Fruit Cake

   Cooking along with friends is so much fun...I simply love having someone in my kitchen when I cook so talking and cooking can be done together :). A friend of ours, Ramya, visited us during the long weekend. She often used to make me crave for the fruit cake she made from the blog My treasure My pleasure. We decided to make it together during the weekend. The poor darling brought the dry fruits soaked in rum when she came. We were traveling a lot, and made it the day before she left. We made it in the morning before going for a trip, and both of us forgot to transfer the cake to a cooling rack before we left. And we paid for it! The cake refused to come out of the baking pan and we had a tough time removing it intact. It was midnight and we were so tired, that we just cut it randomly, and still managed to click a few pictures before we finished the whole thing…the trip made us soo hungry too. The cake tasted exactly like the fruit cake(christmas cake) sold in the bakeries in Kerala.
    Thanks to Annita of My treasure my pleasure for this wonderful recipe and Ramya, I had a wonderful time baking with you!

 

Ingredients (For two 8 inch cakes)

1. Fruit Mix - Around 5 cups (You can use dates, cherries, raisins, fruit peels, chopped nuts, candied fruits etc. We used paradise candied fruitcake mix, dried plum prunes and chopped dates.)

2. Brandy or Rum - 1/2 cup

Roughly chop the dry fruits and soak them along with the nuts in the rum/brandy. Keep them in an airtight container for at least 2 weeks at room temperature. The more they are soaked, the tastier the cake will be.

3. All Purpose Flour/Maida – 2 cups
4. Powdered Sugar – 3 cups ( 1 cup for caramelizing sugar)
5. Butter – 250 gms , room temperature ( equals around 1 cup + 2 tbsp butter or 2 sticks + 2 tbsp butter)
6. Baking powder – 2 tsp
7. Eggs – 6
8. Vanilla Essence – 2 tsp

9. Orange juice - 2 tbsp

10. Powdered spices - 3 tsp (1/2 tsp each of Cloves, Cardamom, Nutmeg, Dry Ginger and 1 tsp Cinnamon powder)
11. Salt – A pinch

Method

Caramelizing sugar

1. Heat a medium sized sauce pan with 1 cup sugar and 1 tbsp water. Stir continuously at medium heat.  The sugar will melt first and then gradually becomes a molten syrup. It will then gradually turn to a dark colored caramel syrup as it gets hotter. Now add 1/2 cup water slowly stirring immediately before it crystallizes(Be very careful while doing it since it can splash and cause severe burns). Stir well until it dissolves completely and allow it to cool.

 

2. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

3. Sift together the all purpose flour and baking powder at least 2-3 times.  Now stir in the powdered spices and the drained soaked fruits to the flour. Mix well with a spatula and keep aside.

4. Beat butter and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl, until light and fluffy (you can use a hand mixer). Now add the eggs, one at a time to this beaten butter-sugar mixture, adding a tsp of flour after adding each egg. Beat well.

5.  Now stir in the flour-soaked fruits mixture to the beaten butter-sugar-egg mixture alternatively with the cooled caramel. Stir with a wooden spatula.

6. Lastly add vanilla essence and orange juice. Mix well with a wooden spatula preferably in one direction.

7. Pour the mixture into two 8x8 inch lined or greased, floured baking pans and bake for around 45 mts or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Note that the baking time varies depending on your oven and the type of baking pan you use.Take it out and let it cool for 15 mts and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator if you wish to keep it for long.

 

 

 

 

 

Carrot Cake

   

Here is the recipe for a simple and tasty carrot cake. One of my friends shared this recipe with me and she tried it from here.

Ingredients

1. All purpose flour/maida - 2 cups

2. Granulated sugar - 1.5 cups
3. Vegetable oil - 1 cup

4. Eggs - 3 large 
5. Ground cinnamon powder - 2 tsp
6. Baking Soda - 1 tsp
7. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
8. Grated carrots - 3 cups
9. Chopped walnuts - 1 cup

10. Salt - Around 1/2 tsp

 

Method

1. Beat sugar, oil and eggs in a bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until they are blended (about 1 minute). Add everything else apart from the carrots and nuts. Beat until blended for 1 minute on low speed.

 

2. Add the carrots and walnuts and stir them in. Pour into a 13 x 9 inch  pan or two 8 inch or 9 inch round pans (I halved all the ingredients and used a 9 inch round pan). Bake at 350 F for 40 - 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean . Allow it to cool down completely.

For the cream cheese frosting

Ingredients

1. Philadelphia cream cheese - 8 oz
2. Butter - 1/4 cup 
3. Milk - 3-4 tsp
4. Vanilla - 1 tsp
5. Icing sugar/confectioners sugar - 4 cups (I used 2 cups)

 

Method

1. Beat the cream cheese, butter, milk and vanilla until smooth on low speed.
2. Gradually add in the icing sugar 1 cup at a time and beat until smooth.

3. Spread on the cooled cake. Store in a refrigerator.

 

Moist, Delicious Chocolate Cake and a bunch of awards

   Today I am presenting to you a lip smackingly delicious recipe for a yummy chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I made it thrice in the past 2 weeks and gave it for taste checking to some of my friends and their kids who absolutely loved it! It tastes great even without frosting.

   We are really excited to receive a bunch of awards from Nithu’s Kitchen, PranisKitchen and NatureKitchen. Thanks a lot for your motivation friends!

  

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

1. All purpose flour/ maida - 1 1/4 cup
2. Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/2 cup
3. Sugar - 1 1/4 cup
4. Baking powder - 1 tsp
5. Baking Soda - 1 tsp
6. Eggs - 2
7. Milk - 3/4 cup
8. Boiling water - 2/3 cup
9. Oil - 1/3 cup
10. Salt - 3/4 tsp
11. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Chocolate Frosting

1. 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
2. 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3. 1 tsp vanilla extract
4. 2 cup Confectioners sugar or icing sugar (The original recipe called for 3 cups, I used 2 cups)
5. 1/4 - 1/2 cup milk or as required to achieve the desired consistency

 

Method

 

1.  In a large bowl sift together the all purpose flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Now add in the eggs, milk, oil, vanilla extract and boiling water. Beat them with a mixer at medium speed for about 1 minute or until the batter is well-combined.

 

2. Pour it into a greased round pan and bake at 325 F for around 70 mts or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.If your cake do look dry on top, try to cover it with aluminium foil after 30 minutes of baking. Cool on a wire rack. Cool completely and frost with the chocolate frosting.

 

 

 Chocolate Frosting

 

1. In a bowl combine all ingredients under the frosting section and beat with a mixer until you get a spreading consistency. This makes about 2 cups frosting. You might need only around 1 cup for the frosting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe Courtesy for chocolate frosting - www.hersheys.com

 

 

      

 

 

        Nithubala and PranisKitchen shared with us the blog loving award and honest scrap award. Nature Kitchen passed us the Sunshine award. Thank you so much for passing us these awards, we really appreciate it! We would like to share these awards with few of our favorite bloggers - Kaipunyam, Vazhayila, Collaborative Curry, Pazham Pappadam Payasam, Adukkala Vishesham and Mirch Masala. Check out their space for some great recipes with awesome clicks. We are pretty sure that they must have received all these awards from plenty of other bloggers. Please do accept them from us too. As per the rules we have to share these awards with fellow bloggers and list 10 things about us which others do not know.

 

 

Coming to 10 things about us:

Maya

        Sharing things people do not know about me would be difficult because that is why I keep it unknown to them. But rules being rules, I have decided to share 10 things that many people don’t know about me. To start with, my friends would know me as a sweet, innocent and caring girl ;-) But the real me is much beyond that.

1. Being a very impatient person, I get upset when things don’t happen the way I planned, and I take out my impatience on people who are dear to me. It really irritates them!

 

2. I was a very popular girl in my batch at school, but mostly known for my foolishness. My batchmates have publicized “Mayayude Mandatharangal” until volume 10 to my utter dismay.

3. I love watching scary movies. When I was young, I with my sis and bro used to watch horror movies at night and slept with the lights on, after checking that there were no ghosts under the bed! What scares me even worse than ghosts would be reptiles. Oh how I fear snakes!

4. I love traveling a lot and that too with my dear hubby. He is passionate about traveling too. We plan to travel the whole world one day!

5. You could call me a non-stop chatter box. I love talking. I just can’t stop myself from going on and on and finally exhaust the person listening to me. Sometimes my friends tell me, “ Maya plzzz, no more”….well but still I go ooonnn……My sister keeps complaining that my niece has got all my traits :).

6. I am an extremely friendly person but it takes time for me to take the friendship to a deeper level,but once someone reaches my good friend book, I try to be there for them always.

 

7. Dancing is my passion, and I regret greatly that I am not classically trained. I loved doing fashion shows, and had a secret desire to be a model, cat walking the ramp! Now I model for my husband, always posing, posing, since he is passionate about photography!

8. I adore watching movies. My hubby is crazy about movies, film making etc. At first, I was not sooo interested but now I am a movie buff too! We watch movies in every language.

9. Cooking is my biggest obsession! I used to be the official taste checker at home. And I love celebrating every festivals, birthdays, events, because that meant good food ! I used to bug my mother to make sadya on my birthdays just for the love of eating sadya. How much I love the cooking part, equally that much would I hate the cleaning and washing dishes part.

 

10. I do not take initiative in anything. Always need a push as I am a really dependent person. My hubby is trying his best to make me do my best. I usually am very lazy to get started with something but once I start I will be fully dedicated to it and give my best. My favorite motto in life is “Hope for the best and prepare for the worst”.

 

Lakshmi

1. I am a very friendly person and always have a group of good friends.

2. I get disturbed even by a very small issue.

3. I am a family type person and love to be with my family always.
4. I love listening to music and enjoy dancing.

5. Teaching is my passion. 

6. I am a nature lover.

7. I  love cooking especially for my hubby.

8. I loooove sweets.

9.  Like all other ladies out there, love shopping.

10. I love to watch movies and I am an internet addict :)

 

Banana Bread

        I had banana bread for the first time from a local road-side shop on our way to Hana in Maui, Hawaii. They were freshly baked and were sold in small zipper lock bags for 5$ / half lb or so. It was so delicious that we had lots of it that day. I had no idea that it was so easy to make until my friend Reshmi shared this easy banana bread recipe. Nowadays I make it  whenever I have some ripe banana left. It calls for the most common ingredients that are available anytime in our kitchen pantry. You just need to mix them and bake for an hour. You do not even need a hand mixer, you can use a spoon or fork.  You can have them for breakfast, as a tea-time snack or even as dessert. This is the basic recipe for a banana bread. There are n number of variations that you can make to this basic recipe. You can make it even more delicious by adding chopped walnuts, almonds, chocolate chips, raisins or other dry fruits and nuts of your choice. I will post the healthier version soon with whole wheat flour, honey, nuts and absolutely no oil!

 

Ingredients

1. All purpose flour - 2 cup
2. Banana - 3 overripe
3. Sugar - 3/4 cup
4. Eggs - 2
5. Baking powder - 1tsp
6. Baking soda - 1 tsp
7. Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
8. Apple sauce - 1/2 cup (optional, added to make it moist)
9. Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp (optional)
10. Canola oil - 1/2 cup

Method

1. Mash the banana with a fork.

2. In a bowl add 2 cups of flour, sugar,  baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon powder. Give it a mix and stir in the eggs, apple sauce, vanilla essence and canola oil. Now add the mashed banana mixture and mix well.

3. Grease a baking tray or loaf pan and pour the mixture.  Preheat the oven at 350 F and bake for 1 hour until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Take it out and let it cool in the pan for around 10 mts or so. Cut into slices and enjoy!!

 

 

Tips:

 

1.  You can substitute all purpose flour with whole wheat flour for the healthier version. 

3.  You can reduce the quantity of oil and add some honey instead.