Mini Chocolate Loaf - Easy Breezy Baking

My love for tea has incited my interest to explore more around its cup of warmth. I absolutely love English High tea. I feel it’s so classy and luxurious to spend your evening with a cup of tea being served with nice and fresh tea breads, scones, loafs, cookies, pies, cakes and bars…Umm Yummms. Sounds like pampering. 

Basically this concept of high tea was started by British Royal ladies. In those times of tight corsets it was very difficult to eat much during lunch time.  By early evening hunger use to strike back so this routine of having tea  with small treats at 4 o’ clock started. This not only fill the stomach to go till dinner but tasted great with tea.

And now days as I am more inclined to bake bready things I thought of baking a chocolate tea loaf.  I have been very nervous around yeast lately because most of the time it did nothing to my dough. The thing with instant yeast is you get your success sign in the very beginning. If you were ignorant like me, first thing you need to learn is to know whether your yeast is alive or dead. When you put your yeast with warm water, sugar and milk it start reacting to form a foaming mixture. If you see all that had happened and your mixture is bubbly and foamy, you have a alive yeast. On the contrary, if bubbles are not formed or very thin layer of froth has appeared, you very much have got dead yeast. Only thing you could do is to discard this mixture and start with a new yeast. It’s a must to have an alive yeast or your bread will not prove and rise.

To get started all we need is: 

2 tsp active dry yeast

1½ Tablespoons Lukewarm Water

½  Cup Lukewarm Milk

2 Tablespoons Superfine Sugar

50g Unsalted Butter, melted

2¼ Cups (335g) Flour

1 eggs

Dark Chocolate squares – 6

Place the yeast, water, milk and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a large bowl and set aside in a warm place for 10 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface.

Add the butter, flour, eggs and another 1 tablespoon sugar to the yeast mixture and use a spatula to mix until a sticky dough forms. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean, damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Make a ball of dough and roll out 1cm-thick to make a rectangle.

Divide it by cutting with a sharp knife into 6 rectangle pieces. Place a chocolate square in the middle and fold the dough inward like wrapping a gift and seal the ends to make loaf like shape.

**Please make sure that chocolate pieces are big enough to get wrapped properly and should not be too small or else you would not be able to get good bits of chocolate.

Place these mini loafs on a baking tray lined with baking paper and set aside for 30 minutes or until risen. Sprinkle some granular sugar on top.

Place them in a pre-heated oven at 220°C and bake for 20 min or until golden brown.

Cool on wire rack and you are ready to enjoy crusty from outside and soft buttery bread with a rich gooey chocolate.

Its a winner….and sure pleasure thing to bake and eat.

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.

Chocolate Glazed Doughnuts

Ever since I have made Doughnuts at home (Yes, I can proudly say that) my husband is just not interested to eat any store brought one (Yes I am writing from Cloud number nine ;)) and Now I am making them quite often.

This time I thought to upgrade them with a glaze and no marks for guess, Chocolate is the most obvious one.

How to make doughnuts part is not changed at all and here is your Recipe of doughnut.

 

Sky is the limit when it come to glaze these doughnuts, its just the matter of what you find handy to play around with. As we don’t get many exiting sprinkle options here in grocery next door or even in Super markets. I would insist on sticking to using only good tasting options rather than anything available.

I used plane dark chocolate glaze which is super easy and taste good.

All you need is:

1 Cup Chopped Dark Chocolate

½ Cup Unsalted Sugar

1 Cup Confectioner Sugar

1 Tbsp warm water

Melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave for 2 minutes giving a stir every 30 sec .

Add sugar and water in small amounts and mix well after every addition to form a nice glossy not so thik paste.

Dip the doughnuts one at a time and keep on a wire rack to catch the access.

Let it cool for a while, you can place the tray in refrigerator for 5 min for quick set.

If you want to perk them  some little sprinkles, it will be fun.

Lemon Cupcake with Lemon Glaze

As summer is on peak, I am going crazy for fruits of this weather. Seriously if you look at it, how cleverly nature has balance everything. All the fruits of summer are so water rich, light and refreshing. Think if would not have watermelon, Lime, Muskmelon, cucumber and etc. etc in summers, what it would have been like.

So as this fruity and fresh flavor was on my mind, I thought of baking something with them. So a Lemon cupcake was my calling.

Yet again, I have got this super duper easy recipe but what I am more excited about is the Lemon glaze icing. This icing is so simple yet so special because this not only looks and taste good but adds another level of texture to the soft like cloud cupcake. 

The extra punches of lemony zing with crunchy sugar intensify the flavor.

For Cupcakes

1/2 cup  Unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 cup  Granulated sugar

2  Eggs (use 1 cup curd, if you don’t want to use egg)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 and 1/2 cups Flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Milk

Zest  and fresh juice of two medium lemons

For  the Frosting

1cup Granular sugar (Pulsed once in the mixer, so that its slightly powdered but not superfine)

2 Tbsp of Lemon Juice

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

In a bowl beat the butter and sugar together with a handheld mixer whisker attachment on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until creamed and fluffy.

Add eggs (or Curd) and vanilla and beat on medium speed until everything is combined, about 2 -3 minutes.

In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 additions and stirring by hand after each addition.

Add the milk, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix until just combined, do not overmix. This batter will be thick.

Divide the batter between 12 liners in your cupcake pan. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Get the frosting ready just before cupcakes are going to be done. Combine sugar and lemon juice in small bowl and stir once or twice, just to enough to bring them together.

Pour one tablespoon of lemon sugar paste on “Just out of oven” cupcakes, spread and add some more glaze if needed. The heat from the cupcake will melt the glaze slightly, which will help it to run, spread and finally cling as it cools off.

Enjoy your bites into this crunchy, sweet and tangy glaze followed by soft, fluffy refreshing lemony cupcake. Don’t tell me you are not showered with compliments and thanks.

Chocolate Brownie made super easy

When a girl is not feeling that great well what really perks up her mood..yes we all say loudly Chocolate!!!! (Yet Again).

So yes I have baked couple of intense chocolate things lately. I have a special corner for brownies in my heart, not just because they taste sooo.. good but also for the reason that I have a very simple recipe for that (Because I am just about easy to bake stuff). So I have whipped up and baked these brownies one Sunday morning while making breakfast. Excuse for some not so great pics because before I could click the photograph my two year old would just grab a piece and start eating… :D.

A good brownie has good chocolate flavor loaded with nut and chocolate chunks with this gooey texture and slightly crusty top. Achieving all this not difficult at all. You just need good ingredients and lot of love while handling the batter. Though this recipe is very easy just asks for slightly higher attention while mixing the better. Please do not over mix the better, just enough to bring everything together. Over mixing the batter will spoil the texture of the brownie.

2 ½ Cup Plain Dark Chocolate Chopped

1 Cup unsalted butter

3 Eggs (Use 1 ½ Cup Curd, if you dont want to use eggs and make Eggless Chocolate Brownie) 

1 ¼ Cup Light Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup  Flour

1/2 Tps Baking Powder

1/2 Tps baking Soda

1 Cup gm Walnuts Broken ( You can add chopped milk and white chocolate as well)          

Preheat the oven at 190 ºC. Grease and line a square baking tin.

Melt the plain chocolate and butter in microwave for 2 min but keep string it every 30 sec or you can melt them in heavy base saucepan.

Beat Together eggs and sugar then beat in the melted chocolate mixture.

Shift together flour and baking powder and add this is in wet mixture. Add walnuts and mix to bring everything together.

Pour the batter in the baking tin and bake for 40 minute at 190 ºC until cake feels just firm on the crust but soft underneath.

Please do not overcook or the brownies will be dry.

Leave to cool in the tin and when cooled, turn the cake out and cut square pieces.

Yes, this is it and you will have heavenly chocolate brownies. Believe me you could just keep on eating them and they are so inexpensive as compare to the store brought ones. I hope you would try making them at home, as there is no reason you should not and let me know…who all were drooling after you ;)

Double Chocolate Cupcake with chocolate frosting

In the west you hear lot about comfort food, honesty this term does not make much sense to my Indian foodie heart as I feel everything we cook is comforting and specially what our mother would  cook for us is the ultimate comfort food. With this thought, I was thinking what really pops in our head when most of think of one thing which would bring a smile. Chocolates!!!

I am sure I could not be wrong with that. We all are so obsessed with chocolates and its loved by every age and gender. So I got my sleeve’s up to bake dark, rich, soft and extremely chocolaty double chocolate cupcake with a smooth chocolate frosting. Well I did not made my frosting super chocolaty as I like the chocolate chips to stand out but you can go ahead with adding 2-3 full tbsp of coco powder to intensify the chocolate flavor in the cupcake frosting.

Though I started with a mood to do beautifully frosted cupcake but in the end lost the steam and again washed my hand by rustic look (lazy look, I should write rather) but the taste did the talking and my little one came running for the next one as soon as finished her first cupcake.

Double Chocolate Cupcake

1/2 cup Unsalted butter

80gm Semi-sweet dark chocolate

1/2 cup Cocoa powder

3/4 cup All-purpose flour

1/2 tsp Baking soda

3/4 tsp Baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup  granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp  vanilla extract

1/2 cup  buttermilk

Dark Chocolate Frosting

2 ¾ cup Confectioners’ sugar

2/3 cup Unsweetened cocoa powder

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

6 Tbsp heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips for decoration

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Line a 12 cup cupcake pan with cupcake liners. I used a 6 cup pan and baked in two batches.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave for 2 min and stirring every 30 sec. You may also melt the butter and chocolate over low heat on a double boiler. Stir until smooth and let it cool a bit.

In a bowl, mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together until thoroughly combined.

 In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Add the cooled butter/chocolate and whisk until smooth.

Add half of the flour mixture, then half of the buttermilk. (To make buttermilk at home just add a tsp of  white vinegar in ½ cup milk and let it stand for 5-7 min.)***

Repeat until everything is added. Stir until just combined; do not overmix. The batter will be very thick, so don’t worry.

Divide the batter between 12 liners in your cupcake pan. Bake for 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting: sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa powder to assure there are no lumps. Set aside.

 With a handheld mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy - about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sifted sugar/cocoa powder alternately with the heavy cream and vanilla. Beat on low speed after each addition. Once all added, beat on high speed until creamy and combined for at least 2 minutes. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is too sweet.

Frost cooled cupcakes and top with chocolate chips and that’s it. You have these lovely cute intense chocolate cupcake inviting to taste them. Do bake them and let me know, how they turned out.

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