Saturday, April 30, 2011
Chocolate Layer Cake
Much as it has been a busy time this past month - and it will continue to be so over the next couple of months - I have been baking a lot, in fact, more than I normally do over the last month.
Baking gives me a lot of comfort, it is my way of unwinding. Baking de-stresses me like nothing else can. At the end of a long tiring day, all I want to do is not rest, but head to the kitchen at night and bake. I love to bake late at night, when I can be in the kitchen absolutely undisturbed - no telephone calls to be answered, no doors to be opened, no husband or child to attend to.
Gathering the ingredients, mixing them into a batter, waiting for the oven to do its magic, basking in the aromas enveloping the house and pulling out a perfectly baked cake from the oven - sometimes, I bake more for the love of the process than to actually eat cake!
Edited to add...My apologies to anyone who lands on this page and doesn't find a recipe. Please email me for the recipe.
aquadaze@rediffmail.com
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Dark Chocolate Orange Ice Cream
Initially, it was milk chocolates and chocolates with assorted nuts and dry fruits. Much later, I discovered dark chocolates and liqueur centred chocolates and my love for chocolates only intensified.
Ironically, much as I love chocolates, I don't much care for chocolate ice cream. In fact, it has been ages since I ate chocolate ice cream.
The cake didn't happen that evening but I managed to fall in love with chocolates in ice creams after a long, long time!
Ingredients:
In a small saucepan, heat the cream till it starts to bubble around the edges. Pour it over the chocolate chips and mix till the chocolate chips are melted.
In another saucepan, combine 2 cups of milk with the orange zest. Heat until the milk just starts to steam. Turn the heat off, cover and let it steep for about 10 minutes. Then remove the zest from the milk and re-heat till the milk starts to simmer.
Add the cream-chocolate chips mixture and the orange essence to this custard and stir till properly combined.
Cool on the counter top to room temperature, add in the vodka, if using, and then chill in the refrigerator for atleast 5-6 hours, preferably overnight and then freeze according to the directions of your ice cream machine.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Rich Chocolate Mud Cake
Now with the kids fast asleep and the husband not expected back home for at least another hour, she could finally start baking.
But just as took the whisky bottle out of the liquor cabinet, she heard the key turn in the lock. The husband was back earlier than expected. On any other day she would have been thrilled but today she felt a small pang of disappointment. "There goes my baking," she thought to herself.
"Having a drink all alone, are you? he smiled as he walked in. "Pour me one as well, I'll take a quick shower and join you."
"I wasn't drinking. You know I never have a drink alone! I was just about to bake a cake but you've put paid to all my plans now by coming back earlier," she smiled.
"Cake with whisky in it....now that sounds intriguing. Never heard of one before."
"I'm sure it is going to be yum. I can just feel it."
"Tell you what - let's have a quick drink and have dinner and then we can bake that cake together!" He had never quite understood her passion for baking - he wondered why she bothered putting in so much effort when there were very good gourmet cakes available all over the city. But over the years, he had learnt better than to dissuade he from baking and deprive her of the pleasure she derived from baking.
"Sounds like a great plan," she beamed.
An hour later, he was ready to bake.
"Now?, she said, looking at the clock. It was a quarter past ten. "Too late for that now. The cake takes an hour and a half to bake. I am just too sleepy - the whisky has made me way too drowsy, no way I can sit up and wait for it to bake! I'll bake in the morning. Clear the kitchen, will you please? I can barely keep my eyes open."
"Sure thing."
He started putting away the measuring cups and the cake pan and happened to glance at the recipe that she had printed out. Whisky in a cake? With chocolate and coffee? Somehow, it just didn't sound right to him. Rum and chocolate and coffee was a great combination, but whisky? It just didn't appeal to him!
As he put the whisky back into the liquor cabinet, his eyes fell on the bottle of Kahlua. That was it....Kahlua, and not whisky, was perfect for the cake.
Suddenly, he was in the grip of an overpowering urge to bake the cake right away, all by himself. Soon, he was in the kitchen, melting and mixing the ingredients, getting intoxicated by the combined aromas of coffee, chocolate and Kahlua.
Two and a half hours later, he had not just baked the cake but had also set in on a platter on the table and secured with a ribbon - as a surprise for her - his face radiating the pleasure of someone who had just discovered the urge, the joy and the satisfaction of baking from scratch.
This food fiction is off to Jaya of Spice and Curry who is hosting Of Chalks and Chopsticks - 6.
Rich Chocolate Mud Cake (adapted from from Australian Women's Weekly).
Ingredients:
(A)
Butter: 250 gms
Sugar: 1 and 3/4 cup
Dark Chocolate: 200 gms
Kahlua: 1/3 cup or 80 ml
Instant coffee granules: 1 tbsp
Warm water: 250 ml or 1 cup
(B)
Plain Flour: 1.5 cups or 225 gms
Self Raising Flour: 1/4 cup or 35 gms
Cocoa Powder: 1/4 cup or 25 gms
Eggs: 2
Method:
In a saucepan, mix together all the ingredients listed under (A). Stir on a low heat until the chocolate melts. Cool it to room temperature.
Whisk together all the dry ingredients listed under (B). Add the cooled chocolate mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until you get a smooth batter.
Lightly beat the eggs and add it to the batter.
Grease and line a (deep) 20 cm or 8" cake pan and transfer the batter into the pan. Bake at 160 deg C for 90 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Notes:
1. I pre-heat the oven for this recipe for just about 15 minutes.
2. I halved the recipe and baked it in a 6" square tray; it took me just under an hour to bake my cake.
3. I thought that the water was a bit too much, so I plan to reduce it to 225 ml the next time.
This is a dense and intensely chocolatety cake with a whiff of coffee and Kahlua. I served this cake with some raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream - sinfully delicious!
Sending this cake off to Ria who is hosting Meeta's Monthly Mingle, the theme this time is Chocolate Extravaganza.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Chocolate Chip Muffin
I put her in front of the telly telling her she could watch it for as long as she wanted to. I expected her to be glued to the telly but the moment she realised that she had a free rein to watch her favourite cartoons, she quickly lost interest in watching them.
"Play with me", she said to me.
"Why don't you fix some puzzles", I suggested. "And then you when you are done, you can have some chocolate". Yes, I was subtly bribing her to leave me alone for some more time. To her credit, she did manage to keep herself busy with the puzzles for a while and I gave her some chocolate as promised.
"But I don't want to have chocolate", she said. I was flummoxed - I mean I can't ever say 'no' to chocolate and here she was, a 5 year old, refusing to have any. But I hadn't heard the rest of it....
"......I want chocolate chip muffins. You make some muffins now", she demanded.
"Mama's head is aching", I explained to her. "Let me rest just a little while longer, then I'll have some tea and make you the muffins", I told her.
She nodded and went off to her room. I could hear toys being scattered and then the sound of a tap gushing and braced myself for a major clean up operation later in the day. Moments later, she was standing next to me, her toy teacup filled to the brim with water in one hand and a tube of Euky bearub in the other.
"Mama will drink the tea and put the balm and she will become alright and then we can make the muffins", she proclaimed confidently.
Anything for such an adorable caregiver! I headed straight to the kitchen and started to fix her some muffins right away.
Some days remain etched in memory forever. I don't think I can never ever forget the sight of my little girl helping me to make the muffins that day. I measured out the dry ingredients and she whisked them together. Then she poured out the wet ingredients and I mixed everything together to get the batter ready. I spooned it out into the muffin tray and she sprinkled the chocolate chips on top. In no time, the aroma of freshly baked muffins wafted through the house.
These muffins are very very quick and easy to make. I have stayed true to the original recipe from Joy of Baking except for a very minor change - instead of sprinkling the cinnamon on top, I mix it into the batter. A very small change but one that makes a significant improvement to the taste.
Ingredients:
All purpose flour: 3/4 cup
Whole wheat pastry flour: 1/4 cup
Baking Powder: 1.5 tsps
Salt: 1/4 tsp (omit if using salted butter)
Cinnamon Powder: 1/2 tsp
Sugar: 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp
Semi sweet/ bittersweet chocolate chips: 1/2 cup
Egg: 1
Milk: 1/2 cup
Butter OR Oil: 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 190 deg C/ 375 deg F. Grease a muffin pan with butter or baking spray.
Whisk together all the dry ingredients. Reserve a tbsp of the chocolate chips and toss the the rest into the dry ingredients.
Melt the butter and let it cool completely but don't let it set again. Whisk together the cooled melted butter, milk, egg and the vanilla essence. Fold this mixture into the dry ingredients, stirring until the ingredients are just combined.
Spoon into the prepared muffin pan. Sprinkle the reserved chocolate chips on top and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the muffin comes out clean.
Incredibly moist and with a delicate crumb, these muffins are best eaten on the day they are made and best served a little warm. I prefer them with bittersweet chocolate chips, but they are slightly bigger and don't look as nice as ones with the semi sweet chocolate chips.
You could also make them with oil, they are a little more denser when made with oil but are definitely more healthier and just as tasty.
Enjoy!
Sending this cake off to Ria who is hosting Meeta's Monthly Mingle, the theme this time is Chocolate Extravaganza
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake
That is was the case when I saw the Cinnamon Chocolate Bundt Cake on Deeba's blog sometime back. I think I headed straight to the kitchen after reading it. And ever since, I've been baking this cake regularly. Very regularly, in fact.
Not only is the cake a breeze to make, it tastes absolutely awesome. Intensely chocolatey with a hint of cinnamon, it is a crowd pleaser.
Which is why I take it very often when we go visiting friends. Which why I decided to make it for a dinner that we were invited to. But then, just as I finished measuring the ingredients, panic struck. Three of the guests had already had this cake. Now I didn't want them to assume that I knew only one type of cake, did I?
It was late at night, around 10 I think, and I really wasn't in a mood to contemplate which other cake to make and then start the process all over again. Maybe, I could change the flavour and then it would be okay. Coffee was the obvious choice. But then, just as I was reaching out for the jar of coffee, my eyes fell on a bottle of orange essence. Lying unopened for over 4 months.
And then, I was inspired.......why don't I make...oh if only I have some oranges.......which, almost miraculously, I did and so this Chocolate Orange Bundt cake happened.
Ingredients:
(Adapted from Passionate about Baking who adapted it from The Food Librarian who got the recipe from Vintage Visuals - quite a link list that!)
Water: 1/2 cup
Butter: 1/2 cup or 115 gms
Oil: 1/2 cup
Cocoa: 5 tbsps
Orange juice: 1/2 cup
All purpose flour: 1 1/2 cups
Wholewheat flour: 1/2 cup
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Sugar: 1 3/4 cup
Buttermilk: 1/2 cup
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Eggs: 2 nos
Orange zest: 1 1/2 tsps
Orange essence: 1 tsp
Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 375deg F or 190 degC
Combine the water, butter, oil and cocoa powder in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn off the gas and then add the orange juice.
Next, add the sugar in and mix well to combine. Mix both the flours with the salt and add it to the chocolate-sugar mixture. Stir carefully till there are no lumps.
Then add the buttermilk and baking soda.
Finally, whisk together the eggs, orange essence and the zest and add to the batter. Mix well.
Pour the batter into a bundt pan (grease the pan first!) and bake for 35 mins*.
(*original recipe calls for 25 mins, but mine takes between 35 and 40 mins).
Let the cake cool completely in the pan - about 2 hours - before you turn it onto a serving plate.
For the ganache - and this is optional, but adds oodles of flavour to the cake:
100 gms chocolate
75 gms butter
few drops orange essence (skip if you use an orange flavoured chocolate)
zest of an orange
Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler. Add a few drops of orange essence and stir briskly for a minute. Allow to cool and then pour it over the cake. Sprinkle the orange zest on top.
So now you want to know which tastes better - cinnamon or orange. You do want to know, don't you?
This is where I should be diplomatic and say "depends on your taste, really." Which, to a large extent, it does.
Personally, I preferred the orange flavoured one. For three reasons. One, I love the chocolate - orange combo. Secondly, the flavour of oranges does not overpower the chocolate and still manages to linger on the palate. And yeah, thirdly, this is my twist on the original recipe - sometimes, I do toot my own horn!
Nupur's theme for Blog Bites this month is Adaptation, this is my entry to the event.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Chocolate Truffle Cake
But wait, there is a good reason for it - you see, I've never been able to click any pictures for this cake. No one has the patience for pictures to be clicked. The moment the frosting is on the cake, it has to be cut and eaten.
Even this time, I had just 3 'neat' slices to click pictures of. And just take a look at what my daughter resorted to while I tried to set the plates for the pictures:
Does this give you an idea of how good this cake is?! Yes, this cake is really that good. Even if I have to say it myself. So good that even you would want to lick your fingers and the plate long after the last crumb is devoured. Very very chocolately, soft and moist....what more could you possibly want from a chocolate cake?
Perfect entry, I think, for the 'Best Chocolate Cake' event hosted by Divya!
Edited to add...My apologies to all who land on this page and don't find a recipe. Please email me for the recipe.
aquadaze@rediffmail.com
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Chocolate Fudge Cake
Every time I go to India, there is a family gathering featuring an assortment of aunts, uncles and some cousins. Oh, I really love these family get-togethers. It feels great to meet the extended family after long intervals and exchange notes on all that's been happening in our lives. The evening stretches long and the chatter is endless. Food and drink flow; starters, main courses and desserts happily inter-mingle. Photographs are passed around and gossip is shared.
The family get-together last December when I went to Pune was no different, except that at some point in the evening, the conversation suddenly veered to recollections of "what Aqua did when she was young".
I must have been some kind of a nut, for everyone had some incident or the other to share, every incident seemed more embarrassing than the previous one and all I wanted to do was burrow a hole somewhere and hibernate till the evening came to an end!
But what really ...er... took the cake was what my aunt had to say. About the time when I helped myself to spoonfuls of cake batter. Apparently, she was baking her famous chocolate fudge cake and left the kitchen after preparing the batter while waiting for the oven to heat up. It seems, unable to resist her greed, yours truly tiptoed into the kitchen and ate up some batter! And then denied it, in spite of remnants of the batter sound her lips.
She had brought along that very chocolate fudge cake for the evening; not only did she give me a large slice but also (finally!) parted with her fabulous recipe.
Very chocolately with just a hint of vanilla, this super moist cake can stand on its own without any frosting. You won't stop at just one slice, of that I am certain!
Ingredients:
Unsalted butter: 90 gms
Sugar: 200 gms
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Eggs: 2
Cocoa: 40 gms
All purpose flour: 200gms
Baking soda: 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1/4 tsp (omit if using salted butter)
Hot water: 90 ml
Buttermilk: 180 ml
Method:
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.
Blend the cocoa into the hot water, stir well so that no lumps remain.
Cream together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the essence and beat a minute.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for a minute after you add each egg.
Now add the buttermilk and the cocoa mixture alternately to the batter, starting and ending with the buttermilk. The mixture will be very watery at this point.
Finally, fold in the flour to get a smooth batter.
Pre-heat the oven for 10 mins and bake in a tube pan at 200 deg C for 40 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Notes:
My aunt sometimes adds coffee to this cake. If you decide to add coffee, omit the vanilla essence and instead mix 1.5 tsps of coffee to the hot water along with the cocoa.
I feel that adding cinnamon would do wonders to the taste, the next time I plan to ditch both vanilla and coffee in favour of cinnamon. Will definitely keep you posted!
The recipe states a baking time of 40 mins, but it took me 50 mins to bake mine. So, I would recommend that you set the timer for 40 mins and bake in 10 min increments, if the cake is not done.
I don't have a tube pan and instead baked it in a bundt pan. Whilst my aunt's cake has scarcely any cracks, mine had a few. So I guess this cake is best baked in a tube pan.
Since chocolate is always associated with Valentine's Day, sending this chocolate fudge cake to Nina who is hosting a Bake-a-Cake event as part of Valentine's Day celebrations.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Sacher Torte
I have no idea who said this, but it just about sums up my version of the Sacher Torte. The Original Sachertorte (and this is a registered trademark!) was made way back in 1832 in Austria and the recipe is a closely guarded secret. Sold exclusively in Vienna and Salzburg, I have never tasted it and so I have no way of telling whether the recipe I followed mirrors the original in taste and texture.
That said, believe me, this was one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever made (and eaten). Dense, moist and very chocolatey, this cake is pure indulgence!
Sacher Torte
Dark chocolate - 100 gms (I used Varlhona feve Equatorial 55%)
Water - 225 ml
Butter - 125 gms
Dark brown sugar - 250 gms
Eggs - 3, separated
Self raising flour - 150 gms
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Cocoa - 25 gms
Powdered almonds - 60 gms
Method:
Mix the chocolate and water and heat till the chocolate melts. set aside and cool. Sift the flour, baking powder and the cocoa.
Cream together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the chocolate mixture; then add the powdered almonds.
Beat the eggs white till soft peaks form and fold into the batter.
Pre-heat the oven to 160 deg C for ten minutes, grease and line a 9" cake pan with baking paper and bake the cake for an hour and 1o mins - oven temperatures vary, mine took only 50 mins, so do check when the aroma gets irrestible!
The recipe (adapted from the Australian Women's Weekly) like the Original Sachertorte calls for apricot jam to sandwich the two cake layers. But apparently, I wanted more chocolate and so I sandwiched the layers with Eggless Chocolate Mousse.
Eggless chocolate mousse:
Dark chocolate - 75 gms
Friday, January 16, 2009
Brownies....supernatural brownies
As kids, whenever my mother would make brownies (or for that matter, any cake), my sister and I would fight like cats. Over what, you might want to know.
No, it wasn't over who would cut the brownie.
No, it wasn't over who would get to arrange the walnuts on top of tha batter.
No, it wasn't over who'd have the last piece of the brownie.
Somewhere down the line, we learned to take turns and then over time we lost our fetish to lick the mixing bowl and focussed just on what was being baked in the oven.
But sis, I swear, this time when I made them brownies, had you been in the kitchen with me, I would have fought with you all over again and NO, I wouldn't have shared the mixing bowl with you. Afterall, these are supernatural brownies!
Calling a brownie "supernatural" - now that is some claim!
Zillions of recipes abound for making brownies, some use chocolate, yet others use cocoa powder. Some make fudgy brownies, others, cakey. Sometimes, there are chocolate chips in it, sometimes nuts. And, almost everyone who bakes will have "the best" brownie recipe!
But very frankly, when I first came across a recipe that called itself supernatural brownies, I wasn't too impressed. There is way too much sugar, I thought.
But then when I came across this recipe on Dee's blog, I knew it was spot on! Boy, did I rush into the kitchen to make them, with just a few itsy bitsy changes to her recipe.
Ingredients:
125 gms bittersweet chocolate (I used Varlhona)
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp coffee emulco
1/2 cup flour , sieved once
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, very lightly toasted
few whole walnuts, optional, for topping
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 deg C.
Melt the chocolate and the butter. I use neither the microwave or the double boiler method. This has always worked for me - melt butter and toss the chocolate into the melted butter. The heat from the butter will melt the chocolate.
Whisk the eggs , followed by both the sugars, salt and the essence, for about 3 mins. Add the melted chocolate and then, fold in the flour until just combined. Toss the walnuts in the reserved flour and stir into the batter.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Yule Log
Disaster, was what happened the first few time I baked a Swiss Roll cake. ...the cake started to crack while rolling. The roll remained "elusive" for quite a while. Till one day I read a tip in some magazine that fixed the rolling problem once and for all.
Yule logs make a very impressive and nice looking, light treat and the cake above is what I had sent with my daughter for her Christmas Party at school last year.
Ingredients:
5 eggs
for the filling:
Method:
Sift together the flour and the cocoa and fold in lightly. I do this in 3 additions. Then, add the oil, one tbsp at a time and fold in. Pour in a swiss roll pan (greased and lined) and bake at 200 deg C in a pre-heated oven for about 8 - 10 mins.
Roll as described above.
While the cake cools, prepare the ganache by heating the cream till it almost reaches boiling point (Don't let it boil though) and pour over the chocolate. Mix well and let it cool. As it cools, the ganache will thicken.
For this cake, the filling was a simple strawberry jam slathered generously. Really generously. After all, the cake was for 3 years olds!!
Ice with buttercream. I would reckon you would need about half the recipe. I used plain buttercream and then topped the cake with a milk chocolate ganache. Use a fork to give it a bark look.
The ganache, for whatever reason, went horribly wrong (the recipe is OK, my guess is that I made a mistake in measuring out the cream)...it was more runny than I would have liked it to be. But by this time, I was way too lazy to add some more chocolate to fix the runny ganache and plodded on with the one I had. Fortunately, I ended up with a nice looking log!!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Christmas Stocking Cake
Baking is an absolute passion for me. The husband, Terradaze, is convinced I suffer from withdrawl symptoms if I let a week go by without baking.
So when there was a Christmas party for kids in our condo last week, there was no question about what I was going to take.
Here's how I made this cake....
Chocolate butter cake (The recipe below is for a 8" round pan, for this particular stocking cake, I used a 10" pan and therefore, adjusted the quantities accordingly)
Ingredients:
150 gms unsalted butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 and 3/4 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence, or 1 tsp coffee powder dissolved in the milk
Method:
1. Sift the flour and the cocoa together. Sprinkle the salt and mix.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs, one by one, beating after each addition.
4. Add the sifted flour and cocoa powder alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour. Also add the vanilla essence.
5. Bake 45 mins in a preheated oven at 180 deg C , or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
(The baking time is as indicated in the recipe, my oven takes just 30 mins to bake this cake).
Buttercream:
Ingredients:
227 gm unsalted butter
454 gm icing sugar
25 ml water/milk
1.5 tsp vanilla essence
Method:
Beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffly. Add sifted icing sugar and beat for a further 4 -5 mins. Add the water/milk and the essence and beat for another 2 mins.
for chocolate icing, add 1/3 cup sifted cocoa powder.
for coffee icing, mix a tbsp of coffee powder in the water/milk.
Making the Christmas Stocking cake:
I made two batches of the buttercream. Dividing the cake into two, I used one batch of the (chocolate) buttercream to sandwich the 2 layers.
I then cut the cake into the shape of a stocking and iced it red. I also cut out a few squares from the remaining cake and covered those in fondant, to ressemble gift boxes.
Using white fondant, I cut out the top trim of the stocking and proceeded to arrange the gift boxes into and around the stocking.
Needless to say, it was a huge hit with the kids!!
This is my entry to Home Made Christmas Gifts
at My Kitchen Treasures , the Christmas Feast Event hosted by Purva and to Santa's Holiday Challenge hosted by JZ
