Skinny Apple Muffins

Recently I have been on the lookout for healthy bakes for Little A. Since eating anything without offering him is impossible I take along some healthy snack for him during travel for him to munch on. Though these muffins are made with whole wheat flour and has less sugar I would limit this as a treat for babies. But for adults these are perfect if you want some yummy healthy snack on the go.  They are so moist and fluffy and amazingly easy to whip up and bake.

Makes a Dozen

You Will Need:

2.5 Cups of Whole Wheat Flour

1/3 Cup of Light Brown Sugar

1/3 Cup of Vegetable oil

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

A Pinch of Ground Cinnamon

1 Large Egg

1.5 Cups of Finely Chopped Apples with Skin

1 Cup of Buttermilk***

A Generous Pinch of Salt

Muffin Topping (Optional, I simply skipped):

Cinnamon

Sugar

Melted Butter

The Baking:

Preheat oven to 180 Degree Celcius and grease a muffin pan.

In a large bowl pour in the oil, buttermilk, brown sugar, vanilla and egg. Whisk this till smooth using a hand blender / wire whisk. In another bowl sift in whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Now simply add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. 

NOTE: This is a very thick batter almost like a dough. But DO NOT OVERMIX or add excess liquid. If overmixed or batter made a little thin the muffins will turn out dense and hard.

Finally fold in the apples and spoon into the greased muffin tin using a table spoon or an ice cream scoop (this works best for me). Fill the muffin batter all the way to the top so that they raise high. Now if you are making the muffin topping, generously spoon over each muffin and bake in a preheated oven for 15 mins or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean and the top is crunchy.

***Substitution for Buttermilk.

Take 1 cup of milk and add a tbsp of vinigar / lime juice. Let it for rest for 10 mins before using in the recipe.

OR

Take ¾ cup of milk and stir in ¼ cup of yogurt. Mix and use in the recipe.

Happy Baking!

Guilt Free Indulgence

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Perfect Vanilla ButterCream Frosting

I bake a lot of plain cakes. My family is not a fan of sweet rich frosting and they prefer to have simple no frosting cakes. But I have a terrible sweet tooth and I jump at any opportunity to whip up something sweet. Now I know this space has been quite for a very long time. And thats because little A is just growing naughtier by day and did I tell you he just turned 1!!!! And I have been wanting to bake a birthday cake for long and I just baked one for little A. Its a three layered two tier cake with handmade cake bunting by my daddy! 

The bottom tier is two layers of chocolate cake with one layer of buttermilk cake and the top tier is three layers of buttermilk cake filled with strawberry mousse and frosted with vanilla buttercream. The cake was yum! And the buttercream was super fluffy and delicious. 

It was perfect. There are a million buttercream recipe out there and each has their own. But I loved the buttercream recipe from Cooking Classy. To crumb coat and cover this 8" and 6" tier cake I had to double this recipe. 

Buttercream frosting is the easiest of all frosting. Just few tips and it turns out so perfect and yum. Its a really sweet frosting unlike Swiss / Italian Meringue. 

Tips for a smooth and fluffy frosting:

• Use good quality butter at room temperature. Butter should be soft and not runny or overly melted.
• Sift the powdered sugar couple of times to make sure no lumps are there.
• Homemade powdered sugar also can be used but store bought ones are convenient and gives that smooth consistency. 
• Beat the butter really really pale. It should become almost white and fluffy.
• Make sure to scrap the side of the bowl every time you add icing sugar and beat. Once all the icing sugar is added keep beating for 3 mins. 
• If adding color add few drops at the end and mix to combine.
• Bring frozen or chilled buttercream to room temperature and beat for a min or two before using. 

You Will Need:

Makes enough frosting to fill and cover a 3 layer 8 inch layer cake

1 1/2 Cups or 340 gm of Unsalted Butter, room temperature 

500gm Icing Sugar

3 tbsp of Heavy Cream 

1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract

A Pinch of Salt

Direction:

Step 1:

Place the unsalted butter in a large bowl and cream using a hand mixer till the butter is fluffy and really pale in color. Almost white. This will take around 5 - 7 mins approx

Step 2:

Add a cup of icing sugar and beat again scraping the sides until the sugar is well combined. Continue the process till all the icing sugar is used up, adding one cup at a time. 

Step 3:

Add the vanilla extract, salt and heavy cream and beat another 3 mins. The frosting should be fluffy and light when you run your fingers onto the buttercream. Use immediately or you can store in the fridge in an air tight container. 

PS: No need to scrap the bowl clean. Leave some behind he lick off later. Its that Yum! 

Happy Frosting!

Home Made

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Fruit & Nut Cake

I actually baked this cake for last year's Christmas. Yeah it is supposed to be a Non Alcoholic Christmas cake with ground spices but its not quite our favorite. Hence I made a FRUIT & NUT CAKE, a special request from Big A (who particularity insisted there be no cinnamon...poor guy hates it and I usually add it to everything muhahaha)!!! Its just a basic vanilla cake with dried fruit and nuts of our choice. Moist and perfect for non Christmas cake lovers like us. 

Makes One 9 Inch Round Cake

Recipe very Slightly Adapted from HERE

You Will Need:

100 gms Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

1/2 Cup Tightly Packed Dark Brown Sugar (White Sugar also works fine)

2 Large Eggs

1 tsp of Vanilla Extract

1 Cup of Plain Flour (Scoop out a tbsp of flour to toss with the fruit and nuts)

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

A Pinch of Salt

1/4 Cup of Whole Milk

1/4 Cup of Tutti Fruti

2 tbsp of Dried Cranberries

2 tbsp of Chopped Glazed Cherries

2 tbsp of Raisins

10 Cashew Nuts, Broken

10 Almonds, Roughly Chopped

10 Walnuts, Broken

***You can add any dry fruits and nuts in addition to the above mentioned. And add more or less depending on how much you like. I prefer a little less.

The Cooking:

Preheat oven to 160 degree Celsius and grease a 9 inch round cake pan.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl.

In another bowl cream the butter till pale. Now add the sugar and beat for another 5 mins till the butter and sugar is light and fluffy. Now beat in one egg at a time making sure you incorporate well after each addition. Pour in the vanilla extract and beat again for few seconds. Make sure you scrape the sides of bowl so that the batter is evenly combined. Now gently fold half of the flour mixture. Pour in the milk and mix. Add the remaining flour and fold again making sure there is no lumps.  

Combine the dry fruits & nuts in a bowl and add the tbsp of flour. Toss till the flour has coated the nuts and fruits. Now fold this into the cake batter. DO NOT BEAT OR OVER MIX. This process of tossing the fruits & nuts in the flour will help them from sinking to the bottom while baking.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40 - 45 mins or until when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, Be sure to check the cake after 35 mins since the temperature and time will vary for different ovens.

Happy Baking!

Dessert

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2 Ingredient Cookie

After Little A started on solids, I have been hunting for a lot of quick and healthy recipes. Specially snacks and quick bites to be in particular. A always loved snatching biscuits from his cousin sis. And since store bought biscuits are not healthy for babies I was searching for some healthy cookie recipes. Was a little unsure in the beginning when I saw this 2 INGREDIENT COOKIE. Yeah you heard me right 2 ingredients. Hence I made a very small test batch of just 5 cookies. Well later I wished I had baked more. 

You need just 2 ingredients to make this cookie and you can add any add on to it. Like nuts, currents, choco chips etc. I made 3 with just the 2 ingredients and added some chopped chocolate on Big A's batch. The cookies were really good and Little A just relished it. He began asking for more pointing at the oven. So easy to make and the healthiest breakfast cookie you can ever have. 

Recipe Makes a Dozen

Recipe Source

You Will Need:

2 large overly ripe bananas, mashed 

1 Cup of Oats, Regular / Instant anything

The Baking:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with parchment paper / foil. 

Place the mashed banana and oats in a bowl. Mix well until combined. Divide the mix equally into 12 portion and place them on the baking tray and press down. The cookie won't spread when baking you can make it as thicker or as thinner you want. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 - 20 mins. Once done remove and cool on a cooling rack. Once cooled store in air tight container. 

NOTE: The sweetness comes from the bananas. So its best you use a very very ripe banana. Those with blackened skin is what i used. And frozen and thawed banana too works perfect. 

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Happy Baking!  

Guilt Free Indulgence

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Cheesy Garlic Pull Apart

Am a novice in Bread Making and this CHEESY GARLIC PULL APART BREAD is my first ever bread I have baked. And guess what? I have been transformed from I love cakes & cupcakes to I love Bread Making. I don't know why I held myself off from bread making. Maybe working with yeast put me off? or I just don't know. But after trying this pull apart I have decided to plunge head down into bread making. The whole process of bread making is actually very therapeutic and much easier than I expected them to be. 

You can make this as cheesy as you want. We actually with a lot of cheese. Since I avoid cheese a lot we tend to go overboard sometimes just to treat our cheese craving. 

And ah I just loved the smell of bread baking in the oven. My entire house was wafting with the smell of garlic and herbs. Big A's face immediately lit up when he came home from office asking "Whats that lovely smell?" I love when he says that. 

Such a wonderful recipe for babies and toddlers too. Freshly baked with no preservatives are a safe bet for babies. Little A loved it too. It can be given as a treat or a one off thing to babies and as a snack for toddlers.    

I tried THIS recipe!

You Will Need:

3 tsp Active Dry Yeast

1 Cup of Warm Milk (Hand hot)

1/4 Cup of Warm Water (hand hot)

2 tsp of Sugar

3 tbsp of Olive Oil

1 Beaten Egg

3.5 Cups of Plain Flour

1 tsp Italian / Pizza / Garlic Bread Seasoning

3 tsp Garlic Powder 

1.5 tsp Salt

200g mozzarella Cheese

1/4 Cup grated Parmesan (Optional, I did not use)

1 Cup of shredded cheddar and mozzarella

1 tbsp Melted Butter

Basting on the top (Optional but Highly recommended):

1 tbsp Melted butter

1 tsp Finely Chopped parsley

1/2 tsp garlic Powder

The Cooking:

Step 1:

Pour the warm water and warm milk into a bowl and sprinkle over the yeast. Then add sugar and olive oil. Stir well and let it proof for 15 - 20 mins till foamy and frothy.

NOTE: If the yeast is not frothy by 30 mins at least you will have to discard the yeast and start with a fresh batch. If the milk is too hot or not warm enough then the yeast will not activate.

Step 2:

In another bowl add the beaten egg, garlic powder, salt, Parmesan cheese (if using) and seasoning.

Step 3:

In a large bowl add the flour. Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture and the egg mixture. Use your hands to make a dough.It will be a little sticky. Just make sure all the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Oil the insides of the bowl and place the dough. Cover with a cling or a tea towel and let it raise / double the size for 1.5 - 2 hrs. Meanwhile grease a 9 inch round pan with melted butter / olive oil. Cut the mozzarella into 12 cubes and shred the cheddar and remaining mozzarella. 

Step 4:

Once the dough has doubled punch it down and knead for 5 mins. Then divide the dough into 12 equal balls. Take one dough ball slightly flatten it in your palms and place a mozzarella cube and roll it into a ball. Do the same for remaining dough balls. 

Step 5:

Now place the balls inside the greased pan and stuff shredded cheese in between each balls and simply wherever you want. Let the dough raise for another 30 - 45 mins. And meanwhile preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and prepare the baste by mixing together the butter, parsley and garlic powder.

Step 6:

Once the dough has raised again. Brush the top generously with the flavored butter and sprinkle some more any left over cheese if you want. 

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 - 35 mins until the top is golden brown and the cheese is a bubbly. 

Serve hot immediately straight out of the oven with a final brushing of flavored butter! 

Happy Baking! 

Continental

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Skinny Carrot Muffins

Pardon my terrible picture. It was close to midnight and I was in the middle of packing to travel the next day. Little A has been self feeding for the past 3 months now and its impossible to sneak a snack in front of him without him crying and asking for it. We had to train travel to our hometown the next day and I wanted to make some snack to carry with us so that we can have our train meals in peace. I polish off my fridge before every travel and I had nothing to make except couple of apples and some carrots. After Googling for what looked like an eternity I came across this Eggless Butterless Whole wheat carrot Muffins.....and I simply call them SKINNY CARROT MUFFINS!

I have never baked eggless before. I love my eggs. And am a fan of white flour. But since it was for Little A I had to go with Whole Wheat. There is ZERO Fat in these muffins and I was amazed at how moist it turned out. The snack was meant for Little A but since it was Eggless and Fatless Big A jumped right in. Healthy muffin baked in no time.  

Baking powder and baking soda are generally to be avoided for babies and toddlers but as a on off thing its fine. 

You Will Need:

Makes 12

1.5 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ground Clove

1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1/2 Cup White / Brown Sugar

1.5 Cups Unsweetened Applesauce

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Large Carrot, Peeled and finely grated

The Baking:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line a muffin tray with cupcake liners or just grease them or spray cooking oil.

In a large bowl sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, ground clove, and  ground nutmeg. Then add the sugar, applesauce, vanilla and shredded carrots. Mix until everything is moistened. DO NOT over mix.

Fill each muffin cup 3/4th full and bake for 18 - 25 mins or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool in the muffin pan for 10 mins before turning them over to a cooling rack to cool further. 

Recipe Source: Simply Daily Recipes

Happy Baking!

muffins

0

Spinach & Mushroom Impossible Pie

The man of the house loves pies. A good vegetarian pie for a weekend lunch makes him always happy. My Shepard's pie is his favourite and this is his second most. This SPINACH & MUSHROOM IMPOSSIBLE PIE is the most easiest pie recipe you can ever make. Its so simple and when baked it beautifully forms a base and a crust on its own. The base is just breadcrumbs and the topping is an egg mixture with flour and milk. When baked the breadcrumbs form a crust in the bottom and the egg mixture fluffs up and holds the entire pie together. Its that simple! 

Pies are always great to make. You can use any leftover as filling. Any favourite veggies or meat  can be uses and it can be made according to your liking. 

I have used fresh home made breadcrumbs for the base. I really don't like the store bought ones. If you want to make home made breadcrumbs just take slices of 2 day old bread and place it in a food processor  / blender and pulse it few times. 

You Will Need:

For the Bottom Layer:

1 tbsp Oil, just regular refined oil will do

2 - 3 tbsps of Breadcrumbs, Store bought / Homemade

For the Spinach & Mushroom Layer:

1 Small Bundle Baby Spinach

1 cup of Button Mushrooms, Quartered

1 Small Onion, Finely Chopped

3 Cloves of Garlic, Grated

1/4 cup Crumbled Cottage Cheese / Paneer

1/2 Cup of Cheddar Cheese, Grated

1 tbsp Oil

Salt & Pepper to Season

For the Top Layer:

1/2 Cup of Plain Flour

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

1 tbsp of Unsalted Butter, Chilled

1 Cup of Milk

2 Large Eggs, Well Beaten

Any Herbs to Season, I used some Italian Seasoning & Chilli Flakes

Salt & Pepper to Season

The Cooking:

Step 1:

Take a baking dish approx. 1.5l. and grease the bottom with a tbsp of oil and sprinkle breadcrumbs evenly. Keep aside.

Step 2:

Blanch the spinach a little and squeeze out excess water and roughly chop. Heat a pan with oil and add the chopped onions and grated garlic. Saute for few mins till the onions are pin and translucent, then add the chopped mushrooms and saute for few mins. Then tumble in the spinach and saute breaking the clumps of spinach. Saute till all the mix is dry and season with salt & pepper. Take off heat and keep aside.

Step 3:

In  blender or a food processor  place the flour, baking powder & butter. Pulse it for few secs till the butter is mixed through and the mixture appears crumbly. Then pour in the milk, beaten eggs and season with salt, pepper & herbs. Blitz this for few more secs till everything is blended together. It will appear a little thick but still it will be runny.

Step 4:

Take the baking dish that has been crumb coated in the bottom previously. Place the spinach mixture on top of the breadcrumbs and spread evenly. Sprinkle the crumbled panner over the spinach mixture and top it off with grated cheese. Then slowly pour over the flour batter all over the cheese.

Place it in a pre heated oven at 180 degree Celsius and bake for 30 - 35 mins or until the pie has fluffed up, the top slightly browned and the pie set. Cool for 10 mins so that the pie sets well making it easier to get a nice clean slice.

Serve immediately hot or warm but not in room temperature. 

Recipe adapted from Tadka Pasta!

Happy Cooking!

Vegetarian

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Brownie Pudding

I was in chocolate heaven when I tried this BROWNIE PUDDING! SOoOoO gooey and chocolaty that are sure to make your eyeballs roll back into your head!!! Creepy?! Well I say that in a good sense. Its that good. Its such an easy recipe to follow and you can whip up the batter in just few mins. The pudding has a hard top that cracks when you break into it and a gooey gooey moist center. 

You Will Need:

3/4th Cup Unsweetened Coco Powder

1/2 Cup Plain Flour

2 Cups Sugar

4 Large Eggs, room temperature

Seeds form 1 Vanilla Bean

1 Cup Unsalted Butter

The Baking:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease a 1.5l baking dish. Melt the butter and bring it to room temperature. 

Sift together flour and cocoa powder in bowl and set aside. In another bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until pale yellow for 5 - 10 mins. Then add the vanilla and coco flour mixture and mix until combined. Then pour in the melted butter and mix until just combined. 

Then pour the mixture into the prepared dish and place the dish into another baking tray and fill water half way. Bake in a preheated oven till cake tester comes out with wet crumbs and the top is hard. and its risen a little. Remove the baking dish from the baking pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature. 

Recipe Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker!
Happy Baking!

Dessert

2

Chocolate Loaf Cake

I have never been fully satisfied with the look of any of my cakes until I baked this one. Nigella's Quadruple CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE, well it was supposed to be Quadruple but I guess its not since I stopped with the loaf. This cake had this beautiful deep crack right in the middle and it formed a lovely crust, such a beauty. The loaf alone was not overly sweet and am sure going to drench it with more chocolate next time I make it. And its such a simple cake I tell you. No techniques, no methodology to be followed. Just have all your ingredients at room temperature and you are good to go. Its one bowl, One mix and straight to the oven. 

Nigella made the cake over the top with mixing, drenching and covering the loaf cake with loads of chocolate. But I wanted to keep it a little simple (this time, only this time) and served warm slices of the cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Hey that does not mean I going to stop there. Quadruple, am coming for you pretty soon!!!

Makes 10 - 12 Slices approx. 

You Will Need:

200g Cups of Plain Flour

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

50g Cocoa Powder

275g Caster Sugar

175g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

2 Large Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

80ml Sour Cream

125ml Boiling Water

The Baking:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 175c

Step 2: Line a 21cm x 11cm, 7.5 cm (mine was a little smaller than her's I guess) deep loaf tin with foil and slightly grease the inside of the tin. Leave a little foil hanging outside the loaf tin, so that it will be easy to lift the cake off the tin.

Step 3: Place all the ingredients except water in a large bowl and whisk everything together using a wooden spoon. Then pour in the recently boiled water (must be hot, not cool) and whisk till everything is combined. 

Note: You can substitute sour cream with plain hung yogurt.

 OR

Place all the ingredients except water in a food processor and blitz till smooth. The pour in the boiling water and blitz once again. 

Step 4: Scrap down the batter into the loaf tin, it will be a little liquid batter. place it the preheated oven and bake for about an hour (mine was done somewhere between 30 - 40 mins). You will know when its done when you can smell cake in the air, a straight deep crack on top of the cake and when a cake tester inserted comes out with wet crumbs and NOT CLEAN. 

Step 5: Once done take out and place the cake on a cooling rack. DO NOT REMOVE the cake from the tin. Let the cake cool completely then remove the cake from the tin and slice as desired with a serrated knife.

Do check out my post on Tips For Cake Baking!

Happy Baking!

Dessert

0

Lime Honey Oats Muffins!

LIME HONEY OATS MUFFINS....these muffins are a weight watchers indulgence. If you are a buttery sweet kind of person, then sorry this won't give you any satisfaction. I am no fan of oats or any healthy dish for that matter. I actually made these for my big bro (he is the one I experiment all my recipes with, poor fellow ;p )

These muffins are very light, less sweet and "The go to" breakfast on the go. Its moist and the texture is just amazing. You can taste the oats, the honey and ting of lime in every bite. The glaze gives a nice sharp edge to the muffins, so I recommand you be genourous when glazing. 

Before the glaze! 

There is another way you can eat these muffin. Slice through the muffin and spread your favourite jam and eat like scones, Yummm!

Recipe Courtesy: food.com

You Will Need:
Makes 13 Muffins

For the Muffins:
1 Cup Uncooked Oats
1 Cup Yogurt
1/2 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Milk
3 tbsp Melted Unsalted Butter
2 tsp Lime Zest
1 1/2 Cups Plain Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Egg Whites, Lightly Beaten

Glaze:
You Will Need:
3/4 Cup of Powdered Sugar
4 tsp Lime Juice
1 tsp Lime Zest

The Baking:

Muffins:
Preheat oven to 180c and Line the baking tray with 12 muffin cups.

Combine oats, yogurt, honey, milk, melted butter and lime zest in a large bowl. Mix evenly and let it rest for 10 mins.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Keep aside until needed.

Add the beaten egg whites to the oats mixture and mix until well combined. Fold in the dry ingredients into the oats batter until the flour is moistened. DO NOT OVER MIX.

Fill the muffin cups almost full. Bake for 20 - 25 mins until the muffins are cooked through and are light golden colour on top.

Let it cool in the tray for fe mins. Then take the muffins out and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

For the Glaze:
Combine all the ingredients together.

Dip the top of cooled muffins into the glaze and serve.

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Happy Baking!

muffins

0

White Chocolate & Peanut Butter Blondies

One word....Sinful!!! Am not a fan of peanuts and I never liked anything made out of peanuts. This has been on my to bake list for way too long, ever since I saw Rachel Allen bake these on her show Rachel Allen Bake! They looked amazing. The only thing that held me back from baking this was Peanut Butter. This Blondie uses a lot of peanut butter. So am back home and as usual my dear bro was demanding I bake something for him. I wanted to bake something fast yet delish, and peanut butter is one of his favourites. So I decided to go on with this recipe but I had my doubts till the end. The moment it came out of the oven and went into my mouth.....I had no words. It was amazing amazing! Moist and nutty and my god I cursed myself for not trying these for long. 

My 2.5 years niece who is a picky eater loved the crust. I found couple of squares with no crust at all ;) And the white chocolate was a kick! I actually doubled this recipe and later regretted...I must have tripled it!!!

Recipe Source : Rachel Allen's Bake!

Makes 16 Squares (depends on the size you cut it)

You Will Need:

125g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
100g Unsalted Butter, Room temperature
150g Crunchy Peanut Butter, Room Temperature
175g Caster Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
75g White Chocolate, Chopped
1/2 Cup Milk

The Baking:

Preheat oven at 180c.

In a bowl sift together plain flour and baking powder. Keep aside.

In a large bowl cream the butter and peanut butter together till smooth and fluffy. 

Note: I strongly recommend crunchy peanut butter. You will get an amazing crust from it. You can also use smooth peanut butter, but not so good crust.

Since its first time I tasted peanut butter it was salty and my batter was salty. But when baked the sweet was just perfect. So don't be alarmed if the batter tastes salty. 

Add the sugar gradually and beat till incorporated. Break in an egg and add the vanilla extract. Beat well.

Gradually fold in the flour mixture alternating with milk. The batter will be thick. Finally mix in the chopped chocolate.

Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking tin and spread the batter evenly. Bake for 25 - 30 mins or until the top is nice golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let it cool in the pan before taking it out and cutting it. 

Note: Once cooled, cling wrap the uncut Blondie and store till next day. This will make the cake firm and less crumbs. I know its hard to wait but you have to. 

To make need squares, use a serrated knife. Saw through the crust and cut straight down into the cake. Wipe the blade clean before slicing the next one.

Serve hot with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream drizzled with caramel or serve them on their own at room temperature. 

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Happy Baking!

Dessert

0

Custard Cake

Okay, let me tell you this first. This was a half successful attempt. I got the creme caramel  part right but totally messed up the chiffon cake. Baked this in a heavy bottom pan which I used to bake butter cakes whenever I am at my mom's place. And the pan seemed to be best friends with my butter cakes and they totally ditched my chiffon. And that's why it was only half successful.

Now, let me come to the cake part. Custard Cake or LECHE FLAN CHIFFON CAKE  a popular Filipino tea time snacks. The top layer is creme caramel  and the bottom is chiffon cake (I know you are wondering where the cake is). Its also called a magical cake, the light chiffon cake batter beautifully floats on top of the heavy custard. They don't mix together resulting in two separate beautiful layers. This cake so rich and it tasted great.

Before going to the recipe I must tell you what went wrong for me. First, like I told before I used a heavy bottom pan for baking this. They are great for butter cakes but chiffon is an absolute NO! So you can see a dense layer of cake under the caramel (its supposed to be chiffon for god's sake!) I know I will get it right with my OTG back home. Secondly, the recipe uses way too much of egg yolks and my cake was smelling too much eggs.... Yikes! And also I found the cake way too sweet for me. 

But I got to tell you its a beautiful cake. It does have quite a long process but as the name says it is magical in the end. Am gonna give this cake another try once i travel back home. With my otg, baking equipment and a little change in the recipe I know I will get it right. 

You can follow the recipe I followed or just go ahead with your favorite creme caramel recipe and chiffon cake recipe. It will work just about right. 

Ok I have just given the recipe Link...next time when I bake this cake will post the altered recipe. 

Recipe taken from Ang Sarap!!!

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Happy Baking! 

Dessert

0

Strawberry Layer Cake with Strawberry Butter Cream!

With less than 2 weeks to go before the arrival of the bundle of joy am still busy ticking off my 101 Things to Do Before the Baby Comes list. And cake baking is one of the things I have been keeping in pending for a very long time. Am back to my mom's home and I can hardly imagine baking a cake without my oven and baking tools. But I just couldn't say No to my brother who has been requesting and finally demanding for a cake from me. So I went back to how my mom baked her first cake when I was about 5 years old. Thank god for an old measuring cup that barely had any markings on it, a cake pan over 10 years old and a heavy bottom sauce pan I used to bake cake before we had an oven.

Without my hand held electric mixer I was back to creaming the butter in a large bowl with a heavy stainless steel spatula or ladle or whatever it is called. Yes a lot of muscle was required, I can already feel my biceps. 

Now about the cake, its a STRAWBERRY BUTTER CAKE filled and frosted with strawberry butter cream with fresh strawberry purée. The cake batter has a combination of strawberry flavoured jelly crystals and fresh strawberry purée. The jelly crystals gives a nice texture, sweetness and a lovely colour to the cake whereas the flavour comes from the purée. And the strawberry butter cream just adds even more berry punch to the cake. 

Now, I know my frosting is bad or even worse. But that was all I could manage with a plain old knife and a non rotating surface. Nevertheless, this was one moist strawberry cake and there was one happy brother!!!

You Will Need:

For the Cake:

Makes one 3 layer, 8 inch round cake 

227g of Unsalted Butter

3 Cups (300g) Cake Flour

A tbsp of Baking Powder

1-3/4 Cup (350g) of Sugar

4 Large Eggs

85g of Strawberry Jelly Crystals 

1/4 Cup (60ml) Fresh Strawberry Purée

1/2 Cup of Whole Milk

A tbsp of Vanilla Extract

3/4 tsp Salt

Strawberry Butter cream Frosting:

375g of Unsalted Butter

4 Cups (500g) Icing Sugar

A tbsp of Milk

45 ml Fresh Strawberry Purée

Pinch of Salt

Note: All ingredients must be at room temperature. 

The Baking:

For the Cake:

1. Place about 2 handfuls of strawberries in a blender and purée the strawberries. 
2. Preheat oven at 180c and grease or line with parchment paper three 8 inch round cake pan (I used one deep cake pan in my case)
3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Keep aside.
4. In another whisk the strawberry purée, milk and vanilla extract.
5. Cream the butter, sugar and jelly crystals in a large bowl for 5 mins till light and fluffy. 
6. Break in the eggs one at a time and beat till each egg is well incorporated. 
7. Now, add half the dry ingredients into the batter followed by half of the wet ingredients. Mix just until combined. Again add the remaining dry ingredients followed by the remaining wet ingredients and beat till everything is just combined. 
8. Divide the batter into three greased / lined cake pans. you can also weigh each cake pan to make sure you have distributed the batter equally. With a spatula level the top and bake in a preheated oven for 25 - 30 mins or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Check cake at 20 mins but not before. 
9. Once the cakes are baked let them cool on the cake pans for 10 mins. Then run a knife along the sides of the cake pans and loosen the cakes to invert them over a wire rack and let them cool completely. 

Note: They can be kept at room temperature for 2 days tightly wrapped with a cling film or stored in an air tight container. Or they can also be refrigerated for 5 days or frozen for 2 months. 

Also refer my older post for some helpful tips on Cake Baking! 

Making the Frosting:

1. Place the butter in a bowl of a stand mixer / hand held electric mixer. Whip the butter till soft and pale for about 10 mins. 
2. Add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and whip for another 8 - 10 mins till the butter cream is soft and fluffy. 
3. Add the strawberry purée and mix till its well incorporated. 

Note: Sift the icing powder 2 or 3 times for smooth butter cream. Let the butter cream chill for 24 hrs, thaw and whip for one last time before frosting. 

Layering the Cake:

Once the cake layers are completely cooled, fill and frost the cake layers as desired. We prefer plain cakes or cakes with minimal frosting. Hence I have gone really thin on the frosting. But the recipe for frosting I have given is enough to thickly fill and frost 3 cake layers. 

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com!

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Happy Baking!

Strawberry

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