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!!

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!

Hot White Chocolate

My attempts at making Hot Cross Buns for this Easter failed miserably, it's depressing to even talk about it. So just to prove that some does turn out right when i bake, i tried BC's Chocolate Swirl Cake again...and came out so nice and soft. I pinned up a smile back on my face. :)

I love Hot Chocolate from almost everywhere, even the ones we get in train stations back home....but my favourite has to be from Columbus Cafe. (a special note.... i don't like the ones from Starbucks or Costa Coffee.) So when i came across this recipe i thought, i just have to give this a try....so here you go...

Ingredients:

1. White Chocolate: 175g
2. Milk: 1.5 ltr
3. Coffee Essence: 1tsp (or Instant coffee powder: 2tsp)
4. Orange Flavoured Liqueur: 2tsp (optional)

For Serving:

1. Whipped Cream
2. Ground Cinnamon (optional)

Method:

Step 1: Finely chop the white chocolates.

Step 2: Boil the milk in a heavy saucepan and bring it to boil (bubbles will form around the edge of the pan)

Step 3: Add the chopped whitechocolates, coffee essence or powder and the orange flavoured liqueur, if using. Stir until the chocolate has melted.

Step 4: Divide the hot chocolate among 4 coffee mugs. Top each with a rosette of whipped cream and a sprinkling of ground cinnamon, if using. Serve immediately.

I had to do my bit n' deviate a little....i didn't have any whipped cream so decided i could use some froth instead...so after step 3 i waited a while n' poured it into a blender and gave it a whisk....i mean i didn't do it for more than 30secs...they say pouring hot liquid into the mixer/blender is not at all recommended...so the next time i try this (in a situation like this)i will use a hand blender.

Chocolate Truffles with Orange Essence

Actually, i'm being kinda cheeky here, this shouldn't be a separate blog, but i wanted to post the snap separately n' hence decided to make this a new post instead of adding it with my Chocolate Ganache recipe.

With an exotic name like "Chocolate Truffle" one would expect the recipe to be complicated, i know i did. But it's so easy n' simple. Simply put, chocolate truffles are made with a Chocolate Ganache center coated in chocolate or cocoa powder. Now that i'm putting up the recipe here, i'm thinking i should've tried some variations of this...maybe the next time i make it...i'll just do that. Like i had mentioned before, they say your truffles will be as good as the chocolate you are using. So get the best you can buy.

Ingredients:

1. Heavy Cream: 1/2 cup
2. Dark Chocolate: 1/2 cup (chopped)
3. Salt: a small pinch
4. Orange Essence : 2 drops
5. Soft Butter : 1tsp (unsalted)
6. Cocoa Powder: 3 tbsp
7. Chopped Nuts: 3tsp (i added crushed almonds)

Method:

Step 1: Put your chopped chocolate into a bowl.

Step 2: Add cream into a pan and heat it over medium fire and as soon as it comes to a simmer quickly pour it over your chopped chocolate. (Do not boil it, or it will spoil the cream) Make sure all of your chocolate is covered with the cream and just let it sit there for a minute.

Step 3: Add the soft butter and whisk it with the chocolate and cream together.Keep stirring, till you get a thick n' glossy chocolate sauce.

Step 4: Add a pinch of salt, orange essence and the chopped nuts. Give it a little stir. (minus the nuts your chocolate ganache is ready )

Step 5: Serve it into a dish and pop this into the fridge for 2hours to set.

Step 6: Take this out of the fridge (depending on the room temperature) keep it outside at least for 15-20mins before you are ready to make the truffles.

Step 7: In a pan (with slightly raised corners), add the cocoa powder. Scoop out the chocolate mixture using an ice cream scooper to get those perfect ball shapes or alternatively just use a spoon n' mould it into a round shape as best as you can. Keep them in the pan with the cocoa powder and lightly shake the pan from side to side allowing the balls to roll all over n' get a nice coat of cocoa powder n' it's ready.

You can even add a dash of Brandy (along with the orange essence) to get an extra kick. Roll the chocolate balls in a crushed biscuit mixture, or crushed mixture of nuts to get a different look instead of just cocoa...serve it immediately.

Chocolate Ganache

The simplicity of this as always was the what caught my eye.....Ganache is chocolate with heavy cream, and it has a very creamy texture. When you pour ganache over a cake, it just flows like the river on top of a gorgeous cake.

Ingredient:

1. Heavy Cream: 1/2 cup
2. Cooking Chocolate: 1/2 cup (chopped)
3. Salt: a small pinch
4. Vanilla : 2 drops

Method:

Step 1: Put your chopped chocolate into a bowl.

Step 2: Add cream into a pan and heat it over medium fire and as soon as it comes to a simmer quickly pour it over your chopped chocolate. Make sure all of your chocolate is covered with the cream and just let it sit there for a minute.

Step 3: Whisk the chocolate and cream together.Keep stirring, till you get a thick n' glossy chocolate sauce. They say the ganache is only as good as the chocolate you'll be using. So choose your chocolate well..:)

Step 4: Add the salt and the flavouring to the chocolate mixture at this stage. You can also use different flavouring like orange, mint etc instead of vanilla...i used vanilla coz that was all i had.

Step 5: Let is cool and thicken a little n' it's ready for you to glaze over your cakes n' cup cakes.

If you have extra, simply store it, refrigerate and warm it in the microwave to use it again.