Christmas Fruit Cake/Kerala Plum Cake

At-last that day came, you meant to ask me which day? That is when I got some Rum....
Hey please don't think it the other way, I don't drink. I wanted to make this Christmas cake by soaking dry fruits in Brandy/Rum/Wine - the traditional way and I have been pleading my hubby to get some from almost two weeks. I do drive and get grocery's but I felt awkward to step into a liquor store even though no body around here 'really care' about it. It is 'Happy Holidays' every where around but my hubby had been very busy with his work. Thankfully he got me some Rum a day before Christmas and I made this Cake on Christmas morning by soaking dry fruits for around 12-16 hours.

                                           

You may avoid soaking them in liquor to make it liquor free, the taste may vary though but I assure you - the cake will not go wrong. I had made the same cake - liquor free version for last Christmas season and it had come out good too. This Christmas I made this fruit cake the traditional way, you can soak the fruits for couple of days more. For me I don't need any particular season to bake it, we enjoy them any time as teatime snack as well but of Course 'Christmas' time is the best to bake them as well. A hot cup of masala Chai and a piece or two(many times it won't stop in 2 pieces ha ha) of this plum cake is perfect for my hubby. I have already got the order to bake some more from him as he says 'Christmas time you should have baked at-least  4' as I baked 2 of them and took one for the X'mas party at our friend's place. So Enjoy baking  'Kerala Plum Cake/Christmas Fruit Cake'.

Ingredients:-

1. All purpose flour - 2 cups + 3 tbsp
2. Powdered sugar - 2 cups
3. Baking powder - 2 tsp
4. Salt a pinch
5. Pumpkin Pie Spice - 1 tsp(It contains Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger, Allspice, you can grind a small piece of cinnamon, 6 cloves, 1 nutmeg and use it as well)
6. Butter at room temperature - 1 cup
7. Egg - 3
8. Vanilla Essence
9. Brandy/Rum/wine- 1/2 cup
10. Dry Fruit s- 1 1/2 to 2 cups(I used chopped dates, tutti fruity, sliced almonds)
11. Black raisins - 1/4 cup
12. Glazed Cherries/Maraschino cherries few chopped(preferably glazed cherries, I used maraschino since I didn't have glazed one's) - 1/4 cup
13. Chopped cashews - 1/4 cup
14. Grated orange peel - 1 tsp(I microwaved it for 1 minute to get a dry peel, ie optional)
15. Freshly squeezed Orange Juice - 1 cup
16. Lemon Juice - 1 tsp
17. Sugar 1/4 cup
18. Water - 3/4 cup

Last two ingredients are for Black Color Sugar Caramel. This add dark color to this cake

Preparation Method:-

• Chop the dry fruits and soak them in Brandy/Wine/Rum along with raisins and cashews for 12 hours or more if possible
• To make the black caramel - Boil the water and keep. Heat up a thick bottom pan and add 1/4 cup sugar to it. Keep stirring on med-high heat. First they start sticking, then they caramelize to brown sauce and then start getting black. When they turn black add boiling water and stir well and switch off the stove. Stir well till the black caramel mix evenly with water and set aside. 
• Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside
• Squeeze out orange juice from 2-3 oranges and strain. You need around 1 cup of juice. Set aside.

                         

• In a large bowl, add the butter and powdered sugar till creamy . 
• Separate the egg yolks and whites. Beat the egg yolks well till they turn lemon yellow and creamy.
• Add this to the butter-sugar mix and beat well to blend.

                             

•  Add the sifted flour to the above batter little by little and mix well.
• Beat the egg white till fluffy, do not need to whip the egg whites. Fold in this to the above batter with a spatula or spoon gently.
• Pour in the caramel, orange juice, vanilla extract, orange peel, pumpkin pie spice, chopped cherries and fold in everything very gently with a spatula.

  

• Toss the soaked dry fruits with 3 tbsp all purpose flour so that they do not sink in the bottom of the batter. Add it to the above prepared batter and fold in gently and evenly.

   

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 Degree Farenheit.
• Grease two 8" cake pans with butter or cooking spray. Pour the batter into the pan and pat the pan on the kitchen counter top slightly two three times to remove air bubbles formed if any.
• Bake it for 45-50 minutes or until a sharp knife or cake tester inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!!!

Note: - You can sprinkle little bit of powdered sugar before you serve if desired only. Adjust the sweetness according to the sweetness you need.

Sending this Christmas Delicacy Event hosted by Julie @ Erivum Puliyum.

And Jingle All The Way Event hosted by Kavi @ Edible Entertainment

Also sending this to Sinful Delights hosted by Vardhini @ Zesty Palette

And sending this to ABC Series: Cakes for Christmas Event hosted by Ramya @ Ramya's Recipe

and off this go to Bake Fest #2 hosted by Sangeetha Vijay @ Spicy Treats

Also to Let's Bake and Be Merry hosted by Radhika @ Tickling Palates

and also to Holiday Baking hosted by Sravani @ Srav's Culinary Concepts

A Three tier Cake for My Little Princess Birthday/Juvan's Rainbow cake/Salt and Pepper Movie Cake

Two years back on a foggy and chilly morning we were blessed with a cute little princess. We were all excited and  happy and my little boy who was hardly two then was overjoyed to find a cute little dolly all wrapped and sleeping in the crib. His expressions on seeing his little sister for the first time still reflects in front of my eyes and we were so relieved from the tension seeing him not being possessive on me or my hubby. 

                                       

                                         

Guys, that was just a start n nothing was Ezee from then ;) . It was a marathon, struggling and juggling between two little ones of almost same age(yea, it was then I almost stopped blogging for may be more than a year). Their sweet little plays n games, tantrums, sibling competition(oh ya, all started now itself), big n small fight on even a piece of chocolate wrapper - these are all fun to watch, scary at times and the best-est motherhood experience.  I see them being the best siblings for 10 minutes and vice verse in just couple of seconds. Their love for each other have no boundaries for sometime, your attention is diverted for a minute and you get to hear the scream of one then.  ufff my sweet little kids, never knew when did they grow up so fast. My son will 4 soon and by little girl is already 2 years. It is hard to believe them growing so fast and each year leaves behind so much of precious memories. Time just flies, I wish could stop the pace in which the seconds and minutes needle of the clock rotates.

     

                                                                                   

         
So then, it was my cutie's birthday on 28th Nov and planned to make a cake for her dinner party. I wanted to make this cake from so long since I watched the Malayalam movie 'Salt n Pepper'. So friends lemme tell the story of the movie in brief and inspiration in making this cake. Please bear with me for this is gonna be long post for sure I guess.

Inside View of the cake

Salt n Pepper is a simple and beautiful movie which narrates the story of Kalidasan (Lal) an archaeologist who is equally obsessed with food, and the smell and feel of anything related to food  and Maya (Swetha Menon) who lives in another corner of the town, who enjoys her work as a dubbing artist. Both strike up a conversation that doesn't go too well, after one of Maya's calls to the local Dosa guy ends up on Kalidasan's mobile. Hate slowly gives way to affection, but when they decide to finally meet however, Kalidasan on the spur of the moment sends over his nephew Manu (Asif Ali) instead. And, Meenakshi (Mythili), Maya's roommate, volunteers to make an appearance on her behalf.

Having struck up an affinity over the telephone, Kalidasan proceeds to let Maya into the secrets of baking a Juvan's Rainbow Cake made by a French soldier's wife as the Second World War raged on, and as she anxiously waited for her husband's return home, the sumptuous cake with strawberry, pistachio and orange layers placed one over the other, is topped all over with delicious chocolate sauce. Kalidasan and Maya bake their own versions, and the world around them turns a tad sweeter.(Source Courtesy: NowRunning.com)

Now now now, the making of the cake was just breifly told in the story where they baked each cake one day at a time . While the process of making the cake was shown they showed it as strawberry being mashed in the milk, pista being soaked in the rum for  four hours with dates and orange juice being extracted. Even though nothing was mentioned about whipping the cream and layering, picturization shows the cream being whipped and each cake topped and layered with whipped cream. Then the cake seemed going to the freezer to get set may be :)  and the happy ending was when Juvan brings the chocolate and his wife make the chocolate sauce by melting it and the poured it all over the cake. Sounds so delicious right??

And now fantasy apart,  let me come to my version where I planned to make this all on one day ;) Was a lot more labor but was really loads of fun too as I was really excited to see the result. I did not use any rum to soak the pistachios and dates. Instead I grinded the pistachios with milk and add to the cake batter. Also I didn't use whipped cream instead I used a can of cream cheese frosting and dear lord that saved a lot of time for me while making it as I was planning for a small friend's gathering too for dinner. So guys that was all about this cake and bake story. I hope I haven't bored you all. So enjoy making this 'Juvan's Rainbow Cake' bake recipe :)

Ingredients:-

All purpose Flour - 3 Cups
Baking Powder - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 2 Cups
salt - 1/2 tsp
Eggs - 3
Oil - 1/2 cup(or 1 stick butter)
Milk - 1/2 cup + 1/2 cup
Fresh Orange Juice - 1 cup(squeezed out of 2-3 oranges)
Orange Zest - 1 tsp
Strawberry - 10(hulled)
Pistachios - 3/4 to 1 cup
Cream Cheese Frosting - 1 can(16 oz)
Nestle Chocolate Morsels - 2 cups
Heavy Whipping cream - 1/2 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp

Preparation Method:-

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 Degree Fahrenheit.
• Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside till the rest  of the process is completed.
• Wash and pat dry the strawberries. Pour 1/2 cup milk to a bowl, add strawberries and mash very well with your clean hands(or give it a a stir or two in a food processor and add it to the milk, don't get it pureed in the mixer or blender). Set aside.
• Soak the pistachios in water for at-least 30 minutes and peel off the skin completely. Grind it with 1/2 cup of milk and set aside.
• Squeeze out the fresh juice from the oranges and set aside(cut the oranges horizontally to easily squeeze out the juice, don't puree the orange)

• Now in a bowl beat the egg well till lemon yellow, add the sugar and beat well. Pour in the oil(butter) and beat well till everything is incorporated well. 
• Add the sifted flour mix to this and beat well till everything is blended properly.
• Take out 1 1/4 cup of the flour batter and pour to the strawberry mix bowl and mix well with the whisk(I added a drop of red color to the mix as I knew strawberry never gives you color when it is baked)
• Now pour 1 1/4 cup of the batter to the pistachio and mix well( u might need to add a bit more milk to this as pistachio mix might seem more thicker)
• To the rest of the batter add the orange juice and orange zest and mix well with the whisk and set aide.
• Use a cooking spray to grease three round cake pans and pour the three cake mix to the pans.

• Bake it for approximately 50 mins or a cake tester comes out clean when inserted.
• Take out of the oven and let it cool completely.
• Place the strawberry cake at the bottom and top it with the frosting. Spread it nice and evenly. Top it with Pistachio cake and spread the cream cheese on top. Place the Orange cake on top and spread the  cream cheese topping on the top and sides and Put it in the freezer for an hour.
• Mean while heat up a pan and pour the whipping cream and get it to boil stirring in between. Switch off the flame .
• Add the chocolate morsels and butter to this and stir well till all the chocolates and butter are melted completely. Let it cool for a while. Chocolate Ganache is ready
• Take out the cake and pour the ganche on top and let it pour down from the sides of the cake. I just spread it smooth and evenly so that I can do a bit decoration and write Birthday wishes on top of the cake.

                                                 

•  This awesome 'Juvan's Rainbow Cake' is ready to Serve. Yumm Yuum with loads of fun.

I have been honored with a couple of awards by my dear blogger friends and wanted to post it but this being a longer post I thought of posting it my next blog post. I thank all my blogger friends who have been really supportive and honoring me with the awards too. Thanks a lot friends :)

Sending this to CHRISTMAS DELICACY event hosted by Julie @ Erivum Puliyum

                                                             

Also sending this to ABC Series : Cakes for Christmas Event  hosted by Ramya @ Ramya's Recipe

Also to Bake Fest #2 event hosted by Sangeetha Vijay @ Spicy Treats

Chocolate chip cupcakes - Eggless and Butterless

Sometimes my son gets too high on cupcakes, especially when he comes back from school. He put words into action in his cute little ways about which cupcake he is craving for and I could easily make out he had cupcake at school - maybe as a snack or gotta eat classmates birthday cupcake. Nothing could stop me from making cupcake this time on my little one's demand and I was sure once I bake them, Me n My hubby will be eating it in full swing too. So for low cal cupcakes I tried making this Egg-less n butter-less and yea it came too good. I made around two trays and everything vanished in couple of hours. Try this out friends and enjoy guilt free cupcakes the ezee breezy way. Enjoy!!!!

Ingredients:-

1. All purpose flour - 2 cups
2. Brown Sugar - 3/4 cup(can use white sugar, can add/reduce sugar)
3. Baking powder - 1 1/2 Tbsp
4. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
5. Chocolate Morsels - 1/2 cup
6. Salt a pinch
7. Oil - 1/2 cup
8. Fat free milk - 1/2 cup(can use normal milk as well)
9. Water - 1 cup(approx)

Preparation Method:- 

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 Degree F.
• Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a wide bowl.(no sieve, no problem. put the dry ingredients  in a wide bowl and use a whisk and mix well in circular motion to blend everything well)
• Add sugar to it and mix well with a whisk
• Add milk, vanilla essence and oil, keeping whisking in circular motion to blend everything well.
• Pour water little by little stirring to get the required consistency.
• Insert the muffin tray with cupcake liners. Pour the batter into each cup little more than half the cup size.
• Bake for 45 minutes or a cake tester inserted comes out clean. Enjoy!!!!

Off this go to CHRISTMAS DELICACY Event hosted by Julie @Erivum Puliyum

Also sending this to ABC Series: Cakes for Christmas event hosted by Ramya at Ramya's Recipe

and also to the Bake Fest Event hosted by Sangeetha Vijay @ Spicy Treats

Apple-Nuts cake with caramel topping

Ingredients:-


All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking Pdr - 1 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Cinnamon pdr - 2 tsp
Oil - 1 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup
Eggs- 2 large
Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Organic Apple - 2 Med size(chopped into small cubes)
Chopped Nuts - 1 cup( i used chopped cashews and Almonds)
Pure Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

Preparation Method:-

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a baking pan, set aside.
2) Take a bowl and sift together flour, cinnamon powder, baking powder, salt and set aside.
3) In a mixing bowl whisk together the vegetable oil, butter, sugar, and eggs till lemon yellow.
4) Gradually add in the flour mix and mix until just incorporated.
5) Add apples, mixed nuts to the batter, mix to combine.(u can add milk if the batter is thick)
6) Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a tooth pick or a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean (40-50 mins)


                              

7) Remove from oven, and move to a cooling rack. Pierce all over the cake gently with a fork. Pour hot Caramel(Recipe follows) over the cake and top it with slices of Apple.
8) Serve warm or at room temperature.

For Caramel Topping:-

4 tbsp light brown sugar
1/4 cup skim milk(u can use any milk)
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a pan add brown sugar, milk and butter and bring into boil by stirring in med flame. Stir for 3-4 mins till it become little thick like a syrup. Switch off the flame and add vanilla and mix well. Pour over the cake...

Black Forest cake

Black Forest Cake is a Chocolate layered cake made rich with whipping cream, cherries and chocolate shavings, looks so temping and great yet so simple to make. This cakes needs just few basic cake ingredients, and the process is less complicated. So friends, lets go through the process of this great looking Black forest cake and Enjoyyy!!!



Ingredients:-

• All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
• Dark cocoa powder - 3/4 cup (I used dutch processed dark cocoa powder which I bought from Costco, u can use dark chocolate as well which contains 60% cocoa content and melt it by double boiling method and mix it with the beaten egg yolk)
• Sugar - 3/4 cup + 1/4 cup
• Eggs - 4
• Heavy whipping cream - 2 1/2 cups(Refrigerate the whipping cream and the bowl you are gonna use to whip the cream before you start to whip it) 
• Maraschino cherries - 1 small tin, few chopped + few whole for decorating and finishing(I used normal cherries since I did not get maraschino cherries)
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Oil- 1/2 cup
• Butter - 1/4 cup
• Powdered Sugar -1/4 cup(to whip the cream)
• Vanilla essence -1 tsp + 1tsp
• Water -1/2 cup + 2-3 tbsp sugar(to make sugar syrup or use cherry syrup of maraschino cherry while layering the cake)
• Chocolate bars -4 oz(Make chocolate shavings out of it with a veg peeler) 

Preparation Method:-

Make the chocolate cake:

• Separate the egg yolk and white in two different bowls taking care, no traces of yolk gets into white.

Beat the york well to get a thick creamy texture. Add 3/4 cup sugar and beat again.

Egg york in the process of beating

• Add the butter, cooking oil, 1tsp vanilla essence and beat in low speed till everything mixes evenly.
•  Beat egg whites by adding 1/4 cup of sugar gradually to get a white cream. Make sure the egg whites do not have any traces of yolks and the beater is clean and dry.

• In another bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.
• Now Incorporate the york mixture and flour mixture. Fold in the beaten egg white and mix everything gently to get a thin batter. If the batter goes thick add a bit low fat milk.
• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
• Grease a 9 inch round cake pan and use a cooking spray to grease the pan.(since you have to get cake layers either make a big cake and cut horizontally into three or four by running a knife carefully or make cakes in two or three separate pans. I baked two separate cake out of this batter and sliced each cake into two to get four layered cake.)

•  Pour the batter and bake the cake for 25-30 mins or until a knife or toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Set aside to let it cool. Slice the cake horizontally into 3-4 slices and keep aside.
• Boil the water and add 2-3 tbsp of sugar to it, keep stirring it till it become like a syrup not too thick but just reduce a bit.
• Insert the fork slowly all over the sliced cake make o make small holes. Sprinkle the syrup over the sliced cake and set aside

Preparing the whipping cream:

• In a clean and refrigerated bowl add the whipping cream and beat from low to medium speed for 4-5 mins.
• Once the cream starts to thicken add the powdered sugar gradually and whip for a minute or two.
• Add the vanilla essence and low speed just to mix it well with the cream. Set aside. The cream should be firm not runny

Layering the cake:

• Place a sliced cake on  a plate, top with 2-3 scoop of whipped cream, spread it evenly, top with some chopped cherries.
• Top it with another cake slice and repeat the process till you top up with the last slice of cake.
• Spread the top and sides of the cake with whipped cream nicely and evenly.
• Decorate with chocolate shaving on the top and sides of the cake.
• Garnish with  few whole cherries. Your black forest cake is ready to Serve..