A Choco-Vanilla Checker-board Cake - A Birthday Treat For the Special Man!

I am back to posting after a long gap! Life is going tough these days with lots of additional responsibilities on personal and professional fronts, so that my favorite baking projects are also being neglected. These days I am not a regular baker anymore - baking only in special occasions. In last few months, though I had baked few items and the recipes are pending to be posted here. I was not being able to make any time for my blog, but this time the credit goes to my sisters to give me a real push for updating my blog after so many days. My dear sisters, you know, who you are! Thank you so much my dearies, you all mean a lot to me!!

So here I am with my latest baking project - Choco-Vanilla Checker-board Cake!

Cherry and Cashew Topped Vanilla Cake

Hi friends!

I am getting little irregular in posting, as I am going through a terribly busy schedule... but can't help really... everything is part of life! However, this does not mean that I have stopped my baking projects. My weekend baking spree is still on... and in this gap, I have already gathered enough stock for couple of my next posts. One of these, is this one - Cherry and Cashew Topped Vanilla Cake.

This is a complete tea-time cake or good for your between-the-meals snack craving. You can also use this as breakfast by topping with your favorite jam or jelly. Obviously this type of no-icing cakes are best for your kids lunchbox and most of the time, I prefer to bake these ones. On the health-side, this one is better, as it does not have any creamy icing on top. But, this is definitely not a dessert cake. 

These days, whenever I visit my friends or relatives place, I make it a point to bake for them. I believe, a home-baked fresh cake is much, much better than the store-bought ones - because, it has this personal touch, which is simply priceless! And I have seen, all my close friends and relatives - they do enjoy to have a freshly baked cake from me - that really gives me extreme pleasure. So, this cake was baked with the same intention. I specifically avoided an iced-cake, as I had to carry this for long distance. 

I did not have much time to shop for the ingredients, so I decided upon this cake, as everything was available in my stock. The cashews were brought from Goa, and I wanted to use these cashews, in various ways - not only in cake, but also in other recipes. But, before I could make extensive use of the cashews, the pack was about to get finished all of a sudden. People, at my home, were lavishly snacking just on cashews. So, I grabbed the last part of it and could use only in few of my cakes... :) The cherries which I had in stock, was dried type. So, I soaked these cherries in a cup of warm water for couple of hours, and they were ready to use.

The process is very simple. The batter was similar, as of the Basic Vanilla Cake. I took, 1/2 cup of cherries and 1/2 cup of cashews. Sprinkled some flour on top and then 3/4th part of this mix, was added to the batter. The rest of the cherries and cashews were placed on top of the batter, after pouring it into the greased pan. Pre-heated the oven at 160C and baked the cake for 30-35 minutes.

Once the cake was ready, I left it in the cake pan itself, to cool down at room temperature. Then wrapped with cling wrap for carrying the cake through long distance driving.

Happy baking, friends...

A Basic Vanilla Cake with Choco Cream Frosting

One of my dearest friends, has commented recently in my FB page - "Aren't u being obsessed with cakes..."? She is my long-time school friend, with whom I got re-connected after almost 30 years. Within this 30 years, I have grown through so much of changes, developed new passions and erased few from my memory. So definitely I am not the same person, as I was in my girly days! But one thing I enjoyed in her comment, is that I could make her think that I am obsessed and I could reach to that limit of being passionate about baking. Being a jack-of-all person, this is a real achievement for me. Thank you so much, my dear friend, for your compliment - as it gave a new dimension in me. My philosophy is - life is multi-dimensional and explore as much as you can!! :)

Well, it's not a time to discuss philosophy!! So, let me get back to my main topic...

Usually a vanilla cake is not so adorable for my kids. In my weekend baking time, they will keep on asking - "Mom, what are you baking this weekend?" And when I answer, it's a vanilla cake - they will immediately make unhappy faces... :( :(... No, they are not interested in plain and simple vanilla cake. So very rarely I bake vanilla cakes and even when I do, I have to make an elaborate icing plan for that... so that my princesses are at least not unhappy... :)

This time I wanted to test the basic Vanilla Cake recipe, which I posted here. Since I haven't used this recipe for quite some time, I was kind of unsure - how it will turn out. But, it turned out real good and now I can confirm you that this recipe is tried and tested. It came out perfect, fluffy and soft. 

Even the bottom part of the cake was so nicely done that it just slid easily from the cake pan, without much effort.

The icing part was again simple. This time I used -

BlueBird Whipping Powder - 1 pack (I wanted to keep it simple, you can use 2 packs if you want thick icing on top and in between)
Cocoa Powder - 2 tablespoons

Choco Chips - a handful

The whipping process is mentioned in the back of the packet, follow that. If you want to make the icing little stiff, then you can reduce the water quantity than it is mentioned. This time, I wanted to make the icing little tight, so I used less quantity of chilled water. After whipping through the mixture for 10 minutes (given short intervals) I added the cocoa powder. Using a plastic spatula, I blended the cocoa powder into the whipping cream. After blending, you can do another quick whipping for couple of minutes more.

Spread this chocolate cream on top of the cake, nicely and evenly. Sprinkle the choco chips on top. Keep the cake inside refrigerator for 30 minutes, before serving. This will help the icing to set nicely.

While serving you can drizzle some chocolate sauce on top, for added flavor.

I'm loving it, now!!!

A Simple Chocolate Frosting for Your Basic Vanilla Cake

Now you have the vanilla cake recipe with you... but you are not too happy... it does not look so good, does not have a professional finish... may be your kid already told you - "no mamma, I don't want this!"

Never mind, here is a simple choco-frosting recipe,which anyone can try out... Spread this on your vanilla cake and just see, how the attitude changes towards your cake. :)

To do this simple chocolate frosting, you will need Milk chocolate bar or dark chocolate bar - the ones regularly available in any grocery store. I used the normal Dairy Milk medium-sized bars. You'll need minimum of 3-4 Dairy Milk chocolates.

The process is very simple. Take a sauce pan to half-fill with water and let the water boil on your gas stove. Simmer the heat, when the water starts boiling. Place a medium or large-sized glass bowl on top of the sauce pan and add the chocolate bars. The chocolates will start to melt gradually. When most of the chocolate is melted, remove the bowl from the pan. With a spatula, mix the liquid chocolate thoroughly so that there is no part of undissolved hard chocolate. Add 1 teaspoon of butter into the hot chocolate and mix well.

Pour the hot melted chocolate on top of the cake and spread it on top and sides using a plastic spatula. Level the top nicely and then place the cake inside your refrigerator. To decorate more you can sprinkle powdered sugar or chocolate shavings on top. You can also use a pack of gems to place on top of the melted chocolate.

Serve this cake chilled and to make it more delicious, add a dollop of chocolate ice-cream on top or spread fresh cream. Now your kid is surely going to love it. Try it today...

The Basic Vanilla Cake - The Simplest One!

Baking a vanilla cake, doesn't require any special cooking or baking skill! If you have all the basic tools and ingredients, then only thing you'll need a little bit of initiative to put everything together and place the cake batter inside the oven... voila!! You're done!!

I am very much for home baking... I can write a whole blog post showing the multiple reasons I have... the most strong reason among all is that you know, what you're eating...!! You are 100% confident about the quality of the ingredients, no-matter how unprofessional the cake may look like. Many of my friends think, baking is a big job. But all of you, can start with this simple and easy recipe.

                      

This recipe is very common and you can get it in several cook books. I mostly use the 9" cake pan and that can serve from 8-10 people - so it's sufficient for your family (considering a nuclear family, you can enjoy the cake for 2 days)! You will need -

3 dry ingredients:

Flour or Maida - 1 and 1/2 cups

Baking Powder - 2 teaspoons

Powdered Sugar - 1 and 1/4 cups

And 3 wet ingredients:

Eggs (Big-size) - 4

White Cooking Oil (any brand) - 3/4 cup

Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon

So you are done with the ingredients!

Now the process...

In a large bowl, sieve in the flour and baking powder, together. Using a wooden spatula, mix it well and keep aside.

In another large bowl, crack the eggs. Add sugar and start beating. The more you beat, the more the volume increases. The volume should increase up to 3-4 times.

Now gradually, add the oil in continuous flow and continue beating.

Don't forget to add the vanilla essence to this mixture, now!

Your cake batter is half done, at this point... this is the time to start preheating your microwave. The baking temperature is 160C, so set the preheating temperature at 160C and let it go. You've something more to do now.

Take the flour mix and using the wooden spatula, slowly fold in the dry mix into the wet mix. What is fold in - that's a common baking term, many of you already know. For the beginners, it is a downward to upward movement (remember, not circular), to mix the dry into the wet. While folding in, you should add the dry mix 1-2 tablespoons at a time. This process actually makes the cake more soft and spongy, as it keeps the air sealed inside the batter. If you are in a hurry and can compromise on the softness, then you can use the beater, too. It'll still be a cake and quite good and eatable.... :)

By now, your oven should be preheated and ready. Prepare the cake pan by oiling (few drops of white oil) and dusting with flour (around 1 teaspoon of flour). This is very much necessary to prevent sticking the cake to the bottom of the pan. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and place the pan inside the microwave. Set the convection mode on and select the required temperature, 160C. Let it bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on the doneness.

After 30 minutes, let's check the cake. It should increase in size and the top will be round by now. Take a thin skewer or knife, insert at the middle of the cake and bring out. If nothing is sticking on it, then you are done! If you see, the batter is still sticky, then close the door and put it for baking for another 3-5 minutes.

Once done, bring out and allow the cake pan to cool for 5 minutes. Use a sharp knife and carefully run around the edge of the cake tin to loosen the cake. Flip off the pan on a dinner plate and the cake will slowly slide in. You may pat the back of the cake pan, if the cake is not coming out.

This one is ideal for afternoon snacks with a cup of tea or coffee or as a dessert by topping with a dollop of ice-cream and chocolate sauce or simply to put inside your kid's lunch box and to make them proud about their mom's culinary skill and many more... Unless you bake one, how do you experience these sweet little fun moments of your life???

Happy baking to you all!!!