Vanilla Cupcakes (Oh! I love them.....)

After my happy experiences with the Blueberry n Banana Muffins and the Mangoes n' Figs Muffins, I decided to learn cupcakes. Both Rj n' me, we love vanilla cupcakes. Ok, I stand corrected, he loves it more than me. We used to buy them often before, but he turned sugar conscious a while ago n' we stopped buying them. I baked these babies n' he is begging for more on most days. Ever since I tried them the first time, I have made them twice again after that. That's how good this recipe is.





The recipe source? Ria's Collection. If you check her blog, on the homepage it self, you will see these oh! so pretty vanilla cupcakes she had baked recently with a friend. I had visited her blog to check out another recipe, but I saw these n' fell in love instantly. I just had to try them, n' the cupcakes comes out perfectly. The texture is just great. I didn't use the chocolate frosting, that will go well with this, just coz we like them plain. The lesson I learned from it? Find a reliable source for good simple baking recipes n' I can get over my fear and have good results. I haven't changed the recipe much, I have just reduced the amount of salt by half from Ria's recipe. With this I learnt the simple n' yummy basic cupcakes. My sincere thank you to Ria for sharing such a nice recipe.



Ingredients:
(Makes about 16 cupcakes if you are using big cupcake liners)
1. All purpose flour: 2 cups
2. Baking powder: 2 tsp
3. Salt: 1/4 tsp (omit if you are using salted butter)
4. Castor sugar: 1 cup
5. Unsalted butter: 1/2 cup (room temperature)
6. Eggs: 2nos
7. Milk: 1/2 cup (room temperature)
8. Vanilla extract: 2 tsp

Method:

Step 1: Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F. Keep the cupcake trays also ready by placing the cupcake liners in them.

Step 2: Sift the dry ingredients (Flour, Baking Powder and Salt) together, if possible, thrice.

Step 3: Cream the butter and sugar for 3 mins.Add in the eggs one by one and beat it will for 1 minute after each addition. (I'm guessing the time is mentioned coz we need to get the consistency right, I loved that bit of precision in the recipe. Great for an amateur like me.)

Step 4: Next with the motor running,add the sifted flour and milk alternately starting and ending with flour.By now the batter should be light and fluffy.

Step 5: Spoon it into the cupcake liners, about 2/3 rd's full, which will be about 2 1/2 tbsp.

Step 6: Bake for 20-25 mins or till the top is lightly golden brown in colour and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (it took mine only about 20mins)

Step 7: Remove from the tin immediately and let it cool completely before frosting (if you opt to frost it).







Honestly, I loved this recipe n' it helps me produce great results. In a span of 3 weeks, I have made this three times. Having guests at home helps. :) Happy cooking!!! or better still Happy Baking!!! :)

Chocolate Carrot & Walnut Cake

The first time I had freshly baked carrot cake with some freshly brewed black coffee....I really experienced heaven! My ex-colleague in Bahrain, Ruby Monkhouse, bakes the best carrot cake I have tasted. Jeff, Marise n' me, we would just wait for Rubz to bring some carrot cake treat for us. Rj on the other hand, who has never had them already declares he wouldn't like them. Rj is a foodie, but a real fussy one. Drive me up the wall most of the time.




I have been craving for some carrot cake since a while, but have been putting it off thinking, I will eat one piece, max to max 2 pieces..then who would eat the rest? That's when I came across the idea of Chocolate Carrot Cakes n' I thought to myself...wow....this exactly what I need. I mean they don't look like carrot cakes at all...:) So I just went ahead n' baked them, we have finished almost half the cake n' Rj is none the wiser as to what the main ingredient is...the only comment he made was..."this chocolate cake is slightly different" n' I said, "yeah, it must be the walnuts!"....lol...(lucky for me he doesn't read my blog....lol) So here you go..




Ingredients:

1. All Purpose Flour: 1 cup
2. Baking Powder: 1 and 1/4tsp
3. Baking Soda: 1/4tsp
4. Salt- 1/4tsp
5. Eggs- 2nos
6. Carrots: 1 and 1/4th cup (grated)
7. Caster Sugar: 1cup (adjust this a little if you don't want it too sweet)
8. Butter: 1/2 a cup* (room temperature)
9. Vanilla Extract: 1 1/2tsp
10. Cocoa Powder: 1/2 a cup
11. Walnuts: (crushed) a handful (add more if you like it)

Method:

Step 1: Heat oven to 180°C or 350°F. Grease a cake tin and line the bottom with a greaseproof paper. ( my Oven becomes hot fast, so as part of saving power, i always do this step just before I mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.)

Step 2: Sift together all the dry ingredients like flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, caster sugar and cocoa powder.

Step 3: I would grate the carrots only at this stage. (as they will be fresher this way)

Step 4: Whisk the butter until really smooth n' creamy, add the vanilla essence and mix well.

Step 5: Add eggs one at a time and whisk well.

Step 6: Add the sifted dry ingredients in portions and whisk well,fold in the chopped walnuts.

Step 7: Pour out the same into the greased cake tin. Tap the bottom on to your work surface to ensure that there aren't any air bubbles.

Step 8: Bake it in the oven for about 30mins. Check the cake after 30mins, the centre of the cake should feel light n' springy, if you dip a toothpick in the centre it should come out clean. If you feel it is still sticky, bake it for another 5-10mins.




Cool it for 15mins or so and then cool it completely on a wire rack. I really liked it, but I thought it needs an icing, Ruby uses a Cream Cheese frosting with her carrot cake n' its just lovely, I haven't found cream cheese here in Bangalore yet, so couldn't do it. But a light icing would do wonders to this already great cake. Happy Baking!!

Marble Cake

If you look into my blog you can see that i'm a novice at baking. That being said i'm thrilled to bits today coz I baked my first marble cake without using a ready mix....yipppeeee....i'm just so happy....Even though I prefer savoury things to sweet things, I do love a good Marble Cake. My appa used to buy me a marble cake from Anns Bakery ( a famous chain of Bakery from my part of Kerala) as I leave home to come to Bangalore. Honestly, I used to loathe sharing it with anyone. But RJ likes it even more than me, I think. He is cake-aholic of sorts.

These days, I sorta ask him everyday morning..."what would you like to try today?" (makes it sounds very 'oh I can make anything n' everything you want types')...but in reality, i'm really scared of making things I have no clue about. He asked me for a Marble Cake yesterday n' lets just say I didn't make it..But anyways today morning, I decided to give it a go. Feels like I have accomplished something huge....:D...i'm so glad I like my Marble Cake too...i'm just dying for RJ to come home n' get a taste of this....;). So here we go.




Ingredients

1. Butter: 225g (softened)
2. Caster Sugar: 225g
3. Eggs: 4nos
4. Flour : 225g
5. Baking Powder: 1tsp
6. Baking Soda: 1/4tsp
7. Salt: a pinch
8. Milk: 3 tbsp
9. Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
10. Cocoa Powder: 3 tbsp

Method

Step 1: Heat oven to 180°C or 350°F. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the bottom with a circle of greaseproof paper. ( my Oven becomes hot fast, so as part of saving power, i always do this step just before I mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.)

Step 2: Sift together, the flour, baking poweder, baking soda n' salt. (try n' sift it atleast twice to be sure that baking powder n' soda mixes well or alternativly just use 225 self raising flour)

Step 3: Beat the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Step 4: Fold through the flour, milk and vanilla extract into the above until the mixture is smooth. ( I got a little worried at this point, coz the mixture seemed much more thicker n' fluffier than my BC cake mix that I'm used to. But I just blindly trusted the recipe n' went ahead)

Step 5: Divide the mixture between 2 bowls. Stir the cocoa powder into the mixture in one of the bowls. Take 2 spoons and use them to dollop the chocolate and vanilla cake mixes into the tin alternately. ( The only thing I will do differently the next time is reduce the quantity of the mixture which i'm using to mix the cocoa powder that way I think I will get more defined portions once the cake is baked.)

Step 6: When all the mixture has been used up, tap the bottom on your work surface to ensure that there aren't any air bubbles. Take a skewer and swirl it around the mixture in the tin a few times to create a marbled effect.

Step 7: Bake the cake for 45-50 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool.

This recipe is a keeper. I'm gonna give it ★★★★★ ;)

Chocolate Mud Cake (Eggless)

This is my first post this year, infact its more like my first post since almost a year. Too many things have happened since we moved back to bangalore n' I have not been able to keep up with the bloggers here at all. But my work timing after I started working in Bangalore, left me with very little spare time. Now I have left my job, having decided to take a career break of sorts.

Have been meaning to get back to blogging since a month now, but just couldn't find that start. Today is my Ammachi's (granny's) b'day. She would have been a 100yrs old if she were here with us. She passed away 10yrs back. We were very close and I miss her on some days more than other days. She was an amazing n passionate cook. She was blind but that never stopped her from cooking. I rememeber how I used to sit by her side waiting for her to give me the cake mix bowl once she pours out the mix into the baking tin. Licking the mixing bowl clean esp if its a chocolate cake was an amazing experience. Infact she would leave some extra for me to polish off just coz I loved the dripping chocolate mix so much. But I never spent anytime with her learning to cook. I was interested only in eating what she made, I regret that now. I wish i had learnt from her, would've made me a better cook. So here I am, trying to get better at cooking and dedicating a post to her.




This recipe is called 'Magic Chocolate Mud Pudding' can't remember who I got this from. Yeah 'pudding' but for me the final result is more like a cake. I tried this recipe last week n' it wasn't great. I was amazed my instincts had turned faulty, coz I had fallen in love with the recipe and it didn't taste as awesome as I thought it would. So for the first time I decided to give it a try again. (I mean I never retry recipes which don't turn out well the first time around.) But I made a few changes and now it tastes really nice. I'm dying for RJ to come home n' taste it.

Ingredients:

1. Butter: 50gms or 1/4 cup
2. Muscovado Sugar (light): 200gms or 1 cup (generous)
3. Caster Sugar: 1tsp
4. Milk: 475ml or 2cups
5. Self- Raising Flour: 90gms or 1cup (pls refer to comments if you have only plain flour)**
6. Vanilla Essence: 1tsp (the original recipe asked for 1 tsp of ground cinnamon)
7. Cocoa Powder: 5tbsp
8. Vanilla Ice Cream to serve it with

** Mix 1 and 1/4tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt to flour if you don't have self raising flour with you.

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180°C or 350°F. Lightly grease an ovenproof dish and place a baking sheet inside. (since my oven heats up pretty quickly i did this step just before I mixed the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.) It is mentioned that something like a soufflé dish is perfect for this.

2. Portion or Divide the Brown Sugar, Milk and Cocoa Powder as mentioned below.

First Portion
Brown Sugar: 115gm or 3/4cup
Milk : 150ml or 2/3 cup
Cocoa Pwdr : 1 tbsp

Second Portion
Brown Sugar: 85gms or 1/4cup
Milk : 325ml or 1+1/3rd cup
Cocoa Pwdr : 4tbsp

3. Place the butter in a saucepan. Add 115gm or 3/4cup of sugar and 150ml or 2/3rd cup of the milk and the caster sugar. Heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted and all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat. Add vanilla essence to this if you are using it instead of cinnamon.

4. Sift the flour, cinnamon (if you are using ground cinnamon instead of vanilla essence) and 1tbsp of cocoa into the pan and stir into the mixture, mixing evenly. (i used a hand mixer this time on low speed). Pour the mixture into the prepared dish and level the surface.

5. Sift the remaining sugar and cocoa poder into a bowl, mix well, then sprinkle evenly over the pudding mixture in the dish. Pour the remaining milk over the mixture.

6. The recipe asked for 45-50mins (but i thought this was too much) so i think you need only abt 30-40mins depending on the quantity you are using and the dish size. In any case, check after 30mins to see. The sponge should have risen to the top and it should be firm to touch.




This is best served hot with some ice cream. Because it hadn't turned out well the last time, I reduced the quantity by half this time, but now i wish i hadn't. :) In my picture, it looks really different from a pudding or a cake coz it looks so thin. I didn't have a small dish to bake my small qunatity in, had to use the big baking tin itself. Will try n' post a pudding pic when I serve this to RJ with some icecream on top. Happy Cooking!

Betty Crocker...is a blessing

I had never baked a cake... ever...and i remember how i used to sit with my grandmother while she prepares everything for the cake and i used to sit there waiting to get the bowl to lick the last bit...;)....i loved it....and i would say oh it smells so good and she will immediately scold me saying i shouldn't make any comments while its being made and doing so will get bad results...Well irrespective of hers always turning out to be the best, she used to scold me every time i said that...;)....i think grand parents are the best, i have found such unconditional love in them. Maybe my relationship with my grandparents is what makes me feel at home with older people.

Now i'm digressing again, the point is i made my first cake last month and i took the easy way out...i used a Betty Crocker mix...it came out so well..so soft...i got half of it to the office... my friends at work enjoyed it almost as much as my husband did… ;) and some told me that their Mix doesn't turn out to be this nice....made me feel so proficient! (Could’ve been beginner’s luck!!)

I decided to get a little adventurous the next time around and tried the Chocolate Swirl Cake. This turned out to have a step or 2 more than the Dark Chocolate Cake Mix, but comes out as nice. The best part is the kitchen smells divine afterwards and it is all ready in 45mins (including a hands on time of 15mins.) ;)

That reminds me to thank my Moulinex Hand Mixer. It's so easy to use and clean. This has to be my best impulse buy to date. So if you are like me hesitating to start your baking…this is the way to go…try it…I have seen these mix even in Bangalore, but hadn’t tried it there coz I didn’t have an oven feature on my microwave. But now there is no stopping me. ;)