Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baking. Show all posts

Chocolate Cake with Butter Cream Icing


Wish you all, a very happy new year. May you all have a healthy, prosperous & peaceful life.
This is my first post for the year and thought let me start it with the yummy choco cake, I baked for Christmas.

I am a novice when it comes to baking and this is the second time, I am baking a cake; first attempt at icing. We had some friends come over on the Christmas day and they liked it. Hope it's not a white lie :)

Come to think of it, I added chocolate syrup,butter,condensed milk and whatnot. So it did taste great and it was a decent attempt. I had never thought I would venture out baking a cake. Leave alone baking, not even in my wildest dreams, I have seen myself getting passionate about cooking & blogging. Life definitely is a magical journey and such unexpected twists & turns make it worthwhile.

This attempt has also enlightened me on the amount of calories that goes into a piece of cake. Now, I will think twice before eating it.

On to the recipe, I have adapted this from Sandhya's Swirly Chocolate Walnut Cake.
I didn't use walnuts in my cake and added choco syrup instead of cocoa powder. Otherwise, it is pretty much the same, except for the swirling effect. I made this as a single cake.
She, in turn had mentioned in her post that she referred to Divya's Zebra Cake. So, thanks to Sandhya & Divya.
I got the icing recipe from net. After doing the icing, I thought why not decorate it with some choco shavings to make it richer. So, did that.

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Hershey's chocolate syrup - 2.5 tablespoon (I used generously for a rich chocolate taste)

Wet Ingredients:

Eggs : 2 (You can use even3)
Sugar : 1.25 cups (I added a little more since the chocolate syrup might make the cake bitter)
Sweet cream butter unsalted - 3/4 th cup + a little to grease the pan
Sweetened Condensed milk - 3/4 cup (Remember it should be sweetened or else you got to add extra sugar)
Milk - 1/2 cup
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp


Method:
1) Sift together the flour and baking powder.
2) Beat the egg in a mixing bowl. Then mix the sugar and beat together till frothy. Use an electric mixer for the best result.
3) Add the condensed milk, vanilla extract and beat well. Add the butter, milk,chocolate syrup and mix well.
4) Add the dry ingredients and beat everything together without any lumps.

The cake batter is ready. It should be of pouring consistency. If you find it thick, you can mix a little milk. Fill it in a square/circular pan and bake in a preheated oven at 325 F for an hour.
Check with a toothpick.
The cake pan should be filled up to half its depth since the cake will rise.

Icing:
Ingredients:
Butter - 1 cup
Confectioner's Sugar - 3 cups
Chocolate Syrup - 1 tablespoon

Mix everything using a whisker. If you find it hard, mix a little milk/cream.

Decoration:
Chocolate shavings (grated some hershey's chocolate) and sprinkles

Setting up the cake:
Wait for the cake to cool down.
Carefully cut across the middle of the cake using a cake knife.
Place the bottom layer in a cake tray/plate. Apply the icing using the cake knife just as you butter a bread. Make it a thick layer. Place the other piece of the cake such that the icing is sandwiched.
Now start applying the icing all over the cake. For an even finish, I dipped the knife in a cup of water, now and then. But not too much water.
Now decorate with the chocolate shaving and sprinkles.

I'm sharing my cake with all of you.

Update:
Sending this to Divya's Show Me Your Cake event.

Also, to Mahimaa's Cakes and Cookies event.

Macaroni hot pot

One more in a row to go for the kids lunch event. This is the first event I am participating after starting my blog and hence very enthusiastic about it. It is lot of fun. As and when I cook something which is fit enough to be eaten by kids, I send it off as an entry. Thanks Srivalli, for being such a good host. Eagerly waiting for the round-up!
This is cooked as a one-pot meal and with ingredients like cheese, butter, pasta etcetera, it is sure to impress everyone at home. But this is something to be served straight from the stove (oven) when the cheese is melty. What more do you need for a weekend lunch?

Ingredients:

Macaroni - 1 to 2 cups
Mozarella cheese - as you wish
Onions 2
Capsicum - 2
Butter - 2 tablespoon
tomatoes - 2
Tinned corn - 1/2 to 1 tin
For White sauce
maida - 1 cup
Milk 1/2 cup
Butter 1 tablespoon

Method:

1. Boil macaroni in hot water till tender.
2. Drain and keep aside.
3. Fry the chopped onions till tender and pink in the melted butter.
4. Add the macaroni, salt and 2tsp chilli powder. Mix well and keep aside.
5. Fry capsicum and tomato along with the corn.
6. Melt the butter, fry the maida, add the milk little by little and stir till the white sauce thickens.
7. Grease a baking tray and spread the macaroni. Top it with capsicum, tomato and spread the white sauce. Sprinkle the tomato sauce and cheese. Bake at 180 deg for 15 to 20 min or microwave high for 3 min.

Sure to melt in your mouth!
http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2009/03/monthly-mingle-31-kids-lunches.html http://whatsforlunchhoney.blogspot.com/2006/04/my-monthly-mingle.html