All In One Holiday Bundt Cake

Merry Christmas!!
Christmas holidays is all about baking. This is the only season when we enjoy baking to the fullest. The three months of joy; of coldness and of coffee :) The aroma of hot hot cakes coming out of the oven is a stress-buster in itself. It helps relaxing one's mind and body after  the whole day's work.

This is a great cake and it's got all the ingredients and flavors you want for the season; pumpkin, cranberries,apples, pecans, cinnamon and nutmeg ,too. Add the icing and you'll get maple as well. I didn't do the icing as we couldn't wait for that. It was that delicious and irresistible. Its too soft for handling. I froze mine for about 1 1/2 weeks and this picture was clicked after thawing.



Ingredients:
Adapted from Baking With Dorie (CulinApp, 2011)

Time: 90 minutes, plus cooling time

Unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the pan 1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons)
All-purpose flour 2 cups
Baking powder 2 tsp
Baking soda 1/2tsp
Ground cinnamon 2tsp
Grated nutmeg 1/4tsp
Pinch salt
Grated fresh ginger (or 1 teaspoon ginger powder) 1 1/2tsp
Granulated sugar 1cup
Packed light brown sugar 1/2cup
Large eggs, at room temperature 2
Pure vanilla extract 1tsp
Canned unsweetened pumpkin purée 1 1/4 cup*
Apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped 1 large
Cranberries, halved or coarsely chopped 1 cup
Pecans, coarsely chopped 1 cup

Maple icing (optional)**

Method:

1. Heat oven to 170degrees celcius with a rack in the center. Butter a 9- to 10-inch (12-cup) Bundt pan.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and ginger powder, if you’re using it instead of the grated ginger.

3. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat together the remaining butter and both sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 or 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

4. Reduce the speed to low and add the pumpkin, apple and grated ginger, if using it. Don’t be concerned if the batter looks curdled. Add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. With a rubber spatula, stir in the cranberries and pecans. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

5. Bake directly on the oven rack for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool to room temperature on the rack. Serve in thick slices.

Yield: 12 or more servings.
*I made pumpkin puree at home. Scoop the seeds out of 1/4 of a pumpkin, roast it at 200C for about 1/2 an hour, cool it, peel it and make puree . Its easier if you can get the canned one.

**For maple icing, sift 6 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar into a bowl. Stir in 2 tablespoons maple syrup. Add syrup little by little, until you have an icing that runs nicely off the tip of the spoon. Put the cooled cake on wax paper and drizzle the icing from the tip of the spoon over it. Let the icing set for a few minutes.

Note: Wrapped well, the cake will keep at room temperature for up to 5 days, at which point it’s good for toasting; or freeze for up to 2 months.

Strawberry & Lemon Loaf Cake with no sugar & no white flour

What more can we ask for than a healthy snack or goodie during this holiday season. Kids feel more hungrier during holidays and they keeps on demanding snacks or goodies every now and then. Atleast my kids do. And we mums are worried about the whites in the ingredients in all those bakes. This post offers you one such recipe which you can serve your kid with no such worries. Neither sugar nor white flour is used here. The one thing you should take care is that to choose sweet berries, atleast no-sour ones. You can use any berries,peaches,nectarines etc. for this cake. Agave syrup is in the original recipe, but I used maple syrup as I didnt have the former. I think, you can use honey either. 

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour 1 1/2 cups

Salt 1/2 tsp

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Baking soda 1/2 tsp

Baking powder 1/2 tsp
Butter 75g
Agave syrup/Maple syrup 2/3 cup
Lemon Zest,finely grated 1 tbsp
Vanilla Essence 1 tsp
Egg 1
Buttermilk 3/4 cup
Strawberries 1-1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries,sweet
Sugar 1tbsp

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C. Grease a  loaf tin.

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix butter and agave/maple with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest, vanilla extract and egg and mix until well combined. Now stir in the buttermilk. Add the flour mixture in several batches and stir until just combined. 

Pour the batter into the cake tin, leveling the top. Scatter the strawberries evenly over the top and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean of the center of the cake. Let cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Linkin this to Kids Delight originally hosted by Srivalli

Chocolate Cake-The Best (Cakes & Cakes only)

Its time for something chocolatyy... I've always been lazy to type cakes. Its time consuming and needs lots of patience, which is now impossible with my toddler roaming around. But the demand for simple and not-so-complicated chocolate cakes have been accumulating in my inbox since months. Its only then that I realised that I haven't posted any simple chocolate cake recipe yet. So here it goes...  Its simple and delicious. I've been researching on chocolate cakes since 2 months for THE BEST recipe and I found it here. I'm sure you are gonna love this. It is buttercream frosting in the original recipe, but I've frosted it with whipped cream to make it simple.

Its time for something chocolatyy... I've always been lazy to type cakes. Its time consuming and needs lots of patience, which is now impossible with my toddler roaming around. But the demand for simple and not-so-complicated chocolate cakes have been accumulating in my inbox since months. Its only then that I realised that I haven't post any simple chocolate cake recipe yet. So here it goes...  Its simple and delicious. I've been researching on chocolate cakes since 2 months for THE BEST recipe and I found it here. I'm sure you are gonna love this. Its buttercream frosting in the original recipe, but I've frosted it with whipped cream to make it simple.

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter 1/2 cup

Sugar  2 cups

Eggs. 2

Vanilla Essence 2 tsp

Buttermilk*1 3/4 cup

Cake Flour** 1 3/4 cup

Cocoa Powder 1 cup

Baking Soda 2 tsp

Salt 1/2 tsp

Strong Brewed Coffee 1/4 cup

For Whipped Frosting

Whipping Cream 2cups

Caster sugar 1/2 cup or more (adjust to your taste)

Vanilla essence 1/2 tsp

Cocoa Powder 3-4 tbsp

Whip cream to soft peaks.Add sugar and other ingredients qnd beat again to stiff peaks.

**Its really hard to whip up your cream in a place where room temperature is too high. What I do in my place is that unpack cream into the whipping bowl and refrigerate it for about an hr or more before whipping.

I refrigerate my beaters also.

Or else, you can keep the whipping bowl on a big bowl of ice while whipping.

Method

1. Preheat your oven at 170c. Grease your baking pan.

2. Sift cake flour, cocoa powder,baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add the sugar and vanilla; beat until well combined.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating the mixture well after each addition.

4.Add the flour mixture. 

5. In a small bowl, stir together the buttermilk and coffee. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition until just combined. Pour the batter in the prepared pans.

6.Bake in a 170c oven for 40-50minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near centers comes out clean.

7.Cool cakes on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from the pans. Cool thoroughly on wire racks before frosting. (If you like, wrap unfrosted cake layers individually in plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for up to 2 days before using. Double-wrap if layers are to be frozen for later use.)

8. To assemble, place one cake layer on a serving plate. With a thin metal spatula, spread the frosting.Place second cake layer on top of first layer. Frost top and sides with the whipped frosting.Chill in refrigerator for atleast 1 hr before serving.Makes 16 servings.

*Buttermilk - Remove 1 1/2 tbsp from 1 cup of full-cream milk and add 1 1/2 tbsp of vinegar to it. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes. Do not stir in between .This makes 1 cup of buttermilk.

**Cake flour- measure 1 3/4 cup of all purpose flour, take 3 tbsp of flour from the measure and add 3 tbsp of cornflour to it.

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Neipathal/Neipathiri (Rice Puri? :)

Neipathal is one of the traditional treats seen in Malabar Muslim households. It is deep fried pathiris made of rice, coconut, fennel and shallots. You may call it as rice puri as it looks like a puri-a coarse ground or crispy rice puri.

This is usually served with beef fry (varattiyathu) or any other meat delicacies. The ingredients used here is same as that of aanapathal (kozhipidi); but the method of cooking is entirely different. Back home, people uses the giant grinders or tabletop grinders to grind this dough and they may or may not use any rice flour for this recipe. But this is not possible these days as most of us dont have such equipments with us these days, neither we ve so much of time to spend in kitchen. I shall try to explain the method of preparing the dough using tabletop grinders and juice machines.

Ingredients:

Parboiled rice/U.S style rice 3 cups

Coconut,grated 2 cups

Rice Flour (arippodi) 1 cup or more

Fennel seeds (saunf or perumjeerakam) 2 tsp

Onion 1 big

Water 2 cups

Oil to deepfry

Method:

Soak parboiled rice in warm water for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Drain rice through a strainer. (You can avoid this step; I'm doing this just to give you the exact measurement of water to be used .)

Now mix all other ingredients except rice flour and oil.

Its time to grind rice.

Table top grinders

If you have a table top grinder, then no need to add rice flour. Increase the quantity of parboiled rice to 4 cups and then coarsely grind the rice mix using minimal water. The dough should resemble that of roti dough or slightly tightier than that.

Juice machine grinders

You can coarsely grind the rice mix without using water in this and finally add some water . Then mix with rice powder to make the dough.

Juice Machines

Here we use the big jar, the usual one we use to grind dosa maavu or to blend any juices. I've Panasonic steel jar (bought from India) the one similar to Sumeet or any other indian brand. Its too good for grinding rice . In this we can grind rice by adding too little water. We need coarsely ground rice here. For that just pulse for 30 seconds each time; ie; once we put in the rice,coconut,onion and water in the jar , pulse it for 30 seconds and then you are done.

Mix this coarsely ground paste with rice powder using salt to make the dough similar to rotis/chappathis or slightly tightier than that .

Take a kadai/chinese wok or any other deep bottomed vessel and heat oil in it enough for deepfrying.

Now take a piece of cloth or plastic sheet on which the pathiri is rolled. Make balls out of the dough and then flatten on the piece of cloth or plastic using your fingers . The pathiri should be 2 or three inches in diameters and 1/2 inch thick.

When the oil is too hot, you can sink in the pathiris just like we do for puris. This will puff up and once it is done in one side, turn it upside down and fry the other side too till it turns crispy brown.

Serve hot with beef fry, kadai chicken or any other non veg thick gravies.

CAKES & CAKES ONLY -Dates and Carrot Cake

The very hot summer is pretty much over. The long summer days went by,thankfully, and longer winter nights have arrived. The woollen clothes are out of the cupboards and we get to see exclusive jackets and boots everywhere. These three months are definitely a festive season for us. The pleasantly cool weather, moderate temperatures all day long.. I'm loving it! The very thought of grabbing in steaming hot coffee helps me jump out of my bed these days. 

Chicken Chukka

Chicken Chukka is a spicy 'dry-gravy' chicken dish which is very popular all over India. Don't know about the origin or nativity of the dish; but its found equally enjoyed by all Indians. Now, this recipe is my mom's and we love as it is. You can play with your own ingredients to please your tongue and hey,, you are the boss of your kitchen; who's gonna ask? ;)

Ingredients:

Chicken 1 (I used of 800gm)

Red Chilli powder 2 tsp + 1/2 tsp

Vinegar 1 tbsp 

Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

Onion 500gm (3 cups)

Tomato 1 3/4 cups

Ginger garlic paste 1 + 1 tsp,

Green chilli 3 or more to taste 

Garam masala 1/2 tsp,

Pepper powder 1+1/2 tsp

Curry leaves 1 sprig & 

Coriander leaves 1/4 cup
Oil 1/4 cup

Method:

Marinate chicken in red chilli powder(2tsp),salt,pepper(1/2tsp) ,ginger garlic paste(1tsp)and 1 tbsp of vinegar for atleast half an hour. 

Fry those marinated chicken pieces in oil.

Take out the chicken. Now in the same oil, saute onions  . Add  ginger garlic paste and saute  till onion turns slightly brown

Throw in tomatoes  & green chilli .. Saute for a few more minutes till the tomato is cooked.

Now add the spices; ie; red chilli powder (1/2 tsp) and turmeric.Saute for a few seconds so that the raw smell disappears.

Add chicken to it alongwith 1/4 a cup of water. simmer till the water dries up.Check the seasoning and make variations according to ur taste..  You can add 1 or 2 tsp of lemon juice if needed. Throw in curry leaves (i sprig) and coriander leaves to garnish.

Bangalore Chicken Kebab

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  I feel so lazy to blog these days and my broken cameras and slow-slow laptop added to the core. Yes, my cameras :( its more than four months now since i've dropped them.  Actually I do all these photoshoots in a hurry that both my cameras fell from my hands to broke. That too in a week. The photos I post here these days are either from my drafts or mobile clicked. I browse net through my phone or IPad. But blog editing is not possible in that. I don't know why. If anyone of you can resolve it , please let me know.

  
  

  Chicken Kebab is a famous dish of Bangalore , I guess. My brother-in-laws, who studied there, has always been a great fan of these kebabs. These are not the usual north-indian kebabs made of meat mince, but deep-fried chicken pieces. This one is my Jeeju's special. He tried this recipe and as this turned out to be so delicious that he clicked a pic and sent it to me for my next post. So here is the recipe for you guys.. Enjoy and let me know how it turned out !

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  Ingredients

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Chicken 1 kg, cut into  8 pieces

  
  

  Marinade :

  
  

  
  

  Ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp

  Yogurt 2 tbsp

  Garam Masala ½ tsp

  Cumin powder  ½ tsp

  Orange color pinch

  Turmeric pinch

  Chili powder 2 tsp

  Coriander crushed or powder 2 tsp

  Salt 1 ½ tsp

  Vinegar 1 tbsp

  Egg 1

  Corn Flour 4 tbsp

  
  

  
  

  Method

  
  

  Marinate chicken with all the ingredients except oil. Keep for a minimum of 2 hours. Deep fry these chicken pieces untill it turn lightly brown and crisp outside and tender inside. Serve with onion rings.

  
  
  

  
  

  

  
  

Sausage Masala

Ingredients: 

Olive oil

Sausages 4-5 

Carrots 1/2

Onion 1 large

Ginger 1 tsp

Garlic 1 1/2 tsp

Tomato 1 large

Green Chillies 3-4

Red Bell Pepper (capsicum) 1/2

Green Capsicum 1/2

Carrots p

Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

  

Method:

Cut the sausages into 1" pieces and vegetables into square pieces.

In a small bowl, mix Red Chili, Coriander and Turmeric powders with Ginger paste and 1-2 tablespoons of water.    You can also use 1-2 teaspoon of Curry Powder in place of Red Chili, Coriander and    Turmeric powders

Heat a little olive oil and fry sausages till golden brown. Remove from the pan and fry the bell peppers (capsicums) and carrots. Dont overfry it, crispiness should be there.Keep them aside with the fried sausages.

Add more oil, if required, add the finely chopped onions and fry till golden brown. Add the big pieces of onions with garlic and green chilies. Saute for 1-2 minutes.

Add the spice mixture (paste) in the pan and fry for another 2-3 minutes.

Add Tomatoes, saute for 1-2 minutes and cover the pan till the tomatoes are mushy and leaves oil from corners.

Add all the vegetables with Sausages, give a nice stir, add the salt and water. Cover the pan till the gravy becomes thick and all the vegetables are completely cooked.

• Serve hot with plain Rice or Chapati.
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recipe courtesy 

Green Devil

 Being a child is the most beautiful and wonderful phase of one's life. They are all about having fun. No worries about the future, no regrets about the past; but always keen to explore a new world of their own everyday.

We could never have loved the earth so well if we had had no childhood in it -George Eliot.

Its true that we all still miss our childhood. If I ever get a chance to own a Time Machine, I would have asked it to take me back to those carefree childhood days. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Life has moved on.. we grew up, got jobs, married, have kids but still there's a corner in our minds where we still adore our childhood memories. I like to go back to those days in my mind on a relaxing afternoon.

Those special bond and relationship we have with the toys that shared our childhood with us is amazing. How we protect them from other naughty boys ,how we snatch them from the guests' kids who wanted to take them along and how we showed it to others to make them jealous. I still remember when once my cousins and sisters shared a bundle of toys brought by my uncle from B'lore and there was a small one left for me. I felt so upset and when my uncle saw this he scolded them for not asking his permission before sharing them and that he bought all those for me. Hurray!!! I was so happy that I took all of them and I still remember my sisters' faces.lol !! ( I hope they won't read this). Those were a small carrom board, a wooden ring toy and other two. All these memories still bring a smile in our faces.

Now, its our time to cherish our kids' childhood days so that they might bring a glow to their faces whenever they think about them. Time passes by and we never realize that they are not gonna be with us for entire life and its only their Bachpan (childhood) that we can spend with them. Bubbles in the bathtub , freshly baked brownies, a good movie with a pack of chips, offering 2 bucks to go to the groceries to pick up anything they want or a surprise visit to the ice cream parlour.. this is all what they need and you can see that glow you need on their faces.

 I wanted to post this recipe for Halloween; but missed it. This is such a wonderful recipe that I can't wait for the next one ;) The photos didn't come out well as I dropped both my cameras and this is clicked with my mobile.

The chilli twist in this recipe is just wonderful. Avocados are so healthy as it provides 20 essential nutrients. It keeps a check on cardiovascular diseases as well.  Choose a well flavored avocado, such as a knobbly, dark-skinned Hass, for this slightly spicy, hot and sour smoothie. Cucumber adds a refreshing edge, while lemon and lime juice zip up the flavour, and the chilli sauce adds an irresistible fiery bite. This is one little devil that is sure to liven up even the most lethargic days.

Ingredients:
Courtesy: 75 smoothies by Suzannah Olivier
(Makes 2-3 glasses)

Avocado 1 small ripe
Cucumber 1/2
Lemon juice 2 tbsp /30 ml
lime juice 2 tbsp/30 ml
Caster sugar 2 tsp
Salt a pinch
Apple juice or water 1cup
Sweet chilli sauce 2-4 tsp
Ice cubes
Red chilli curls, to decorate (optional ) avoid for kids

Method:

Halve the avocado and use a sharp knife to remove the stone (pit). Scoop the flesh from both the halves into a blender or food processor.

Peel and roughly chop the cucumber and add to the blender or food processor, then ad the lemon and lime juice, the caster sugar and a little salt.

Process the ingredients until smooth and creamy, then add the apple juice or mineral water and a little of the chilli sauce. Blend once more to lightly mix the ingredients together.

Pour the smoothie over ice cubes. Decorate with red chilli curls and serve with stirrers and extra chilli sauce.

Chocolate Muffins- Dark & Chocolatty

Someone has said somewhere ' Without children, your house is clean and your wallet is full; but your heart is empty'. It's absolutely true. I can't think of a day without children. When they were off to grandma's place for vacations, we were found rattling around the cottage having very little things to do or no work to finish off. The empty nest would rather eat us, even if the situation is not going to be the same for so long-not more than a week or two. It may take a few days to get used to not hearing the sound of your child's footsetps in the house or that silence at the dinner table. It is then that we realize the importance of children in our life and that they are the most beautiful gifts one can ever have in his life.

In India, Childrens Day is celebrated on 14th of November, the birth-date of Jawaharlal Nehru (the first Prime Minister of India). I've never thought of celebrating  or never gave importance to this day other than wishing my kids, whereas  they did never forget to give me a card on Mothers Day. So this year I wanted to plan something special for them on that day. Insha Allah ! A mere hug can bring smile on their lips as a result of which their eyes light up and their face gives off a glow that is expansive enough to reach you and effortlessly make you reciprocate a sense of well-being. So what if we could offer a handful of surprises on their very special day. Who else is there to join me? I'll be posting a few wonderful kids-friendly recipes these 2 weeks and hope you'll defenitely send me your feedback and suggestions regarding this.

Its a must try recipe from  Ina Garten . The texture and flavour of these cupcakes can help you win the hearts of your li'l ones on their very special day coming up.

Ingredients

• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons brewed coffee
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup good cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
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Method:

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Preheat the oven to 170 C. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes.

 Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well.

 In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee.

 In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.

 On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it's completely blended.

Divide the batter among the cupcake pans (1 rounded standard ice cream scoop per cup is the right amount).

Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.