Vanilla petal cake with dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate buttercream frosting

Three layers of 7" cake baked from Sailu's eggless cake 1 recipe.

1/2 the recipe of whipped buttercream frosting from veena's art of cakes
250 g butter
500g sugar
1/4 cup amul cream
vanilla essence

melt the three chocolates and keep them ready, cooled to near room temperature
about 50 g each type of chocolate for each 1/3rd portion

make a crumb coat with the white chocolate buttercream

beat with the white chocolate buttercream
then the milk chocolate buttercream
then the dark chocolate buttercream

fill three piping bags, cut all three at the same level (about 1/4 " to get the same amount of buttercream out.
fill white on top, then milk chocolate, then dark chocolate and go on until the end of the cake
continue until the sides of the cake are covered

fill the cake with some dark chocolate buttercream (thin layer) + strawberry jam (thin layer)

inspiration pic

Well - learnings from this cake
1. Should have made more buttercream 250 g butter + 500 g icing sugar + 100 g chocolate was not really enough for all the piping required.
2. Of course, I need so much piping practice
3. The real discovery was that I have learnt i can pipe scripting pretty ok for someone with my experience in cake decoration.
4. Of course, I need to practice more and more piping and smoothing.  This cake took me a whopping 5 hours to make.  I started at 11 30 and with many breaks for chilling etc finished by 6 30 in the evening.

photos now:

Eggless Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Can a cake be a pound cake without a pound of eggs?

I'm not sure it can but we can make a tasty cake that comes close to the texture of a cake with eggs and use cream cheese as well.

Here I'm going to use a basic eggless butter cake recipe, with homemade cream cheese, some orange rind and an orange glaze to  make a cream cheese pound cake.

The cake recipe is adapted from divine taste, substituting for the maida with cake flour and adding cream cheese.

The glaze is adapted from fond bites orange caraway seeds cake glaze recipe.

Basic Eggless Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda/ sodium bicarbonate
1 tin/400gm sweetened condensed milk
100 gm butter melted

100gm cream cheese

1 tablespoon orange rind

175 ml water/milk
2 tsp good quality vanilla extract

Method:

Grease and prepare 2 8" bundt pans or one 9" round cake tin

Melt the butter and cool to room temperature

In a mixing bowl, assemble the flour, baking powder and baking soda, mix with a spoon and sieve once to make the mixture uniform. 

Put in the condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla essence and water into the mixing bowl containing the dry ingredients. 

Beat with an electric hand mixer, whisk or spoon  until the mixture comes together and there are no lumps.  Add the cream cheese and incorporate thoroughly.  This shouldn’t take more than a minute with an electric hand mixer/beater. Be careful not to over beat the mixture as this could result into a hard cake. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for an hour at 150 degree centigrade.

The cake is done when a knife or cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the centre of the cake. Invert the cake on a cooling rack, cool and use as required.

For glaze:

• Icing sugar – 1/2 cup
• Orange juice – 1 tablespoon

Mix icing sugar and orange juice until pourable texture is obtained.  Add another teaspoon of orange juice if absolutely necessary, it you add more the glaze will not set.

A coffee cake with coffee buttercream

Components:

Coffee Buttercream - fondbites
Vanilla sponges - sailu eggless cake
Coffee syrup - pastry affair
Kitkat fingers - sanjna shivakumar's cake

Eggless Basic Cake Recipe
Preparation: 10 mts, Baking: 35 mts
.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted from a height at least 3 times
1 cup thick curd/yogurt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsps baking pwd
1/2 cup refined oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 Preheat oven to 200 C for 10 mts. Grease and flour an 8″ inch baking pan.
2 Cream the sugar and yogurt until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add baking pwd and baking soda and combine. Leave aside for 3 mts. You will find that bubbles appear.
3 Add vegetable oil and vanilla essence and mix well. Now, slowly add little sifted flour/maida (about a tbsp) at a time and fold into the wet ingredients.

Divide the batter by weight into two bowls
Bake for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees
Bake twice  in the small pan
Cool the sponges completely

Rich Coffee Buttercream -

Amul cream or malai from boiled milk – 1 1/2 tablespoons
Icing sugar – 2 cup, sifted thrice
Butter – 1 cup, at room temperature
Instant coffee powder – 1 1/2 teaspoons

Add cream and 1/3rd sugar and beat for a few minutes (4)
Continue to add the sugar in two lots until it is in the mixture
If the mixture becomes very dry, add another tablespoon of cream
Beat for a few minutes until light and sticky
Add the butter and instant coffee powder and continue beating for another 5 minutes until smooth

Espresso extract
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons hot water

In a small bowl, whisk together espresso powder and hot water. Set aside.

Espresso syrup
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon expresso extract

In a small saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in kahlua and 1 tablespoon of the espresso extract. Set aside.

1/2 cup of roasted and blitzed almonds

To assemble the cake:
Use a square cake board if available, else use the regular circle
Put a blob of buttercream on the board and put the first layer on it
Brush the top of the cake generously with the espresso syrup
Pipe a dam of buttercream on the sides and then fill with the buttercream - use 1/4 cup for filling, measure this out
Put some roasted almonds on top of the butter
Brush espresso syrup on the bottom of top cake layer and put on top of the buttercream filling
Frost with a crumb coat on the sides and let it set for 1/2 an hour
Spread another thin layer of frosting on the crumb coat
Let it set for about 15 minutes
Pipe horizontal ruffles on the cake
Use the tip that looks like a tilak bindi
Check youtube videos to see how to use the tip
Pipe in circles and finish with a flower type of design in the middle
While the edges of the buttercream are still wet, stick the kitkat fingers on the sides of the cake.  Use whole kitkat fingers and go all round the cake
Tie the whole thing up with a satin ribbon
Try to write Happy Birthday with a paint brush on fondant white ribbon.
Roll out fondant and cut v shape on the ends.
Paint on the fondant with a brush dipped in paint or pipe with chocolate ganache
Put this on the bottom of the cake
inspiration pic from sanjna shivakumar

Bengali dal and side dish with methi and corn pulao

Saturday Meal 

Corn and Methi Pulao from Tarla Dalal

Ingredients

1 cup long grained rice (basmati)2 to 4 black peppercorns (kalimirch)12 mm (1/2") piece cinnamon (dalchini)2 cloves (laung / lavang)2 cardamoms1/2 tsp finely chopped green chillies1/2 cup sliced onions3/4 cup fenugreek (methi) leaves chopped1/2 cup sweet corn kernels (makai ke dane)1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)1 tbsp butter1 tbsp oilsalt to taste

Method

1. Wash the rice and keep aside.
2. Heat the butter and oil in a pressure cooker, after heated add the peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and sauté for ½ a minute.
3. Add the onions and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the fenugreek leaves, corn kernels and sauté for 1 minute.
5. Add the rice and 2 cups of hot water, salt, turmeric powder, green chillies and stir for a few seconds.
6. Pressure cook for 2 whistles. Allow the steam to escape before opening the lid.
7. Serve hot with fresh curds.

Bengali Cholar Dal from Vegrecipes Dassana's blogIngredients (american measuring cup used, 1 cup = 250 ml)

• 1 & ¼ cup chana dal/ split and husked bengal gram

• 3 cups water for pressure cooking or 4-5 cups water for cooking in a pot

• 1 tbsp golden raisins/kishmish

• 1 tbsp cashews/kaju (optional)

• ½ tsp turmeric powder/jeera powder

• 2 tsp sugar/chini or as required

for tempering:

• 1 inch cinnamon/dalchini

• 3-4 cloves/laung

• 2-3 green cardamoms/choti elaichi

• 1 medium bay leaf/tej patta

• 2-3 dry red chilies/sookhi lal mirch

• a pinch of asafoetida/hing

• 2 tbsp fresh grated coconut or chopped coconut/nariyal ke tukde

• 1.5 tbsp ghee/clarified butter or 2 tbsp oil (for a richer experience, use ghee)

Instructions

1. pick and rinse the dal well.
2. soak the dal for an hour in water.
3. if you want to reduce the soaking time, then heat water and soak the dal in hot water for 30 minutes.
4. drain the water.
5. add the soaked chana dal, turmeric powder and 3 cups water in the pressure cooker.
6. on a medium to high flame pressure cook the dal for 4-5 whistles.
7. the grains should be separate and yet cooked thoroughly.
8. once the pressure settles down on its own then remove the lid
9. add sugar and salt to the dal.
10. stir and and keep the cooker on a low flame to simmer the dal, till the water reduces a bit.
11. when you add the tempering to the dal, it should have the right consistency - meaning it should be slightly thick. remember that on cooling the dal will become more thick.
12. while the dal is simmering and has begun to get thick, prepare the tempering.
13. heat ghee or oil in a pan.
14. first add all the whole spices - bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and dry red chilies.
15. fry till they become aromatic. this takes some seconds.
16. add the asafoetida and fry for a few seconds.
17. now add the coconut and fry till the coconut becomes light brown.
18. pour the whole tempering mixture in the simmering dal.
19. stir and then add cumin powder, red chili powder, raisins and cashews.
20. simmer cholar dal for 1-2 minutes more.
21. serve cholar dal with luchi, bengali peas kachori and even steamed rice if you prefer.

Notes
if the cholar dal becomes thick after its pressure cooked, then add some water to thin it. the consistency of the dal can always be adjusted by adding less or more water after its cooked. you can also slightly keep the consistency thin then what it is usually if you prefer.

avoid asafoetida or hing to make a gluten free version of this dal.

to get hints of gingery taste in the dal, you can add ½ inch ginger - either grated or crushed into a paste in a mortar-pestle. just fry the ginger after you have finished frying the whole spices and asafoetida.

BandhaKopi'r Ghonto -- a dry Cabbage dish from BongMom's Cookbook

Prep: Chop in fine thin pieces 1/2-3/4th of a medium sized cabbage, amounts to about 6-8 cups

Start Cooking:

Heat 2 tablespoons of Oil

Fry 2 peeled and cubed potatoes with a pinch of turmeric until golden - they need not be completely cooked

Remove the potatoes and in the same pan add 1 Bay Leaf/Tej Patta, 1 tsp of Whole Cumin Seeds/Jeera and 1 slit green chillies
When the spices tart spluttering add 1 medium sized tomatoes finely chopped
Fry till the tomatoes are all nicely mushed up and there is no raw smell
Add 1/2  tsp of Cumin Powder/Jeera Powder, 1/2 tsp of Coriander Powder/Dhania Powder, 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger. I usually mix all the above masala in little water to make a thick paste and add it.
Fry the masala till the oil starts separating from the masala. If needed sprinkle water while frying
Add about 3-4 cups of finely chopped cabbage. Add the cabbage gradually and mix well with the masala. Add a little turmeric powder for color. Fry the cabbage with the masala for couple of minutes. The shredded cabbage should be nicely coated with the spices.
Add about 1/4 tsp of Kitchen King masala or any other such masala and salt. The Kitchen King is optional and you can skip it.
Add the fried potatoes, give a good stir and cover and cook

Normally you wouldn't need to add water but check intermittently and give a good stir in between. Add little water if needed for the veggies to cook.

Edited on 12/14/2010: When veggies are almost done, add 1/4-1/2 tsp of sugar. Bengali Bandhakopi is usually on the sweet side and the sugar lends a nice dimension to the dish. Skip if you don't like sweet.

When the veggies are done (according to you) add 1/4-1/2 tsp of Garam masala Powder and 1/4 tsp of ghee

Mix well and you are done

Sometimes I add juice of a quarter lemon and no Ghee, though this is not the usual trend

Orange and almond cupcakes - next baking project

Orange and almond cupcakes filled with orange pastry cream and frosted with cream cheese frosting and orange sparkling sugar on top

Things to buy:
Almonds
Oranges
Milky mist cream if it's available
Amul fresh cream for a back up

Prep work:
Make cream cheese a couple of days before you make the cupcakes
For the almond flour, blitz dry 1/2 cup dry almonds in the mixie and store in refrigerator.
Pulse the almonds, don't run in blender mode, else you could end up with an oily badam paste
Toast and cool a 1/4 cup of almonds in a hot skillet and chop into tiny bits or blitz to get chopped pieces in the mixie.

Inspiration pics from mybakingaddiction:

Recipes adapted as follows:
cake from sailu's eggless vanilla cake
frosting from wickedgoodkitchen
filling from mydiversekitchen

Ingredients:

For the Eggless Orange and Almond Cake:

1 cup cake flour (measure out one cup of maida, remove 2 tablespoons and replace with 2 tablespoons corn flour)
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 cup buttermilk (made with 1/2 cup milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar)
1/2 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sugar (you can use upto 1 cup)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsps baking pwd
1/2 cup refined oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp almond essence
rind from two oranges
1/4 cup toasted almond bits  (no need to blanch)

1 Preheat oven to 200 C for 10 mts. Line a 12 hole cupcake pan
2.Cream the sugar, yogurt and orange juice until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add baking pwd and baking soda and combine. Leave aside for 3 mts. You will find that bubbles appear.
3 Add vegetable oil and vanilla essence and mix well. Now, slowly add little sifted flour/maida (about a tbsp) at a time and fold into the wet ingredients.
4 Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree C for 12 - 15 mts

Eggless Orange Cardamom Pastry Cream:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup + 1.5 tbsp milk
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup chopped up white chocolate
20g tbsp salted butter
rind from one orange
1/2 tsp orange essence
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

In the case of both the pastry creams, melt the chocolate and butter in a pan over hot water. In another pan, dissolve the sugar in the milk (and coffee for the mocha version) and bring to boil. Take the milk mixture off the heat. Add the melted chocolate and the corn starch dissolved in 3 tbsp of milk. Whisk well till everything is blended. Add the remaining ingredients and put back on the stove and keep whisking till the pastry cream thickens. Cool and refrigerate till needed. This pastry cream pipes well.


Cream Cheese

Makes about 1 cups

Ingredients:

1 cups Amul cream or full fat cream
1/2 cup milky mist cream or amul cream (use thicker cream alone and discard the water)
1 teaspoon thick curd (whippedx)
Pinch of salt to taste. Do not omit.

Set the cream like you would yoghurt overnight.
The next morning pour the yoghurt onto a cheesecloth and hang and drain for 15 minutes
Press the cheesecloth over the yoghurt and drain more liquid
keep over a colander and a bowl in the refrigerator overnight
keep covered as it will absorb strong smells
remove the curd from the fridge, add the salt and mix well.
Allow to set for a while longer in the fridge until is firm and creamy to the touch
Use in recipe


Cream Cheese frosting

Ingredients:

Ingredients
113 grams unsalted butter, softened
113 grams cream cheese, softened
11/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
240 g icing sugar

Preparation
Sieve the icing sugar thrice
Using a handheld mixer and large bowl, beat butter on medium speed until creamy (about 6 minutes)
Add the sugar in 1/3rds and beat on high until smooth  (4 minutes?)
Add vanilla essence and beat again
Finally add the cream cheese until it is all  blended together and you get stiff peaks

Filling:  In cooled cupcakes, use a tip with a round end, and fill a piping bag with the filling.
Pierce the cupcake with the tip and press in the filling into the cupcake until the top of the cupcake cracks.

Piping:  use the meringue open star tip, squeeze out icing holding straight up and draw your hand upwards pulling a peak up.  Sprinkle with some orange sparkling sugar

Cumin cookies and Sesame cookies

Cumin cookies from Sunita Bhuyan's blog
Sesame cookies from Sailu's blog

Inspiration pics here:

What’s needed-

2C plain flour
2 tblsp cumin seeds, lightly roasted and coarsely ground
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
5-6 tblsp oil
1/2 c of milk

How to-

Pre heat the oven at 180 deg cel.
Line and grease a baking tray.
In a mixing bowl, place the flour, baking soda, cumin, sugar and salt and mix well.
Add the oil and rub it into the flour mixture.
Add the milk and bring everything together till the dough does not stick to the hand. But do not over knead, or they will turn out really hard.
Transfer the dough to the rolling board and roll out to about 2 mms thick.
With a 2inch round cookie cutter, cut out circles and arrange on the prepared baking tray. I made around 50 of them. Of course, it will not be possible to cut out so many at one go. Just bring together the scrapings after cutting out the first batch, roll out again and repeat the process till the entire dough has been used up.
Place the tray in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or till the top browns lightly.
Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack. Cool completely before storing them in air tight containers.
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Of course, you’re allowed to savour a few, fresh from the oven, before they make their way into the tin :-)


Eggless Sesame Oats Crisp Recipe
Preparation: 10 mts, Baking: 16-18 mts
Makes approx 28-30 crisps
.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)
2 1/4 tbsps unsalted butter
5 tbsps demerara sugar
1 1/2 tbsps golden syrup
3/4 cup oats
4 tbsps sesame seeds
1 tsp soda bicarbonate (add a tsp hot water and keep aside)
1 tbsp powdered almonds (roast almonds and coarsely pwd) (optional)
1 Over low heat, melt butter, demerara sugar and golden syrup until the sugar dissolves. Stir in oats, sesame seeds, pwd almonds and flour. Mix in the soda bicarbonate. The resultant dough will be sticky.
2 Pinch some dough (about a small lemon sized ball) and flatten with you finger onto greased cookie sheet. Using your fingers, spread or flatten out to form a thin round. Place crisps at a distance of 2 – 2 1/2 inches apart as they spread out a lot.
3 Bake in a pre-heated oven at 175 C for about 17-18 mts till the edges are slightly toasted or turn golden. Once baked, the crisp will be soft. After removing from oven, let it cool for 2-3 mts and then use a thin spatula to remove the crisps carefully onto a wire rack to cool. They will harden on cooling.
4 Repeat with remaining dough. Store in airtight container once completely cool.

Bake along #32 - Almond Streusel cake

Photo inspiration

This was a delicious cake and over in minutes!!!

Being made for FondBites Bake Along #32.
I'm using Divine Taste recipe for eggless golden yellow cake but i will be substituting for the custard powder with plain cornflour.

Ingredients:

250 ml (1 cup) milk

170 gm (3/4 cup) granulated sugar

210 gm (1 1/2 cups) plain flour

65 gm (1/2 cup) vanilla custard powder (or cornflour/cornstarch)*

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

100 gm (1/2 cup) butter

Method:

Prepare a 7” round cake tin by greasing it well with oil or butter and lightly dusting it with plain flour. Tap to remove excess flour from the surface of the pan. Alternatively, grease the pan and line the base with greaseproof paper.

In a saucepan, heat the milk. Stir in the sugar and after it melts completely set it aside to cool to room temperature. After the milk reaches room temperature, add the custard powder and vanilla extract and mix well with a whisk. Put in the butter and mix again.

Heat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade/325 F.

In a large mixing bowl, assemble the flour, baking powder, baking soda and mix with a whisk. Pour in the prepared milk mixture and mix well with a whisk until there are no lumps. Alternatively use an electric hand mixer/beater.

Put the batter into the prepared pan/tin and bake for 55 minutes to 60 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

Streusel Topping:

• Light brown sugar - 1 1/2 cups ( Can use jaggary 1 cup, in case using jaggary, use organic pure jaggary without impurities, not the regular one )
• Cinnamon powder* - 1 tablespoon
• Cloves powder *- 1/4 teaspoon
• Granulated white sugar – 1/2 cup
• All-purpose flour – 1/2 cup
• Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
• Butter – 1/2 cup, melted
• Almonds – 1 cup, chopped

* If you dont find cinnamon and cloves powder, take three pieces of 2 inch cinnamon sticks, and 3 cloves along with 1 tablespoon of granulated white sugar and process in your small jar mixie/food processor for 2 to 5 minutes on high speed. I save the dusty powder that is collected on the lid of the jar and process the remaining again and finally sift the powder and discard the grainy part. You can alter the measurements based on how much you want to make and save it for later use.

Alternate the bundt cake with the batter first, streusel topping next, then batter, then streusel when you bake

For glaze:

Sugar Glaze:

• Icing sugar – 1 cup
• Milk – 2 teaspoons, adjust

7. For glaze: In a bowl add icing sugar and milk and mix well. If consistency is thick, keep adding 1/2 teaspoon of milk at a time. Do not pour without measuring, it will become too thin. Transfer the streusel cake into serving plate and drizzle the glaze on top and let set for 30 minutes.

Method:

For Streusel:

1. Add flour, brown sugar, granulated white sugar, salt, cinnamon and cloves powder in a bowl and whisk them together until well combined. Add the melted butter and mix well. It should resemble moist crumbs.

2.  Now add almond flakes or chopped almonds and mix well using your finger tips. Do not try to collect them together. Use only finger tips to mix all ingredients and they have to resemble wet crumbs. Set aside until you prepare your batter.

Upside down Orange cake

For the orange and almonds cake, we use the Divine taste almond cake recipe that uses condensed milk.  I am going to halve this recipe and make a small cake.

Ingredients:

For the Eggless Almond Cake:

175 gm (1 1/4 cup) plain flour
50 gm (1/3 cup) almonds
1 tin, 400 gm sweetened condensed milk
100 gm (1/2 cup or 1 stick) butter, melted
175 ml ( 3/4 cup or 6 fl oz) water
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp pure almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract

Zest from 2 oranges

orange oil extract to up the flavour

For the sticky orange syrup:

• 220 g (7.8oz) caster (superfine) sugar
• 125 ml (4.4fl oz) water
• 1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
• 2 oranges, very thinly sliced

1. To make the topping, place the sugar, water and vanilla in a 2.5 litre-capacity 20cm non-stick ovenproof frying pan over medium heat. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
2. Add the orange and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the orange is soft. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Method:

To make the cake:

Place the almonds In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade or an electric coffee mill and pulse until finely ground. It is important not to over grind as you would end up with almond butter instead of almond meal.

Grease and line the bottom of a  deep 9” round cake tin with greaseproof paper/baking parchment or butter paper. Alternatively use 2 9” round shallow cake tins and divide the batter accordingly. Preheat the oven at 150 degrees centigrade.

In a mixing bowl, assemble the flour, baking powder and baking soda, mix with a spoon and sieve once to make the mixture uniform. Stir in the almond meal into the flour mixture.

In a large bowl assemble the liquid ingredients the melted butter, condensed milk, water, almond and vanilla extract and using a hand blender beat until well mixed. Add half the flour mixture and beat again. Put in the remaining flour mixture and beat until you get a smooth batter without lumps. Dont over beat the batter as this would interfere with getting a soft cake.

Put the syrup in a greased 9" pan and Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for an hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes clean.

Should be good as a nice dessert after a sunday lunch.