All posts filed under: Bakes & Cakes

Fluffy Sponge Cake and a Trifle Pudding

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Sponge cakes are so called because they are as fluffy as a sea sponge. The air incorporated into the batter lifts the cake to make it light and irresistible. Since it is used as a base for many other desserts it’s one of the first cake recipes that I wrote down in my little black book of Baking! (Yes, I have one – though the color is more navy blue than black). There are many variations to turn out a perfect sponge. I use the method which involves creaming the eggs and sugar and adding the melted fat in the end. Some people use oil instead of butter, but I always think butter makes everything better, so you know my leanings! You can eat the sponge cake like a Victorian Sandwich – jam and whipped double cream or use it for a rolled cake like a Swiss Roll. (The flexibility of a sponge cake allows us to roll it without breaking).  I have used it as a base for the popular English Trifle. Now the …

Ice Cream Sandwiches for Milestones and Hot Days

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I’ve always been bewitched by Ice Cream Sandwiches. Not many companies made it and on the rare occasions that I would get to eat it; I was always in awe that ice cream could be held together by two cookies! They are very popular in Singapore (being one degree above the equator, that’s fair enough!) and that’s where I had one, every day of my trip. No exaggerating! There, they use wafers to make the sandwich but I much prefer the cookies…so much more yummy! A very popular flavor there is Durian ice cream sandwich. The fruit may stink like old socks but the ice cream tastes divine. Summer just kicked in last week and the Bangalore heat has gotten as bad as Singapore this year. No really, we were at 35 degrees yesterday! The heat made me crave for the ice cream sandwiches. After looking for them in most ice cream parlors and turning up negative, I made them myself. (Not the ice cream darlings, bought that one). And since this is the month …

Strawberry Griddle Cakes for a Fancy Breakfast

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Yes, I know it’s another recipe with strawberries back to back. But I have so many in my fridge that I need to use them and use them in innovative ways! (lest the co-resident realize my evil plan of ‘waste to wealth’). I have a supermarket weakness. If something looks fresh, is in season and the store has a buy one get one free offer – I’m hooked. Rest assured, I will be carting loads of it back home! Come on now, who doesn’t like a good bargain? Thankfully Strawberries are such accommodating fruit that you can pair them with almost anything and achieve success. Now coming to Griddle cakes. First of all, don’t let the name take you on a wild goose chase. Another name for a frying pan is a griddle and griddle cakes are nothing but pancakes that are just a little firmer. So you can call them Strawberry pancakes if you please… but I much prefer the fancier sounding name. (Fools the co-resident into thinking he’s getting something radical to chew …

Easy Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

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Once you get the basics right then everything else is a breeze. My first cupcake was a vanilla cupcake. Somehow adding the chocolate as an additional step made it feel like advanced baking! Now here’s the best part. I made my first cupcake (in my whole life) in March last year! After which I’ve been stuck with the cupcake bug and been driven to try all kinds of mini joys. So now you know that I wasn’t born with a ladle in my hand nor did I have supreme baking talent. The key to success is the 3P’s – Practice, Practice, Practice! (Like the joke – Rumor is that a pedestrian on Fifty-seventh Street, Manhattan, stopped Jascha Heifetz (the greatest violinist of our time) and inquired, “Could you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?” “Yes,” said Heifetz. “Practice, Practice, Practice!” So there you go … if I can bake, so can you. And starting you off is this Basic Vanilla Cupcake Recipe. And just to add some pizzazz, we have a nice and …

Ham, Bacon and Green Apple Quiche

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So today has been a frustrating day. I made a cheese cake which did not set and made a Mexican Chicken Mole which had too much cinnamon! And on a hot day tempers can flare everywhere! Clearly some days are not for culinary adventure or rather just any culinary venture. Every woman who rushes home from work and still wants to whip up a fancy meal a la Nigella, is living in a dream world if she doesn’t have failsafe recipes to fall back on! It’s times like these that I have even more reverence for a good recipe, a blogger who tests the recipe and finally a book that publishes only tried and tested recipes. That is why you can be rest assured I am not putting up dubious recipes on my blog. I don’t want to inflict the pain of failure on anyone. (No, seriously, that’s how it feels when a recipe screws up!) So it’s with supreme confidence that I am posting the Ham, Bacon and Green Apple recipe. It worked liked …

Cherry Chocolate Muffins and Love as I know it…

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Yes, we all know Valentine’s Day is around the corner. And though I personally don’t do cart wheels because of it (overrated to say the least!), it does make me think about Love. It’s a bit like this Muffin. Don’t give up on me yet… I know not everything is about food, but the comparison makes it easy for me to rationalize the subject in my head! I started out with a recipe for this muffin from a completely trusty source. The recipe seemed simple and the pictures were gorgeous enough to make me want to try it right away. So I dived headlong into it. The results were ‘nice’ but I felt sorely cheated. Not because it din’t taste good or look divine, it just din’t hit the spot like how I pictured it in my overly imaginative mind. So did I mope around whilst eating it, knowing all well that this is not what I wanted? Hell no! I knew the ingredients were right but the quantities didn’t add up. So I rolled …

Strawberries and Cream Cupcakes

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A conversation about Wimbledon led me to bake these. I know the natural train of thought will be tennis and the Wimbledon cup and how the hell is it related to cupcakes? But let me lead you to it…famously….slowly …delectably. Now Wimbledon is synonymous with tennis but what it’s also famous for is the tradition of eating strawberries and whipped cream by the spectators. Every year about 27,000 kilos of strawberries are eaten during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, together with 7,000 litres of cream. Phew! I salivate every time I think about it!! My all time favorite dessert is Strawberries and Cream. There – I’ve said it and it’s official now. So next time I claim something else is my favorite dessert you know I’m lying! I always know when its strawberry season in Bangalore. Am I some kind of seasonal food specialist? – Hell no! I just walk over to Corner House and when they start selling their Strawberries and Whipped Cream, the season has officially begun! And man do I tank up on …

New Year Treat – Bestest Brownies I ever made!

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Here’s a treat for you and me this 2012 – the Bestest (ya, I know Wren and Martin are turning in their graves) Brownies I ever made. So first – HAPPY 2012! May we eat, drink and be merry cause tomorrow we may have to die-t! (Mayan calendar doomsday prediction and all). And second – you guys HAVE to try this recipe. Make it your New Year resolution. At least you’ll end up keeping one! Why is this so amazing? Well, its made of cocoa not tempered chocolate. Yes, you heard me – Cocoa. I know all the purist will disagree that only molten, melting chocolate can produce the best brownies but I have to admit, your preconceived notions will be shattered like mine. This recipe is all over the net for the best brownies ever – so a thousand or so people can’t be all faking it. And more importantly I would not tom-tom my a$$ off about some not quite there product! (Well, atleast not till April Fools Day ;). So go ahead …