Yummy Home Made Chocolate Truffle Cake

Treat yourself with a luscious chocolate truffle cake !! Its soooo yummmmm ...
I enjoyed every bit of it.. and i hope you do too :)

INGREDIENTS:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tbsp
Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup
Powdered sugar - 1 cup
salt - 1/2 tbsp
Butter - 1 stick
Eggs - 2 large or 3 medium
milk - 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - few drops

FILLING:
Butter - 6 tbsp

Semi sweet chocolate, chopped - 4 ounce

Confectioners' sugar - 2 cups

Heavy whipping cream - 1/2 cup

GANACHE:

Semisweet chocolate - 10 ounce

Heavy whipping cream - 2/3 cup

METHOD :
You can either use an electric mixer or a hand mixer. I use a hand mixer.
Add butter to a bowl and mix nicely till creamy. Then add the Powdered sugar and mix well.
Let it rest
Meanwhile, beat the eggs separately till fluffy.
Mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda together and sieve to make sure here are no lumps.
To the butter and sugar mix, add the flour and eggs alternatively and slowly to make sure no lumps are formed.
Add cocoa powder and mix.
Once everything is mixed , add 1/2 cup milk and vanilla essence and mix well.
Let the oven preheat at 350degrees
Meanwhile, add the parchment paper to two baking trays.
Add the batter to your trays and bake for 25 to 30 mins. or , pierce the center of the cake to see if the stick comes out clean.

Let it cool for 10 mins before it remove it from the tray. Once removed, let it cool completely before adding the filling and ganache.

For filling:
In a small saucepan, melt butter and chocolate. Stir in confectioners sugar and cream until smooth.

For ganache: 

Place chocolate in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil.
Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth.

Cool, stirring occasionally, until ganache reaches a spreading consistency.

LAYERING:

Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with required filling.

Top with second cake layer. Spread ganache over top and sides of cake. Decorate with reserved filling.

TIPS:

• You can also use semi sweet chocolate instead of cocoa powder. For that, in a saucepan, heat milk , butter and chocolate till its all in a flowing consistency and let it cool before you add it will the remaining cake mixture.
• The fluffier the eggs the softer the cake ..so do make sure.
• Always use butter and eggs at room temperature for any cake.
• Frosting , layering , etc to be done only when cake and filling is in room temperature or cool.

Banana Crepes with Coconut Sauce !!

One of my most favourite and easy to make snack or desert !! Its so yummy and delicious..

Here's what you ll need to prepare..

Ingredients:

For the Crepe batter:

All-purpose flour (maida) - 1/4 cup

milk - 1/4 cup

sugar - 1/4 cup

egg - 1

salt - 1 pinch

butter - 2 tbsp

For the sauce:

Banana - 1 diced

coconut milk - 1/2 cup

jaggery - 2 to 3 tbsp

nutmeg - 1 pinch

Method:

For the crepe: Mix all the ingredients for the crepe batter except butter and give a good beating. And keep aside for a few mins.

In a pan, spread 1 tbsp butter, add 1 full spoon batter and spread it throughout the pan. Let it cook for a min. Then flip it over and transfer to plate immediately.

For the sauce: Add butter in the same pan, add the diced banana's and saute. Add the jaggery, coconut milk and nutmeg and stir for a few secs. And turn off flame.

NOTE: It need not cook for more than a few secs..

Add the filling to the crepe and fold it.. Garnish with extra sauce, chocolate syrup and powdered sugar.. Enjoy the yummyness!!!

Nutty Banana Vanilla Creme Cake

It was my hubby's Bday yesterday and so, i baked a Surprise cake for him :)) mmm ..Not much of a surprise, coz he knew ill bake a cake for him.. I bake cakes for all special occasions. Then, wont i do it for his bday ??? !!! ha ha ... so it was not a surprise ... he was actually expecting one !!!

So... my hubby is very picky...so finicky... no chocolate, no pineapple, no strawberry's ....what else cake can we bake for a bday ??? If i had baked any of the above No's ...ill end up eating the whole cake and adding extra kilo's..which i don't want :) So I decided to bake a Banana Walnut cake ....but since i did nt have walnuts...i used Almonds and Pecans and changed my cake name to "Nutty Banana Cake with Vanilla Creme ... " ...howz that !!!

Here's what you ll need to bake Nutty Banana Vanilla Creme Cake:

All Purpose Flour - 2 cups
Baking Powder - 1 tbsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tbsp
Butter - 100 gms (1 stick)
Powdered Sugar - 2 cups
Egg - 2 (Separate the egg white and yoke and beat both till fluffy- keep aside)
Milk - 1/2 cup
Sour Creme - 2 tbsp
Vanilla Essence - 2 tbsp
Smashed Banana - 1
Nuts - Almonds, Pecans, walnuts - 1/2 cup ( use any nut of your choice and quantity of your choice too)
For Nutty Banana Vanilla Creme Cake:

• Wet Ingredients: In a mixing bowl, add butter and beat till creamy and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and beat again. Add the beaten eggs, milk, vanilla essence, sour creme to the above mixing bowl and beat till it mixes well.
• Dry ingredients: First Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda. Add them to the mixing bowl along with all the other ingredients. Beat well till the batter is well mixed.
• Add the smashed Banana and beat again.
• Finally add the nuts and fold the batter well.
• Grease the baking pan, place a baking paper( parchment paper) and add the batter to 2 pans. Meanwhile, preheat the oven @ 350 degree
• Bake the cakes @ 350 degrees for 45 minutes.



• Let the cake cool down for a little while.

For Vanilla Creme Icing Ull need:

Heavy Whipping Creme - 1 pint
Butter - 1 stick (optional)
Sour creme - 1 tbsp (optional)
Confectioners sugar - 1 to 1/2 cup
Vanilla Essence - 2 tbsp

• Add the heavy whipping creme, sugar and beat till the creme becomes little thick, then add the butter and beat again till thick. Add the vanilla essence and fold the icing creme.

Layering the Cake: Once the cake is cooled, Place the first cake layer add 1/2 inch icing on top, then the next layer and add 1/2 inch icing throughout the outer surface of the cake in even pace. You need not make it perfectly flat. Having a little bumpy and messy cake surface gives a nice Home mstyle look ....and i like that. :))
Tips:

• I added cocoa powder to the icing creme for the decorations. coz i needed a contrast color. You can also add 'icing color' to the icing mix to decorate in different colors. Since i did nt have it, i used chocolate icing for decorations. you can try any other colors as well.
• While layering, you can also add Strawberry preserves to the middle layer.
• You can also use, nuts and chocolate chips for the decorations..
• Adding sour creme to your cake, makes your cake more fluffier and soft..

I baked the cake yesterday and its over today !!! It was indeed delicious and nutty :))) try it out and let me know your suggestions and comments...

Rice Kheer

Ingredients:

Steamed Rice - 1 cup

Milk - 4 cups

Sugar - 3/4 to 1 cup

Cinnamon or Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tbsp

Raisins and Nuts - 1/2 cup

Saffron - 1 pinch (optional)

Ghee

For Rice Kheer:

• Boil Milk. When the milk is about to boil, add the rice and let it cook for 5 to 10 mins.
• Once it gets little thick, add the sugar and Cardamom/Cinnamon powder.
• Heat Ghee in another pan, add nuts (any nut of your choice) and raisins, fry till golden brown, and add to kheer.
• Garnish with Saffron and nuts..
• Serve hot or cold !!!

Tips:

I was actually running short of Cardomom Powder and so decided to add Cinnamon powder instead. Wow ...it tasted great !!! I like it better with cinnamon powder ...try it !!! You ll like it too ..

Enjoy Rice Kheer for desert ...

Delicious Rasagullas

Ive been thinking....are there any recipies with less ingredients !!! and yeah ....these are a lot of delicious recipies we can get out of just 5 or even less than 5 ingredients. So to start of with ....this is my first '5 Ingredients Recipe' ...Less than 5 indeed :))

Ingredients:

Milk - 5 cups ( will make 10 to 12 balls)

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Sugar - 5 cups

water - 3 cups

For Rasagulla:

• Boil the milk. Once the milk is boiled, turn off flame, and add the lemon juice to it.. stirring slowly. The milk will slowly start cuddling and you will soon see the separation of water and cheese. Once you see the greenish water separated from the cheese, strain it in a light muslin cloth or paper towel.
• Now you have your cheese in your cloth. Let some cold water to flow over them to remove the lemon flavour. Squeeze out all the water and place on work surface and kneed it like a dough.
• Make small 1 diameter balls out of the fresh cheese.
• Meanwhile, in a pressure cooker add water and sugar and let it turn into a nice sweet sugar syrup. Keep the flame in High to Medium. When the syrup is boiling, add the balls, and pressure cook for 10 mins.
• Let it cool. then refrigerate it ..and serve cold !!!

Tips:

• Do not over cook the cheese, or they might harden.
• Remember, the balls will become bigger and bigger once you cook them, so leave more space for them to grow while pressure cooking.
• Once you cool them they ll become even more bigger.
• The thinner your syrup is , the better your rasagulla is ....

Thats it !!! A Delicious sweet with less than 5 ingredients !!! Cooking time is less then 20 mins.

Sweet Treat yourself !!!

Carrot Halwa

Ingredients:
Carrots - 2 ( serves 2 people)
Milk - 3 cups
Sugar - 4 to 5 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cardamon powder - 1 tbsp
Cashew nuts and Raisins - to Garnish

For Carrot Halwa:

• Boil Milk in a heavy bottomed pan. Once it comes to a boil, add the carrots and keep stirringto avoid from sticking to the bottom.
• Once the milk has completely drained, add the sugar and cardamon powder. Stir well for 5 mins.
• Once it comes to a solid state, add ghee and turn off flame when the ghee oozes out of the halwa.
• Garnish with Cashew nuts & raisins..
  

Tempting Caramel Custard...

Reposting this for my '5 Ingredient Recipes ' Event!!!

Yummy and delicious Caramel Custard ...My mother used to make this for me when i was a kid:) Havent had it in a long time...so i asked my mother how to make caramel custard.. and made it today!!! It was very very delicious ....
I actually set 4 caramel custard's in the freezer. When i took out the first one on my plate, it was so very tempting, i did nt wait to get a picture of it or did i think i should keep a share for my husband.. I just eat it to the last bit. And so with the second and so with the third ...:))) I had only one more left in the freezer... and thought i should keep this one atleast for my husband... But, what can i say ...I could only wait till a clicked a snap of it :)) ))))))


Ingredients:
Whole Milk - 4 cups ( 4 to 5 servings)
Egg - 1
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Vanilla Essence - to taste

Note: If you are using Reduced Fat milk, boil the milk to make it a little thick and let it cool. If you are using Whole Milk, you can use it as it is..

For The Pudding:
Mix Cold Milk, Egg, sugar ( 4 to 5 tbsp) and vanilla essence in a bowl or beat them in a blender/food processor, and keep aside.

For the Caramel:
Heat a pan, and add sugar ( 10 tbsp). Don't add anything else. Let it get heated up. The color changes to slight brown. Keep stirring till add the sugar has melted. Pour it immediately into Caramel Pudding Dishes. Let the caramel cool and settle down.
Once the caramel is set, pour the pudding mix and steam cook it in pressure cooker for 10 to 15 mins. Let it cool down.
Then Place the caramel custard's in the freezer for at least 3 to 4 hours, for it to get set.
Transfer it to serving tray and enjoy Caramel custard Cold !!! ...

Treat yourself with Caramel Custard !!!