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.

Keema Patties/ Puff Pastry with Minced Meat filling

As I promised in my last post, here's one very easy recipe using keema(minced meat)....Keema Patties as we use to call it in India or I should say Savoury Puff Pastries with minced meat filling. It can be served as snack or as we like to have it as holiday brunch item also. Usually I cook keema a day before for this & then it's his responsibility to get these patties/puff pastries into final shape & to the table. You can use any left over keema or make fresh batch, only thing important here is, it should be totally dry & at room temperature. In case of any water in the cooked keema cook it on the high flame without any cover & keep stirring it till all the water evaporates & keema is pretty dry. Let it cool completely before using in the recipe. Following recipe will yield 4 patties.

What U need :

• 3/4 cup cooked keema(recipe here) for filling
• 1 ready-to-bake puff pastry sheet(each pack has two) thawed acc. to package direction

Note : Fish out the bay leaves & whole red chillies from the filling.

What U do :

• Open up the pastry sheet. Cut the puff pastry sheet into 4 equal squares.
• Divide keema filling into 4 equal parts. Put each portion of filling into the centre of each square.
• Wet one of your finger and run it over the inside edge of pastry sheet square.
• Fold it into triangles & press gently onto the sides to seal the edges. Repeat with all the squares.
• Put it on a lightly greased baking sheet. Using a fork pierce the triangles at 3-4 places. Bake as per the package directions or at 400 degree F till the patties turn lightly golden brown.
• Serve with your choice of sauce/ ketchup/ chutney and please be careful, meat inside will be really hot & did I told U they are addictive and I really mean it.

Keema Matar(Minced meat and peas) with hidden veggies and Upcoming Review

Today I want to share few things with my readers. First of all wonderful people at CSN contacted me again as a preferred blogger back in the month of sep. for review of any product from their stores (I see new gadget coming into my kitchen for a review). I promised them but  never get to blog about it, and now after almost one & a half month when I came back they still have that offer open from me....so they are wonderful, right? Today I was browsing their collection of  Dining Tables and came across this Dining nook set, how I'm wishing I had a little big apartment so I could have something like that in my dining area. Always love that kind of table, give me the feeling of being kid sitting on that bench.

Another thing to share is an award passed to me by one of my favourite blogger Suma of  Cakes and More. No doubt I love her Cakes/Bakes but also like More section of her cooking too. She is a wonderful cook & a Baker too. Thanks Suma, for sharing the award with me and sorry also as it took so long to post this award.

Also sometime back in the month of Oct. it was Spicebuds first blog anniversary, I myself was so busy with the family back in India that I totally forget about it. Now, moving to today's recipe it's very simple & tasty. Everyone in my house loves it, it's perfect for the times when U don't want to spend lot of time in front of the gas but still want all happy faces on the dinner table asking for another helping. Also a very versatile dish....can be served with rice, roti or naan. When U read the recipe you'll see why I love it so much.....it's quite easy to sneak in some extra veggies(see notes at the end) in this meat dish without losing actual taste of keema. This recipe serves 4 hungry tummies.

What U need :

• 2 pound of minced meat of your choice chicken/turkey/lamb (*see notes)
• 7-8 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped
• 3-4 green hot chillies
• 1 med. onion finely chopped
• 2 stalks(branch) of celery, finely chopped
• 3 med. size tomatoes, finely chopped or pureed using blender/food processor
• 1 tblsp. of tomato paste
• 1/2 cup (or more)  peas
• 1 zucchini, finely chopped or very thinly grated.........totally optional
• 2 small carrots very thinly grated(good idea to use food processor here).............totally optional
• handful of fresh cilantro leaves for garnishing
• cooking oil *see notes
• salt
• 3-4 dry red chillies
• 1-2 bay leaves (tej patta)
• 3-4 cloves (laung)
• 1 tsp. cumin (jeera)
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric (haldi)
• 2 tsp. coriander powder (dhania powder)
• 1 tsp. red chili powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala

Notes : Chicken & Turkey keema(minced meat)  comes in many varieties in terms of Fat contents in it. When U look at the packet it says something like 93/7 means 93% fat free & 7% is the fat content. this is what I normally choose as I'm gonna use around 2 tblsp. of oil also for sauteing the garlic, ginger, onions & celery. But there is something like 80/20 also, so U can choose as per your taste & requirement or u can mix  & match.

What U do :

• Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan, add cumin, dry red chillies, bay leaves & cloves. Once they start to splutter which should not take more then 15-20 sec. or so add garlic, saute it.
• Next goes ginger & a sprinkle of salt, which helps ginger not to stick with pan.
• After few seconds, in goes celery & onions, saute till they are soft & onions are translucent. Now add minced meat to the pan & brown it, also break the big lumps of meat using back side of a big spoon. I prefer to do this step on high gas while stirring it, once the meat is brown(it release some fat too) turn the gas to med. & keep stirring it occasionally making sure it doesn't stick let it cook for 5 minutes or so.
• Time to add all the dry spices except garam masala. stir it thoroughly. Add peas, zucchini & carrots, this will add some moisture also. Let it cook for another 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
• Add green chilies, tom. paste & tomatoes. Cover & cook till done, approximately another 15 minutes or so. Check in between to make sure it's not sticking, if needed add water .
• Also toward the last 5 minutes of cooking add water as per the consistency of the final dish U need. We don't like it too liquid kind just little thick gravy kind to go with rice so I usually add around 1/2 cup of water.

Things to Note : If u r using veggies like carrots they gonna add little sweetness to the final dish so U might want to add extra heat by using an extra chilli or chilli powder.

Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro & serve it the way U want or for some extra ideas wait for the next post.

Back to blogging and a Flower Cake to share

First of all thanks to new followers & my readers who asked for my well being thru emails and sorry also as I could not respond to those mails or for that matter any mails during past 6-7 weeks. There I was back in mid of September, working on one of my post which I never get to complete and sudden plan for trip to India, my mind started working on another post just to tell the Blog world about my break & I never get to write that too. Now in the middle of night, making good use of jet lag, while I'm writing this post I'm thinking what happened to all that time where did it go, some of that is captured in camera as life long memories, some of it is in suitcases(in terms of shopping I did there) which are still lying every where in my living room but most of it is in our mind and hearts.....the time spent with family, watching kids playing and fighting with their cousins, urge to eat every single food which we like over there (still missed on so many), watching my little one that how she picked up new words and now her favourite word is "nahi" instead of "no" which is basically hindi for no only.....instead of "give me" now it's "lele" (hindi for take it)......list goes on & on.

Now, coming to the cake part this is the cake I baked for my DD's 8th birthday party this year back in April but never get to post it. So, I thought why not share it now. It was a basic egg less chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. This was my first public debut cake I would say, not that I have not baked cakes for friends & family before but in terms of real cake(decorated one) as my daughter say, this was the first one. I have always loved to bake cakes & my family and friends always enjoy it also but back in march when I told my DD how about I bake cake for your b'day party this year, reply was "Ohhhh.....no...no...no!!!". But once cake started to take shape she was on the cloud nine and me too..... it was a relief when the cake was totally done.

Here's another look....ready to go to party place....

tried my hands on making figures(using some help from the net) with fondant to give it a  little 3-D look, worked wonderfully

some leftovers after serving around 25 guests and getting few best compliments of my life

finally my helping hands

If anyone wants any details on the cake let me know I'll be happy to answer. That's it for now, will be back soon.

Peaches, Peaches & more Peaches......turned into......Salsa, Preserve & Ice Cream

Chutney, Preserve, Pickle, Salsa these were the few areas I was thinking and making almost a month ago. Many a times when I go for weekly grocery shopping I go overboard with fresh veggies & fruits. So trip to 2 different grocery stores in a day & a trip to peach orchard in the same weekend end result sweet & sour yummy treats. Though I've made quite a few Chutney's & Pickles etc. in the past few days like Mango Chunda/chutney/preserve  but today it's Peach time. Most of them were eaten just like that & few firm ones were turned into Salsa & riped ones were turned into peach preserve & finally over-riped were turned into cold treat peach ice-cream.

Fruit picking is one thing which not only kids enjoy but we as an adult also enjoy it equally. I still remember first time when we took our then 3 yr. old daughter for her first strawberry picking she was excited but Dad was over excited to get the freshest and juiciest fruit that I came back home with almost 15 pounds of fresh strawberries. I prefer to eat fruit just like that but that was the first time I started to make strawberry preserve, since then it's regular in my house. Now some recipes to use up all the juicy peaches no matter whether U picked up yourself  from the orchard or from the local farmers market.

Peach Salsa : I have to say this was among one of the best salsa I make, not only because we adult loved it but my 8 yr. old said she loved the combo I made, when I asked u liked the salsa, she replied whatever u call it(in her world salsa is either red or green) it's tasting good with this chicken tikka & pasta salad(that was the dinner). It's more of a guideline then a recipe U can change the fruit & veggies that goes in as per your taste or availability, also adjust the spices level as per your taste.

 What U need :

• 3 firm peaches, skin removed(see notes)
• 1 small cucumber
• 1 tomato
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 stalk celery (optional, we like the crunchiness of it, if using make sure to dice it very fine)
• 1/2 green /red bell pepper/capsicum/shimla mirch  (I used 2 Anaheim peppers)
• 3-4 hot green chillies
• 1 tsp. black pepper (kali mirch)
• 1 tsp. roasted cumin powder(jeera powder)
• salt
• handful of cilantro(hara dhaniya), chopped
• juice of 1 lime(nimbu)

What to do : Chop everything into small pieces except lime. Mix it in a big bowl, add black pepper, salt & cumin powder, squeeze the lime juice on to the mix. Mix it, taste it, if needed adjust the seasoning, cover it & keep it in the fridge. I prefer to make fruit salsas on the same day, usually 2-3 hours before I need it. If for some reason you want to make them ahead of time(in case of party or so) don't mix salt, cilantro and lime juice, get everything else ready & keep it in the fridge. When ready to use add salt, lime juice & freshly chopped cilantro.

You can serve it with Tortilla chips. pita chips or as a side for grilled fish or chicken, it goes well with roti(Indian flat bread) & rice also.

Variations : I make same recipe using mangoes also & mixing both fruits peaches as well as mangoes. If u want to make mango version only, try this one 1 mango + 1/2 cup of pineapple & leave the cucumber & tomato out, plus rest of the ingredients from the list, tastes awesome.

Peach Preserve/Chutney :

What U need :

• 3 Large ripe peaches
• 3 tbsp. brown sugar (can use regular one)
• 1 cinnamon stick(dal chini)
• 3-4 cloves(laung)
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. red chilli pepper
• 1 tbsp. white vinegar (can be substituted with lemon juice)

What U do :

1. 
   
   Remove the skin off from the peaches(see notes). Roughly chop them, remove the stone/seed.
2. 
   
   In a non reactive pan add peaches & sugar  let it sit for an hour or so.
3. 
   
   Add all the spices  cook the mixture for 20 minutes or so on med. heat. Check the sugar level U can add more at this point if U like, these peaches were very sweet so I didn't used a lot of sugar.
4. 
   
   Add Vinegar & cook till all the water evaporates around 5 minutes or so.
5. 
   
   We don't like fruit preserves to be very thick. So I cook it to the point where it's still little loose as when it cools off it gonna get thicker. To check that, preserve should coat your spoon but if u take the spoon out preserve should drip like honey.

** I use little pepper & red chili powder as it gives the preserve a nice little kick, as per your taste u can totally leave it out. I did not make the big batch as everyone in house preferred peach salsa(no sugar so he loves it) & peach ice-cream(this got lot of sugar, but when it's ice-cream he don't care...lol!)

Peach Ice-Cream : I didn't took any pics, sorry about that. It's same recipe as Mango Ice-cream we used around 4 large peaches fully riped. Take the skin off(see notes) & remove the seed also. Roughly chop the fruit & sprinkle 2-3 tablespoon of sugar from the total sugar u r using. Leave it for around 2 hours in the fridge. Pulse the fruit pulp in blender making sure it's not fully pureed as we like little bites of fruit here & there in ice cream. Now follow the same directions as we did in my previous ice cream.

Notes :

In case of fully ripe skins, usually u can simply peel the skin off using your fingers(first make a little cut on peach using knife). In case of firm ones boil a pot of water & add few peaches at a time in it for 40-60 seconds then transfer them to ice-cold water for a minute or so & now u can peel the skin off. Enjoy the last bits of summer.

Healthy Banana Bread loaded with all the good stuff....not only Whole Wheat but Eggless too

It's been little busy over here, summer vacation is over. Trying to set some routine after 2 & 1/2 months of  break. Mind is working hard again to find interesting options for school lunch & after school snack, on top of that this year in 3rd grade they have to take snack too. So here's this simple recipe which I feel is a very good option for any time of the day snack, we have been eating this as morning breakfast with a glass of milk or coffee. It's quite filling & healthy too. It's Banana Bread but not regular kind, I'm using not only whole wheat flour but oats also in this. I had no plans of making this bread but thanks to my little one she has found one new hobby, whenever she can grab a banana she likes to peel it, until now she usually would eat it too, but now-a-days she only peels them & she's done. Now what do I do with 3 peeled bananas in a day. So I twisted my regular banana bread recipe added few more things to it and here goes the recipe(please do check the variations at the end of the recipe, got whole wheat version too) :

What U need :
dry ingredients :

• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. all purpose flour (I used maida)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour(I used atta-flour used for making Indian style flat bread)
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 /1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tsp. dry ginger powder(optional)

wet ingredients :

• 3 med. size ripe bananas
• 3 Tbsp. veg. oil
• juice of 1 orange
• 4 Tbsp. honey
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar

good stuff :

• 2 Tbsp. dry roasted flax seeds
• 1/2 cup roasted, chopped almonds
• 10 dates chopped

What U do :

1. Take all the good stuff(nuts & dry fruit etc.) & sprinkle 1 Tbsp. of flour on them & mix them with the hand so they get good coating of flour. It  helps preventing them from sinking to the bottom of the pan.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients using a fork making sure no lumps are formed.
3. In a big bowl mash bananas using the back side of fork & add rest of the wet ingredients from the list.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet ones. Gently mix them.
5. Add mixture of good stuff to the batter, fold it in.
6. Bake it in the greased loaf pan for 35-40 min.(till the tooth pick comes clean) at 350 degree F.

Note :

This bread was little crumbly but very flavorful, it reminded me of fruit cake & was quite soft even for next couple of days. I did made this for 3-4 times in this month but every time with little variations. Actually this recipe is very forgiving one can easily adjust the ingredients according to the availability or taste. All the variations had almost same amount of oats.

Variations :
First was with half all purpose flour & half whole wheat flour.

 Second was with totally whole wheat flour, came out really good without any compromise on taste.

Third was again totally whole wheat flour but I added 2 Tbsp. of Ragi(finger millet) flour & 1 Tbsp. of flax seed(alsi) meal(powder) also. Instead of almond & dates I only used around 1/2 cup of black raisins & I didn't had any oranges so I added 1-8 0z. carton of apple juice, reduced oil to 2 Tbsp. only(works fine) also reduced the sugar a little bit. Bananas used were also one & a half only. I baked them in mini bundt pan so baking time was reduced to 16 min. only at 350 degree F(recipe yielded 12 mini bundt cakes-I had filled each cavity to 3/4 level). I highly recommend this recipe if you are trying to bake with whole wheat flour as it was light & not at all heavy texture. And these were not at all crumbly. Here's the click...

And this wonderful healthy bread/mini bundt cakes  goes to Champa for her weekly bake-off.

Winner of $60 giveaway and Strawberry + Blueberry Preserve / Jam

First of all thanks to all the readers who took time out to browse thru my recipes and left the comment on the previous post, really meant a lot to me. Now, for the winner as you all know there can be only one so I took help of my daughter to pick one. Yes, I'm little old fashioned still have not figured out(read it as lazy also) how to use Random.org so wrote all the names on piece of paper, folded each piece of paper, mixed together in a bowl, picked one and Congrats to Eve for winning $60 gift certificate from CSN. I'll send you an email with all the details, enjoy your win and Thanks to CSN for giving me the opportunity to host this giveaway.

Now for today's recipe here's a simple Strawberry and Blueberry Preserve/Jam.

Simple ingredients no fancy stuff, I'm making this from almost last 5 yrs. One of his Aunt when she visited us from dehradun-India(hub for strawberry cultivation in India) gave me this simple recipe, since then I usually make it every other week in strawberry season. My husband doesn't like store bought Jams/Preserve but this is one home-made preserve he eats with everything. I even freeze it for couple of months(I don't do canning) when I get big supply of strawberries, just thaw it in the fridge before use(see notes). I prefer to keep it in the fridge and it goes well with pancakes, as a spread on toasted bread, on top of ice cream or simply spoonful from jar to mouth. Now for the recipe :

What U need :

• 
  
  1 pound of fresh strawberries
• 
  
  1/2 cup fresh blueberries
• 
  
  3/4 to 1 cup white sugar (depending upon the sweetness of berries)
• 
  
  juice of half a lemon

What U do :

1. 
   
   Wash all the berries. Hull the strawberries & roughly chop the strawberries.
2. 
   
   In a heavy bottom steel pan(non-reactive) put all the berries and mix sugar in it. Let it sit for 3-4 hours.
3. 
   
   On a medium heat bring the berry mixture to a boil add lemon juice & let everything cook together till it becomes thick & glossy, keep stirring in between.
4. 
   
   Once the fruit is cooked & all soft you can mash it with the back side of your spoon, that way it's still chunky but don't have too big pieces of fruit. It might take around 20-30 minute or so to cook the whole thing depending upon how juicy the fruit is. Once cool transfer it to sterilized jar. 

Note : You can easily leave the blueberries out for only strawberry version. Also this is not very sweet, it's more of sweet & tangy in taste but if U like more sweeter version U can simply increase the quantity of sugar. For freezing I usually portion it into roughly 2 week supply & fill it into glass bottles and don't fill to the brim, because when it freeze it expands so need extra space otherwise the bottle will crack. I usually fill 3/4 of the bottle.

As I'm writing this post, in my mind I'm planning to make a fresh batch of this preserve in the morning as the one made last week is already finished, little one enjoyed licking it from the plate. So go ahead and try it at least once before the strawberry season slips away.