zest

3 tbsp Sour Cream or  Regular Cream

1/3 cup  milk

1 cup of fresh Blueberry, Strawberry or Raspberry ( whichever you can get or all mixed..)

For the Crust

3 tbsp softened butter

1/3 cup brown sugar or plain sugar

1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour

1 tsp ground Cinnamon

How to:

1) Mix flour, baking Powder,Salt. keep aside.

2) In a large bowl mix butter & sugar for the cake. Whisk well.

3) Add eggs, Vanilla, Lemon Zest. Mix well

4) Add cream & the flour mixture. Gently Fold the ingredients adding milk as you need. Do not over mix.

5) Use a 9" baking Pan. I used a loose bottom tin but you can use any regular round or Square pan. Dust it well before Pouring the mixture. Level the mixture using spatula.

6) In a bowl mix the ingredients for Topping. Sprinkle the fruits and the topping mix over the cake making it as even as possible.

7) Bake at 180 deg C for 40 minute..

Easy Chocolate Squares

            I am back to Blogging after nearly a year.. a year full of activity  but total laziness to blog anything at all.. been archiving pictures of what I made but never got around posting them.. Thank God for FACEBOOK which reminded me this morning that there has been no activity on the page..:)
now for this renewed beginning, as the cadbury Dairy Milk ad says "Kuch meetha ho jaaye". what better way to begin than a chocolate recipe.

             The best thing about this recipe is that it hardly takes any time and is so yummy that it finishes before you know. Before we talk about the recipe let me tell u a few things about ingredients. In terms of chocolate to use you have a lot of options. It can be chocolate buttons or cooking chocolate bars. Often I have read people mention percentage of cocoa in the chocolate or a great brand. Personally i really never found any difference .. but if you prefer a certain brand go ahead use that.. i buy whatever that i can considering i live in a smaller town and it is a bit of a luxury to choose brand.. and never found any difference in results..you may opt for semi sweet or dark chocolate depending on your taste preference.
the original recipe is from www.chefinyou.com but i have tweaked it to my liking.

You need

• 350 gms of any cooking chocolate chopped or chocolate buttons
• 400 gms Tin of condensed milk ( Nestle milkmaid wud do)
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of butter( unsalted) if using salted Amul etc don't add extra salt
• Cinnamon or any other spice if you like ( optional)
• 200 gms assorted nuts roughly chopped ( cashews, almonds, walnuts etc)

How to Make

In a large heatproof glass bowl mix chopped chocolate/ buttons, condensed milk, salt, butter, cocoa powder and spices if using.


Heat the mixture using double boiler.. a double boiler is essentially a glass bowl kept above a simmering pan of boiling water. the water shud not touch the sides of glass bowl. this way chocolate melts using indirect heat of steam.

Once the chocolate melts add the chopped nuts. and pour the mixture into a square tin lined with greased baking or parchment paper. Let the mixture cool. refrigerate for 2-4 hours .

Once set u can cut squares of your choice out of it. And wrap using a chocolate wrapping paper. Or better just eat it like that..:)

Home Made Brown Bread

We were planning to bake bread at a friend's house.. her mom in law said" why work so much when you can easily get a bread for 15 bucks at the bakery." quite famously I told her " coz we are wonder women.. baking, working, nappy changing, house keeping all at one go..;).."
On a more serious note i feel baking bread at home has more to do with satisfaction than taste.. since we don't generally have enough muscle power to knead the atta well.. resulting in a heavier bread than commercial bakery breads. so if you can build bread muscles bread baking is for you..:)
This one is a good recipe that I have adapted from http://www.chefinyou.com/

You need
2-1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/ tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar( can use normal sugar color wud be lighter though)
1 tsp active dry yeast
4 tbsp butter
7/8 cup lukewarm water ( almost a cup of water)
How to Proceed
Mix salt in the flour and Rub in the butter with your fingertips making it grainy mix.
In about 1/4 cup water out of the total , mix sugar and yeast. Be careful about water not being more than 26 deg Celsius. Let the mixture stand until it becomes frothy.
Add the yeast mixture to the flour and make a soft dough using rest of the water.
The dough has to be soft and not sticky..knead using all the muscle u can develop :)
Put the smooth dough in a oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or towel.
Let it rise until doubled in a warm air draft free space.
Once doubled punch down the dough and knead again.
Make it into a smooth cylinder shape and place it in a loaf pan and again cover and let it rise again in the pan until almost double in height.
Bake in a preheated oven at about 200 C or 425 F for 25 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden. Make sure not to over bake or the bread will be hard and brittle.

The Coffee Cake

The name coffee cake can be deceptive. This wonderfully soft cake does not use coffee at all. It is essentially a coffee/ tea time cake which doesn't need any dressing/ icing .. thanks to the nutty top of the cake.. Though the use of sugar in topping does tend to darken the top, but who minds it as long as the cake's tasty.. You can add or subtract the topping ingredients as per personal choice. Want nuts, don't want chocolate etc etc..

For Coffee Cake Topping
1 cup (100 grams) walnuts or pecans
1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar
1/3 cup (50 grams) mini chocolate chips
1 tablespoon (15 grams) all purpose flour
For Coffee Cake:
2 cups (200 grams) sifted cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (140 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup (160 ml) sour cream or plain yogurt

Making the Topping:
In a small bowl stir together the sugar, chopped nuts, chocolate chips and flour. Set aside.

Making Cake

Butter and flour spring form pan.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until softened .

Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy .

Add the eggs. Beat in the vanilla extract.

With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and sour cream (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined.

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula. Sprinkle the nut topping on top of the batter.

Bake for about 40 - 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

APPLE PIE

Apple Pie is America's favorite dessert. ..personally I am no great fan of apple as a fruit but I absolutely love the apple pie..
When I tried baking it the first few experiments resulted in very tough crust... guess the trick was making of dough and not the recipe.. to have a flavourful flaky crust it is very important that we don't knead the dough much.. the dough needs to be handled only enuf to gather.. also the ingredients have to be icy cold. the dough can be wrapped and refrigerated for 30 min or so .. i also noticed that instead of mixing the dough with hand, using a chutney maker or a food processor helps.. it gives an even sandy texture to flour..
The given recipe has two parts.. the dough for the pie and the apple filling...

The Dough ( pate brisee) short crust pastry
2 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp fine sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (chilled and cubed)
1/4 to 1/2 cup cold water

The filling
about 2 cups finely chopped apples
1/4 tsp powdered cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp honey
2 tsp lemon juice

How to proceed
Pre heat oven to 200*C. if using smaller pie or tart tins then u may need 3-4 or use 1 large 9-10" pie dish.
In a food processor blend flour, salt, sugar and cubed butter till it has a sandy texture.
Take in a bowl and pour some icy water and mix using a fork .. add more water if needed ..till it forms a rough ball. Do not Knead..
Wrap it in a plastic cling foil and refrigerate for 30 min.

Now make the filling .. mix the apple with honey , sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice.

Take the dough out of fridge.. dust a surface and gently roll into a flat roti about 5 mm thick.
Adjust the roti size as per your pie mould.
Line the mould with the roti taking care not to press in the tin. Put the apple mixture .. make another roti and cover the apple . u using the whole roti you will have to make slits for steam to come out.
u can also cut stripes out of the second roll as i have done and make designs as per your choice.
bake it in a pre heated oven at 200*C for -
small tart moulds 20-25 min
big glass pie dish 40 mins
enjoy :)

The Sour Cream Chocolate muffins

This is a Nigella lawson recipe. Though a little heavy on fat contents it is a really soft and yummy cake. The best part is the taste of sour cream making it flavourful.

You Need
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

How to bake

Preheat the oven
Whisk sugar , butter and eggs till fluffy.
Add sour cream.
Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
Mix the two.
Add vanilla extract.
Line a muffin pan with paper cups.
Pour the mixture.
Bake for 18-20 min at 180* C.

EGGLESS VANILLA CAKE

Every one I know argues that Eggless cakes are not so soft.. on the contrary they ARE quite soft and the extra ingidients make it yummy.. a lot of people i know advocate use of condensed milk in eggless cakes.. i have had very bad experiance with that. it not only makes cake very heavy and chewy they also loose texture.. may be i haven't found the right recipe..
This one particularily is very very yummy.. it is a versatile vanilla cake.. u can add nuts or chopped fruits to make it tastier. recipe courtsey my friend Aparna who is a great cook herself..:).. the milk powder adds taste to it and so does added milk. lemon helps it rise well.. be careful to put lemon juice right at the end so cake rises better..

You Need
2 cups Flour
1 cup Unsalted Butter
1&1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1&1/4 cup Milk Powder
1&1/4 cup Milk
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Soda bi carb
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method

• Preheat oven at 180* c. and dust a 9" cake pan.

• Using a hand blender or electric mixer ( if you have ) whisk the butter and sugar very well.. till it is white and frothy.

• In a seperate bowl mix well flour, milk powder,baking powder and soda .

• Add the flour mixture to the butter and add
  milk..( u can use the whole quantity of milk or use a little lesser.. check your batter doesn't get very loose..)

• Mix well add vanilla and lastly add lemon juice.

• If using fruit pcs or nuts you can add it now..
  
• Pour in the prepared tin and bake for 40 min at 180*.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

The Chocolate Chip Cookie is perhaps America's most famous cookie. It was invented in 1930 by Ruth Wakefield, who was the owner of the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. The story goes that one day she decided to add small chunks of a Nestle's Semisweet Yellow Label chocolate chips to her butter cookie dough. These 'chocolate chip' cookies were an instant hit with her customers and word of their popularity reached the Nestle company. Nestle must have realized that adding small chunks of their chocolate bar to cookie dough would appeal to the mass market because by 1939 Nestle had already developed, and was selling, small chocolate morsels (or chips) in a yellow bag. Nestle then went on to buy the rights to the Toll House name and to Ruth Wakefield's 'chocolate chip' cookie recipe. They called her recipe "The Famous Toll House Cookie" and printed it on the back of the Yellow bag of chocolate chips.
While i was reading all this on http://www.blogger.com/www.joyofbaking.com I was really tempted to try it and the cookies turned out quite decent actually..( despite the fact that i am not so keen on chocolate) i have used brown sugar as well but you can use regular white castor sugar. There is also a very interesting video on how to bake them on http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/

you need
11/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar ( mix 1/4 cup brown sugar with 1/2 cup white sugar)
1/2 unsalted butter
1 egg
vanilla essence
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips.. (hershey's or nestle whichever)

method
· Mix flour , baking powder and salt and seive.

· In a bowl whisk sugar & butter till it's frothy.

· Add the egg and vanilla essence.

· Add flour and mix to make a loose batter.

· Add chocolate chips and mix. if you find the batter very soft refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

Take an ice-cream scoop and drop spoonful onto an ungreased baking tray. keep some space about 2" in between two cookies so they can expand.

· And bake in a preheated oven at 190 deg for about 12-15 minutes.

· Put it on a wire rack for cooling before storing.

UP SIDE DOWN PINAPPLE CAKE

In my latest experiments to try something fancier than regular cakes i tried an upturn cake.. basically it is a cake which is baked with a fruit base and is turned upside down to show the glazed fruit slices at the bottom..

The process though seems dificult is actually quite simple.. all you need to take care is line the bottom of cake tin with aluminium foil. in case you can use spring foam like me then great if not then use a big piece of foil. one that covers sides as well. So you can just take out foil and turn the cake on a plate.

you need

For Pinapple/ Apple base

5-6 slices of pinapple/ apple

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp butter

2tbsp water

cherries for garnish

For the CAKE

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter

2 eggs

1/3 cup sour cream ( mix thick curd and dahi in equal parts)

Vanilla essence

1/2 tsp baking powder

METHOD

Butter an 8 inch cake tin well and line it with alluminium foil. butter the foil as well.

Preheat oven to 180 deg centi.

In a saucepan simmer butter sugar and water for the caramel to be used in base.When the sugar bubbles and turns amber ( slightly brown) pour it in the cake tin.

Arrange fruit slices in the bottom and decorate with cherries.

In a seperate bowl cream sugar and butter for cake.Mix eggs and whisk till fluffy.

Add flour, baking powder, vanilla essence and sour cream.

The batter would be slightly thick. Pour it in the cake tin and smoothen.

Bake it in the oven at 180 deg for 30 min approx or till needle comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the tin for 10-15 min.

Once cooled enuf turn it on a plate slowly. remove the foil and voila .. The bottom looks delicious with rings of fruit..

BANANA BREAD

I've recently found the joy of baking quick breads.. they are basically sweet loafs.. somewhat similar to a cake in making... they can be excellent to serve as a tea time snack as they are definately less sweet than cakes and less buttery too:)... thank god for that or while collecting recipes for this blog I would pick up 2-3 pounds while tasting.. hehe

Back to recipe.. while searching the net I found quick breads using absolutely anything.. bananas, berries, evn zuchini and pumkins: eek.. american's love pumpkins in everything pie, tarts and cakes.. tell this to an Indian and they would bolt out of the door without tasting even :)

I am here giving two recipes .. 1 using eggs and other eggless.. the result is ALMOST (i mean of course egg one has better texture) the same..:)

BANANA BREAD

YOU NEED

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe large bananas, pureed (about 1-1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

METHOD
· Pre- heat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place oven rack to middle position. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Set aside.
· In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
· In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
· With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky.
· Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

EGGLESS BANANA BREAD

YOU NEED
1 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 ripe bananas, pureed almost 11/2 cup

STEPS
Preheat Oven to 400F. Grease a bread/loaf pan. It is a rectangular pan .. glass or tin.. i use a glass one.
Sift the flour along with baking powder, salt, cinnamon in a bowl .
In another bowl cream the butter along with sugar and beat till light and fluffy.
Add the pureed bananas and mix.
Now add the flour mixture and stir to incorporate all together. Make sure you don’t over beat the batter. It may seem thick and chunky and you would need spoon to take out.
Pour them into the loaf pan
Bake for 45-50 min or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool and serve.

Nankhatai

I am really not sure of the origin of these really rich fatty biscuits.. or can they be called biscuits??
I have relished them at bakery shops but since i started making them myself they taste even better..( even at the risk of your waistline..) they are very easy to make and very quickly as well..
The ingredients are simple and we have them at home all the time..
you need
2 cups flour ( i go half maida half whole wheat flour)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup ghee ( unsalted butter if u want)
a pinch of soda bi carb ( baking soda)
a handful of cashew nuts powdered

Mix sugar and ghee in a bowl and whisk well using blender.
Mix flour , powdered cashews and baking soda well.
Add flour to wet ghee mix.

Make a soft dough. it doesnot need any water or milk and would form a crumbly dough.

Preheat oven to 180 deg centigrade and grease a baking tray.

Make small pedas out of the dough and gently press then.. do not flatten ..

Make a cross using a knife lightly.
Bake for about 15-20 min. they will look soft but will get little firm on cooling.
Enjoy..:)