Minty Spiral Bread

My new love - nope, am happily married and very much in love with hubby after 11 years of marriage, thank you:-). Am talking about breads.  My humongous sweet tooth makes me bake cakes and desserts ever so often. The smell of vanilla or the sight of chocolate makes me hunt a cake or dessert recipe and get it on my table as soon as I can. But breads calling out to me - hey, this is new!!  My first attempt at baking bread was a disaster, my second one, the Masala Bread was successful. The third attempt, though the same recipe, had me and my  family polishing off the last crumb. I had never imagined myself baking breads or poring(read salivating) over bread recipes. Aah.. the sheer magic and pleasure of home baking!! Am I so glad I have started baking breads...

Baking breads(oh,forgive me, for the repetitive usage of the phrase so often in one post), I think, has one huge advantage. You get to satisfy your craving for baking without the sugar overload or without having to mark days in the calendar to check if its been a decent gap between the sugar and possibly high fat  intake in the guise of a cake or dessert.  Am enjoying my tryst with yeast tremendously and looking forward to a long love affair with breads...

After baking Masala Bread, I had promised my Dad that I would get him some of the same the next time I baked. I tried the basic bread recipe from Champa again, with a little twist,( literally:-) and out came from my oven a delightful Minty Spiral Bread.

Orange Yogurt Cake - Oh-so-delicious!!!

A spate of unsatisfactory bakes- that's what happened to me in the past couple of weeks. Like a row of flop movies- Aaw, poor joke here, excuse me:-). A souffle which rose - but not high enough, a genoise which did not seem tall enough to make a birthday cake out of, a chocolate cake which got the perfect ganache drape, but I messed up with the decoration- too big an 'Oops' to make it to the blog. My dessert did not set well enough to slice it, Agar-agar - u let me down:-(. Add the extremely temperamental electricity supply in Namma Bengaluru - would put off the most passionate of bakers I guess. Power supply seems to be so much more consistent in the past few days- Touch-wood!!

Yesterday after a long time, my oven smiled on me again. Whew!! I had seen this Orange Yogurt Cake on Pavani's blog here and had instantly bookmarked it (among scores of many many recipes, don't know when I will ever try them all!!). I love oranges in a BIG way, I don't know how many dozens of them I ate when I was carrying my first one - so much that hubby started worrying about it:-). Oranges in bakes is something I absolutely adore. I had oranges in my fridge and this seemed the perfect recipe to try - low fat, quick and super easy.

It was easily one of the tastiest tea cakes I have baked- super spongy, moist, refreshing and deliciously zesty. Thanks Pavani for sharing this recipe and reminding me of the forgotten Martha Stewart website. This cake is something which is going to be on my favorites list for a long time to come..

Pineapple Halwa - With Low Fat Khoya!

With Low Fat Khoya ready on my kitchen counter, I had to use it to make something ASAP. You don't keep such things waiting for too long right?? Its bad for my peace of mind. I mean, I will keep thinking about it to distraction and behave like a cat on a hot tin roof.  Make something out of it, polish it off - Ah! Peace!!! I usually do not make halwas as they generally need a considerable amount of fat and the ones that use less fat don't usually taste all that great. Honestly, halwas aren't the thing my mind conjures up when I think of dessert. Oh, yeah, am really partial to some desserts. But I made an exception this time and was raring to try out Pineapple Halwa, another Tarla Dalal recipe. Counting the recipes on my blog a few years from now, you can safely bet, a good number of these will be from either Sanjeev Kapoor or Tarla Dalal.

Well, this halwa was on my mind since ages. But, aaa.. hmmm... I have to first hunt for a good pineapple. If I am lucky enough to get one which is sweet and has no bruises( forgive the expression) I would need to take up the great exercise of peeling the thorny skin, ensuring there is not a single tiny black thorn hiding anywhere. If there is any fancy gadget which can help do all this, I am unaware and I would appreciate info on the same:-)).

This halwa, sounded quite unusual to me and the addition of the Low Fat Khoya added to its allure. Read on to know how this low fat sweet treat became a winner in my books.

Low Fat Khoya / Mawa

I have been missing from the blogging scene since almost 2 weeks, no 3 weeks. Whoa!! Has it been so long?? It started with my son's exams, my kids falling sick one after the other and staying at home with me. I know I often sound like Cinderella's step-mom, but having kids at home all day, and sick ones at that can be pretty draining.  And no you don't get any prizes for guessing whose turn it was next to fall sick. I really don't know if I fell sick due to sheer exertion or due to proximity with the cold and fever virus or whatever you call it. Must be the virus something, as Moms are not allowed to fall sick due to exertion, no way!!!! Yeah, I sound wicked again:-)

We also took time to get away on a short vacation to Madikeri, Coorg. I can't belive that just 4 days of being waited upon, can cause such a bad holiday hangover. Next time, I go away on a holiday, along with the freezer, I will also stock up my drafts folder before I leave:-)) Lol!

Wanting to make a low calorie dessert post the holiday binge, I tried making Low Fat Khoya, a Tarla Dalal recipe. It turned out a very good substitute for the regular khoya, a quintessential part of so many Indian sweet preparations. Imagine eating a sweet with a fraction of the calories and fat and with almost the same taste and texture as one made with regular khoya. And real easy to make?? Too good to be true right?? A sure keeper of a recipe, I see myself using this again and again and with less guilt.

Masala Bread - Taming The Yeast!!

I am on a real high since yesterday!! Baking bread has been an intimidating thought for me as my first two attempts were not-so-successful. Thanks to Champa for being a constant source of inspiration and guidance to me for baking bread. She blogs at Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen and has a huge variety of breads, muffins,cakes among a lot more scrumptious stuff, making her a truly versatile foodie. Who can resist the idea of recreating the magic of  Iyengar Bakery style Stuffed Potato Buns, Iyengar Bakery Toast, Pav buns and a whole lot of fresh home-made baked goodies?? You can't resist right?? Neither can I!! And to top it all, she also does a lot of cake decoration too. Do definitely visit Champa's blog for all this and more, if you haven't done so yet. You will be glad u did!!

I made Masala Bread from this recipe of Basic White Bread from Champa's blog. It was so satisfying to see the dough double in volume(not withstanding the dreary, cloudy weather and no sun) and rise so beautifully in the oven.Sigh! The bread tasted wonderfully good, what a keeper of a recipe!!

Egg-free Moist Carrot Cake

Here I come with yet another cake!! Yeah, I love baking, particularly cakes, precisely why I have named my space as "Cakes and More'.  I know that cakes come in here more often and the 'more' is rare. I do cook stuff other than bakes and think about posting them on the blog. But then I get too lazy to measure out my eye-balled ingredients or too pressed for time to do it in the morning rush-hour- which is when I finish my majority of cooking. I have to start work by 8.30 if I must have a productive day before my daughter arrives at 12.30. School assignments, playing peace-maker between my kids, preparation for the next day rush-hour and wrapping up the day pretty much sums up my evenings.( I know I must be making my life sound oh-so-boring and scaring away any wanna be moms) So u  get the picture right? I am a working foodie and harangued Mom of two:-)) That good enough an excuse I hope for long gaps between my posts and then coming up with only bakes. I really, seriously marvel at other blogger working moms who manage to blog more often. Oh, yep, tips on 'how working, harangued moms can blog more' most welcome!!!!!

Before you begin to wonder if you are reading a food blog or a parenting blog, lets get on to my experimental Egg-free Moist Carrot Cake. I had been feeling guilty that I bake so often, but haven't made anything which my Mother could eat. She does not eat eggs, neither does she like chocolate. Egg-less baking is not really something I am extremely enthusiastic about, for the number of hits as compared to the misses are quite less. This one however was quite tasty and moist, easy to make and came out quite well. Hope in my egg less baking keeps getting resurrected now and then!!.

Red Pumpkin Soup

Cool breezy evenings, the sky overcast with dark clouds, promising welcome showers. Can there be anything which can compare with the smell of the wet earth?  We scurry indoors, with the kids in tow, and yeah, the laundry on the washing lines too:-)). When it starts pouring, it is so cozy to be indoors with a bowl of piping hot soup and warm garlic bread. The chatter of the kids punctuated by the slurr...ps and 'Yumm..can I have some more??' is such music to the ears of the person who has made the soup. Now, in my case, the soup-maker being me, as always, I can't let Knorr or Maggi take the credit and the satisfaction. Can I;-)??  The soup making season has just about begun, though showers are few and far between in Bangalore. Sigh!! Wish the rain Gods would smile on us more frequently. Seduced by scores of soup pictures floating around the blogosphere and to make the most of the season, I tried Red Pumpkin Soup.

Devil's Food Cupcakes- My First Sweet Punch!!!!!

                 

The power baking powder has over me is amazing!!! I almost cried when I missed making the Tiramisu for the first Sweet Punch challenge. I did not want to miss the second one, but was unable to retrieve the mail with the recipe from the S P team. Sent an SOS and got a reply from SP. Thank God there were 5 days more to go before the reveal date. The weekend followed by the All India Bandh, gave me a chance and time to make these cupcakes. Well, doing this over the weekend meant  juggling school assignments, preparing my groaning 8 year old son for upcoming assessments, feeding 2 hungry kids every now and then, completing weekend chores, catching up on reading my newly acquired baking book - and then baking and decorating with my 3-year-old daughter literally hovering over the cupcakes. Hubby working furiously over a deadline was an added challenge, cos it meant only yours truly handling the kids :-))Whew!!!! But am not complaining as it was all absolutely worth the effort.

The thing about participating in a challenge is it forces you to stretch beyond your comfort zone and learn new things. Or left to myself, I would have again tried another kind of tea cake and would not have ventured to try out the vanilla cream. I am a die-hard whipped cream fan and  found the vanilla cream surprisingly good and not-too-sweet. The cream is a keeper of a recipe, so is the idea of filling the cupcakes. Thanks Sweet Punch team!!!! Looking forward to more !!

Black Forest Gateau

Black Forest cake (American English) and Black Forest Gateau (British English) are the English names for the southern German Dessert Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, literally "Black Forest Cherry Torte'.
Typically, Black Forest cake consists of several layers of chocolate cake, with whipped cream and cherries between each layer. Then the cake is decorated with additional whipped cream, maraschino cherries, and chocolate shavings. In some European traditions sour cherries are used both between the layers and for decorating the top.Traditionally, Kirschwasser (a clear liquor distilled from tart cherries) is added to the cake, although other liquors are also used (such as rum, which is common in Austrian recipes). In the United States, Black Forest cake is most often prepared without alcohol.' - Source, Wikipedia.

The Black Forest Gateau is a favorite of mine, among a score other cakes that is:-)  It is easy to make, in the sense, you need to make a chocolate sponge, plain whipped cream, no tricky things like folding in melted chocolate into the cream, no complicated decoration, unless you are extremely creative and artistic. If you are creatively challenged like me, you just do it the regular , boring way. And its specially convenient when the birthday boy or gal gives u the freedom to bake anything and you also happen to have an opened can of precious cherries in your freezer, waiting to be finished:-).  This one was for my brother's birthday. Made a deal with him, he babysits my kids whenever sis needs a short break and I keep passing on goodies I dish up.  Hey Srik, I hear you groaning?? Be a sport !!! More cakes and desserts coming your way!!:-))

Bread and Butter Pudding - With Mangoes!!

 

Mango- the insanely delicious fruit.!!  I have been eying  luscious mangoes on roadside carts, the aisles in the supermarket and been wanting to make a dessert or cake with it. The season is zooming past and I haven't been able to make any desserts from my mango-based dessert wish list. Real life, with kids, work, maid troubles taking up a lot of my time and mind space. Yeah, I know I have been cribbing about this way too much, but hey, guys, have a heart!! Having food on the mind all the time and not being able to dish them up is hardly the perfect formula towards being a happy foodie..

I started taking pics of my desserts only after I started to blog. I was previously taking pics of only my cakes, to be put up on my Picasa album.  I have made the Bread and Butter pudding a few times earlier, but this time I tried it with mango and baked it in a Bain-Marie( a water- bath).Could not resist the addition of mangoes to this classic, making it  a Bread and Butter pudding- with Mangoes.

The result was a delicious, crispy - moist pudding with pieces of chopped mango in between the layers, topped with pistachio flakes. Though he did not hugely relish the mango pieces in the pudding, my son(not much of a fruit person) said 'It is good, no, better than good, its exceptional'. Lol! Hubby, a man of few words, gave a few murmurs of praise, took a second serving...

Zebra Cake

One of the most eye-catching cakes ever!! The dark and white stripes giving this famous cake its name is a visual treat. What makes this recipe all the more adorable is that it takes hardly ten minutes to put the cake together and what you have as the end product is a kid's fantasy. Easily one of the easiest and tastiest tea cakes ever. During my initial days of blogging, I first saw this on Ria's blog and from there hopped on to Farida's blog . I instantly wanted to try this out. I must mention that my mind first wandered to the possibility of making a Rainbow Cake along similar lines.  And that was what I made first, the Zebra Cake came next.

Yup, I have used this recipe for making Orange and Chocolate marble cake, the Rainbow cake and the Zebra cake. On an average I would have used this recipe at least once a month, I am in love with this recipe:-)). I find that this one is the easiest to make on short notice as it is ridiculously quick and tastes fabulous by itself. Its extremely light, just the right amount of sweetness. So I end up making this one for my son's class party, for my cousins in my hometown, a slice for a friend etc etc.

I must say, I made this a couple of times, before I got the stripes better, and I must also admit, the stripes could have come out a lot more prettier. (Guess anything more than 3 tablespoons will make the stripes thicker as in mine)Well, that just gives me an excuse to make this again, just to improvise on the stripes:-)). Here comes my Zebra cake, the relatively pretty one among my attempts. Am sure this is one cake you would find on a lot of baking blogs. If you haven't tried this one yet, you absolutely must!! You are sure to find yourself making this over and over again!!

Healthy Whole Wheat,Oats and Sesame Crackers

 

Hot, frothy, filter coffee and crunchy, savory crackers on a rainy day evening. Sounds like bliss right?? Right!!! And if they are low fat, loaded with the goodness of whole wheat and oats, its a dieter's wish as well.

I am always wary of 'low-fat' or 'oil-free' or 'baked, not fried' category of snacks and desserts. Very few of these are truly fat- free or low calorie. They are usually, just relatively lower in fat or calories. So I try not to go overboard with the quantities of the low fat stuff, as the total calorie count would probably be more than the calories I would have consumed if the same snack was a regular, fat-laden snack. We then tend to restrict ourselves to a small quantity.   

Undoubtedly, low fat versions of any snack, most of the times are not on par in taste with the deep-fried versions. Its an acquired taste. And again it depends on how much you can compromise on a wee bit of taste for good health in the long run. Before you think I am turning a dietitian, lemme move on..:-))

I saw these crackers on Sharmilee's blog and instantly craved for them. Don't go by the very ordinary picture above, Sharmilee's crackers look super tempting. You can find the recipe on her blog here. Love her super recipes and drool worthy pics. I made these crackers and they turned out quite tasty. The flavor of garlic and the nuttiness of sesame seeds was a great combo and made the perfect accompaniment to my coffee.

Here comes the recipe

Ingredients :

• Wheat flour (Atta) - 1 cup
• Oats - ½ cup powdered coarsely( I used Quaker)
• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Butter - 1 Tbsp (add more if you prefer crispy crackers)
• Sesame seeds - ¼ cup
• Garlic paste - 3 tsp
• Salt per taste
• Baking Powder - ½ tsp
• Water - as required to knead the dough

Method:

1. ln a bowl add the wheat flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Add garlic paste, sesame seeds. Combine well.


2. Add oil. Melt the butter and add at this stage. Add water little by little to form a thick chapathi like dough. Keep aside undisturbed for 30mins.


3. Divide the dough into half. Roll each half thin and cut into squares or sticks. Combine the scrapings and repeat the same with the other half too.


4. Preheat oven to 180C for 10 minutes. Place the squares on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 15-18 minutes or until the crackers are crisp. The baking time depends on the thickness of the squares and the oven settings

Store in a air tight container. It can be stored upto a week.I  strongly recommend adding atl east 1tbsp butter.

Hubby who usually doesn't ask for seconds of the baked variety of snacks actually wanted to know I still had any more of the crackers left. A friend of mine, again not so enthusiastic about low fat versions loved the snack.  I think these will also taste good with ajwain in place of the sesame seeds or hing, green chili -ginger paste. You bet I would be making these again!!


This is also my entry to Champa's weekly Bake Off.

Molten Centered Cakes

I have been itching to bake in ramekins since quite some time. Only I did not have them. I have hunted for them in so many places, but no luck. Then I read on Ria's famous blog that she got her ramekins at Arihanth Plaza, Commercial Street. Wonderful!!! With the kids at home during the summer break, an evening on Commercial Street and dinner at the much written about Booby's Dhaba near Ulsoor lake sounded very appealing. Before I forget to mention, Bobby's Dhaba is a very small, blink-and-u-miss kind of place near the Ulsoor lake, next to the Gurudwara. Found the food extremely lip smacking and compensated for the wait and the ambiance or lack of it. Surely a place you must must visit if you are OK with eating a small joints.

Back to Arihant Plaza. Well, I found the ramekins of Treo brand, priced extremely reasonably at Rs.25 per ramekin with a lid. Isn't that a super deal?? You bet I was pleased with my purchase of the multicolored ramekins. White ones weren't available, saved this one for the next expedition.

Found this recipe for Molten Centered Cakes on Aparna's  fabulous blog. She sure has a really diverse collection recipes on her blog, My Diverse Kitchen. I specially love her bakes and of course the superb pictures. Don't think there is anybody who hasn't visited her blog, but in case you haven't, you absolutely must.

Have seen plenty of recipes for the Choco--lava cakes, but this recipe has frozen ganache in the middle of the batter, which melts when you bake. Brilliant idea!!! Absolutely loved it. And you can flavor the ganache with cointreau, coffee or any thing else you fancy. Agree with Aparna when she says its not all that exciting to eat a cake which is partially cooked and hence the center runny. Makes me wrinkle my nose too .

These little, rich, buttery light cakes exploding with silky warm ganache was a hit!! Son wanted me to 'bake the cake a hundred times' and daughter said, 'Tumba Channagide, dinaa ide maadu' (means ' its very good, make it every day). Hubby, being a chocoholic, loved it.

Thanks for sharing this fantastic recipe Aparna!!!