Plum Pudding Cake - Sweet, Fruity and Spicy Treat

It’s a gorgeous sweet, fruity and spicy treat – great as a pudding or with evening tea.

I find baking with fruits is very exciting and quite challenging. Getting a good texture and keeping the flavours of fruits alive is quite tricky if you ask me.  So when I got my hands on some lovely ruby red plums I thought of trying this cake. The heart and soul of this cake is good sweet plums so please taste your plums before taking the plunge. I came across this recipe long back on a BBC show and it’s just got stuck in my head. It’s not like I did not try it before, that warning above is coming from there. You need beautiful and sweet plums, ITS A MUST.

Other thing which I would insist on is brown sugar. Brown sugar not only uplifts the flavors of fruits in the cake but it does wonders to the texture. So get ready to bake a rich, buttery and gooey cake with me.

2 Cup Flour

1 lightly heaped Tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

1 lightly heaped Tsp ground Cinnamon

1 lightly heaped Tsp Ground Ginger

4 Tbsp of Honey

1 Cup Butter

¾ Cup Brown sugar

¼ Cup Granular sugar

 2 Cup Plums

2 Eggs (Replace with 1 Cup curd, if not using eggs)

1 Cup Milk

Pre heat the oven at 180C. Line a square baking tray with baking paper.

Sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger into a bowl.

Warm honey, granular sugar and butter very gently in a pan until the butter and sugar melts. Stir in the brown sugar. Set aside and allow to cool slightly.

Halve the plums, or cut them into quarters if they are very large, and remove the stones.

Break the eggs into a bowl, pour in the milk and whisk lightly to mix.

Pour the honey butter syrup mixture into the flour and mix with a large spoon. Pour in the egg and milk and continue stirring till you have almost sloppy batter without any lumps.

Tip the mixture into the lined cake tin, drop in the plums and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Server this pudding cake with a dollop of whip cream or just a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and see the magic.

Pita Bread and Hummus

If you have been following my blog lately you must have wondered where I was gone. Yes I had almost abandoned my blog for a month and so. Work load and not keeping well had taken a toll on me and only thing was on mind was to have some rest.  I was not able to post on blog but it did not mean I was not baking. I just manage to do what I love and so now as I am feeling better I am going to share what I have made lately. I have just posted my Focaccia recipe let me know what do you think.

All I had on my mind is baking savoury. All I wanted was to have fluffy bread with a nice dip so Pita bread and Hummus is so my thing. Once again these two so exotic dishes for an Indian kitchen are so easy to make. Don’t belive me have a look at the recipe down below:

For Pita Bread you’ll need:

3 cups flour

 4 tsp dried yeast

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Salt

2 tbsp Olive oil

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl.

In a smaller bowl, place the yeast and sugar and pour over some lukewarm water. Leave in a warm spot for about 15 minutes until frothy.

Pour the frothy yeast into the flour and mix well to form a soft dough.

Mix the salt and olive oil on the side of bowl and work into the dough. The resultant dough should be soft and smooth like a baby’s bum.

Cover with cling film or damp cloth and leave in a warm spot to double in size (about 15-20 mins.)

Knock back the dough and divide into six equal portions. Leave to rest again for about 5-10 mins.

Roll out each dough to about  3 inches in diameter.

Slap onto a lightly greased and dusted baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 200°C

Remove and cool.

For Hummus:

1 Large cup chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked until tender

2 tbsp Tahini (I use my own home made Tahini, Roast 1 cup of  Sesame  seed on low flame till they start crackling and lightly browned. Remove from heat and let it cool. Grind them with half cup of virgin Olive oil and season with salt. You will get a thick yet runny paste, you can make a fresh batch every time. It’s so quick and easy.)

4 Cloves of garlic

1/4 cup good quality olive oil

Juice of 1 medium sized lemon

Salt to taste

Chili powder to sprinkle on top

Place all the ingredients in a blender and grind to a smooth paste. Top with a liberal glug of more olive oil and sprinkle condiments of choice. Done Ta da!!

All you left to do it DIG IN!!!

PS: You have some left over Pita Bread just cut them in tringle and rub with a mix of olive oil paper and herbs of your choice and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C . Enjoy your Pita chips with Hummus or salsa.

Melting moments - Some what rustic this time

I have been following Masterchef Australia for quite some years now and this has opened up mind food wise. I used to get amaze and still do by the extent food knowledge contestant and Judges have. There are many long lasting impression on me of Judges, chefs, contestant and off course recipes which inspire me everyday. One of such contestant is Julia Taylor who was the finalist of season 4. She was this super competitive reserved lady who has strived to be at top all her life. Now she was here on Masterchef where she was among best of bests.  It was initially surprising for her that there are people better than her. She struggled to find herself in elimination as she knew and believed the she was just meant to be at top. But she realized, accepted and respected the this fact the competition is really tough and there are far more talented people against her. Then what we saw was real dedication, determination and hard work from Julia. I could relate to her a lot because I have also gone through this challenge in life. She made quite a few stunning dishes in the competition but what left a big impression on me was her “Melting moments” from cookies challenge. 

Melting moments are shortbread-like cookies that rely on butter for their wonderful flavor. I got hooked to these cookie because they look very cute and a very easy to make.

I have baked this cookie I don’t know how many times because they just disappear in jiffy. I have to admit more than half I must be eating alone. This time I have introduced my twist to make them very rustic like any home baker. First, I gave it more rustic look by baking it on bit higher temperature for slightly brownish color and used creamy tangy cheese cream filling with mixed fruit jam. I saved some efforts here by using a store brought jam. Fewhh!!!  So following is my version of melting moments.

180 gm Flour

180gm Butter

60 gm Custard

60 gm Powder Sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

Pre-heat the oven at 180 ºC

Line your baking tray with baking paper

Cream butter until light and fluffy

Add custard powder and mix, and then add powder sugar

Sift flour and baking powder together and then add to the dough

Mix until a soft dough come together

Make small balls from the dough and place on baking sheet

Use a fork and press lightly on the dough balls to create impression

Bake for 10-12 mins until golden. For bit more brownish color, I cranked the temperature to 210 and baked for anothe2-3 mins

Let them cool and then remove from the tin

Cream Cheese Frosting 

½ Cup of Cream Cheese, Softened, at room temperature

 ¼ Cup Butter, Softened, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups powder sugar

2 cups powder sugar

3 Tbs of Mixed fruit Jam

Beat together the softened cream cheese and butter until creamy

Add in the vanilla extract and beat for another 30 seconds

Now start adding the powder sugar 1 cup at a time and beating in between each addition

You can make this frosting before and refrigerate. At the time of usages can give it a whisk and pipe

Before starting assembling of cookie gently warm the jam in small pan

To assemble the cookie, pip cream cheese on the flatter side of cookie and then smear a small spoon of jam over the cheese. Finally top it with another cookie, flatter side facing the filling to make the sandwich

And now enjoy!! Crunchy, creamy, tangy, fruity bits all at the same time will just melt in your mouth

I, thank Julia every time I make these

Button Buns for many reason

When we think of fresh healthy and light starter or snacks between meals, Soups and salads pops up in our mind. But tell me honestly how many of us really go for them. Not many times because a spicy samosa or some chips would easily burst the bubble. Especially if you have a guest coming over or planning a special dinner soups and salads are not considered fancy enough to grab our attention to do more around it. 

So I have a trick out of my kitty to add some zing to plane jane soup/salad. Beside making an interesting dressing adding homemade Button Buns is an easy, simple and healthy idea. These buns not only add texture and look but makes the salads bit filling too. You can serve them with some hot soup with a chiplet of butter or a scoop of cheese spread (fancy severing options, you see. Some butter and cheese is allowed.)

As these are made of whole wheat flour and no butter, it’s very good as tea time (Yet again..Yeah!!)  nibbles or small snacks for the kids.

½ Cup Whole Wheat Flour

½ Cup Plain Flour

½ Cup Cheese (shredded)

2 Tps Baking Powder

1 Tps Salt

1 Cup Milk

Preheat your oven to 200°C, line your baking tray with parchment paper.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl

Add milk gradually and make the dough

Roll the dough lightly to flatten it out 1 cm think. Cut circles using 2 cm cutter or small bottle cap to make button bun. Please make sure the shape is small and good for one bite.

Place the buns in baking tray and bake for 15 min on 250°C.

Cool and store in air tight container.

Vanilla Bean Muffin with Cheese Cream Frosting - Baked in nostalgia of Coorg

Vacations are always good and those vacations where you have had a wonderful time lingers for long time on your mind. I have been really busy with work and so many things, on my to do list for few weeks now. As I was dealing with fatigue and stress, I just remembered my vacation in Coorg couple of months back. We all had awesome time in Coorg and even here I would like to thank, our host Mr. and Mrs. Ganapathi of Coorg Classic home stay. One of the exciting thing was to visit coffee plantation and there we got to see spice garden. It was so thrilling to see black paper bunch which was still green. Cardamom, Cinnamon and various other spice are grown in this region of south India along with coffee. The most exciting bit for me was “Vanilla Pods”. Its smell so awesome and induced appetite for cake. Apologies for not posting those pics due to some technical issue with them but here is the pic of my Vanilla Pods.

So I have brought quite a few pod for baking.  I had decided to do a recipe in which the vanilla bean will be the star and did not got a chance to do.  So now when Coorg poped up in my head again I decided to put everything on hold and take comfort in baking vanilla bean muffin.

It’s a very easy recipe, actually nothing much to do then mixing everything in one go.

Vanilla bean Muffin

1  cup Flour

1/4 cup Vanilla Custard Powder

1 tsp Salt

 2 tsp Baking Powder

100 gm Butter, softened at room temperature

 3/4 cup Powder sugar

1 egg (Use ½ cup of curd, if don’t want to use egg)

1 cup milk

1 Pod of Vanilla Pod scrapped (you can use 1 tps of real vanilla essence, if don’t get the pod)

Pre-heat the oven at 180 ºC

Line your muffin mould with butter and sprinkle flour evenly.

 (You can use paper moulds as well but as I don’t have them right now I am doing without it.)

Mix and sift are the dry ingredients together.

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.

Add the egg (or Curd) and mix for 1 minute.

Then add the dry mixture small amount at a time and alter it with addition of milk.

Add vanilla beans in the batter. Mix well and pour the batter in muffin mould.

Bake at 200 ºC for 30 minutes until golden brown on top. Let it cool in the oven then transfer on rack for further cooling.

Cream Cheese Frosting

½ Cup of Cream Cheese, Softened, at room temperature

 ¼ Cup Butter, Softened, at room temperature

1/2  teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Cups Powder Sugar

 Beat together the softened cream cheese and butter until creamy.

Add in the vanilla extract and beat for another 30 seconds.

Now start adding the powder sugar 1 cup at a time and beating in between each addition. You can make this frosting before and refrigerate. At the time of usages can give it a whisk and pipe.

I used a soft plastic bag for piping. Filled it up with frosting and pushed the cream in one of the corners and then tied a band to make my piping bag. Cut a moderated opening to pipe the icing on muffin. Start with outer edge and come circling till center. Drop some chocolate chips or colored vermicelli for fun.

You could see small beans in the muffin; they intensify of flavor and fragrance of muffins and make them shine.

Magical Giggales

There are many special dates in our lives. Birthdays and anniversaries top the list as they come around every year. Then there are dates like when we joined our first job, when we met  " The special one”, when we brought our first car and things like that. Sometimes I really get amazed that whenever we think of these special days our heart gets filled with the same feelings as we must have experience long back. One of such days for me is when my daughter was born. It felt like magic, I could not believe that little rosy bundle of joy is my own. Touch wood!!

The time has flown by and now it was her 1st birthday and I have baked everyone’s favorite dark chocolate eggless cake for our midnight celebration (Yes now days kids don’t sleep that early). Blowing magic candles making her giggle like ringing bells and its all feels magical all over again.

It’s a simple gooey eggless cake with chocolate mousse icing.

Chocolate Mousse:

Semisweet chocolate – 150 gm

Butter – 2 tablespoons

Cold Heavy whipping cream – 1 cup

Pure vanilla extract – ½ teasp

•  Take semi sweet chocolate and butter in heat proof bowl.
• Put this bowl on top of simmering water saucepan. Basically we are melting the chocolate by double boiler technique. Make sure that water is not touching to the bottom of the top bowl. Melt the chocolate completely and stir continuously. You can do it in the microwave as well; just keep chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl and warm for 2 minutes. Remove it from double boiler/Micro wave and let it cool completely for about 15-20 minutes.
•  Meanwhile whip the cream in a bowl by using hand mixer or by hand with wire whisk, until go get soft peaks. When you pull the whisk out of cream a peak of cream will be form and it will remain there until you shake the bowl gently. At the soft peak stage cream feel firm yet soft and light like foam.
• Add vanilla extract and gently whip one more time. Don't over whip now.
• If melted chocolate mixture is cooled completely, add third of whipped cream to it
•  Fold the cream in gently by moving your spatula round and then cut that round in half. (We do not want to deflate the whipped cream.)
• Then add another third of cream and fold. Then add remaining whipped cream and fold gently. It will be very airy in texture.

Keep this in the refrigerator. Now move on to the cake. It’s a simple vegetarian cake with good taste and great texture.

Eggless Chocolate Cake

2 cups   refined flour

1 tsp   Baking powder

¾ tbsp   Soda bi-carb

1 cup   Thik curd

A few drops Vanilla essence

1 cup   Milk

¾ cup   White butter

¾ cup   Caster sugar

6 tbsp   Cocoa powder

• Make sure all the ingredient is at room temperature. This makes a lot of difference in baking.
• Preheat oven to 180*C. Grease a cake tin and dust with flour and remove excess flour.You can also line it with butter paper instead of dusting flour.
• Sift flour, baking powder, soda bicarb and cocoa powder together. Heat the milk till it is lukewarm.
•   Whisk the curd, caster sugar, butter and vanilla essence together till smooth and frothy.
• Fold in the flour mixture alternating with milk. Mix quickly but gently to a smooth batter.
• Pour into well-greased cake moulds and bake on the centre rack for 8 minutes.
• Check the cake, remove cake from the oven and after a few seconds, Demold it.

When the cake is completely cooled off, spread the mousse icing on top of the cake. Take generous amount of the icing and spread evenly from top to the sides. Try to spread in one stroke till edges to get a smoothly finished icing on the top. Though you can have fun as you want, try making small swirls and spike by a flat knife. As my cake was birthday cake, I kept it smoothly finished and filled up some mousse in the piping bag (I made at home from butter paper) and made some twisty borders at the edge. Melted some dark chocolate and filled it in another piping bag to write on the cake.

Chocolate mousse cake icing  does wonders to this simple cake. Its not just add the rich creamy lux to the cake but  also accentuate the chocolaty flavor. You can add a spoon of coffee with chocolate while melting the chocolate for making mousse. Grownups will love it even more. ..

                                        Happy Baking!!