100% Whole Wheat Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Pure Vanilla Glaze | Strawberry Shortcake Day

I made these long ago when the strawberry season was at its peak but never got around to posting it. 🙂 Recently I was cleaning up my data & then realized that I totally forgot to blog about them. 🙂

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Then I thought why not schedule for the Strawberry Shortcake Day on 14th June!

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Since January this year, I’ve been making recipes with smaller & simpler helping which are sweet & fattening but moderately so. I am not making them TOO healthy, sugar-free, etc but I’m trying to cut the portion size so that we indulge. But, only a little!

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

So I chose to make shortcake with a twist. I made some strawberry scones as they are similar to a shortcake base!

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

I made a tried & tasted recipe from Smitten Kitchen with some few changes of my own. I added basil leaves. Did I tell you they are my new-found love.

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

I halved the recipe, substituted flour with whole wheat flour & used vanilla glaze for the extra zing and to mimic a shortcake whipped cream. 🙂

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

For sometime, I’ve been meaning to start using The Vanilla Bean. Finally I took the plunge here. I had no idea what the glaze with real vanilla seeds should look like and I am not sure if the seeds should be so clearly visible in a glaze.

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

But what I do know is that we loved it! The taste was real real Vanilla & just perfect to go with the scones.

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Overall I think this was a perfect sweet-after-dinner nights. Just pop one or two with some fresh strawberries, topped with glaze.

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

I would surely like to try these with some more fresh berries of season – may be mulberries, raspberries, blueberries! So many options, so many possibilities!

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Strawberry Shortcake Scones with Vanilla Glaze

Recipe Source – minimally adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients –

• 1 Cup – Wheat Flour
• ½ Tbsp – Baking Powder
• 1 ½ Tbsp – Granulated Sugar
• ¼ tsp – Salt
• 3 Tbsps (42.5gms) – Unsalted Butter, chilled & grated using a box grater
• ½ Cup – Ripe strawberries, quartered/ halved
• 1 Tbsp – Basil Leaves, chopped
• ½ Cup – Heavy Cream

Method –

1. Pre-heat oven to 220 C. Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together.
3. Add butter using a pastry blender, I used my potato masher, breaking it up until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal with tiny pea-sized bits of butter about.
4. Gently stir in strawberries & basil leaves to coat them with dry ingredients.
5. Add in the cream. You can use a rubber spatula to gently lift & turn ingredients over each other. When you have mixed it as best you can with a spatula, knead the dough once or twice only to get one mass. Do not worry about even mixing, it is important not to over-work the batter.
6. Generously flour the counter. With as few movements as possible, transfer the dough to the counter. Generously flour the top of the dough. Now using your hands or a rolling-pin, gently press or roll the dough out to a ¾” thickness.
7. Using a floured cookie cutter or the rim of a drinking glass, pressing straight down. Do not twist as you cut. Transfer the scones to the prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple of inches space between each. You can re-roll the scraps of the dough. The dough may feel slightly dry but it will bake wonderfully once the strawberries release their juices.
8. Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes, until bronzed at the edges & the strawberry juices are trickling out of the scones in places. Cool in the pan for a minute, and then transfer to a cooling rack.
9. When they reach at room temp, pour vanilla glaze. Before pouring, place a rimmed sheet to catch any dripping glaze. Serve fresh with cut strawberries.

Vanilla Glaze

Recipe Source – minimally adapted from Sweetapolita

Ingredients –

• 1-2 Tbsps – Whole Milk
• ½ Cup – Confectioner’s Sugar
• 1 – Vanilla Bean, split & scraped

Method –

1. Split the bean & scrape seeds into the milk. Let it sit in a spouted container such as a pyrex cup for about an hour.
2. Add confectioner’s sugar gradually whisking, until you get desired consistency.
3. Ensure it is not too runny or it won’t dry white on cake and will run off too quickly.
4. Once the scones have cooled, pour over the scones.

Sending this to –

1. Black & White Wednesday # 88 hosted by Sreevalli. BWW is an event started by Susan, now managed by Cinzia.
2. Bake Fest # 20 hosted by My Home Mantra, event strated by Vardhini
3. Sending this to Color Me White photography series by Priya.
4. What’s with my Cuppa 2 by Nupur

Eggless Neapolitan Cake filled with Cherry Compote & Buttercream | Our Darling Daughter turns 1

Last year this time I was in hospital, recovering after the birth of our daughter. Time really flies! Our daughter turned 1 this week.

She has been an angel cum a brat in last 1 year. Everyone believed the elder brother will give her a tough time but seems to me like the opposite here. 🙂

Eggless Neapolitan Cake filled with Cherry Compote & Buttercream

Till now I’ve never made a pink cake but this time I fell for clichéd & wanted to celebrate her birthday with a pink cake. I’ve come across several Neapolitan Cake/ bars/ ice-cream etc on various blogs. So even I gave in to the rage &  decided to do a Neapolitan Cake for her.

Eggless Neapolitan Cake filled with Cherry Compote & Buttercream

I wanted to keep the cake small so chose a small recipe & inspired my filling & frosting from Sweetapolita. I did a pretty sad job of decorating. V pitched in and salvaged some of it. Husbands have their uses too. To give due credit he seems to have a better flair at it than me. 🙂

Eggless Neapolitan Cake filled with Cherry Compote & Buttercream

I customized the cake – used regular milk for cake & felt that the batter was too thick so added another 1/4 cup milk. I baked the cake in 6″ pan. I made chocolate cake twice to get 2 layers. I increased the baking time accordingly. The cake was very soft & fragile & I strongly recommend using a baking paper on top to un-mold.

For frosting – I substituted raspberries with cherries in compote as it is easily available. I really wanted to use fresh mulberries as they are in season but to rotten luck I couldn’t find them on the weekend when I was ready to bake. 😦

Cherry Compote

I also added lemon peel & cinnamon stick to compote. The cherry compote was the highlight of the recipe. It is really worth licking off the spoon!

I also read in many places that to counter the sweetness of american buttercream, it is advised to use salted butter. I did 50-50 – half salted & half unsalted. But honestly speaking the frosting was not really what we liked as a family & I would stay away from buttercream from now on. It is too sweet & V absolutely didn’t enjoy the sweety-salty taste. I would be sticking to my tried & tasted whipped cream. American crusting buttercream is all the rage but somehow I think I would give it a miss. The only place where I would want to use is to pipe some roses 🙂

Eggless Neapolitan Cake filled with Cherry Compote & Buttercream

The cake was really nice, despite the sad decorating skills the cake looked pretty tempting. Taste was gorgeous despite the buttercream.

I recommend this cake without buttercream frosting, with just compote as filling & topping. Or using whipped cream in place of buttercream.

Eggless Neapolitan Cake filled with Cherry Compote & Buttercream

Eggless Neapolitan Cake

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Is that really Vegan??

Chocolate Layer –

Ingredients –

• 1/4 Cup – Butter, unsalted
• 1/2 Cup – Brown Sugar
• 1/2 Cup – APF
• 1/4 Cup – Cocoa Powder
• 1 1/2 tsps – Baking Powder
• 1/4 Cup – Apple Sauce
• 1 tsp – Vanilla Extract
• 1/4-1/2 Cup – Milk (adjust consistency as per your needs) Cup – Milk

Method –

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180 C. Line & grease an 6″ round pan.
2. In a bowl, cream the butter using a hand mixer.
3. Add in all the dry ingredients. Mix well.
4. Add apple sauce, vanilla & milk.
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan & bake for 25 mins. Cool on a wire rack. Place another layer of parchment paper on top of the cake & then flip over to remove from pan. Parchment layer will allow it to be removed without falling apart.

Vanilla layer –

Ingredients –

• 1/4 Cup – Butter, unsalted
• 1/2 Cup – Sugar, granulated
• 1/2 Cup – APF
• 1 1/2 tsps – Baking Powder
• 1/4 Cup – Apple Sauce
• 1 tsp – Vanilla Extract
• 1/4-1/2 Cup – Milk (adjust consistency as per your needs)

Method –

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180 C. Line & grease an 6″ round pan.
2. In a bowl, cream the butter using a hand mixer.
3. Add in all the dry ingredients. Mix well.
4. Add apple sauce, vanilla & milk.
5. Pour batter into the prepared pan & bake for 25 mins. Cool on a wire rack. Place another layer of parchment paper on top of the cake & then flip over to remove from pan. Parchment layer will allow it to be removed without falling apart.

Cherry Compote –

Recipe Source – adapted from Sweetapolita

Ingredients –

• 1 1/2 Cups – Cherries
• 1 Cup (100g) – Sugar, granulated
• 1 Tbsp – Lemon Juice
• Lemon Peel of 1 lemon
• 1/2″ – Cinnamon Stick
• 2 Tbsps – Water
• pinch of salt

Method –

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine 1 cup of cherries, sugar, lemon juice, water & salt until they start to break down, stirring often, about 10 minutes.
2. Lower the heat & simmer until the compote coats the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, and allow it to cool down. Remove lemon peel & cinnamon stick. When slightly warm, using a hand blender, blend the mixture till smooth. Since I used cherries, it was not very smooth.
4. Stir in remaining cherries. Keep covered & chilled for 3 days.

American Buttercream –

Recipe Source – adapted from Serious Cakes

Ingredients –

• 1 Cup – Butter, unsalted+salted
• 1/8 – 1/4 Cup – Cream, I used Amul
• 1 tsps – Vanilla Extract
• 4 Cups – Confectioner’s Sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 75 gms – Dark Chocolate
• Few drops Pink Color (optional) – I skipped it

Method –

1. Put room temperature butter in a large bowl & beat well for few minutes till no lumps are left.
2. Add vanilla, salt & cream. Keep the mixer going while adding. Make sure that they are well incorporated before adding sugar.
3. Add in sugar slowly so that it doesn’t fly around all the time beating. Continue beating till incorporated well.

Assembling the Cake –

1. Divide the buttercream in half. Add 3 Tbsps of Cherry Compote (1 Tbsp at a time) to one half of buttercream. You can add pink color here if desired. Set aside.
2. Divide the remaining buttercream into half. Add melted & cooled chocolate in one half of it & mix well till incorporated. Leave the remaining butercream vanilla.
3. On a flat base/ cake board/ turntable/ plate place a small dab of chocolate buttercream in the middle & then place 1 layer of chocolate cake on top of it, face up. Cover with 3/4 cup of cherry buttercream, leaving with about 1″ clearance around the edges. Now place a few spoonfuls of cherry compote in the center on top of buttercream.
4. Place vanilla cake layer on face up on top and repeat with cherry buttercream & compote. Place the last layer of chocolate cake face down. Cover the cake in plastic wrap & gently press the cake with your hands for aligning the layers if required. Chill for 30 minutes.
5. Remove from refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap, do a crumb coat with vanilla buttercream. Chill again for 30 minutes.
6. Cover the bottom half of cake (sides) with chocolate buttercream, top half (sides) with vanilla buttercream & top of the cake with  cherry buttercream. Pipe design as desired.

Sending this to –

1. Bake Fest # 19 hosted by Tangy Minds, event started by Vardhini

Eggless French Opera Cake – A Perfect Delicacy to Celebrate Dual Occasions

Opera Cake as the name suggests is a French Torte and is beautiful to behold & delicate to create. Traditionally it has 4 layers of joconde (almond biscuit/ cake) soaked in potent coffee syrup, filled with coffee buttercream, ganache & coated with glaze. And then topped with edible gold leaf.

Eggless French Opera Cake

This cake has been in my bookmarked folder for a long time but I was waiting for the right occasion to celebrate with this cake. Last week the occasion presented for double celebration – my blog turned 2 and our marriage turned 7. 🙂 Yes double anniversary celebration!

Eggless French Opera Cake

I came across a Vegan Opera Cake recipe and decided to go ahead with it. The recipe says the batter will make 3 layers but mine gave me 5 layers. Thank God I didn’t tell V that I’ve 2 extra layers, else he would have eaten them straight out of oven. 🙂 Opera cake need gentle hands which I sorely lack. Initially I was very skeptical about my handling capabilities of a thin batter and baking each layer separately. But thankfully the baking bit happened without any mishap and gave me GOOD dose of confidence.

Eggless French Opera Cake

Like most cakes, I pre-made all components & assembled one day. I had some leftover dark chocolate ganache from here, I used that. You can use tempered chocolate but I like to use my leftovers when possible. I also trimmed the cake only at the last stage, my cake was quite small as it is.

My cake was exactly 4 cm tall just like an Opera Cake should be though this was by chance and not design on my part. I also trimmed the layers quite with conservation as my cake was already quite small in size & I didn’t want to trim all of it away. 🙂

Eggless French Opera Cake

I am quite bad at writing using pastry bag so I totally skipped writing ‘Opera’ as in a traditional French Opera Cake. At the last-minute I settled for adding white chocolate chips. I kept it in refrigerator for 2 days. This cake is best served cool not chilled.

Eggless French Opera Cake

On D-day V came home from office & we ate it together with my son. The cake was beautiful, moist (would be after so much soaking) and totally melt in your mouth. I do not know how a traditional French Opera Cake would taste but I know that I fell in love with this one. I also loved the crunchy flavor given to it by use of almond meal. I would try making this again & not let it remain once in a lifetime bake. For V this cake surpassed all my earlier cakes. 🙂

Eggless French Opera Cake

The only damper was that I let the cakes outside just covered with a net for 24 hours before assembling. This, I believe, made the cake layers dry, but nothing that extra soaking didn’t take care of. However, I recommend covering cake layers and keeping them in air tight container at room temp if you plan to assemble them next day like me.

Eggless French Opera Cake

Check out Joe Pastry for wonderful tutorial on assembling an Opera Cake

Eggless Opera Cake

Joconde

Recipe Source – minimally adapted from Dayna of Vegan Visitor

Ingredients –

• 1 Cup – Ground Almonds, blanched & ground
• 1/4 Cup – Confectioner’s Sugar
• 1/2 Cup – Cake Flour
• 1 1/4 Cups – Milk
• 1 tsp – Baking Soda
• 1 tsp – Baking Powder
• 1 Tbsp – Vinegar

Method –

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C.
2. Line a 5″ X 8″ loaf pan with parchment paper & grease.
3. Add the dry ingredients together into a large bowl.
4. Combine the milk & vinegar in a separate cup, then add to dry ingredients. Mix vigorously with a fork. Once combined consistency will be similar to a pancake batter.
5. Pour 1/2 cup of batter into the prepared pan to cover the bottom to the edges.
6. Bake for 5-7 mins or until the top appears golden, begins to dry & edges starts leaving the sides.
7. Loosen edges with a knife, if necessary and top with another layer of parchment paper.
8. Flip pan to remove the cake, cool on the rack.
9. Reline the pan and repeat with the rest of the batter, baking 3-5 cakes

Chocolate Ganache

Coffee Buttercream

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from eHow

Ingredients –

• 1 1/2 Cups – Confectioner’s Sugar
• 1/2 Cup – Butter, unsalted, softened at room temp
• 1 tsp – Almond Extract
• 2 Tbsps – Instant Coffee
• 2 Tbsps – Boiling Water
• 2 Tbsps – Milk (optional)

Method –

1. Dissolve coffee in boiling water. Allow it to cool.
2. In a large bowl beat butter & sugar on slow speed until the sugar has blended in. This will keep the sugar from jumping out of the bowl.
3. Then switch to medium & beat for 3-5 minutes.
4. Add almond extract & coffee mixture. Continue to beat for another minute. If frosting is too thick you can add milk or heavy cream till desired consistency is reached.

Coffee-flavoured Cake Syrup

Recipe Source – Joe Pastry

Ingredients –

• 1 Cup – Water
• 1/2 Cup – Sugar
• 3 Tbsps – Instant Coffee

Method –

1. Combine all the ingredients in a heavy bottom pan.
2. Heat till the sugar dissolves. Bring the mixture to simmer. Remove from flame.
3. Allow it to cool & store in refrigerator till needed. It can be stored for a week & more.

Assembling

Source – Joe Pastry

1. The ‘up’ side of joconde layers when they finished baking should remain their ‘up’ side as they are more porous and will more easily absorb the syrup.
2. Melt little chocolate in a microwave for 30 secs on high. Keep repeating spurts of 10 secs till it is melted. Allow it to cool down using tempering.
3. Move a layer (which will form the bottom layer) of joconde on a separate parchment by flipping over. Apply a thin layer of this melted chocolate on it. Allow it to firm up for few minutes, then place it in the refrigerator for another few minutes. This will make sure that the cake doesn’t stick to the platter when sliced & served apart from adding chocolatey deliciousness. 🙂
4. Flip it back (chocolate side down) on to the platter or cake board to start assembling. Gently peel the parchment back, you may re-position the layer to center it. And we are good to go!
5. Apply coffee syrup thoroughly soaking it. This gives the melt-in-the-mouth texture that Opera cakes in Paris are known for. Layers should be soaked till they are brown all the way through.
6. Spread buttercream on top of the soaked layer. Apply evenly & slowly from side to side about 1/4″ thick.
7. Place your next layer, making sure that ‘up’ side of baking is ‘up’ side for soaking. Soak it as in earlier step.
8. Now spread a layer of thin ganache. It should be spread thinner than buttercream. I warmed it slightly to get a thin layer.
9. Place the next layer of the cake. Soak it. Spread buttercream.
10. Place the next layer of the cake. Soak it. Spread thin layer of ganache.
11. Place the top layer. If there are any high spots, you can press them down gently with your palm.
12. Soak it in coffee syrup. Now apply a thin layer of buttercream similar to a crumb coat to allow even application of chocolate layer.
13. Apply ready ganache/ tempered chocolate. Spread evenly & quickly. It is ok if it drizzle down a bit on the sides. Again I used slightly warm ganache to cover the top layer. You can use tempered chocolate as used traditionally.
14. Let the chocolate/ ganache firm at room temp or in refrigerator for 10 minutes. Then dip a knife in hot water & dry off on a towel, quickly trim off the edges to show the layers. You can keep the trims to enjoy the goodie before anyone else in sneak 😉
15. It is best to slice the cake into servings at this time to avoid breakdown of the cake later. Again using knife dipped in hot water & then dried, slice the cake into any size serving you like.
16. Do not separate the slices, and place your cake in refrigerator. It is best to cover the cake in a cardboard box before placing in refrigerator to avoid condensation.
17. Refrigerate for 1-2 days. Before serving remove the cake an hour before serving. Separate the already sliced pieces using a warm knife dipped in hot water & then dried. Serve slightly cold.

Sending this to –

1. Flavors of France for May – guest hosted by Shruti & an event started by Nayna of Simply Foods
2. Black & White Wednesday # 82 hosted by Alex. BWW is an event started by Susan, now managed by Cinzia.
3. Bake Fest # 19 hosted by Tangy Minds, event started by Vardhini

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcakes | Healthy & Tasty | Happy Valentine’s Day

Since joining blogosphere I’ve come across the unbelievably RED Cake quite often. So even I decided to give it a shot. But when I started going through recipes I realized that this cake take ounces of red coloring to get this bright red color. I couldn’t get myself to use that much color. I found to my relief that there are many who feel similarly and have used alternative variations for getting the red tint/ color.

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake

I was quite tempted to make this Red Velvet Cupcake by Hannah of Bittersweet, but just couldn’t bring myself to add so much lemon juice, may be I will do it later.

I was quite happy when little R & D showed that a Red Velvet Cake is different shades of red from dark red to red brown also. So I guess I should own at the beginning that please do not look for that bright red here 🙂

After having a wonderful tasting beet cake a few months ago, I decided to make it into red velvet cupcakes. 🙂

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake

I halved the recipe and it made about 10 cupcakes for me. I skipped coffee here and replaced 1/2 cup flour with wheat flour. I made cupcake liners for this project using brown paper. You can use butter paper as well in place of that. I used my individual silicone muffin cups and lined them. I was really cautious and poured only little batter in each cup, so the shape didn’t turn out as the usual cupcake shape but little too small at the bottom (more like a cone) 🙂

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake

The color of the cupcakes is deep crimson & beautiful. I gave these cupcakes to a couple of neighbors and they all unanimously voted in favor of it as their kids ate it very happily. I’m specially putting a pic in which I’ve managed to capture right color of cupcake. [Please excuse my still deplorable photography skills. I really haven’t done full justice to the cupcakes]

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake

I served it topped with whipped cream. You can serve with traditional cream cheese or Waldorf-Astoria frosting. They taste extremely well chilled & do not smell or taste of beet.

Eggless Red Velvet Cupcake –

Ingredients –

• 1/4 Cup – Vegetable Oil
• 3/4 Cup – Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup – Beetroot Puree, (boiled, 2 medium size beets)
• 60gms – Dark Chocolate, melted
• 1 tsp – Vanilla Essence
• 1/2 Cup – APF
• 1/2 Cup – Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 tsp – Baking Powder
• a pinch – Salt

Method –

1. Pre-heat oven at 190 C. Grease a muffin pan or individual cups.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream together oil & brown sugar. Add beets, melted chocolate and vanilla. Mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, sieve flour, baking powder & salt, mix well.
4. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined.
5. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 20 mins, till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pan for 10 mins. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Linking this to –

1. Let’s Bake Love – My own event
2. Lets Cook/ Bake for Valentine – Simply Food
3. Bon Vivant # 12 – Sumee’s Culinary Bites
4. Sweet Luv – 2013 by Cook’s Joy
5. Favorite Recipe – Non-Indian Food an event started by Swathi
6. Bake Fest # 16 guest hosted by My Cook Book, event started by Vardhini
7. Chocolate Lover by Daily Cuppa

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache & Rainbow Sprinkles

For Ved’s Birthday I felt my 9-inch Sachertorte would not suffice, so I decided to bake some cupcakes which can be handed over to the kids and create less mess than giving them slices.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache & Rainbow Sprinkles

I reduced the quantity of sugar. Also, after the addition of dry & wet mixture I felt the batter was too thick, so I increased the quantity of juice.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache & Rainbow Sprinkles

I spread some cooled ganache on top of it & decorated with home-made Rainbow Sprinkles. The sprinkles looked beautiful but slightly crushed when I picked them up. I have used them for the first time so can’t say if that’s how they always behave.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache & Rainbow Sprinkles

The cupcakes were very tasty & kids ate loads of them. It was worth all the effort put in. Ganache is going to be my favorite go to frosting for a kid party. 🙂

Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache & Rainbow Sprinkles

Eggless Chocolate Orange Cupcakes –

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Baking Bites

Ingredients –

• 1 1/2 Cups – APF
• 1/2 Cup – Cocoa Powder
• 1 Cup – Sugar
• 1 tsp – Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp – Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp – Salt
• 1 Cup – Juice, I used freshly squeezed (use 3/4 cup as per original recipe & increase if you require more)
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil
• 1 tsp – Vanilla Extract

Method –

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liner.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda & salt.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together orange juice, oil, vanilla & orange zest.
4. Pour the dry mixture in the wet mixture & stir until just combined.
5. Distribute batter into prepared muffin cups.
6. Bake for 20-25 mins or till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven & cool on a wire rack.

Linking this to –

1. New ‘U’ 2013 by Cooks Joy
2. Bake Fest # 15 hosted by Sumee’s Culinary Bites
3. Cooking with Love-Spouse guest hosted by Hema, event started by Sara
4. Valentine’s Treat hosted by Cuisine Delights – from the original Spotlight Series
5. Chocolate Lover by Daily Cuppa

Eggless Chocolate Mocha Sachertorte | Happy Birthday dear son!

When Master Chef Australia, season 4 was running in India, I took it up watching once the kids would go to bed. V would always ask me why I would watch it, since I cannot make almost all the dishes – they were either with eggs or non-veg which I don’t make or eat. My answer would be the same, I am watching for education – in recipes, techniques, possibilities. 🙂

In an episode, there was a blind tasting session, where contestants were asked to taste desserts & guess what they were. The person eliminated was not able to guess a chocolate cake – Sachertorte. This was the first time I had heard the name, I was quite intrigued to know what it was and why it would be difficult to guess.

Eggless Sachertorte with molded chocolate in tools shape

When the opportunity presented itself in the form of my son’s 4th birthday, I knew what I was going to make. A sachertorte is a chocolate cake filled with apricot jam/ preserve & served with a dollop of whipped cream. It is a Viennese Dessert. It is usually 2 layered cake. The chocolate cake is a sponge which is dense and not overly sweet.

I used a mocha cake for the base as I’ve gathered in last few chocolate creations that coffee enhances the taste of chocolate cake. As I was using instant coffee powder, I added 1 cup milk to the batter to get get desired consistency. I reduced the quantity of sugar as we like our cake mildly sweet & I knew that my apricot preserve was quite sweet, so it would compensate.

Eggless Sachertorte with molded chocolate in tools shape

Usually the cake is not soaked in syrup & gives the taste of dry & moist in-between bites. So I decided to soak the cake in sugar syrup as kids would not enjoy such a cake. I used Apricot Glaze recipe from Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers. I used water in place of rum as I was making this for kids.

The original cake is covered with chocolate glaze and has ‘sachertorte’ written with the same glaze and served. It is a very simple cake to look at. I tried to maintain the same simplicity.

I knew as long as chocolate is there most kids will love it, especially the birthday boy! We have kept him away from most junk food & he doesn’t demand them as well, and on rare occasions when he does, it is easy to divert him or pacify him. Chocolate is one indulgence we have allowed him for past 1 year but again in moderation. ‘Indulgence in Moderation.’ 🙂

Eggless Sachertorte with molded chocolate in tools shape

The cake rose beautifully and was deep & rich chocolate color. The kitchen was smelling wonderful – chocolatey & of baking! The taste was just out of this world. Ganache works beautifully always. :)Hubby placed a set of molded chocolates on top of it.

Eggless Sachertorte with molded chocolate in tools shape

It was a big hit with kids. Though in the party there was just no time to click a snap of a perfectly sliced cake so here I put together what best I managed in the commotion of 30 people – kids & adults in a small place.

Eggless Chocolate Mocha Cake –

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Bakin’ Without Eggs

Ingredients –

• 2 1/4 Cups – APF
• 1 1/4 Cup – Sugar, granulated
• 3/4 Cup – Cocoa Powder
• 1 1/4 Tbsps – Baking Soda
• 1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil
• 1 1/4 Cups – Buttermilk/ light plain curd
• 1 Tbsps – Instant Coffee Granules
• 2 tsps – Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cup – Milk/ Water (or use 1 Cup strong coffee decoction in place of instant coffee & milk)

Method –

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Grease a 9″ springform pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, instant coffee granules & baking soda.
3. Add oil, vanilla, buttermilk & milk/ water. With a wooden spoon, stir until completely mixed.
4. Pour the batter in the prepared pan. The batter will be liquid. Tap the pan against the kitchen counter to remove any air bubbles.
5. Bake for 35 – 40 mins or till toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
6. Remove the cake from oven. Allow to cool in the pan for 20 mins. Gently turn out on a wire rack.

Apricot Glaze –

Recipe Source – minimally adapted from Kaffeehaus: The Best Desserts from the Classic Cafe’s Vienna, Budapest & Prague

Ingredients –

• 1 1/2 Cups – Apricot Jam/ Preserve
• 2 Tbsps – Water

Method –

1. Bring the preserve & water to a boil in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring often. Continue to stir & cook till the last drops that cling to the spoon are very sticky & reluctant to leave the spoon, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Strain through a wire sieve, pressing hard on the solids. Use warm.

Assembling the Cake –

1. Freeze the cake at least overnight wrapped in 2 layers of cling film. It allows slicing the layers much easier & neater. Slice the cake in 2 or 3 layers.
2. Place the bottom cake layer on an 8″ round cardboard. Brush the top of the layer with apricot glaze. Place the second layer and repeat with juice & jam. Place the top layer on the cake. Brush the top & sides with remaining glaze. Allow to chill for around 30 minutes for the crumb coat to set in.
3. Place the cake on wire rack & place a baking sheet lined with parchment sheet under the rack to catch any dripping chocolate.
4. Make the chocolate ganache. It must be fresh & warm for even coating.
5. Pour the warm ganache in the center of the cake. Working quickly, spread ganache with a large spatula or knife. Use big strokes to push ganache over to the sides of the cake. If there is any un-covered spot, cover with ganache.
6. Let the ganache set. Then chill for atleast an hour before serving. Serve chilled.

Linking this to –

1. New ‘U’ 2013 by Cooks Joy
2. Bake Fest # 15 hosted by Sumee’s Culinary Bites
3. Cooking with Love-Spouse guest hosted by Hema, event started by Sara
4. Valentine’s Treat hosted by Cuisine Delights – from the original Spotlight Series
5. Chocolate Lover by Daily Cuppa

Twice Baked Potatoes & A Kebab Filling

Many a times I wonder why did I name my blog Confusion Cook? And then to re-jog my memory and of my tiddly-piddly followers, I create a recipe which truly in every sense a confusion or amalgamation of tastes, processes and ingredients.

We were planning a Xmas dinner with friends as a pot-luck dinner. I was all ready with my raw ingredients & basic processes, when my little angel decided to cry herself hoarse for the whole day & we had to rush her to a doc when she didn’t let up at all. In the end we had to cancel the dinner and help her calm down and sleep. And I was left with batter of dahi ke kebab, which was ready to be rolled & fried when guests were to come.

I was looking for a baked potato recipe when I came across this recipe which bakes potato twice and I realized that it is quite easy to use my dahi ke kebab batter here. I skipped using the scraped potato back into filling. The batter already had Indian spices so I didn’t add any more as per the recipe.

Twice Baked Potato

It was a delicious take on potato. It was bit sour, spicy, tangy & really tasty. Baked skin of the potato was an added bonus. The best part was the goodness & richness of potato without the extra calories as I did not use the scooped potato. This is a keeper recipe for me.

Twice Baked Potatoes –

Ingredients –

• 2 – Potatoes, large
• 1 tsp – Butter
• 3 Tbsps – Hung Curd
• 3 Tbsps – Paneer, grated
• 1 tsp – Besan
• 1/2 Tbsp – Fresh Coriander, chopped
• 1 – Green Chilli, chopped
• to taste – salt, chaat masala, black pepper

Method –

1. Pre-heat oven at 190 C. Scrub both the potatoes well. Prick them with fork multiple times.
2. Bake them on a wire rack for 90 minutes or till tender. Cool the potatoes for 10 minutes.
3. In the meanwhile, mix all the ingredients except butter in a bowl.
4. Split the potatoes lengthwise into half. Scoop out the tender potato leaving just little thin shell. Keep aside the scooped potato.
5. Fill the potato shells with the prepared filling with a heaping mound. Dab little butter on top.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 190 C. Serve with chopped coriander.

Linking this to –

1. New ‘U’ 2013 by cooks joy
2. Bake Fest # 15 by Sumee’s Culinary Bites

Lets Bake Love | Eggless Valentine Bake

Wishing you all a very Happy New year & loads of luck in the coming year!

With turn of New Year, TV & print ads are full of love songs, pink & red color, I also couldn’t help being overcome by the feeling and decided to celebrate Valentine on my blog through this event. It is a simple enough event – Bake any dish (sweet or savory) with Shades of Red or Pink using natural colors, i.e. no artificial colors. You would ask yourself how? Well, to name a few – use red pepper, beetroot, strawberries, cherries, etc. The options are endless in my opinion.

1. Bake any dish – sweet or savory, with shades of red & pink. Color has to be imparted to the dish naturally. If using Red/ Pink in garnishing, then do make sure that it is highlighted well.
2. Bake only eggless & vegetarian dishes. No Eggs allowed.
3. Please link this event announcement with your entry. This is mandatory. You can send recipes using linky below by entering Post Name & Post URL.
4. Use of logo (any of the 2) is not mandatory but it is appreciated as it helps spread the word.
5. Multiple new entries allowed. Only 2 archived entries allowed if re-posted & updated with the event link.
6. It would be nice if you would take a moment to remember & send your love to a special person in your life through that post.
7. The event is open from 1st January till 15th February 2013.
8. If linking is an issue then send me the entries at alika279(at)gmail(dot)com with “Lets Bake Love” in the subject line with –

*Your name
*Blog name
*Blog Url
*Post Url
*Picture

Non-bloggers can inbox me their recipe with pics within stipulated event period.

Credit : The logos are designed by my hubby.

Please submit your entries here –

Eggless Christmas Cake | Soak, Mingle, Age & Feed in Brandy | Merry Xmas

Our Xmas tree (fake) is moving from one place to another every single waking minute. Relax guys, it’s not spooked. My son is a handful at 4 and since morning when I tried putting up the Xmas tree for the season, it never stayed in one place. Earlier keeping something atop a table was enough to discourage him, now stools are his best friends – they take him everywhere. 🙂

I have a love & hate relationship with a Christmas Fruit Cake/ Rum Cake/ Plum Cake. Honestly speaking I do not know if they are same or different. I’m not THAT much pro who can discern subtle differences & google didn’t help AND one of the 3 is available in abundance in most shops during festive season. Well the point is I sometimes like it a lot or sometimes I do not.

Eggless Christmas Cake with soaked fruits

Last year due to pregnancy I did a quick version of Eggless Fruit Cake. But this time round, I wanted to really take my time and do it with lot of fan-fare. 😉 Most recipes online for an eggless version take you to boiled fruits recipe using caramelized sugar or jaggery. That’s not me.

After hours of search I came across a Vegan Cake on Suma, which does not boil fruits. It can be made with soaking fruits overnight or earlier, have 2 baking cycles like a true Christmas cake and it feeds the cake with brandy. Voila! You can’t imagine how thrilled I was on finally getting the perfect version of cake I wanted.

Eggless Christmas Cake with soaked fruits

I quickly de-veganized (for lack of proper word) the recipe i.e made it into a simple eggless recipe and not the vegan version, I skipped lemon zest as I do not have a microplane. I added walnuts & almonds (you can also use other nuts like hazelnuts, pecan, etc.).

I halved the recipe and my biggest challenge was to adjust the baking time & temperature according to the new baking pan. Let me mention here that in blogosphere, I’ve come across very few bloggers who genuinely encourage a novice like me to bake/ cook. Most food bloggers ignore your queries on account of being busy. Since this was my first attempt I really wanted to confirm the adjustment in baking time & temp with some seasoned baker. Believe me when I say that I knocked on plenty of doors & no one responded (one even removed my query from the comment section, I was quite bewildered as it wasn’t spam & I didn’t know why she would do that). Except one – Jules from Butcher, Baker, she responded promptly and since she teaches baking and decorating, I was quite relieved to have her answer. Thank you Jules.

Eggless Christmas Cake with soaked fruits

It is best to make this cake well in advance by 3-4 weeks so it can be brushed with alcohol allowing the flavors to mingle and age. You can feed the cake, over time with alcohol (usually brandy, sometimes rum or fruit juice of your choice). I made this cake 3 weeks in advance & brushed it 1-2 times weekly with brandy. Also, you need to add another 3-4 weeks for soaking the fruits. I didn’t start that early and managed to soak for about 10 days. For best results, start 6-8 weeks before Christmas.

I didn’t want to frost the cake (read: reduce calories) so I used blanched almonds to decorate. My kitchen filled with the aroma of heavenly smelling cake. As usual I baked it when both hubby & kiddo were out. I even fed the cake on the sly as I didn’t want to see V making long face & coming up with numerous arguments on why the cake can be cut or eaten now rather than till Xmas Day. He also thought that I’ve lost it wasting precious mls of his brandy. While feeding the cake, one needs to ensure that it is not over-saturated or it will turn soggy. So before each feed, check if the cake is dry enough to receive more liqueur.

Eggless Christmas Cake with soaked fruits

The cake tasted moist & laden with brandy. Since I knew my son wouldn’t eat a fruit-filled cake, I used brandy. If you wish to give to kids, you can use fruit juice in place of brandy. It is one of the best cake I made or eaten this year.

The cake is perfect for a small gathering or family of 3-4. Though we are 4 in count here but it’s V & me who eats while kids look on. 🙂 So for someone like us this makes a better option than making a full size 8″ cake & then being tempted to finish all of it. 🙂

Eggless Christmas Cake –

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Suma

Ingredients –

• 1 1/2 Cups/ 170 gms – APF
• 3/8 Cup/ 80 gms – Brown Sugar
• 250 gms – Assorted dried fruits roughly chopped (I used currants, sultanas, raisins, glace cherries, mixed peel, tutti-fruity, dates)
• 1/4 Cup – Walnuts & Almonds, roughly chopped & lightly coated in flour
• 2 Tbsps – Ground Almonds
• 140 ml – Milk
• 35 gms – Unsalted Butter
• 1/2 tsp – Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp – Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp – Grated Nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp – All Spice Powder/ Garam Masala
• a pinch – Salt
• Brandy (Optional)
• Blanched Almonds for topping

Method –

1. Soak the chopped dried fruits (currants, sultanas, raisins, glace cherries, mixed peel, tutti-fruity, dates) in brandy/ rum/ fruit juice atleast 10 day prior to the cake making. For soaking, place the dried fruits in large air tight bowl & cover with your choice of alcohol or juice. Mix well. Seal the container in cool, dark & dry place. Allow the dried fruits to soak & develop flavor for as long as you can. Occasionally give the whole bowl a gentle shake to allow further mixing. This step can be carried out days/ weeks/ even 1-2 months in advance. I did it 10 days before the baking.
2. Pre-heat oven to 160 C. Lightly grease a 8 X 4.5 X 2.5 inch loaf pan. Line the bottom of the tin with 2 layers butter paper. Also line the sides of the pan with butter paper that extends 2″ above the top edge. (You can hold the strip with a paper clip while filling/ baking).
3. Drain the dried fruits. Reserve the alcohol, if any. You can add the same in the batter or use it to feed the cake after baking. Lightly coat the drained fruit with little flour to avoid sinking to the bottom of the pan.
4. Sift flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg & all spice into a large bowl. Rub in butter using your fingertips.
5. Stir in the sugar, soaked fruits, nuts & ground almonds using wooden spoon. Give it a good stir.
6. Add all but 2 Tbsps of milk & stir gently. Warm the remaining milk in microwave (it should not be boiling but warm to touch). Pour the warm milk on the baking soda and then stir it thoroughly into the mixture. Do not beat.
7. Pour into the prepared pan, slightly hollow out the center so that the cake doesn’t form a dome upon rising. Decorate the top with blanched almonds.
8. Bake at 160 C for 45 mins without opening the door. Then reduce the temp to 150 C & bake for another 30 mins or till a skewer inserted near the center comes out clean with just few moist bits.
9. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. De-mold & remove the butter paper.
10. Marinate a cheesecloth in brandy, allow it to soak well. Gently squeeze the cloth to remove excess brandy, the cloth should be moist enough. The cheesecloth should be able to go round the cake 2-3 times.
11. Using a skewer or tooth pick, poke holes on the underside of the cake. Brush with drained brandy (step 3). Cover the cake completely in cheesecloth going round 2-3 times. Then wrap tightly in aluminum foil and place in an air-tight container. The foil should not come in contact with the cake directly. Do not refrigerate this cake while feeding.
12. After 4-5 days, remove the foil & lightly brush the cake with more brandy through the cheesecloth. Through the old foil & wrap in new foil. Repeat the process till you are ready to eat. This cake keeps well for several weeks.

Linking this to –

1. Merry Christmas Celebrations by Cook, Cook & Cook
2. Cookies & Cakes for Xmas by My Easy to Cook Recipes
3. Spot light: Healthy Baking by Recipe Junction
4. Lets Cook Edible Gifts for Christmas by Simply Food
5. CookEatDelicious : Desserts – Cake hosted this month by Spicy Food
6. Bake Fest #14 by Cooks Joy
7. Know Your Sweetness : Brown Sugar hosted this month by Krithi’s Kitchen
8. Celebrate Series – Christmas – hosted by Divya for Dec
9. Christmas Cook-off Contest by Kavi