Chocolate Orange Loaf Cake.......and an excuse for missing from blogsphere

I've been off from the blog sphere from almost last 3 weeks or so, my last post was on auto schedule. Thanks to those of you who stopped at Spicebuds to write down some wonderful words and also sorry for missing all those wonderful posts out there. Now reason for not being active here, it's not me being lazy but we decided on a little road trip of  940 miles in two days.......many days went into packing before the trip & unpacking is still going on, two vehicles, two adults, two kids, two days, start to finish 7 states covered.......

excitement of thinking back & writing about all this adventure made me forgot to mention that one vehicle was a U-haul.......I know, I know what all you guys are saying Oh!!!!! "moving" now the story is clear...."How possibly some one would take a adventure trip amidst all the snow storms we are getting this season here in USA" right? that's what U guys were thinking??? But believe me if I ever start a travel blog I'll have many such adventure trips to share(not related to moving at all)......but really Thankful to GOD, No Complaints at all, the days we were in the process of moving(loading, travelling & unloading) skies were clear and sunny, it was colddddd but clear skies.

Now coming to the recipe, no I didn't baked it for our trip but it was baked back in dec. for Teacher Appreciation Day in my 3rd grader's school. When I asked the event Organiser about any suggestions what to bake, she simply said for some reason teachers like anything with chocolate in it. So I decided to make Orange Chocolate Cake because I had some good oranges on hand. Google to the help and instantly decided on this recipe which is originally from Nigella Lawson, but as the ingredients were weighed in this recipe so started to do some calculations of mine & somewhere between that time again googled and found this recipe which again is from Nigella Lawson(yes, it's basically same recipe) but this second link gave the ingredients measured in spoons & cups, making my work little bit more easy. I did tweaked the recipe a little bit acc. to what I had in my pantry at that time and also reduced the quantity of butter. I used 9x5x3 inch loaf pan, recipe given is for one loaf, here goes the recipe :

What I used :

For Cake/Loaf

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (used unbleached kind)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup buttermilk at room temp.
• 2 small oranges, zest of (1 tablespoon)
• 1 small orange, juice of (3 tablespoons)

For Orange glaze :

• 1/2 cup Confectioner sugar
• 2 tablespoon Orange juice

What I did :

1. Preheat oven to 325°. Grease 9x5x3 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix the butter, honey, syrup and sugar until smooth. I used electric mixer.
3. Add egg & mix in.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and cocoa powder.
5. Mix around 2-3 tablespoon of the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture.
6. Add half of the buttermilk and mix it.
7. Add few more spoonfuls of dry ingredients and another round of mixing.
8. Add rest of the buttermilk.
9. Mix in remaining dry ingredients, mix everything together and now it's time for orange zest add it and lightly mix it.
10. Finally at the end, add the orange juice.Pour batter into the prepared pan.
11. Bake for 45 minutes or so.
12. Leave it in the pan for a while, take it out on the wire rack to cool completely.
13. Once the cake is cooled, make the glaze by mixing both ingredients to pourable consistency & drizzle it over the cake. If needed adjust the quantity of sugar and juice to get the consistency and taste U like. 

Note : I did made the same recipe without egg & it turned out good just replace egg with 1/4 cup buttermilk. Also baked this in the med. size bundt pan(6"), above recipe was perfect for two med. bundts, they are not only cute but perfect size for a small family. Did used a little extra cocoa powder in this and also choco. glaze to suit kids taste buds.....

Eggless Black Forest Cake BUT no cherries

November is the month for party & celebration in my house. Other than regular festivals we have 4 birthdays and 2 wedding anniversaries to celebrate and out of these 6 celebrations 5 fall within the period of 10 days . This year I decided not to bake any cakes for anniversaries but for birthday's no excuse. So today I'm sharing this birthday cake I baked for my little one, she is two now, independent enough to do everything by herself(at least that's what she thinks). She had lots of fun whole day singing her b'day song...."Happy birday toote cakeah" and do I need to say the girl enjoyed the cake as much as she enjoyed singing her b'day song.

Recipe is simple, you basically need two or more layers of chocolate sponge cake, fresh heavy whip cream, some maraschino cherries and some good quality chocolate bar.  And once you assemble all this tasty stuff into layers the end result will be Black Forest Cake. My cake won't count as true Black Forest as cherries are missing from mine, mainly because b'day girl love MnM's and also I opted not to use any cherry liquor(kirsch) which is traditionally used  to soak the cake but rest of the elements are there. Mainly it's the whip cream which my kids love to eat cakes with so I decided to go for this. I baked the batter divided into 2 equal parts in 6 inches round pan, it sounds small but with our family of four I found this is the perfect size of cake plus it's going to be double layer so everybody gets enough.....plus I've a personal reason also, if I bake big cake then I get to bake less often....so small cakes mean more baking. Now for the recipe :

What U need :

For Cake :

• 1 cup all purpose flour/maida
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar(not using much sugar here as we r using sugar syrup & sweet whip cream)
• 1 cup buttermilk OR 3/4 cup of home made dahi + 1/4 cup of water
• 4 tablespoon butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla essence

For Syrup :

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon regular white sugar(adjust as per your taste, how sweet u like)

For Filling and Assembly :

• 1&1/2 cups fresh heavy whip cream(I only had 2 layers of cake in case if u r using more layers, will need more cream)
• 2-3 tablespoons on confectioner sugar(depending upon once taste.....more or less sugar)
• handful of M'n'M's (for filling if U can find small M'n'M's that works great, I was out of them so I used regular size only)
• semisweet chocolate bar

What U do :
For Cake :

1. Mix all the dry ingredients & sift  them to make sure no lumps are there.
2. Cream butter & sugar. Add buttermilk or dahi. Mix it.
3. Slowly add dry ingredients & mix everything together.
4. Divide the batter into two 7 inches greased pans & bake them in pre heated oven at 350 degree F till the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
5. Let the cakes cool completely.

For Syrup :

1. In the mean time while cake is cooling mix the water & sugar & make a syrup. Keep it in the fridge.

For Filling and Assembly :

1. Whip up the cream with confectioner sugar to stiff consistency.(* see Baker's Notes) Keep it cold by placing it in the fridge when not working with it.
2. Keep one cake onto cake board/serving plate, using a pastry brush drizzle/rub some syrup into it.
3. Spread some whipped cream, around 1/2 inch thick layer & sprinkle some M'n'M's(see Notes if using cherries) onto it.
4. Now put second cake upside down on it (* see Baker's Note at the bottom).
5. Drizzle some syrup onto it.
6. Using a offset spatula spread some icing on all the sides, if U have a turntable make sure to use it here because it really makes it easy. If icing on sides is not very smooth don't worry as in any case chocolate shavings will cover the sides.
7. After icing on the sides ice the top of the cake, smooth it out.
8. On parchment paper grate/shave the chocolate bar, I like to use my vegetable peeler, just make sure it's washed & dry(no vegetable odors)(*see Notes)
9. Now come the most tedious or U can call it fun part  decorating the sides with the chocolate shavings. I did it the way I've always done it. Before starting with icing I always cut 4-5 strips of wax/parchment paper around 4-5 inch wide put them around & under the cake in a way so that half of the strip(width wise) is under the cake, so in case if icing etc. fell on the cake platter it's much easy to clean. Now either use your hands directly or put some choc. shavings on a piece of parchment paper & try to put it on to the edges.....icing will work as glue and will hold the shavings but there will be lot of chocolate shavings falling down & will get sticky & melty too so when it's done, to clean up U just pull the strips at the end and as a bonus U get to lick all that chocolate which falls on these strips...BUT now this is tedious way that's what I think & till now I never thought about googling it also as I normally decorate a cake once in a while(and my kids in routine are happy with some lots of whip cream & sprinkles on top). But now as I was writing this post thought about checking on web about same issue.....except the first result of my search nothing else(at least on the first page) delivered what I was looking for but that one result does answer this problem(click here if interested) and next time I'm gonna try that and yes it will change the sequence of steps in the filling & assembly part as according to that forum this should be the first step.
10. Decorate the top of the cake as U wish with M'nM's or cherries or cover it totally with chocolate shavings.

Click of Baby Black Forest (it's hardly 4-5 inches in diameter) I made last year when hubby dear said no to Black Forest cake for his b'day (made after his b'day to satisfy my craving) & instead he wanted this one. 

 Notes :

1. If using cherries drain & de-seed them. 
2. For filling crush some cherries and spread them inside the layer along with the whip cream, making sure do not spread them to the edges, keep at least 1 inch margin from the edge of the cake, otherwise when U put the second layer on top of it filling will come out.
3. Try to handle grated chocolate gently as it will melt quickly with your body heat.

Baker's Note :

1. Whenever U want to decorate a cake make sure to use downside up(or call it upside down) because that's the smooth side.
2. When whipping the cream make sure the bowl, whisk & cream everything is chilled otherwise it might not give U the right results.

Off goes this cake to Champa for her weekly bake-off.

Palak Kadi (Spinach in Yogurt base gravy)

Kadi is different than curry. The Kadi which I'm talking about today is basically yogurt based punjabi kadi, made using chickpea flour. Regular combination is with pakoras, which is absolute favorite of mine. Where as Curry is a term mainly used for any kind of dish which is gravy based and can have many versions of it, like tomato based, onion & tomato based, coconut based. To get the perfect flavors of punjabi kadi you need sour yogurt/home made dahi, even buttermilk will also do. It's perfect way to turn sour yogurt to tasty dish. So if you have 2-3 days old dahi, it's perfect for kadi or otherwise I prefer to leave it out of the fridge overnight at some warm place  and next day cook it into kadi.

What U need :

• 2 cups of sour dahi / buttermilk / plain yoghurt (in case of yoghurt dilute it using 1/2 cup of water)
• 4 Tblsp. of chickpea flour (beasn)
• 1 big bunch of spinach washed & chopped
• 1 tsp. black mustard ( rai) seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin (jeera)
• 2-3 cloves (laung)
• 2 whole dry red chillies
• 1 Tblsp. chopped garlic
• 1 Tblsp. chopped ginger
• 3-4 green hot peppers chopped
• 1tsp. tumeric (haldi) powder
• 1 tsp. coriander (dhania) powder
• 1 tsp. degi mirch / paprika

What to do :

1. Whisk the yogurt, add chickpea flour and all dry spices to it & whisk it to remove all the lumps. Keep it aside.
2. Heat little oil in a heavy bottom karahi/wok. Add mustard seeds, cumin, whole red chillies, cloves and let them splutter a bit.
3. Add garlic, ginger and sprinkle some salt on it, to prevent ginger from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Add the yogurt mixture to the pan.
5. Add around 4 cups of water. Once the whole mixture starts to boil turn the gas to the setting( med. high works for me) where it will still boil but won't overflow. 
6. Let it cook for approximately 30 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Add spinach and let it cook for another 20 minute or so. Also adjust the consistency of the kadi, add more water if it's getting too thick or let it boil bit more if it's too thin. 
7. Once cooked, kadi tends to get thicker keep that in mind while adjusting the consistency.
8. Classic combo is with rice but you can always serve it with naan/ roti.

If the yogurt / dahi was sour you will get the perfect sour kadi. The recipe above is missing pakoras and some whole spices in it which are normally used when punjabi pakora wali kari is made, as my kids don't like Kadi with whole lot of whole spices in it. I will post the punjabi kari with pakoras whenever I make next time, this is little litter version of that.

Before I sign off this post I would like to say thanks to my blogger friends for visiting my blog everyday for  last 7 days and  leaving thoughts on my spinach week special. Though there are many more recipes which I cook with spinach but either they are very usual one like saag, dal palak, palak paneer or I didn't get to take the pictures. So, for now no more spinach on the blog everyday but it's surely making it's appearance on our dinner table everyday. And once in a while more recipes with spinach will make appearance on the blog too.

Worm in the Mud Cupcakes

"Whatever Cupcakes"

I know Halloween is gone but I wanted to share these "whatever cupcakes" I made this Halloween. Why I'm calling these whatever cupcakes, because in my mind I planned to make my regular cupcakes but then I realized that DD wanted Chocolate one this time.....so i added little bit of cocoa powder then I noticed I don't have enough buttermilk & I also like to throw in a spoon or two of almond meal to make things little bit more healthy. So this recipe is more of a guideline then exact......

Ingredients :

• 1 cup all purpose flour (maida)
• 2 tblsp. whole wheat flour(Chappati atta)
• 2 tblsp. cocoa powder
• 2 tblsp. almond meal (fine or coarse grind almonds)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 2 squirts of honey
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar(sugar is less then regular b'coz I planned to do icing)
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup regular milk
• approximately 1/4 cup orange juice(water or milk can be used)
• around 6-7 Oreo cookies broken into pieces.
• few gummy worms

As I wrote above one thing lead to another, so I basically used muffin technique. Mixed all the dry ingredients in one bowl. Take another bowl mix together buttermilk, milk, honey & sugar using a whisk. Now add dry stuff to wet mixture & whisk it together, if you feel batter is too tight add little bit of orange juice at a time, mix together till u get nice cupcake consistency batter.

Now pour approximately 1 tblsp. of batter into each muffin mould then sprinkle few broken pieces of cookies & then pour rest of the batter on top(that's for the surprise when u bite into it, alternatively you can use choc. chips or coarsely grind nuts also). Bake them at 350 degree F for around 20 minutes, till the toothpick comes out clean.

Once cool do your favourite icing & then again sprinkle them with few broken pieces of Oreo cookies & for worm part just make a hole in the cupcake using the backside of wooden spoon(the one which have round handles) & stick a gummy worm in it .

Note : I didn't used any butter or fruit sauce & buttermilk is also less then how much I use regularly, so these are best eaten at room temperature or warm. If you eat them direct from the fridge you might feel them little hard & also less sweet,but warm tasted very good.

Irish Soda Bread

"I'm always watching my weight. I don't eat sweets like cookies or chocolate. But bread is different. I can't even have one piece, because when I start, I don't stop." by : Daniela Pestova

Photography by "R" with her original idea

I choose Irish Soda Bread as my first bread to bake by myself for one particular reason : it's very easy to follow instant recipe with few ingredients(i had everything in my kitchen) & i feel it's kind of foolproof recipe for a first time bread baker(maker).Now, what exactly is Irish Soda Bread ?

It's a type of quick bread in which bread soda (otherwise known as sodium bicarbonate or baking soda) is used for leavening rather than the more common yeast. The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, bread soda, salt, and buttermilk. Other ingredients can be added such as raisins, egg or various forms of nuts. Soda bread dates back to approximately 1840, when bicarbonate of soda was introduced to Ireland. Soda bread eventually became a staple of the Irish diet.

Actual recipe is from Parents.com it says Irish Brown Bread over there, but i guess it's same as Irish Soda Bread because it uses Soda & buttermilk which are the key ingredient for this bread.Though i did made few changes after doing my web search and result was pretty good.

Ingredient :

1. 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour(Maida)
2. 1-1/2 cups whole-wheat flour(I used regular chappati flour)
3. 1/2 cup quick oats
4. 1/2 cup wheat germ
5. 1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder(not in actual recipe but i added it)
7. 3/4 teaspoon salt
8. 1-3/4 cups buttermilk
9. 2 tablespoons honey

Directions :

1. Heat oven to 400°F. In bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, quick oats, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

2. In small bowl, using fork or a whisk mix buttermilk with honey(Spray your measuring spoon with Non-stick spray, so that honey doesn't stick with the spoon). Add liquid ingredients to flour mixture; stir to combine.

3. Turn dough out onto floured surface & gently bring it together(no need to knead the dough) and shape into a circle( I greased my hands using 3-4 drops of Olive Oil while forming it into circle). With a sharp knife cut a X mark on top of the loaf around 1&1/2 inch deep.

4.Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes( You can use a Pizza stone if you have one, I used greased Cast Iron Skillet).

5. Reduce temperature to 375°F and bake 15 minutes more or until the bread sounds hollow when you tap it. Let cool 20 minutes.

Ready to go in the Oven

And It's Ready.

Note : Mine was baked in exactly 30 minutes but timings may vary from oven to oven.

Review by my family : Here in this section I'm planning to keep a note regarding the review of my experiment under the following categories, which i feel will be helpful to anyone who wants to try this recipe & also, if after long time I myself want to repeat the recipe.

Look : We all loved it how it look. My daughter said it's pretty but doesn't look like bread b'coz she never saw a round bread before.Now time to cut it .

Crust & Inside : Had a great hardy crust(for DD it was too hard....did I told you guys that she takes crust of her sandwich bread too)but she liked the inside of it.Inside was kind of textured (crumbly but not falling apart)It's not airy like french baguette but it's hardy.Like to mention here that this bread was quite filling one, i guess b'coz of the whole wheat flour & oats I used in the recipe.

Serving Suggestions : DD eat it with her favorite strawberry jam.Adults liked it eating it plain or toasted slice with butter.I even ate it with lentil soup in the lunch, tasted delicious.

Storing : Kept two slices on the shelf for first two days. Second night moved it to fridge.Because of the milk used in the recipe I was not sure about storing it outside for longtime.

Rating : I had never tasted Irish Soda Bread before, so really can't compare. But i would say overall it tasted really good(everybody in the family liked it).Good choice for bread making beginners like me.Pretty Easy to make.

Don't forget to checkout my next experiment with Bread making/baking. And "Diwali Mubarak" to all of You.

I'm sending this delicious Irish Soda Bread to CFK-Wheat guest hosted by Sireesha of Kidz Delight, event authored by Sharmi .

Eggless Chocolate Almond Cake

My experience of baking cake goes way back to my school days. I guess that was the first thing i ever cooked(does baking cake counts as cooking??) for so many years & loved it. It use to be basic cup-a-cake, no frosting & i use to do it in the old fashion way with no oven, yes you read it right, No Oven. So what's the secret, "cooker", that's how i learned it from one of my friend's mom and that's how i made it for years before my mom got the oven & even after that. That was then but what about now, I still loves to make cakes but now they are mainly in the form of cup cakes(hello....I've kids & who doesn't like to get the whole cake & sometime two....it's a different kind of satisfaction).

But now with the experience i try my hands on different kinds of cakes mainly eggless & less butter & sometime butterless. Now what's with this cake.... O.k it was my hubby's birthday past week & my daughter was saying can u make a real cake.....means cake with layers & frosting(which i usually don't do). Birthday boy wanted it to be something like he saw on the food network a day before, a "German Chocolate Cake with Nuts" & he really wanted it to be full of nuts. The moment he described his desire for the cake, dear "R" announced if you put nuts in it I'm gonna take them out from my share. Well I myself, was looking more towards "German Black Forest Cake" from past few days. So 3 different tastes to cater but one common thing : "Chocolate".

So the solution, half side of the cake was decorated with the coarsely chopped roasted almonds & rest half with the sprinkles. Icing was basic chocolate icing. I did put some whip cream & a cherry on the top for my satisfaction that it has some touch of Black Forest plus a lot of whip cream on the side.I did do a little bit of cheating from R, while putting the layers together i added chopped almonds to the chocolate filling. While eating she thought that those were chocolate chips...ha...ha...ha..

End Results : One Tasty & good looking Cake + One Happy Family.

Before you read this recipe I have to tell you, this is not how i make my usual cakes, normally i use very very less fat in my cakes but this is after a long long time that i used this much butter but then i really really wanted to make something like this & then it's a four layer cake also.But one good thing it's eggless and c'mon it's not bad to indulge yourself occasionally & believe me this was really really Moist Soft Rich & Tasty Cake. I'm gonna make it again but may be with half the butter & if u want sugar can also be reduced in case if icing is to be done, so u can eat it guilt free.

Ingredient :

1. All purpose flour : 2 cups
2. Unsweetened Cocoa powder : 3/4 cup
3. Baking Powder : 1 tsp.
4. Baking Soda : 2 tsp.
5. Salt : a pinch
6. Unsalted Butter : 1/2 cup (1stick) at room temp.
7. Buttermilk : 1 cup at room temp.
8. Milk(i used 1%) : 3/4 cup at room temp.
9. Vanilla Extract : 1 tsp.
10. Sugar : 2 cup (can be reduced up to 1& 1/2 cup)
11. Roasted almonds(chopped) : 1 cup or more(plain & not salted) (optional)
12. Semi-sweet choc. chips : 1/2 cup
13. Milk for choc. filling : 3-5 tblsp. (2% or full cream)

Steps:

1. Sift first 5 ingredients together to make sure that there are no lumps.

2. Take a large mixing bowl & beat the butter in it, add sugar & keep beating. Once the sugar is mixed nicely with the butter it's time to add buttermilk.Now add the milk.While mixing the batter remember to mix it in one direction only.

3. Next add the dry ingredients in batches. At this stage if batter is of little tight consistency add 2 more tblsp. of the milk, mix it well & repeat the process till u get nice cake like batter.Add vanilla mix it nicely.

4. Grease 2 round baking pans with little butter & dust with some all purpose flour. Shake the extra flour off the pans by turning them upside down.Pour the cake batter evenly in both the pans.Bake these at 350 degree oven for roughly 30 minutes (mine were done in around 28 min.). As time & temp. varies from oven to oven so i always give it a check after first 25 minutes & after that go accordingly.

5. Once they are done(do the toothpick check-toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean) let them cool on the shelf for around 20 min. or so. To take them out of the pan run a knife around the sides of the pan to make them slightly loose & then put a plate on top of the pan & while holding it together turn it upside down & very gently shake it. Now let the cakes cool down completely.

6. Time to assemble the cake : first make the chocolate filling, microwave the choc. chips with 3 tblsps. of the milk for 20 sec. stir them again microwave for another 10 sec. stir it. Keep repeating the process till choc. chips are melted. Also you might need to add more milk but 1 tblsp. at a time only. This filling gonna be of smooth & thick consistency(it should coat the back of the spoon ). in case of it getting too liquidy you can always add more choc. chips but that will add to the quantity of filling at the end.So go slow on the milk.

7. Once the chocolate is melted add half of the almonds to it & mix them well so that they are fully coated with the choc.

8. As i wanted to make it 4 layer cake i had each cake cut into two circles so that I've 4 cake rounds. Now take the first cake put it on a flat surface & spread the chocolate almond filling on it, top it with the other cake & repeat the process for all the 3 layers. Top it with the final(4th) layer.

9. Now finally cover the whole cake with the basic choc. frosting. Spread rest of the almonds on the top & you can also put them on to the sides as the icing will hold the almonds, you might have to press them a little bit......messy but a tasty job.

10. Let it set in the fridge for at least 20 min. but only if you could wait that long. In our case we (me & my daughter) did till step 8 in the afternoon & put it back in the cooler box(yeap i mean fridge) and when we were doing final decoration my dear hubby came & we forced him to cut the cake quickly so that we can feast on it.Yummmmmmm.

Note : I will post the Basic Chocolate frosting recipe also in few days.