The Candy Train!

This one was specially crafted for Avantika, a very cute and cheerful little girl for her second birthday. The cakes were of two flavours "Mommy's brownie" and "Vanilla". The tracks were made from twizzlers and pretzel sticks with butter frosting (recipe on my other blog) used as a gluing agent. Two rectangular sheet cakes and a loaf cake were used to make the engine, boggies and the wagon. Left overs of the loaf came in handy for the train station. I used "DOTS" candy for the engine and wagon lights, oreo cookies for the wheels and junction boards. And then I used KitKat, smarties and wafer rolls to deck up the CANDY TRAIN! It sure was a Super Hit!!! Click below to view the complete image.



The Candy Train!

Mommy's brownie

The reason I call it "Mommy's brownie" is because this is her creation which she introduced at  her cake shop"Gourmet Delights". This is not the conventional chewy brownie but a hybrid between the fluffy chocolate sponge cake and the chewy brownie. Trust me, it's delicious and with a lot of practice, I've come somewhat close to bringing to it the original taste! So, it deserved a spot on my blog.

Preparation time: 20 min
Baking time: 28 min
Difficulty level: low
Serves: 8-10 people
Baking temperature: 360F

Ingredients:

Eggs – 4 (at room temperature)
Butter or Oil – ¾ cup (melted and cooled)
Sugar – 2 ¼ cups
Flour – 1 1/3 cup
Baking powder – 2 teaspoons
Cocoa - ¾ cup
Salt – just a pinch
Water – 1 cup
Semi-sweet or Bitter-sweet chocolate chips - optional


Procedure:

Grease an 8" round baking pan or an 8" bundt pan with butter or oil and dust with flour. Pre-heat oven to 360F. It generally takes 10 min for the oven to pre-heat. Break the eggs and lightly mix (do not beat). Keep aside. Sieve flour, cocoa and baking powder in a mixing bowl. In another mixing  bowl mix sugar and butter. Mix in the sieved mixture to the sugar - butter mix. Add the egg mixture to this. Add salt. Add water. Gently mix till all ingredients blend together. Pour the cake batter into the greased pan. Drop a few chocolate chips. Bake for 25 - 28 min. Prick a toothpick into the cake to check if the cake is done. The toothpick must come out clean  or with minimal crumbs. It is okay to take the cake out of the oven a few minutes before it is completely done because it continues to bake for a few minutes after too. Once the cake cools (30 - 40 minutes), flip it over a wire rack to allow cooling on either sides of the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before icing it.

Happy Baking!

Tips:

• Use parchment paper on the bottom surface of cake pan to avoid the cake from sticking to the pan.
• If the cake seems stuck to the sides of pan, scrape the sides using a plastic spatula.
• For quick cooling of the cake, toss it into the freezer for 7-9 minutes.
• For more moistness, add half cup milk to the cake batter.

Butter cream frosting

Ingredients: For a 9" x 13" cake

Butter: 1 cup unsalted (softened; ice cream like texture)

Powdered sugar: 3 cups (or more depending on required consistency)

Salt: 1/4 teaspoon

Vanilla extract: 1 tablespoon

Milk: Up to 4 tablespoons (or more depending on required consistency)

Confectioner colors: of choice

Procedure:

Beat butter for a few minutes with a hand mixer or a mixer with a paddle attachment. Add the powdered sugar and reduce the speed of the mixer to prevent the sugar from blowing around and messing up your kitchen! Continue mixing until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. You can then increase the speed of the mixer and add the vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk. Beat for another 3 minutes. You can add more sugar if you require a stiffer consistency. And to thin out the frosting, add the remaining milk (1 tablespoon at a time) since you don't want to thin it out completely. Then, if you like you can add confectioner colors of your choice. Add any amount of color depending of what color you desire. I'd suggest you make the colored frosting at one time for all of the cake since you may not get the exact color during the second run.

I tried this out for the first time for my piano teacher's grandson's birthday when I made a "Spider-man" cake for him and the kids simply loved it.

Dum aloo

I got home at 6PM and it was a Friday evening! This was hard to believe given I'd had the last 4-weeks (inclusive of weekends) packed with work. My roommate made us lovely coffee and we savored it with an hour of "How I Met Your Mother". The weekend had just begun and it felt perfect. It was simply too good to be true. We usually dine out on Friday evenings since I'm not back from work until 8PM but, this Friday was different. So, I thought I'd stay home and try something new! I must say my friends really enjoyed this dish, they could not stop licking their fingers :P and so I guess this recipe won a spot on my blog!

Preparation time: about 30 min (excluding the soaking of potatoes in salt water)
Serves 4


Ingredients: 


Potatoes: 20 baby potatoes or 4 medium sized potatoes cut into quarters
Cardamom: 1 pod
Cloves: 2-3
Bay leaves: 3-4

Onions: 2 medium sized  sliced (not finely chopped)

Peppers (Serano or green chillies): 2 long ones (you can do 1 if you're NOT the spicy types)

Tomatoes: 1 medium sized (or 2 tblsp of tomato puree)

Ginger paste: 1 tbl spoon

Garlic paste: 1 tbl spoon

Yogurt: 1/2 cup

Chilli powder: 1 tsp (1/2 tsp for the less spicy types)

Cumin powder: 1 tsp

Garam masala: 1/2 tsp

Gram flour (besan): 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Cilatro: 2-3 stems (chopped)

Vegetable oil: 3-5 tblsp

Procedure:

Prick the potatoes with a fork and soak in salt water for about an hour. This lets the salt seep into the potatoes so its not plain on the inside. Drain the water and pat the potato pieces lightly with a paper towel. Do not squeeze all the water out since that will remove the salt as well. Heat about 3 tblsp on oil in a shallow pan and fry the potato pieces till they turn golden brown. Keep aside. In a pot, heat about 2 tblsp of  oil. Add the bay leaves, cardamom and cloves. After a minute, mix in the peppers. Lightly fry for about 30 sec and then add the onions. Cook until onions turn translucent. Mix in the ginger and garlic pastes. Cook for a minute. Add chopped tomatoes or puree. Cook until the tomatoes are almost done. In a cup, mix in yougurt with chilli powder, cumin powder, besan, garam masala and salt. Pour this into the pot. Add about 1/2 cup of water and cook for a minute. Mix in the potato pieces. Cover with a lid and cook for about 3-4 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with chapati or naan!

Yenjoi madi!

Paneer tikka masala

One of my friends had a fractured ankle and could barely walk. Something that can cheer anybody is a snack! Moreover, my friend's a foodie and had an intense craving for spicy Paneer tikka masala. So there goes my story that led to this exotic preparation of the Indian cuisine.

Ingredients: serves 4


Paneer: About 20 - 1/2 inch cubes
Peppers (Serrano or green chillies): 1 or 2 (depending on how spicy you like your food!!!)
Onions: 2 (medium sized - thinly sliced)
Tomatoes: 1 (medium sized - finely chopped) or 3 tblsp tomato puree

Turmeric powder: 1/4 tsp

Coriander powder: 3/4 tsp

Corn starch: 1 tblsp

Sugar: 1/2 tsp

Garam masala: 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Cilantro: 2-3 stems (chopped)

Marinade:
Chilli powder: 1 tsp

Coriander powder: 1 tsp

Crushed ginger: 1 tblsp

Crushed garlic: 1 tblsp

Salt: 1/2 tsp

Vegetable oil: 2-3 tblsp

Yogurt: 1 tblsp

Procedure:

In a bowl, mix the ingredients of the marinade. Add the paneer cubes to it and rub each piece to evenly spread the marinade. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour. Heat oil in a pot and saute the marinated paneer cubes for about 3-5 minutes till they turn golden brown in color. Keep aside. You can choose to use the same pot to make the gravy. 

Gravy:

Heat oil in a pot. Saute green chillies for about a minute, add onions and saute till they turn translucent. Mix in chopped tomatoes or puree and fry until oil separates from the mixture. Add coriander powder, turmeric powder and salt. In a small bowl, pour 4-5 table spoons of water and mix in the corn starch. Add this to the pot. If you want it saucy, I'd recommend you add about 3-4 additional spoons of water. Cook for about 1 or 2 minutes. Add sugar and garam masala. Mix in the paneer cubes. Cook for about a minute. Garnish with chopped cilantro. Serve with hot Naan or rice. I definitely prefer Naan :)