SnS makes Drizzle cakes..

Sweet and Simple bakes decided to make St Clement's drizzle cake , to enjoy along the lake, the rich and crumbly flakes.. wish I could rhyme more..maybe not :)

Its an English tea cake [love the quaintness of it] seemingly quite common, though I have never heard of it before..the English seems to be the masters of cakes all around!

The original recipe is here but I reproduce here as I made changes to make it eggless and also the measurements, since Im not used to measure in grams anymore.. Actually, I got a bit confused about the egg replacement and all that orange/lemon proportions so I decided I will make the basic eggless sponge that always works for me and just add on the lemon/orange variations to it..

1 cup AP flour

1 cup Whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 tbsp milk powder

1 cup fine sugar

Zest of 1 big lemon

1 cup milk

4 oz/1/2 stick butter melted

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Whip up the butter and sugar and add the lemon zest. Add the flour and milk and mix to form cake batter. Pour into a loaf pan and bake @ 375F for 50 mins.

juice of 1 lemon

same amount of orange juice ( I didn't have a fresh orange)

3 tbsp granulated sugar

Simmer both juices till reduced to about 3 tbsp. Let it cool and add sugar. As soon as the cake is out , poke with skewers and pour the 'drizzle' on it.

There is no picture around but it looked like this after pouring and I wasn't sure if my drizzle was too much:

After cooling, it turned out to be just about right..a moist cake with a dense sweet flavor and pockets of orange/lemony bursts in between !

A bit of googling also shows that there are many variations on this 'drizzle' and Im sure to try some more..soon...

An award and biscuit cake...

My fellow traveller on this journey, Jaya from Jayaspace nominated me for this award and Im over-joyed and happy to receive my first blogger award !! Thanks a lot Jaya !!

Of-course, it comes with conditions.. namely, listing 7 interesting things about me which is not as simple as it sounds... but here goes ..

• I went to Medical college for 15 days and left it and joined engineering..I do wonder what my life would've been if I had continued ..
• I have learnt to 'Never say never' cos we never know where our life will take us and what you will evolve into..for example, I never thought that I would own and love a dog...
• There was a time in my life when I used to read 2 novels a day..those 350 or so pages ones..
• I don't suffer fools gladly
• I really dislike people who give less thought to having a child than buying a car ...
• I ran my first 5k last november, I trained myself for it , and before that I used to hate gyms
• This from DH - Im a liberal , eco-conservative activist/feminist

I dont know how interesting the above set of random facts is for anyone, but atleast I tried and also in spirit of kreativity - this childhood favorite recreated :

Biscuit cake :

1 pkt Glucose biscuits from Indian store

1 chocolate butter frosting

Indian style - Mix fresh made butter, cocoa powder and refined sugar to make icing consistency.

Current version - Heat 50g semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler till it melts then let cool. Add 1/2 stick room-temperature butter bi-by-bit and blend in.

Layer each biscuit's smooth surface with the chocolate buttercream and place above the other. Form a layered stack and apply buttercream on the sides. Let freeze. Cut diagonally to enjoy the crispy chocolate-y goodness !

I also get to share this award, and I am passing on this award to :

1. She has got so many awards already but she is 'kreative with a K' and I pass on this award humbly to Lolo @ Vegan YumYum

Ohh...its so tough to pass on the award..as every other food blogger I know already has the award or are way beyond that ..i think I was the last one to join the band-wagon...:( I think I will have to share this on the go...sorry guys ! Though , if anyone thinks of some blogger please let me know and I shall be ever thankful !!

Carrot cake , a sweet and simple bake..

As if all the baking I had already done wasn't enough I also decided to take on Sweet and Simple bakes challenge this month..

As the name suggests though, the recipes are pretty straightforward and this one was particularly something that I had wanted to try since long..I've always relished the idea of a carrot cake but never really given it a go...

Here's my go, adapted from this Basic Recipe to exclude eggs, availability and measures :

2 cups APF

3/4 cup sugar

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

pinch of salt

2 cups grated carrots

4 tbsp shortening (I used unsalted butter)

1/2 cup or so milk

3/4 cup walnuts ,chopped

a handful of raisins.

Mix all the dry ingredients thoroughly. Cut the shortening in. Add the carrots and mix well. Pour milk to form a batter. Fold in chopped nuts.Heat oven at 375F and bake for 30-40 mins. I added some slivered almonds on the top after baking for 15 mins to avoid the cream cheese frosting ..as much as I love my cream cheese :)

The cake was a hit, very soft and moist and nutty. I was skeptical about adding the raisins but those gave a nice sweet/sour tang to the cake...definitely a keeper !

Blueberry Bonanza!!

I was first introduced to blueberries back in 2004 , when I came to the US for the first time and visited my friend in Chicago. "Its full of anti-oxidants" , she said . I guess I heard of anti-oxidants for the first time too.."Its good for you " ..bring it on then...My first impression of the blueberry was neither good..nor bad..they were okay...slightly sweet..slightly tart..

Fast forward to May 2006 - I came back to US(I havnt seen any blueberries in India, as yet) and at the start of the summer...blueberries abounded...fresh bluberries..blueberry muffin..scones..and I went crazy...my friends started thinking about getting me a blueberry plant to grow :) .. but now, I understood and appreciated blueberries more...Full of antioxidants..low in calories ..they are a veritable source of freshness and nutrition packed in those small blobs..

Every summer after that, I religously get a pint or two of blueberries every weekend from farmers market..and mostly I have them just like grapes..and they disappear in no time..nowadays more so, cause Dora (our beagle-mix) seems to have a liking for them as well..so we finish that box in one sitting :)

This weekend though I tried 2 delightful recipes incorporating those blueberries :

1. Inspired by SusanV and the lemon -poppyseed cake I had tried in the local Caribou , I made a Blueberry-lemon-poppyseed cake .. I must say that combination worked out pretty well for me..

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup milkpowder

1/2 cup sugar or agave nectar

1/2 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp poppy seeds

2 tbsp applesauce

2 tbsp ghee or shortening

2 tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup milk

1 cup blueberries

Mix all the dry ingredients well - flour, sugar, soda, baking powder, salt , milk powder, poppy seeds. Add the applesauce ,shortening , lemon juice and zest and mix well. Add milk and stir till a consistent batter. Fold in blueberries . Bake at 375 F for about 45 -50 mins.

I have recently started making cakes with the whole wheat flour and the taste is certainly denser than the white flour but I dont want to go back to the white one for obvious purposes. Otherwise , the poppyseeds and blueberry complimented very well and the lemon added an extra zing , though I held myself back on it as I thought that blueberries would be providing the sour/tart-ness.

2. And this..

Blueberry Yogurt parfait inspired by this basic parfait recipe..but first..did you know..in French , parfait literally means something perfect..how perfect [I do love me some french words ;) ]

So ,

whip up some yogurt ,

heat up a quick blueberry sauce in microwave - wash and add 2 tsp sugar to abt a cup of blueberries and heat for 2 mins

layer yogurt , then above mentioned cake slice, then the blueberry sauce and repeat till top is the fruit layer

Top it with a dollop of cream and mini chocolates or crumbled graham crackers ( I did after I took the snaps) if you have ..

Freeze it !

DH was so impatient , we pulled it out in 10 mins..Im sure the taste enhances by freezing longer..maybe atleast 30 mins..

In any case , it was a great tasting and healthy dessert !!

[ Notice Dora looking at the dessert longingly ..she was ready to lick the frost off the glass... she didnt get any :) ..she did get some blueberries and a slice of cake too ]

Orange cake and more baking..

The Orange Cake I saw the other day on Holy Cow ! was soo droolworthy , I had to try it at the earliest , and fortunately I had all the ingredients on hand too...or so I thought..

Ive never had an orange-y cake before...and though I love Oranges Ive never ventured out much in trying orange-y flavors..icecreams etc...maybe I will...soon..

Neway, so equipped by the cointreau called for by Vaishali's recipe and the basic egg-less cake recipe that I have which works to a T every time and garners praises every time (im not kidding) I baked this simple cake which turned out quite great with a distinct orange flavor :

Ingredients:

2 cup white flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

2-3 tbsp Cointreau liqueur

1 cup orange juice

1tbsp vinegar(which I didnt have nd I made w/o, but think will add next time to balance the orange flavor)

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the liquid and mix the batter thoroughly. Grease a cake pan and add the cake batter. Bake for 40 mins in a pre-heated oven at 350F or till knife comes out clear. 

Enjoy !

I also tried this basic whole wheat bread recipe and 1st time I killed my yeast ! and learnt an important lesson about proofing - checking if your yeast is active or not - do not overheat the water ! You want the water to be 100F ..just a bit warmer than your body temperature (which is 96F ) ..

Take 2-3 tbsp of water and add some sugar and the yeast...it should bubble up within 10 mins if it is alive..

So I re-added the yeast and the flour rose the 1st and the 2nd time too..but it subsided again on baking...It was good too taste but a bit flaky ( I have no idea why ) and dense (cause of whole wheat flour, but I did use the whole wheat pastry flour) .. maybe I will try again...maybe I wont...