Chocolate Crinkles

This is our first christmas in Ahmedabad. Christmas in a new place is always hard for me. It means, beginning all over again with new customs, traditions, piecing everything together, both the old and new. When the season of advent began, I felt pretty low. I had the same feeling when we moved to Germany 4 years ago, so I knew that such feelings were normal. All the pictures of the christmas markets popping up on Facebook made me yearn for the european charm of the season. The only consolation was that I did not miss the harsh season of winter and once we opened our boxes of decoration, our home began to resemble a litte christmas market. 

First week into December began the questions as to when preparations would begin in the kitchen. I was not yet in the mood, not yet ready. Moreover, the kitchen was only fifty percent set up. Boxes were half opened and my utensils and gadgets were waiting patiently for a place to call their own. Last weekend, hubby and I pulled our sleeves together and gave both the kitchen and pantry a make over. And monday, the ball got rolling. 

Living abroad has certainly taught me to think out of the box and look for new recipes to brighten up our platter. When these crinkles popped up on my computer screen, I knew I would bake them. These are so very easy to bake and when they begin to slowly crinkle in the oven, there itself lies the satisfaction that you have done it right. They have turned out to be a complete winner in my entire set of goodies prepared this season. With another day to go before christmas, you can surely whip out a batch or two!

Source: Simply recipes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar(see notes)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners sugar

Method:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or a wooden spoon) beat together the cocoa powder, white sugar and vegetable oil until it comes together into a shiny, gritty black dough.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds each. Add the vanilla and beat thoroughly.
3. In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well.  Slowly mix into the chocolate mixture on low speed until just combined. Do not overbeat. 
4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill the dough for 4 hours or overnight.
5. Preheat the oven to 160C(See notes). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the confectioners sugar in a wide bowl. Take clumps of the chilled dough and roll them into 1 inch sized balls using your hands. Roll the balls in confectioners sugar and place on the baking sheet. 
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes:

1. Adjust the amount of sugar according to your liking. We needed it to be a tad sweeter and hence I used 2 cups of sugar. Also, since the sugar available here is pretty thick in size, I gave a whizz in the mixer to make the grains a bit fine(but not powder).
2. No two ovens are the same. Since I am back to my oven of the past which was in storage for 4 years, it has taken me time to get accustomed to it. The above temperature and time is best suited for mine. The crinkles turned out crisp on the outside and chewy like a brownie on the inside.

One pan Eggless Chocolate Cake.

I had made plans for this weekend. Since the kids were to have an entire week's holiday thanks to the German carnival, I wanted to make the best of it. Attend a carnival parade, a visit to a museum, maybe squeeze in a german town too. Our girl had different plans though. Wednesday she returned home from a two night choir trip from school. She looked happy and content with the good time she spent with her friends. Towards evening I recognised the nagging cough of hers and something told me that a fever was on its way. True to my thoughts, she woke up with a burning forehead and body too. Today is day 3 and we are nowhere close to respite. Since the doc has recognised it as a viral fever we are to expect it to last for a total of 5 days. 

Today being day 3 of playing nurse, I am close to wanting to run away somewhere. But that, I cannot do. In between preparing meals for the healthy us and sick man's food for her, I also desired to have a sweet treat. Only that I wasn't prepared to slog myself away in the kitchen for a few more hours. Call it good luck or what, I bumped into this recipe last night during my time spending next to her. It's a no fuss, no frill cake. The best part being that you dump all the ingredients in the pan you will be baking in, mix it all together with a spatula, bake and voila, you are done!!

The perfect recipe for today!! While I did have my doubts about the end result, it has turned out to be a super soft and moist cake. Also got the thumbs up from sonny boy.  So when you are tired and wanting a sweet treat with zero effort, I suggest you to bake this cake. You won't be disappointed.

Source: Better Recipes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 and a quarter cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 and a quarter cup cold water
• 1/2 cup olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180C.
2. Take an un greased 12" round baking pan.
3. Place flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt in the pan.(see above pic)
4. Stir till the mixture is well combined.(see above pic)
5. Pour water, oil, vinegar and vanilla to the above and stir well till you have a smooth batter.(see pic above)
6. Place the pan in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
7. Enjoy the no frill, no fuss cake..:D

Notes:

• The original recipe has measures for an eight inch square pan. I wanted a slightly larger cake, hence increased the proportions accordingly.
• I sieved the flour and baking powder together though it was not mentioned in the original recipe.
• I had a doubt whether the cake would be stuck to the pan as it was not greased. It comes out perfectly. 

Delicate butter cookies

I have begun experimenting with german goodies on a small scale. Last year as I was attending a german course, to help myself get acquainted with the language I decided to read and understand recipes. Call it strange, but I love reading cookbooks and I thought what better way to try understanding a new language. Over time the first cook book I purchased was Backin im Advent(Baking in Adevnt). As the need for the google translator decreased I found myself getting excited at the prospect of just being able to understand simple recipes. 

The germans use their ovens a lot and I do mean A LOT!!! If I am right, the use of their cooktop(our cooking range) is minimal. Most of my local friends are surprised that most of us Indians may or may not have an oven in our homes. If they were to see the teeny tiny one I have in India, it surely would give their hearts quite a flutter..:D 

The first year we celebrated the season of advent in Germany I was amazed at the variety of christmas goodies. Cookies of different sizes, shapes and colour, truffles, pralines, gingerbread men and to go along with it the warm spiced glühwein. Even more surprising was that almost all the households baked their own treats. I found that very hard to believe cause that meant the germans baked REAL GOOD.

(For the commotion from the trio behind me, I did a pretty good job with the pictures!! Note to self: No more food photography when the family is home)

This year I have decided to along with the german trend of baking my christmas sweets. It's healthier and much easier. I will be baking the traditional Indian plumcake and if time permits the much loved kidiyo..:-) 

Coming back to my experiments, this particular book has more than 100 recipes. Surely I am not going to bake them all. I shortlisted around 10 of them and decided to try them when and as time was available. Depending on how good they went with the family, I would then prepare them on a larger scale. Last week I tried the first recipe, Almond Choco cookies, about 50 of them. In less than 24 hours they were over. I vowed that I would be baking them next only a few days before Christmas cause at the rate the family went I think I should camp next to the oven!!!

The next in line were these butter cookies. If not for repeated pleas to slow down you wouldn't be seeing this recipe too..:D Trust me, they are so good, you won't regret baking them.

(The autumn sun which shows itself rarely rending its glow on the buttery cookies)

Ingredients:

• 250 gm white flour/maida
• 100 gm sugar
• 1 tsp candied orange peel
• 125 gm cold butter(it shouldn't have melted)
• 2 egg yolks
• cookie cutters

Method:

1. Sieve the flour. Cut the butter into small sized cubes.
2. In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, orange peel and cubed butter. Add the egg yolks, mix and knead well to form a soft dough*. 
3. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate it for 2 hours.
4. Line a flat baking tray with baking paper. Heat the oven to 170 C.
5. On a clean platform, sprinkle a little bit of flour. Roll out the dough(roughly 3 to 4mm thick). With your cookie cutters cut the shapes and place them on the baking tray. Do not crowd the tray.
6. Keep shaping the cookies till you finish the dough.
7. Bake them for 15 to 20* minutes till golden yellow.
8. Remove them and let them cool.
9. ENJOY.

Note:

1. When you begin kneading it kind of resembles bread crumbs. Keep going with your fingers and the dough comes along beautifully.
2. The baking time is dependant on your oven. The original recipe called for 10 minutes baking time. In that time my cookies were looking exactly the same as when I had placed them in. The perfect timing for my batch was 18 minutes. What I would suggest is for you to keep watch as they are baking and use your judgement to remove them out.
3. The above recipe makes 45 to 50 cookies.

Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Source: Home Cooking with Sonya(with slight variations to suit us)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and finely diced
• 2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt or to taste
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 deg celsius.
2. Grease a muffin tray or use cupcake liners as I have did.
3. In a small bowl beat milk, oil and egg. Stir in diced apples.
4. In a larger bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix well and stir it until well combined.
5. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and carefully pour the wet ingredients into the well.
6. Stir slowly just until flour is moistened and mixed well. Batter will be lumpy, but that's okay(Thank goodness Sonya mentioned it, otherwise I would have worried about it).
7. Pour the batter into the cups until 2/3rd full. Bake 18-20 minutes until golden brown.
8. Allow to sit for a minute and then remove from pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

May's Christmas Cake.

The cake's baked and yes, it is named after me. I know I am late in baking the X'mas cake, but am glad that nevertheless I managed to bake it before a week. I hunted around quite a bit for the perfect recipe. There were so many to choose from, so finally what I did was use my judgement based on all that I had read and turned out with my very own X'mas cake. It has turned out awesome, am afraid that it will not last beyond 2 days, let alone christmas. Knowing my family, I luckily baked two....one to distribute to friends and the other for us!! Hopefully they do not start digging into the second one....

     I thought I would do the posting tonight itself, lest I forget what went into the recipe. To begin with, I soaked the raisins and peel in rum for a good whole two months!! Yes, they went into soaking in October..:) Here's how they looked after soaking in all the rum.

So here's how I went about.

Ingredients:

• 500 gms raisins
• 300 gm citrus peel
• 250 gm candied cherry
• 500 ml rum or brandy
• 300 gm butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 and a half cup flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup apricot or plum jam
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp dry ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 1/2 cup dates
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds

Method :

1. Combine raisins, peel and candied cherries in a medium sized bowl. Pour in brandy or rum and leave at room temperature overnight, a week, a month or more..:)
2. Grease a loaf pan or round tin with 2 layers of parchment paper. Drain soaked fruits reserving the liquid. 
3. Sift flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and baking powder into a bowl. Preheat oven to 150 degree celcius.
4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until combined.
5. Add the flour mixture and jam. Beat until well combined.
6. Stir in the soaked fruits and almonds or walnuts. Mix well.
7. You can divide this mixture into two tins(as I have done) or bake a whole cake. Spread the mixture into prepared tin. Bake in oven for 90 minutes or till a wooden pick comes out clean.
8. Allow cake to cool in pan. When cooled, remove cake from pan. Peel off parchment paper. Brush reserved liquid all over the cake. Wrap with parchment paper followed by aluminum foil. Seal cake in food storage bag and allow to age till christmas..:) Brush cake once a week with rum or brandy.

Note: As of now, quarter of our cake is over. So it looks like, I will be following step 8 to the cake which is reserved for presenting.

The above picture is after applying the rum marinade. This cake is wrapped and stored in the fridge till christmas. Will post some more pictures in a week, once the cake is cut.

Linking this post to the december carnival on  The Key Bunch. Come and see what all the fun is about!!!

Christmas Cake Blondies.

    
How does the spirit of Christmas feel in your home?? This side it is getting crazier by the day..... Decorating, choir practices, ensembles, entertaining, plays and not to forget baking!!! So, without any story telling, here's what I prepared over the weekend in anticipation of my cousin's visit. The recipe is from the christmas collection of Good Housekeeping magazine.

You need :

• 2 cups mixed dried fruit, bigger pieces chopped(raisins, currants, sultanas, apricots, figs, citrus peel, candied cherries)
• 1 cup rum or brandy
• 1 and a half cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 150 gm unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips( I used white chocolate cut into small pieces)
• 3/4 cup chopped almonds or walnuts.

Method:

1. Marinate dried fruits in rum, stirring now and then, for at least 6 hours or overnight (I soaked for 24 hours).
2. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius. Meanwhile grease and dust a 9 inch square baking tin.
3. Drain fruit and reserve marinade; set aside.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
5. Cream together butter and both kinds of sugar until pale and thick, about 6 minutes with an electric whisk. Beat in egg, then yolk; whisk for 1 minute. Mix in chocolate chips, nuts and fruit. Fold in flour mixture until just combined -DO NOT BEAT!
6. Spoon into prepared tin and bake for 40-50 minutes or until top is golden brown and centre done but just moist.

7. Cool tin on wire rack for at least 30 minutes, before cutting into 16 squares. To serve, pour reserved rum marinade over as sauce and garnish with chopped dried fruit.

Eat like a German...Zimtsterne

Snow has fallen, X'mas trees decorated, lights are up......and I am sure, the german homes have begun baking too( I do get the aroma of freshly baked cookies when walking by some homes). As I had mentioned in my previous post, I am keen on preparing a few german goodies. The supermarkets are all loaded with oh so many baking ingredients, it would be a pity if I never tried out something different.  When this particular recipe came up on the Live like a german website, I thought it would be the ideal cookie to start with.

     Zimtsterne or Cinnamon stars are classic German Christmas cookies. The mixture of almond and cinnamon dough are rolled out and cut into star shapes and maybe topped with white sugar icing. I was a apprehensive when trying these out, cause it was my first time with cookies. To my surprise they turned out awesome(though they didn't look as good, got to improvise on it though..)

Ingredients :

• 300g almonds with skin
• 3 egg whites
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 250g powdered sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Powdered sugar for rolling
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar or few drops vanilla essence

Method :

1. Grind the almonds with skin to a fine powder.
2. Beat the egg whites along with the lemon juice till very stiff.
3. Gradually add the sugar, mixing well until fully dissolved.
4. Reserve three fourth of this mixture aside.
5. To the remaining mixture, fold in the ground almonds, cinnamon and vanilla essence.
6. Cover and allow to sit in a cool place for 30 minutes.
7. Heat the oven to 150 degrees celsius. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Sift powdered sugar over a working surface.
9. Roll out half the dough to approximately quarter inch thick.
10. Cut into stars using a star shaped cookie cutter.
11. Place the stars on the baking tray. Brush them with the set aside egg white mixture. Take care that it does not dribble down to the sides.
12. Bake stars on the lower and middle racks for 25 minutes, switching the sheets about halfway through baking time.

The above recipe makes 36 cookies. If you have a family like mine who gobbles up the cookies the moment they are out from the oven, then you need to definitely bake more or time your baking accordingly.

Walnut Cake

I have begun my hunt for Advent recipes. Unlike last year, where I was over come with sorrow because of the move, this year I am in high festive spirits and intend to prepare both Indian and German sweets for X'mas.

Imagine my surprise when leafing through the pages of the Good Housekeeping magazine, I found this recipe listed as a traditional Indian Christmas recipe. All the while I thought that the rich plum cake was the Indian traditional  recipe.  Anyway, I didn't bother to do further research on the topic and thought to myself "Well Mr. Walnut cake, I am not gonna wait for X'mas to bake you!! I am gonna bake and we are gonna eat you now!!! :D" Funny that I called a cake Mr. :)

Ingredients :

• 250g unsalted butter
• 250g sugar
• 5 eggs
• 250g flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 300g walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 5 drops vanilla essence
• 50g walnuts, halved

Method :

1. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and keep creaming.
2. Sieve together flour and baking powder
3. Fold chopped walnuts into the flour mixture. Add to the creamed butter and fold in. Add vanilla essence too.
4. Line 8-inch cake tin with butter paper. Pour in batter. Arrange walnut halves on top(optional). Bake at 180 deg celsius till golden brown. Insert toothpick; if it comes out clean, cake is ready.
5. You can replace walnuts with mixed nuts, or mixed/dried candied fruit and peels - spike them with some rum or brandy if you like. Line with butter paper when packing.

So, what do you think?  Does this qualify for an X'mas cake without the rum and spice???

Apple Cinnamon Cake

For quite some time I have been receiving mails or being asked as to why have I stopped blogging? Some were curious to know whether I had stopped cooking or baking altogether!!!! It feels good to know that somewhere, out there, somebody is reading what I write...:)

      After having returned from our home trip, it has taken me awhile to get back into a routine. Also, when you have enjoyed tasty, home cooked meals for 6 weeks, it does take some time to get your act together in the kitchen. 

Right now in Germany, we are flooded with apples. If you happen to come down to Deutschland in the month of September, you will be greeted with sights of red, luscious apples smiling at you from trees!!! Unfortunately, I did not get to really go to an orchard this time, but had the opportunity last year to go to one and pluck some like Adam's Eve( though my Adam was not too glad about it) :D The picture above was taken then and I was going gaga at the sight of these sinful beauties. 

      In the market place you see so many apples, that at some point you get fed up of eating them. I used to always wonder, how best could I use this fruit here, knowing that it is available in surplus!!! So when I stumbled upon this recipe in The Good Life, I immediately got into action cause I wanted something new.

Here's how the recipe goes :

For Filling :

3 apples, peeled and sliced

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

1 cup water

For the batter:

2 cups self raising flour

1 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

180 gm softened butter

2 tsp baking powder

Method :

• Grease a baking tray and preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.
• In a pan, mix all the filling ingredients till apples are soft. Drain and keep aside.

• Sieve the flour, cinnamon and baking powder together.
• Beat eggs till fluffy. Add the butter and sugar and beat till creamy.
• Slowly add the sieved flour and beat well.
• Pour half of this mixture in the baking pan.

• Top with the apples and then pour the remaining batter to cover well.
• Bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

• The cake goes well with a cup of piping hot tea or coffee.... Am off to get a cuppa for me..:)

Sonya's Buttermilk Banana Nut Muffins

Who is Sonya? She is a new friend I have made through the world of blogging. Sonya, an American expat living in the Netherlands blogs on Home Cooking with Sonya. It's hard not to fall in love with her blog(Go, take a look and you will know what I am saying). Her writing, pictures, recipes, I look forward to them everyday. She has been a guiding force for me, encouraging me with her comments on my blogs. Our countries are neighbors and I hope maybe someday we will meet.

        Last month in one of her posts, I had commented that I would try out one of her recipes and would blog about it. Well today is the day. The kids were hungry for muffins, and Sonya's blog had plenty to choose from. With the over ripe bananas lying in the fruit basket, I chose to go ahead with the Buttermilk Banana Nut muffins. Sonya's measures were in cups. I have mentioned before that my cups are more so mugs. So, what I did was transferred all her ingredients from cups into a measuring bowl to make it simpler for my readers. Here goes the recipe:

     Ingredients :

• 500 gm flour
• 100 gm sugar
• 150 gm brown sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
•  250 ml buttermilk
• 250 ml vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 4 ripe bananas mashed
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

     Method :

1. Line a muffin tin with liners. Preheat oven to 180 deg celsius.
2. Sieve flour and baking powder together and keep aside.
3. In a bowl combine buttermilk, oil, vanilla and egg. Beat well till thoroughly combined. Add sugar and continue to beat. Add mashed bananas and mix well.
4. Slowly add the sieved flour to the mixture and mix well.
5. Drop in spoonful of batter into the muffin holder. Sprinkle nuts(I crushed them with my hand) on top.
6. Bake in oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until done(An inserted toothpick should come out clean). Makes 24 muffins.
7. Serve warm with tea or coffee.

Sonya didn't warn me in her blog about the heady aroma of baked bananas my house would be filled with. True to her words, they were the softest and moistest muffins we have tasted. It has been pretty hard keeping Anna away from them. Seeing her eat, I am reminded of the Indian advertisement with the slogan "NO ONE CAN EAT JUST ONE". Thanks Sonya for the recipe. I am gonna try many more...

Cappuccino Walnut Cake.

Do you have those days where you have disasters in the kitchen?? Well, I had one today and the worst part was it being my daughter Anna's 8th birthday. I had decided upon the cake two weeks ago. Flavour wise, it was something i had never tried before and the best part was it had to be decorated with flowers.
  
           I baked the cake a day ahead and decided to decorate it today. I got up with all the enthusiasm i had, having already envisioned the cake decorated pretty with chrysanthemums. Having followed the recipe to the T, the preparation of the icing seemed to be going on well, until it separated into water and lumps of icing(the whipped cream had not expired). I was devastated, to add to the disaster i had no extra whipped cream. The worst part about living in Germany is, if you need anything at all, there isn't a single store, not even a single store open for you.

Having never faced disasters I had to come up with some decoration. She was waiting to cut her cake. After quickly googling recipes, I narrowed on a chocolate icing which too didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. It's a mystery as to what went wrong. Nevertheless, I was exhausted with the disappointment, chaos, what with my kitchen being transformed to an utter mess and me sweating like hell(the kitchen right now is a furnace, what with temparature's touching 37 deg celcius), I proceeded with the chocolate icing and finally ended up with the above cake. My chrysanthemum's are still in the flower pot. So, while I go and do a post mortem as to what went wrong, here is the recipe from good Housekeeping magazine. a point to note: The cake in itself was awesome with the combo of coffee and walnuts!!

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp butter
• 100 gm maida
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 125 gm sugar
• 1 and a half tbsp instant coffee dissolved in a little milk
• 3/4 cup walnuts finely chopped

For the decoration:

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

For the icing:

• 200 gm white chocolate
• 4 tsp instant coffee dissolved in a little milk
• 500 gm whipped cream

For the garnish:

Fresh edible flowers or petals.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 deg celsius. Grease two round cake tins and line the base of each with a circle of greased butter paper. Sift together the flour and baking powder.
2. Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl, over a pan of barely simmering water for 3-4 minutes until fluffy. Remove from heat, beat till cooled.
3. Fold in butter, coffee, walnuts. Sift and fold the flour in small amounts carefully but quickly with a metal spoon. Pour into tins. Bake for 20 minutes or till done. Let it cool.
4. To make the decoration, whiz the walnuts in a food processor with the sugar and cinnamon until finely chopped. Do not overdo it.
5. For the icing, melt the white chocolate by putting it in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Meanwhile, beat coffee and whipped cream until smooth. Slowly beat in the melted chocolate.
6. Spread 1/3 icing on top of one cake, sandwich with other cake. Smooth remaining icing on top and sides. Scatter nuts around the sides of the cake. Decorate with flowers.

Luckily, the flavor of the cake was yummy and the family relished it, inspite of me ending up with a different icing altogether!!!

Choco-Chip muffins!!

Thursday is generally a busy day for the kids and me. What with the three of us having our respective music classes followed by Deutsch lessons late in the evening. Our tutor Frau Maria is a wonderful teacher and am glad that she is able to motivate and teach the children their german lessons well. Right from the start, Maria and I developed an instant rapport and i enjoy the small chats we have in between the classes.

       Maria is a teacher in Würzburg, she teaches by day and tutors expat children till late in the evening. To get to us she needs to spend two hours on the road. I know how tiring it must be for her considering the fact that back home, i was in the teaching profession too, but not tutoring. She comes pretty tired, but her spirit is always high. She is cheerful and has the maximum level of patience with the kids. 

Most of the time I try to bake cakes on thursday knowing that she comes hungry after a tiring day, if not, we manage with some treats from the bakers. I made a simple choco-chip muffin today which she relished so much. I had to convince her that she would not put on any extra kilos if she ate a few!!

Ingredients :-

• 250 gm flour
• 100 gms cocoa powder
• 250 gms brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200 gms butter
• 1 and a half tsp baking powder
• chocolate sauce
• half cup chopped almonds 
• few choco chips

Method :-

1. Sieve flour, cocoa and baking powder together and keep.
2. Beat the eggs till fluffy. Add sugar and beat well.
3. Add the butter to the mixture and keep on beating.
4. Add the sieved flour little by little and keep mixing well.
5. Grease a muffin tray and preheat oven to 150 deg celsius.
6. Drop spoons of batter into the muffin tray, sprinkle choco chips and bake for 20-25 minutes or until done

       

(This was the second batch, forgot the choco chips)

Let the muffins cool for a while. When ready to serve, drizzle some chocolate sauce and sprinkle chopped almonds. The above recipe makes 18 muffins. Enjoy!!

May's Choco-Walnut Cake.

This posting is for my good friend in Bangalore, pretty Preety!! Her name is Preety and she is very pretty!! Love to call her that! When I began this blog, Preety wanted a recipe for Walnut cake and am sure she must have got fed up waiting for one. Now here's the best part...
                 I have reached a stage where I have begun experimenting with baking, with no help from recipe books. I am proud to say that the end result turns out delicious as ever.  I thought it fitting to name this cake after me...:-) Here goes the ingredients which I have measured carefully and noted down.
Ingredients :-

• 250 gm self raising flour(maida)
• 100 gm cocoa powder
• 250 gm sugar
• 1 and a half tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 200 gms walnuts
• 200 gms butter
• powdered sugar for dusting

Method :-

1. Sieve flour, cocoa and baking powder together and keep aside.
2. Grind walnuts to a coarse powder.
3. Beat eggs and sugar together till fluffy.
4. Add butter and continue beating.
5. Now slowly add the sieved flour little at a time and continue beating and mix well.
6. Finally add the ground walnuts to the batter and mix well.
7. Grease a baking tray and pre heat oven to 160 deg.
8. Pour batter into the tray and bake for an hour or until the cake is done(to test, poke a knife into the cake and if it comes out clean, the cake is done).
9. Once the cake is cool, dust it with powdered sugar and serve with tea or coffee.

P.S :- Didn't go for a fancy photograph of the cake, since my daughter declared that all the cakes look the same. So, that's my presentation for the day!!

Rich Dark Chocolate Cake.

I am back to browsing through my Good Housekeeping magazines. This particular recipe caught my eye, because the ingredients didn't look like the usual ones we use. This recipe does not use any flour at all. I was curious to try it out and see the outcome. I followed the ingredients in the recipe to the T with an alteration in the baking time .....

Ingredients :

• 8 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp coffee powder
• 12 tbsp water
• 1 and a half tsp vanilla or rum essence ( I used rum)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 slices slightly stale bread
• 1 cup almonds
• 200 gm butter preferably white
• 300 gms sugar
• 8 eggs seperated

Method :

1. Mix together the cocoa, coffee, water, essence and cinnamon powder. Stir to a smooth mixture. Set aside.
2. Process the bread to fine crumbs in a grinder or mixer. Pour some boiling water over the almonds and slip off their skins. Process to fine crumbs as well but seperately.
3. In a bowl beat the butter and sugar till fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time. Add the powdered almonds and chocolate mixture. Stir in the breadcrumbs.
4. Beat the egg whites till they form soft peaks. Fold into the cake mixture.
5. Grease and line a large 14 inch cake or two smaller ones.(I used a large round tin)
6. Bake in an oven preheated to 160 degrees. Bake at 40 minutes or till done. The smaller cakes take less time.( This is where I made the change. I baked a good hour and a half since the centre of the cake was still undone after an hour too).
7. Before serving, pile on ice cream attractively at the top.
8. You may also add some chopped fresh or tinned fruit.
9. If you prefer, substitute the ice cream with fresh, whipped cream.
10. For an exotic touch, drizzle over some of your favourite liqueur - coffee flavour goes wonderfully          ( Thats what I did, I used cherry liqueur, though the kids preferred to have it as it is.)

 Note : The batter turns out to  be quite liquidish, so I was wondering if it would finally turn out to be a cake. I was relieved it did and it turned out to be one of the moistest cakes I had ever made.

Pineapple Upside-down Cake

May 13th was Father's day in Germany!! It seemed to be a busy week for the kids with both mother's and father's day in close succession. They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach!! So, there I was in the kitchen, baking a Pineapple upside down cake while the kids were busy with their cards!!

Ingredients :-

• half cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 can pineapple slices drained
• 4 eggs separated
• pinch of salt
• half cup sugar
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Method :- 

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C.
2. Melt butter in a pan. Add the brown sugar and stir until blended.
3. Pour this mixture into a 10 inch diameter baking tray.
4. Place the drained pineapple slices on top in one layer and set aside.
5. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 1 tbsp butter until smooth.
6. With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with salt until stiff. Fold in the sugar, 2 tbsp at a time Fold in the egg yolk mixture.
7. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Fold into the egg mixture in 3 batches.
8. Pour the batter over the pineapple and smooth level.
9. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
10. While still hot, place a serving plate on top of the baking tray, bottom side up. Flip cake over. Serve hot or cold.

Final verdict : Anna was surprised to see the gooey texture on top and didn't like the look of it!! For the first time in her life, she refused to eat cake:-(  Dad was very happy and loved it!!!

Black Forest Cake!!!

As I mentioned in my post here, Wednesday was a cause for celebration at home. And I chose to bake the family's favourite!! The Black Forest cake. Though I had seen the recipe many months before, I had not understood this particular sentence....sprinkle cake with Kirsche. Now I know that Kirsche is cherry in Deutsch and since the cake is a wet cake, we are supposed to soak it in a cherry liquid. I tried the dictionary, google translator but none could help me as to what the liquid is called. Not knowing who to ask, I just let it be.

       Since the past 2 months, we have had Maria come home to tutor the kids in the German language. Maria and I love to discuss and share information about our respective countries. I happened to share with her my new found passion for baking and asked her about Kirsch. Not only did she tell me what was it, she wrote it down for me and explained in length where I would find it in the supermarket.

 It is called Schattenmorellen.

The recipe I saw was for a very large cake. I was not confident of trying in such large measure, so I proceeded on my own and will share what I baked.

Ingredients :

• 4 eggs
• 200 gms sugar
• 350 gms flour
• 100 gms cocoa powder
• 200 gms butter
• 1 and a half tsp baking powder

For the filling and topping :

• 1 bottle cherry conserve(cherries soaked in sugar water)
• 2 and a half cups whipped cream
• 3 packs whipped cream stabilizer
• 3 packs vanilla sugar
• grated chocolate
• fresh cherries for decoration

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Grease a square baking tray.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together and keep.
3. Beat eggs and sugar together till frothy.
4. Add butter and continue beating.
5. Add slowly the sifted flour, continue beating and mixing well.
6. Pour batter into the greased tray and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or insert knife and check if it comes out clean.
7. Allow the cake to cool well.
8. When completely cooled, slowly remove out from tin and slice  the cake through in between to form 2 layers.
9. Prick each layer slightly with a fork, then sprinkle with the cherry water. 
10. Whip the cream along with the stabilizer and sugar in a bowl until it starts to thicken.
11. To assemble, spread one cake layer with cream and then cherries. Then place the second layer cake, on top of it cream and then cherries.
12. Spread the remaining cream all over the cake. Press grated chocolate on the sides and on top and decorate with cherries.

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