Eggless Roasted Strawberry Pound Cake

December 18, 2012March 20, 2013 | Deepali

Strawberries are here! yeyeye! There was a time (read: before marriage) when I hated strawberries, well I still do in any form other than fresh. You got confused, I know! I can’t stand strawberry ice-cream, strawberry jam, etc etc, to me they all taste very sweet, very artificial & always leave a very weird, sort of bitter taste in my mouth. But V loves them, so he introduced me to the fresh fruit, I was quite skeptical, ready to hate them. BUT I liked them. Can’t say I love them but ya now I like & enjoy them in the season.

Here in Maharashtra, strawberry plantation is a big industry for both local & export market. Strawberries are available by truck load everywhere, you just cant deny buying yourself a box. 🙂 In Mahabaleshwar & Panchgani, it is a common sight for commoners & tourists to indulge in strawberry picking during the harvest season. I’ve tried doing that too once, but that time season was almost over & we didn’t get the best ones to pick. 😦

I decided to put these strawberries to a new use (at least for us) – yes a CAKE! Thankfully for our growing waistline, I baked this for a dear friend & not for us. When I came across this recipe & read the reviews, I just knew I had to bake this one. I replaced blueberries with strawberries, silken tofu with equal amount of home-made ricotta cheese & cake flour with APF & cornstarch. I reduced the quantity by half & baked it in a loaf pan.

To give a twist I roasted strawberries in honey, olive oil, salt & balsamic vinegar (again home made). It is very frustrating to google recipes and realize that you can’t make most due to lack of ‘fancy’ ingredients. I slowly have started overcoming this by making them (corn syrup, mascarpone, etc) at home as much as possible. This time I conquered Balsamic Vinegar in the best option (cheap & readily available). I increased the quantity of fresh strawberries as they will reduce on roasting. So I took 2 Cups fresh strawberries which gave me about 1 Cup roasted strawberries.

The ricotta cheese was different than our usual paneer, I believe due to the addition of cream – it was creamy in texture & taste. It sure is a perfect substitution for silken tofu.

The roasted strawberry was an out of this world experience. I am going to make them quite often & going to use varied fruits. The color, the smell, the taste was just awesome.

The cake rose well & my kitchen filled with wonderful smell of roasted strawberries & baking. Though upon removing from the cake, it did sink little in the center, I’m not sure why. The cake smelled heavenly & delicious. The crumbs tasted absolutely wonderful. I strongly recommend serving the cake with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. V sulked for not being able to gorge on either the roasted strawberries or the cake. 🙂

I would have loved to use some port here to roast strawberries, but my friend is a complete teetotaler & saatvic to the core. 🙂 She is an Ayurvedic Doctor, practicing with an Ayurvedic Retreat near Pune. She became my role model for practicing Yoga during both my pregnancies. She stood by me in my times of need, she became a friend to me in this still ‘alien’ city and have even fought on my behalf with others. Lately we had a small misunderstanding and I’m glad we overcame our egos and made up. I would hate to loose a special friend like her. Thank you for being my friend, Dr. Roli. This cake is for you. Guys I did not send or dedicate this virtually, I personally delivered it to her on the D-day!

Eggless Roasted Strawberry & Chocolate Bread –

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from Eggless Cooking

Ingredients –

1/4 Cup – Butter, softened
3/4 Cup – Sugar
1/4 Cup – Ricotta Cheese, pureed
1/4 Cup – Curd
1/8 Cup – Milk
2 tsps – Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 Cups – Cake Flour (see my notes)
1 tsp – Baking Powder
1/2 tsp – Baking Soda
a pinch – Salt
1 Cup – Roasted Strawberries (2 Cups fresh Strawberries would give you 1 Cup)

Method –

Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Grease & line a 8 X 6 X 2 loaf pan.
In a small bowl, blend cheese & yogurt well. Add milk & vanilla, mix well.
Sift together, flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat sugar & butter till light & fluffy, this will take about 5 minutes. To this add liquid ingredients in 3 batches, beat well after each addition.
Now add dry ingredients and blend well.
Add in the roasted strawberries. You can lightly dust them in flour to avoid sinking to the bottom of the pan. Fold them very gently into the batter to avoid further breakdown.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 – 50 mins or till toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack for 10 mins, then de-mold on a wire rack and cool completely before serving.

Roasted Strawberries –

Recipe Source – adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients –

2 Cups – Fresh Strawberries
2 Tbsps – Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp – Olive Oil
2 Tbsps – Honey
a pinch – Salt

Method –

Pre-heat oven to 180 C. Grease & line a rimmed baking sheet.
Hull & slice the strawberries into half or quarter depending on size.
In a small bowl, mix olive oil, salt & honey together.
Place strawberries in a large bowl. Pour the above mixture on it. Toss gently till all the berries are covered.
Spread coated berries in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 40 – 45 minutes. Keep checking the berries in between as each may vary. It helps to slightly move around the berries a bit for even roasting. Remove from oven before the juices start burning.
Remove the berries & juices from the sheet while still warm and place them in a bowl. Add balsamic vinegar & toss. Set aside and allow it to cool.

Balsamic Vinegar –

Recipe Source – adapted from About.com

Ingredients –

2 Tbsps – Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp – Sugar

Method –

Mix vinegar & sugar to combine.
Use in place of 2 Tbsps of Balsamic Vinegar.

Cake Flour – Place 2 Tbsps of corn flour in a cup, fill the remaining cup with APF – yields 1 cup Cake flour

Ricotta Cheese – I quartered the recipe as I didn’t want to end up with so much ricotta cheese on hand since I regularly make paneer. Makes 1 Cup of Cheese.

Recipe Source – adapted from Chef in You

Ingredients –

500 ml – Whole Milk
1/4 Cup – Heavy Cream, I used Amul
2 tsp – White Vinegar
a pinch – Salt

Method –

In a heavy saucepan, combine milk & cream.
Warm on moderately high heat, till the mixture starts to foam & bubbly. Do not allow to boil.
Remove the pan from heat. Add vinegar & stir gently for 30 secs.
The mixture will curdle almost immediately.
Add salt & stir for another 30 secs.
Cover the pan with wet towel. Allow to stand at room temp for 2 hours.
Line a large colander with several layers of cheesecloth or muslin, allowing several inches of overhang.
Place the colander on a large bowl. Pour the curdled mixture over the colander.
Let the water drain. After few minutes, gather the corners of the cheesecloth & tie it with a rubber-band. Allow to stand in colander for another 30 minutes. Gently squeeze the cheesecloth to drain the whey.
Open the cheesecloth – use ricotta cheese. I use whey as stock for my soups or gravy.

Linking this to –

Merry Christmas Celebrations by Cook, Cook & Cook
Cookies & Cakes for Xmas by My Easy to Cook Recipes
Spot light: Healthy Baking by Recipe Junction
Lets Cook Edible Gifts for Christmas by Simply Food
Bake Fest #14 by Cooks Joy
CookEatDelicious : Desserts – Cake hosted this month by Spicy Food
Celebrate Series – Christmas – hosted by Divya for Dec
60 Days to Christmas – co-hosted by Priya & Divya Pramil
Christmas Cook-off Contest by Kavi

Eggless Chocolate Beetroot Cake with Lacquer Chocolate Glaze

November 28, 2012March 19, 2013 | Deepali

I had 6 beets sitting in my refrigerator. Every Sunday V would give me those scowling looks when he would browse through the vegetable basket before his weekly trip to the veggie market (mandi). Well you guys also don’t scowl, it is not my fault!

The story goes, when I told V that since now our little angel is starting her solids, please bring some beets. For next 3 weeks 2 beets came and sat happily in the basket. How do I explain to V that his little daughter is not gobbling up the beets as fast as he is getting them. Honestly, do I need to explain! I made beet salad & veggies from the 2 beets but how many continuously even can we consume. We all like beets but it is a veggie which we eat but not on a regular (read, weekly) basis.

So what do I do with remaining 4! I googled for some dessert recipe with beets & I couldn’t believe there were 100’s of results waiting to be explored. In the end I settled for this recipe from the book Vegan Table at Epicurious.

I replaced canola oil with vegetable oil, used dark chocolate in place of chips. I also increased the quantity as I read the comments of readers that they added chocolate chips to give the extra zing of chocolate. Since my earlier Truffle Cake was a hit, I added instant coffee powder here as well. I increased the quantity of vanilla essence as I use the regular market variety & not the pure one.

I wanted to pipe some rosettes using crusting buttercream but ever since I saw this glaze, I have been dreaming of this delicious & shiniest chocolate glaze. This glaze has been taken from Rose Levy Beranbaum’ Rose’s Heavenly Cakes. So I decided to forgo rosettes & let the glaze take over my kitchen. Refer his tutorial or Rose’s for detailed instructions on how to pour glaze on the cake.

When I read the recipe, I had 3 obstacles to overcome – instant-read thermometer, gelatin & corn syrup. The task didn’t prove that difficult & I was happily on my way to making this glaze. I don’t have instant-read thermometer so I went by the timings given by Cenk.

I have been skipping corn syrup in most recipes till now as it is not readily available. But this time I knew that this amazing shine & pouring consistency is in part due to corn syrup. So I decided to make one on my own.

I replaced gelatin with same quantity of agar-agar. The activation of agar-agar is different than gelatin, so take care while doing so. It requires rapid boiling since the recipe requires boiling of glaze (the process is given below), while the gelatin requires chilling. But the quantity of agar-agar varied greatly if used in form of flakes & this is where my glaze went for a toss. As per conversion 1 tsp powdered gelatin can be replaced by 1 Tbsp flaked agar-agar, so I was suppose to use 2 Tbsp i.e. 30 gms of agar-agar. I was quite skeptical as half the amount is used to set a cheesecake. So I decided to use only 20 gms, but alas this was also quite a bit for a glaze. I increased the water to 1 cup to soak the China-grass. So instead of being a glaze, it became a thick ganache & didn’t even strain well after being allowed to cool for 15 mins.

My daughter has not been sleeping well for last few days during the day & this day also she decided to cry for attention, so after this fiasco of glaze I didn’t get time to re-make it & hastily spread the same ganache cum glaze on the cake allowed it to set for few hours. I was going to serve this cake as a dessert for some friends after dinner & was hoping that it does the job!

But despite this hiccup the cake was a delight to eat – perfectly moist in every bite, no hint of beetroot anywhere & chocolatey! Just yum! the surprise fan was our friends’ 1 year old son, who gobbled this up as fast as he could, I happily packed up the remaining for his snack. 🙂 When kids eat your home-made goodies, it’s all the appreciation needs for the effort gone in!

When this cake came out of the oven, my first thought was that this is the most beautiful cake I have ever made – deep cherry red in color, it rose perfectly & evenly, completely cooked throughout, easily de-molded. I just wanted to frost it up with whipped cream & serve as a more elaborate dessert. I know this is going to be my go-to cake & I would be using it quite often at my place! And I definitely would be making the glaze again with much lesser china grass & see how my second attempt goes and will keep you posted. 🙂

Eggless Chocolate Beetroot Cake –

Recipe Source – loosely adapted from The Vegan Table

Ingredients –

1/2 Cup – Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 Cups – Brown Sugar, packed
2 Cups – Beetroot Puree, (boiled, 4 medium size beets)
125 gms – Dark Chocolate, melted
2 tsps – Vanilla Essence
1 Tbsp – Instant Coffee Powder
2 Cups – APF
2 tsps – Baking Powder
1/4 tsp – Salt

Method –

Pre-heat oven at 190 C. Grease an 8″ round pan.
In a mixing bowl, cream together oil & brown sugar. Add beets, melted chocolate, coffee and vanilla. Mix well.
In a separate bowl, sieve flour, baking powder & salt, mix well.
Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Stir until just combined.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45 – 50 mins, till a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
Cool in the pan for 10 mins. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack.

Lacquer Chocolate Glaze

Recipe Source – minimally adapted from Cafe Fernando

Ingredients – makes 1 + 1/3 Cups

20gms – Flaked China-grass (agar-agar)
2/3 Cup – Sugar, granulated
1 + 1/3 Cup – Water, room temperature
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp – Corn Syrup (recipe below)
3/4 Cup + 2 Tbsps – Cocoa Powder
1/3 Cup – Heavy Cream (I used Amul)

Method –

In a saucepan, whisk together sugar & 1/3 Cup water over medium heat. When the sugar melts, take off the heat. With the help of the whisk, mix in corn syrup, followed by cocoa. You will have a smooth & glossy mixture.
Stir in cream with a spatula & return pan to medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boiling point.
Simultaneously, in a small saucepan soak china-grass in 1 Cup water for about 10 minutes. Heat china-grass on low flame till melts completely. Immediately mix hot china-grass in the boiling cream mixture. Ensure the cream should boil at the same time as china-grass, so that thye can be immediately mixed together.
Remove from heat & cool until the instant thermometer reads 122-140 F, for about 15 mins.
Strain the mixture into a liquid cup & let it cool till the instant thermometer registers 80 F, about 1 hour. If you are making it ahead then make sure to re-heat to 85F as glaze will thicken.

Assembling the Cake – Have a small spatula ready to coat the sides.

Place the cake on a wire rack set over a large rimmed baking sheet or large heavy duty aluminum foil to catch the glaze.
Pour the glaze in an even circular motion on top, starting with the sides, allowing it to cascade over & coat them completely. Start pouring in the middle and as glaze starts going down the sides, pour the glaze about an inch from the edge to help cover the sides evenly. Reapply if needed. 1+1/3 Cups is sufficient to cover the cake in one go, but if required you can use the glaze accumulated in the sheet.
Allow the cake to sit for about an hour until the glaze stops dripping. Move the cake to a serving platter.
Allow the glaze to set for 4 hours for the fullest flavor. You can store the cake in air-tight container at room temp for 2 days or for 5 days in refrigerator. But make sure to bring it to room temp prior to serving. (a brief wave of hair dryer on set on low heat, will bring the shine back.)

Corn Syrup

Recipe Source – minimally adapted from eHow

Ingredients –

2 Cups – Sugar, granulated
3 Cups – Water
1/4 tsp – Cream of tartar or lemon juice or white vinegar

Method –

In a saucepan combine all ingredients over medium heat, bring to a boil, then reduce heat & simmer.
Put the lid on the pan & cook for 3 mins.
Uncover & cook, stirring often. To test drop a little in a glass of cold water, if it sinks to bottom of water, it is ready.
Cool the syrup & store at room temp. It can be stored upto 2 months.

Linking this to –

Bake Fest hosted by Anu for the month of Nov ’12
I Love Baking # 9
Christmas Event by Cook like a Bong
Merry Christmas Celebrations by Cook, Cook & Cook
Cookies & Cakes for Xmas by My Easy to Cook Recipes
Spot light: Healthy Baking by Recipe Junction

Tender Coconut & Mint Ice-Cream – Blog Hop 3 – Without an Ice-cream Maker

August 31, 2011March 19, 2013 | Deepali

Blog Hop Wednesday is here and my this Wednesday my blog partner is Prathima of Prat’s Corner. She has some amazing repertoire of recipes which are begging a reader to try. Radhika has made me go through this dilemma every fortnight. There are just too amazing bloggers there who enjoy cooking & eating as much as I do if not more. 😀 I love being a part of Blog Hop.

Coming back to Prathima, I chose Mint & Choco-chip Ice-cream which she had made for her mother. I felt that this was something I have never done before & the recipe was easy enough for someone like me to replicate. However, I did make slight changes – I replaced choco-chips with tender coconut & added vanilla essence for just the hint of flavor. Also I doubled the recipe & increased tender coconut as per my needs. I also added coconut before blending rather than after blending as it would give a uniform taste of coconut in the ice-cream. But if one is using choco-chips then they have to be added later.

Tender Coconut & Mint Ice-cream –

Recipe Source – adapted from Prathima of Prat’s Corner

Ingredients –

1 lt – Full Fat Milk
8 Tbsp – Sugar
2 1/2 Tbsp – Cornflour
200 gms – Fresh Cream
4 tsp – Crushed Peppermint (Polo/ Minto)
8 Tbsp – Finely Chopped Tender Coconut (the coconut flesh should neither be too firm nor too soft)
1/2 tsp – Vanilla Essence

Method –

Drink a coconut. Ask the vendor to remove & give you ‘malai’ or tender flesh of coconut. Bring it home, chop it into fine pieces. 🙂 I loved writing this step.
Dissolve cornflour in 50 ml milk & set aside.
Boil the remaining milk in a thick bottom pan. When it is boiled, add cornflour-milk slowly, stirring continuously. Now add sugar & mix till uniform.
Simmer for another 4-5 mins, continue stirring.
Remove from flame and allow to cool completely.
When cool, add the cream, vanilla essence, peppermint & tender coconut. Mix. Transfer to a shallow container & freeze till slushy – about 7-8 hours.
Divide the ice-cream in 2 batches & churn each batch separately in a blender till smooth. Transfer back to the shallow container.
Freeze till set completely.

Serve chilled with wafers or in a waffle cone. The ice-cream was very good, with just a little hint of refreshing peppermint complimenting tender coconut beautifully. Also, it had perfect sweetness – just the way we like it. Though little ice-crystals were formed, the reason for which I have to do some R&D on, the ice-cream was still a hit. If any of you are aware why it happened & how to avoid in future please suggest.

Our friends had their 3rd Anniversary last week & we enjoyed this ice-cream with them to celebrate. Also she loves tender coconut so it became a perfect gift for them from us.

My next partner for Blog Hop is Radhika of Tickling Palates & I can’t wait to visit her blog & have fun. Catch other Blog-Hoppers here to see what they have been doing for their blog hops. If you wish to join contact Radhika of Tickling Palates. Happy Hopping!!

Mango & Vanilla Ice-cream Pudding – Nothing gets better

July 11, 2011March 19, 2013 | Deepali

Just to refresh our memory, I baked an Eggless Mango Cake with Mango Sauce about 2 weeks ago. I had some sauce leftover and I wanted to relish the mango season to the fullest so I didn’t wait long to enjoy it again.

I was not in mood of much effort, one of my lazy days :). So I baked the mango cake using the same recipe (for detailed recipe of cake & sauce visit the earlier post), ordered some vanilla ice-cream from nearby general store & used left over mango sauce and voila! A delicious pudding was rustled in an hour. 🙂 This is what I call quick service. I love myself sometimes. hehehehe 😀

Mango Cake & Vanilla Ice-cream Pudding - Ready to Eat — Mango Cake & Vanilla Ice-cream Pudding – Ready to Eat

Ingredients –

1/2 kg – Mango Cake
1 cup – Mango Sauce
1/2 cup – De-seeded & chopped Cherries
1/2 kg – Vanilla Ice-cream

Method –

Once the cake is cooled, chop it into bite size pieces.
In a bowl, place the cake pieces and mix in the cherries. Add the ice-cream scoops and quickly mix.
Add half the sauce and stir in. Chill.
When serving, pour mango sauce over and serve chilled.

Mango Cake & Vanilla Ice-cream Pudding

Best sin, better than chocolate. God made mango and gave us a trip to heaven every year. I’ve decided to use mango season some more and relish it. And goes without saying I’ll share them with you, virtually of course 😉