Milk Chocolate Cake

A new year! A time for resolutions. A time for new beginnings. Many people say new year's are overrated, as are resolutions. Personally, I think there is no harm in trying. A few weeks ago, I resumed posting on this blog. At the same time, my namesake and I were chatting. I told her that I would probably not resume the project 365 this year, but would probably think of writing once a week on this blog. Almost two weeks have gone by and I have not yet started. So, maybe this project needs a bit of tweaking. Just to keep things simple and to add a bit of variety, I'm going to go with 10 sweet baked goodies/Indian sweets, 10 savoury baked goodies/Indian snacks, 10 South Indian dishes and 10 North Indian dishes. So, that's 40 for 2014. Whatever else I post here will either be part of something bigger, or quite simply, a bonus.

The one big cooking related thing I started doing in 2013 was baking with A. It really all started with a book we brought from the library: Spot Bakes a Cake. We read and reread the book so many times that one day I just bought him a copy. It remains a favourite. In the story, Spot bakes a chocolate cake for his father's birthday. Usually, whenever A wants to bake a cake, it is chocolate. So far he has asked for a different cake just once.

On weekends, we build Lego sets or play with blocks, go out, play hide and seek or simply bake together. A likes the concept of baking. He loves the concept of sprinkles. And as is probably standard for children his age, he has almost no concept of patience. After I've put the cake in the oven, he'd come by every few minutes and ask, "Is the cake ready yet, Amma?", but when I finally bring the cake out for him to cut, if I ask him, "Would you like a piece?", the answer would most immediately be a "No". To him, cake is food. He feels he can ask for it in place of any meal. It is also his comfort food. Scraped knees causing many tears? Fear not. As long as one can quickly be given a piece of cake, there is no cause for worry.

This morning, we decided to bake. He wanted a chocolate cake. But I've run out of cocoa. We made do with what we had. 

1 cup Flour

1/4 cup Butter

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Milk

1 Egg

1/2 tsp Vanilla

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

A pinch of Salt

10 Cadbury's Dairy Milk miniatures (or 50 g milk chocolate)

Sprinkles and Chocolate Chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Prepare an 8" round cake tin.

Melt the milk chocolate miniatures in a microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds. Beat well. Repeat this twice until the chocolate is melted and the texture is creamy.

Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt.

Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl. Add the egg and beat again. Add the milk and vanilla and beat for 30 seconds. Add the sifted dry ingredients and beat until well incorporated. Add the melted chocolate and mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. Decorate with the sprinkles and chocolate chips (this is the part that children seem to enjoy the most). Bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and then cut into pieces.

The result, today, was the softest, yet firmest, chocolate cake I've baked in a long long time. A had two pieces fresh out of the oven. I suppose having an able assistant makes all the difference in the world.

Happy New Year, everyone. My heart is filled with gratitude for the love you continue to show.

Black Forest Brownies

Brownies! I barely know of anyone who doesn't like the stuff. Having said that, I must admit that I have hardly ever been tempted to buy these beauties. Especially since I started baking them at home. I have tried different variations through the years, but have never put up recipes. I usually bake these to give away. So, I rarely take pictures and as a result, the recipes are not shared.

 

 

 

 

While I am yet to start my holiday baking, this seemed like a festive enough way to kickstart the process. We always have a stash of chocolate that is gifted to us throughout the year. While we all love chocolate, we don't eat it as much. Very recently, a friend gifted us a bar of Dairy Milk Black Forest. I just knew that it would also just languish in the pantry unless I rescued it. Now, I think I could do this with other chocolates too.

 

1/2 cup Oil

3/4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Flour
200g Dairy Milk Black Forest Bar (Powdered in a mixie jar)
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt

 

 

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

Beat the eggs and add the sugar, vanilla essence and oil. Add the flour, chocolate, baking powder and salt, gradually to the egg mixture. Spread the batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares and enjoy them.

The black forest chocolate is made with pieces of cherry jelly and biscuits. The surprise is in biting into a chewy brownie and finding an even chewier piece of jelly. Great combination and a keeper recipe.

 

Happy Holidays!



Carrot Beetroot Chocolate Mini Muffins

Baking for little children is fun. I find instant approval or disapproval when a child tastes what I have made. No pretense, no niceties. I have rediscovered baking with butter in the past year and I find that the texture of the cakes is really nice. I have nothing against baking cakes with oil, just that once in a while, butter is better. And when I bake for children, I feel I must use butter.

I was on my way to meet a dear friend and remembered that I had promised her daughter chocolate muffins. So I made these very quickly. But then I had just grated some carrots to make parathas for A, so I decided to sneak some in to these muffins as well. Then I thought beets would also make a good addition.

The best part about this entire recipe is that one cannot even taste the carrot or beetroot in the final product. They just seem to make the muffins super moist. I know this one is a keeper.

3/4 cup Flour

1 1/2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 cup Sugar

a Pinch Salt

1/4 cup Butter

1 Eggs

1/4 cup Grated  Carrot

1/4 cup Grated Beetroot

1/2 tsp Vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350F/180 C. Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking powder along with the salt.

Cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and beat again. Add the sugar and vanilla and

beat well together. Fold the flour cocoa mixture into this.

Prepare the mini muffin pans by lining them with paper muffin cases or spraying them with baking spray.

Stir the grated carrot and beetroot into the batter and pour into the prepared muffin cases. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Little A polished off two of these almost as soon as they were out of the oven. The batter makes 16 mini muffins. I packed some in a box and took them to meet some old friends and their children. Gone in sixty seconds may be a better title for this recipe!

Eggless Chocolate Cake

For birthdays, when I have no idea what to gift the person, I try and take a home made cake along. Oftentimes, there is a dietary restriction thanks to allergies or cultural beliefs. Earlier, I would hunt for recipes that would fit the needs of the person, but these days, I find myself more open to experimenting even in baking. This eggless chocolate cake came together very quickly. I used ricotta cheese as an egg substitute. I had meant to use silken tofu, but I realized that I had run out of it. A tip I learnt from the Food Network was to add some instant coffee to enhance the chocolatey flavour of cakes. I tried that too and I must say it worked very well.

1 cup Flour

2 1/2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Instant Coffee Powder
1/2 cup Sugar
a Pinch Salt
1/4 cup Oil
1/4 cup Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla
 

Prepare an 10" ring or 8" round cake tin by greasing and flouring it.

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

Beat the ricotta, oil, milk, sugar and vanilla together. Sift the remaining dry ingredients together and add them to the liquid mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack and cut into slices. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea. This is a perfect eggless chocolate cake and the recipe is a keeper.

Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake

It's raining cakes on The Singing Chef! It was an unsual Saturday for us. We were to have one couple over for dinner. But A was unwell and we needed to make a trip to the paediatrician. So, we cancelled that dinner. As luck would have it, we weren't able to get an appointment for that day. I was feeling bad that we'd cancelled plans with our friends and were unable to take A to the doctor. Later in the day, S got on the phone with another friend and an impromptu dinner was planned.


I hadn't thought about dinner at all, and now suddenly we had a bunch of people coming over. I've become so comfortable with pizza now that I can whip it from scratch in less than the amount of time it would take me for a regular meal. Yes, I do benefit from living in Singapore as I now have the convenience of pre-grated cheese in different combinations.


I had just baked the Mango Cardamom Pound Cake. It smelt heavenly and I'd just cut a couple of slices for the photographs as well as to eat. It was after I cut the cake that I realized it was the birthday of one of our guests the following day. So, I had to bake my second cake. I had been browsing Deeba's blog that day and had bookmarked her Chocolate Buttermilk Pound Cake. I decided to make it. S decided to decorate the cake with some store bought cream cheese frosting and some whipped cream.


This has to be best "home made" chocolate cake I have eaten. The photo doesn't do it any justice as I took it the following morning, after the cake had been in the fridge for a good 12 hours. I will make this cake again and upload a better picture. But you have to believe me when I say this cake is as good as it gets.

I followed Deeba's recipe for most part and made some minor changes.

1 1/4 cups Cake Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Eggs
100 ml Buttermilk
1 tsp Chocolate Essence
Butter and Flour/Spray for preparing the cake tin

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F. Prepare a 10" round tin.

Cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the buttermilk and chocolate essence and beat again. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the batter, adding a little at a time.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool a little and cut into slices when warm using a bread knife.

 

Thanks Deeba. I know I will use baby A as the perfect excuse and make this cake often when he grows up a little.

Chocolate and Zucchini Cake

About a couple of years ago, a couple decided to go on an impromptu vacation for a couple of weeks and visit a couple of places. They'd known this other couple in one of the places they intended to visit and had met them before a couple of times. The other couple invited this couple to stay with them. Most everything about the stay is a blur today. The only thing I can remember about my dear namesake and her hubby visiting us was that we had loads of fun. Sometimes the best laid plans go to waste and the best times happen when you put in the least amount of planning. This was one such.

Arundati gifted me this book, Deep Dark Chocolate, during that trip in 2009. I've gone through it a few times but never really tried anything. We had an old friend come over for lunch today and I decided to make this cake. It has a whole host of ingredients and today was one of those days when I had just about everything. I modified the recipe in the book to get this beautiful dark chocolatey cake.

2 Medium Zucchini, grated

2 Carrots, grated

1 1/4 cup Flour

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon Cocoa Powder

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

6 tbsp Oil

2 Eggs

1/2 tsp Orange Zest

1/2 cup Raisins

3/4 cup Chocolate, roughly chopped

Icing Sugar for Decoration

Grease and line a 9-inch cake tin.

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.

Sprinkle 1/4 tsp salt over the zucchini and carrots and set aside for 30 minutes. Wash well and squeeze dry.

In a bowl, mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, mix the oil, sugar and brown sugar and beat well. Add the eggs and beat again for a couple of minutes. Fold in the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Add the zucchini-carrot mixture, raisins, orange zest and chocolate bits.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

 

Allow to cool. Dust the icing sugar all over the cake. Cut into wedges and enjoy with a cup of coffee or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

This is a great way to get anyone to eat their vegetables. I knew there was zucchini in the cake because I put it in. But quite like my chocolate beetroot mini muffins, nobody else could even make it out. This would have to be one of the most moist and chewy chocolate cakes I've baked.
I thought of you, Arundati, the entire time I baked this cake and would like to share a slice with you and with everyone who has been a part of this blog.
The Singing Chef turns 4 today! And I couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you for your continued support.

Chocolate Walnut Cake

Baking! Everytime I start to bake, I wonder why I don't bake more often. I'd love to experiment with flavours and try new cakes. But I do have a waist at this moment and I'd like to continue to have it in my possession. In the last couple of weeks, I have been baking a cake for every occasion, big or small. I baked a banana nut loaf to take to a friend's place for breakfast, a carrot cake last week when some friends invited us over for lunch, a banana raisin loaf when another friend had us over. It seems to be the simplest thing to carry with us and it is also the most appreciated.

While I have made chocolate walnut brownies and muffins, I had never tried to make a cake with this combination. I was tempted to try and I was very happy with the result. I got two 6 x 6 cakes from this mixture. I frosted one with some readymade Pillsbury chocolate cake icing and multicoloured sprinkles and I left the other alone. Both cakes were delicious. I made sure I shared them with friends.

3/4 cup Flour

1/6 cup Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 cup Sugar
a Pinch Salt
1/4 cup Oil
1 Egg
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/3 cup Walnuts, chopped and toasted
 
 

Prepare two 6x6" square or one 8" round cake tin by greasing and flouring them.

 

Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).

 

Beat the egg in a large bowl. Add the oil, milk, sugar and vanilla. Beat again. Sift the remaining dry ingredients together and add them to the liquid mixture. Fold in the walnuts.

 

Pour the batter into the prepared tin(s) and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

 

Cool on a wire rack and cut into slices. Enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.

 

Cakes and birthdays go hand in hand. Here's wishing my dear brother H a very happy birthday!

Super Moist Spiced Chocolate and Beetroot Mini Muffins

Good things come in small packages!

That is how I feel about the year that just went by. It was one of those years when nothing "big" happened. But, all the same, it will be remembered as the year with a lot of "small" events, the sumtotal of which is bigger than any "big" event. It has been a year well spent, surrounded by friends and family right from the word go. We started the year with a long drive and will be ending it with yet another. There were several memorable trips in 2009. Karnal, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Shekhawati, Kasauli, Allahabad and Varanasi. I also made one trip to Chennai in the middle of summer, while S went to Hyderebad at the same time. We traveled to Mumbai to attend the 5th birthday of my niece. We'll end the year with a drive to Mussoorie and ring in the new year in the company of our closest friends. In 2009, my parents visited us twice and my brother also made two trips. We've hosted the maximum number of parties/informal get togethers in 2009. We hosted the karaoke show on weekends, something we both love doing. I got my first payment from Foodbuzz and will soon receive my very first payment from Adsense. It will be remembered as the year in which I closed my housing loan entirely. It will also be the year in which I walked on hot burning coals for the very first time. The year in which I hit 500 posts on this blog.

Little drops of water

Little grains of sand

Make the mighty ocean

And the pleasant land

This is very true and has been my motto all along. And something tells me that that must have been the inspiration behind the invention of the mini muffin pan. I end this year with these little beauties. Perfect for a little burst of happiness on an otherwise dull day.

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/3 cup Cocoa Powder

3 tsp Baking Powder

1 cup Sugar

a Pinch Salt

1/2 cup Oil

2 Eggs

1 cup Milk

1 cup Grated Beetroot

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Allspice

Icing Sugar to decorate

Sift all the dry ingredients for the muffins together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Prepare the mini muffin pans by lining them with paper muffin cases or spraying them with baking spray.

Stir the grated beetroot into the batter and pour into the prepared muffin cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Dust with icing sugar.

I hope that all of you had a good 2009. And I hope that you have chosen to dwell on the good more than on the not so good. Life is what we make it and memories are almost always what we choose to remember. Let us remember all the good that 2009 brought us, all the big and small pieces of happiness. And let us wish that 2010 turns out to be a better year. In every way.

Here's to lots of good health and happiness. May you be surrounded by friends, family and everyone and everything you hold dear. That is my New Year Wish for you and yours. Happy New Year 2010!

Eggless Triple Chocolate Muffins

I've been rather silent here. A lot of you asked me if everything is OK. Thanks and I was glad to be missed. Since my 500th post on my anniversary, lots of things have happened. My parents came to Gurgaon, we shifted residence, I accompanied Amma on a yatra to Kashi and Prayag, returned in time for Deepavali, only to fall ill the day before my favourite festival.

On the whole, while we did celebrate the festival the traditional way with an oil bath and new clothes, all was silent on the kitchen front. We're yet to fully settle down in the new house and I (mostly Amma though) just about manage to make some basic meals.

Here are some eggless triple chocolate muffins to celebrate the festival:

1 1/2 cups Flour
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Sugar
a Pinch Salt
1/2 cup Oil
2 tsp Egg Replacer (dissolved in 2 tbsp of water OR 2 Eggs)
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
½ cup White Chocolate Chips
½ cup Milk Chocolate Chips

Sift all the dry ingredients for the muffins together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare the muffin pans by lining them with paper muffin cases.

Stir the chocolate chips into the batter and pour into the prepared muffin cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Happy Deepavali Everyone (even though belated)!

Eggless Chocolate Walnut Muffins

There's something nice about muffins. Something that makes them better than cake. I have not figured out what that is. It could just be that good things come in small packages. Whatever it is, I can't resist these little beauties. As I was off to Mumbai for a couple of family functions, I made these muffins to take with me for the extended family.

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/3 cup Cocoa Powder

3 tsp Baking Powder

1 cup Sugar

a Pinch Salt

1/2 cup Oil

2 tsp Egg Replacer (dissolved in 2 tbsp of water OR 2 Eggs)

1 cup Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

25 Walnut halves

Sift all the dry ingredients for the muffins together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare the muffin pans by lining them with paper muffin cases.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cases. Decorate with the walnut halves. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

But these sweet little beauties are also being sent miles away to celebrate the wedding anniversary of my parents. Many happy returns of the day Amma and Appa!

Eggless Chocolate Almond Cookies

Janmashtami! One of the more important festivals for my family. There seemed to be some confusion with the dates. Apparently, it was to be celebrated on the 13th, but everyone around me at work, was celebrating it on the 14th. Then Amma dropped the bombshell last afternoon. She said some folks were celebrating it next month. So, it didn't seem wrong to celebrate it on the 14th after all.

I didn't have the day off as many people in the city did. I thought a lot about what I wanted to make. Two years ago, I made chocolate chip buns for little Krishna. My philosophy is that had Krishna lived in this day and age, as a child he'd have loved Cadbury's. Along the same line of thought, I decided to make chocolate almond fudge this year. But I changed my mind and decided to bake cookies instead. They turned out absolutely divine and I do hope that Krishna had a bite too. A plate of chocolate almond cokies was my neivedyam this year.

¾ cup(generous) Flour

2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1/8 tsp Cooking Soda

¼ cup Powdered Sugar

1/3 cup (generous) Ghee (Clarified Butter)

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

2 tbsp Almonds, slivered

Cream the sugar and the ghee until well blended.

Sift the flour with the soda. Add this to the sugar-ghee mixture. Add the vanilla essence. Make a dough and divide into small balls. Flatten each ball onto a cookie sheet and sprinkle the almonds on top. Bake for 20 minutes at 180 C.

Allow to cool and enjoy.

Banana Chocolate Chip Walnut Muffins

Happy Birthday Sachin!

We went to Kasauli to spend the "birthday weekend". But just as soon as we returned home, even though the birthday was almost over, I baked a blueberry cake. Birthdays just aren't complete without the customary "cake cutting", are they? I haven't had a chance to post the pictures of the cake I baked for S. That would warrant a separate post.

For today, I leave you all with a quick simple recipe of one of my favourite muffins. The addition of chocolate chips and walnuts take these otherwise plain banana muffins to an altogether different level.

1 3/4 cup Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
¾ cup Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Toasted Walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup Chocolate Chips
3-4 Bananas (overripe), peeled
1/3 cup Oil
2 Eggs

Sift the dry ingredients together. Preheat the oven to 350F.

Prepare the muffin pans by lining them with paper muffin cases.

Combine the bananas, eggs, oil and brown sugar in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, blend all these to a rough paste. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and add the toasted walnuts and chocolate chips. Mix well and pour into the prepared muffin cases.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy these muffins warm (but I must tell you they taste great the next day or so). I was lucky I had some left over 2 days after I'd baked them. So, I really know. On that really sweet note, S, I wish you a very happy birthday and happiness always.

Chocolate Almond Cake

Impromptu dinner invitations. I’m almost always game. I like to have about an hour’s notice though. That is enough to make cake batter, put it in the oven, get ready, get the cake out of the oven, pack it and leave for the venue. I get the feeling that folks who have us over regularly will soon be tired of eating cakes that I take along. Until that happens, I probably will not experiment with other goodies.


Our dear friends were moving to another apartment. They were going from across the street to several streets and main roads away, in the same city. So this was an impromptu “last” get together at that address. I quickly baked this cake to take along. Everyone loved it. We brought some back home and quickly distributed it to friends and colleagues. This is a cake meant for almond lovers. If you don’t like the slight bitter taste that almonds add to your dessert, I would suggest you omit the ground almonds and replace the almond essence with vanilla.

1 1/2 cups Flour

1/3 cup Cocoa Powder

3 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 cup Sugar

a Pinch Salt

1/2 cup Oil

2 eggs

1 cup Milk

1/4 cup Almonds, ground

1 tsp Almond Essence (or Vanilla, if you find Almond essence bitter)

Butter and flour for dusting

Almond slivers for decoration

Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes.

Prepare two 8 inch round cake tins by first smearing a little butter all over the tin and then dusting it with flour.

Divide the batter equally between the pans and sprinkle the almond slivers over the batter. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 F. The cakes are done when a knife or skewer inserted into them comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a cake rack and cool completely.

Cut into wedges and enjoy while the cake is still warm. As always, I'm sure this would be divine with some vanilla ice cream on the side. But that's just a serving suggestion!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

Birthdays. They're never supposed to go by without a cake. To me, somehow, it has always been about the cake. It was also about the gifts for a long time. Nowadays, it doesn't matter if it is a store bought black forest cake or a home made sponge, I just feel that a cake makes a birthday complete.

So, in order to make his birthday complete, I'm sending this lovely banana chocolate chip cake to my brother who celebrates his birthday today.

1 3/4 cup Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Salt

¾ cup Brown Sugar

2/3 cup Chocolate chips

3-4 Bananas (overripe), peeled

1/3 cup Oil

2 Eggs

Oil and flour for lining and dusting

Heat the oven to 350F. Grease and dust a loaf tin.

Sift the dry ingredients together.

Combine the bananas, eggs, oil and brown sugar in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, blend all these to a rough paste. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and add the chocolate chips. Mix well and pour into the prepared cake tin.


Bake for 35-40 minutes (or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean). Cool on a rack for a few minutes.

When I made this cake, we didn't eat all of it at one go. We had enough left for a few days to learn that this cake gets better with time. A nice twist to the usual banana walnut cake to celebrate your birthday, H. Happy Birthday!

Chocolate Banana Muffins

Happiness comes in small packages. At least that's the message that muffins and cupcakes seem to keep sending out to me. With muffins, it always seems like there's more to go around. Of course, the fact that there's no greasing and flouring, and the fact that the baking time is a lot less does tend to give muffins an edge over regular cakes.

While I can safely say that I've mastered the banana muffin, I'd been reading a lot about how well chocolate and banana go together. I really had no idea. These low fat muffins showed me how two flavours that I like in muffins can come together and create magic. This recipe yielded 18 muffins and after distributing some among friends and colleagues, we ate the remaining over 3 days.

2 cups Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

3 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1/2 cup Demerara Sugar

2 tbsp Golden Syrup

2 Eggs, beaten

4 tbsp Milk

4 tbsp Oil

3 medium over-ripe Bananas

Prepare the muffin pans by lining them with paper muffin cases. Heat the oven to 375 F.

Sift the dry ingredients together.

Combine the bananas, golden syrup, milk, eggs, oil and brown sugar in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, blend all these to a rough paste. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix until just about combined.

Pour this batter into the prepared muffin cases and bake for 15 minutes.

Fresh out of the oven, these muffins make for a great breakfast. And a great breakfast is always a good start to the day. Just as having a great birthday celebration is a good start to the year. To me, a great birthday means having family, friends and loved ones close by. All of you have been with me through the last year and a half, looking out for me when the going got rough, sharing in my joys and my excitement. And for that reason, I chose to make muffins for you all. There's always enough of them to go around. Just the way all of you have always been there for me. On my birthday, I invite you all to my little party. And all you have to do is sing, "Happy Birthday!".

Celebrating with a Cake

It is taking me longer than I expected to get back to blogging, especially this blog. After almost three months, I updated my first blog. The break at The Singing Chef seems longer even though I have been away for just a month. I think it has to do with the regularity with which I have been posting here. So many of you have left messages and sent me mails asking if I’m fine. I am, thank you very much. And I was truly overwhelmed by your messages. It is not like me to abandon my blog and I really haven’t. I was away on a much needed two week vacation. At one point, I thought I could use my time to schedule posts, but we had no time for anything really.

We rested (that was one of the essentials) and we met friends and family (which was the main reason we traveled). We did, though, eat an awful lot. I didn’t take pictures of food on this trip, and God alone knows how much restraint I exercised. In Hyderabad, we had some home cooked meals. I did a little bit of cooking and shall remember not to attempt any such thing in the future. More heartburn, not worth it. I did meet Arundati who gave me free chocolate making lessons. I will attempt making chocolates very soon. We ate at Persis, Little Italy, and Minerva. Persis is just the same. The same biryani that the world somehow thinks is the best. Little Italy is just down the road from where I lived. Nice food, great ambience. Thank heavens it wasn’t there during my time. I’d probably have eaten there everyday. In Bangalore, we ate at home a lot. We ate stuff from the should-be-world-famous-soon Ganesh Upahar in Anand Nagar, and at TGI Fridays and Little Italy (again). I so wanted to have Chhole Bhature at Shiv Sagar. ( I believe in next times.) We were 10 minutes late at Shanthi Sagar and were denied idlis at dinner time. Madras rocks when it comes to food. More so on this trip of ours. We had some home made food again (I cooked a little bit again) and ate out a little. Ratna café, Minar at Savera, etc. But I had proper amchi banana leaf meals at the SGS Sabha as I was there for the Gowri-Ganpati festival. I celebrated my second Gowri Puja with Amma in Madras.

It’s been about 10 days since we got back. I’ve become more organized since then. All the vegetables for the week are now neatly processed during the weekend so dishing out breakfast and lunch together only takes me 30 minutes. Dinner is also a 20 minute affair, in terms of cooking that is. All this leaves us with more time to do all the things that we’d like to. Hit the gym, take a walk, watch more eposides of Three’s Company, cook more wholesome meals… even cut fruit and eat it as an after dinner snack. Something we’d never thought of doing before. I haven’t gotten around to doing any baking yet. We’re planning a small dinner party on Saturday and I hope to do some baking then. But until then, let me leave you with this small cake that I’d baked for a friend when she asked for an encore. The chocolate orange marble cake with a chocolate glaze icing and sprinkles. Simple and sweet. Perfect for that little celebration. Coming back to my beloved blog after a break does call for a celebration.

Doing that on my second wedding anniversary calls for a bigger celebration. S and I complete two years in wedlock today. I am not cooking anything special. We’re planning a small dinner at a local restaurant that’s supposed to be a perfect candle-light romantic dinner place. See you all very soon.

Chocolate Cake with Butterscotch Icing

I’m wishing you another year

Of laughter, joy and fun

Surprises, love and happiness,

And when your birthday’s done,
I hope you feel deep in your heart,

As your birthdays come and go,

How very much you mean to me,

More than you can know.

I came across this wonderful poem on a site called www.poemsource.com. This site is a wonderful resource for poems and these are wishes I am sending my brother’s way. Fifteen years ago, I baked a Black Forest Cake from scratch for his birthday and today I’ve arranged for a Black Forest cake to be delivered to him.

Fan and critic rolled into one, he’s the “guy” I always wanted to be. There was a phase in my life when I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to wear shorts (and use the washroom without having to sit down). I wanted my “curfew time” to be the same as his. Never mind that he was almost 5 years older. I always made it look like he’s being allowed whatever because he’s a boy and not because he was much older. (Something which irritated my parents no end.) Then came a phase when I wanted to be nothing like him. I was becoming my own person, with my own likes and dislikes. Though, in retrospect, I realize that even when I didn’t want to be like him, my likes and dislikes were governed by his. Just that, now, his likes became my dislikes. So, I really don’t know if I hate hard rock and lady’s finger that much any more.

When it comes to food, I’ve made him the guinea pig for loads of stuff that I cooked. He had, and continues to have, a keen eye for detail and a fantastic sense of good food. Some of our food related conversations that stand out are:


While making potato curry:

H: Now put the mustard.
Me: OK
H: Wait till it splutters.
Me: No, let’s put the potato.
H: No, Amma always waits till the mustard splutters.
Me: But that’s only to check if the oil’s hot. We know it’s hot.


All this when I was 6 and he 10 and my mother was working late.

Later, when I was 13 and he 17 or 18, my parents were away in Holland and I was cooking for the two of us.

H: I’m going A’s house.
Me: I’ll come along. Drop me at S’s place please.
H: No way. I’m going alone.
Me: OK, you eat bread till Amma gets back.

It was pure blackmail. I knew he’d succumb and he did. The way to any man’s heart is really through his stomach. So what if he’s your brother?

Today, he still relishes stuff that I make, but we haven’t really lived under the same roof for 16 years now so the occasions are few and far between. He’s also a lot more conscious about what he eats and so, in a way, I figure I can’t blackmail him with food anymore. He does return the favour by making me dosas when I visit. He makes better dosas than even Amma. When I took S home for the first time to meet my family, H very lovingly made dosas for his “Alludu” as well.

We don’t fight as much anymore. In fact, I’d say we don’t fight at all anymore. He does tease me the same way he used to when I was 3 and my reaction is almost, “Amma, to makka chidaytasa. (Amma, he’s teasing me.)” And then I have to stop myself and deal with it differently. The 4 ½ year gap seems a lot less in our thirties than it did in our twenties and teens. Despite everything we’ve gone through in life, and despite anything that will come our way, I know we’ll be there for each other.

Here’s a small chocolate cake to celebrate H’s birthday.

1 1/2 cups Flour
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
4 tsp Baking Powder (Or 3 tsp Baking Powder and 1 tsp Baking Soda)
1 1/4 cups Sugar (Indian sugar is sweeter, so 1 cup will do)
a Pinch Salt
1/2 cup Oil
2 eggs
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla

Butter and flour for dusting

For the icing:

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups Icing sugar
3 tbsp Butterscotch Syrup
1/3 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Sprinkles for decoration

Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes.

Prepare two 8 inch round cake tins by first smearing a little butter all over the tin and then dusting it with flour.

Divide the batter equally between the pans and bake for 30 minutes at 350 F. The cakes are done when a knife or skewer inserted into them comes out clean. Remove the cakes to a cake rack and cool completely.

Cut the tops of the cakes to make them even.


For the icing:Beat butter in a mixer jar. Add powdered sugar and butterscotch syrup alternately with milk; beat to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in the vanilla essence.

Place one cake and spread the icing over it. Place the second cake over this and cover with icing. (I found the icing a little too sweet even though I cut down the sugar content from the original recipe.) Decorate with the sprinkles.


This is one horrible attempt at frosting a cake! But it is still made with a lot of love and sent his way. H, here’s wishing you every happiness. You deserve it! Happy Birthday!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I tasted my first chocolate chip cookie in the U.S. I am fairly certain the brand must have been Chips Ahoy. I was hooked from the first bite. I remember that any brand of chocolate chip cookies that we got in India didn't taste quite the same. (I must admit, I don't care for Hide and Seek even now.) I had this habit of getting stuff from my parents in return for the first rank in class. From a watch to a bicycle to a badminton racquet to a new bag... the list was endless. When I graduated from University with the first rank and two gold medals, Amma asked me what I'd like. I asked her for a box of expensive chocolate chip cookies. She bought it for me and I'd planned on savouring each cookie. The box was such a disappointment. Hard cookies with huge chunks of chocolate. Hardly what I'd been fantasising about.

The following year, in Paris, I discovered fantastic cookies at Marks and Spencers. I brought them back for friends, family and myself. I figured that I simply had to make these myself. Last year, I discovered a recipe on the Hershey's site. I had a batch of wonderful cookies. But they were extremely "rich". This recipe isn't as rich. And the cookies are a lot chewier. And the fact that each cookie has a mouthful of chocolate chips is not something I'd complain about.

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, softened
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour or Atta
3/4 cup Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg, beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).

Beat the sugar and the butter until fluffy and add the essence and the egg and mix well. Fold in the flours and gently stir the chocolate chips in. Grease a cookie sheet and drop spoonfuls of the dough on to the sheet. Leave ample space in between each cookie.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and then store in an air tight container.

I'm sending this plate of these cookies to dear Sig who just celebrated her birthday over the weekend. I meant to post this on Saturday, but I was busy in Chennai with my cousin's wedding. Happy Birthday Sig!

This plate also goes to Meeta as my entry to Meeta's Monthly Mingle. This month's theme is comfort foods. These cookies, along with a glass of milk, is a nice snack. It is one of those foods that help me believe that all is truly well with the world. A warm cookie with a cold glass of milk... aahhh!

Chocolate Orange Marble Cake

It was a busy Sunday. I hadn't baked a cake in ages and although I have a box of raisins and figs soaking up some rum, I haven't gotten around to baking my fruit cake. But it was the birthday of my dear friend, P, and I couldn't think of anything better than a home made cake. I found the idea for this lovely cake in a cook called "Everyday Chocolate" by Parragon Publishing. I modified my existing cake recipe to suit this cake. I haven't become very comfortable with the grams and ounces measurements yet and prefer using the standard cup measure.

For the Orange Portion:

1 cup Flour
2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4cup Oil
1egg
1/4 cup Milk

1/4 cup Orange Juice
1/2 tsp Orange Essence
1 tsp Grated Orange Rind



For the Chocolate Portion:

3/4 cup Flour
1/6 cup Cocoa
2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Oil
1 egg
1/2 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Vanilla



Butter and flour for dusting



For the decoration:

300g Icing Sugar

12 tsp Orange Juice, filtered

2 drops Orange Food Colouring

Chocolate Sprinkles

Sift all the dry ingredients for the each cake separately into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes. Prepare two 8 inch round cake tins by first smearing a little butter all over the tin and then dusting it with flour.

Place spoonfuls of each batter alternately in the pans. Swirl the batter using a knife or skewer to create a marble effect.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 F. The cakes are done when a knife or skewer inserted into them comes out clean. Remove the cakes to a cake rack and cool completely.

Prepare the icing by whisking the icing sugar along with the orange juice and the food colouring to a running consistency. Pour over the cooled cakes and sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles.

I am not a big fan of orange flavoured chocolates, but these two flavours gelled pretty well in this cake and I was rather surprised. We enjoyed small pieces of the cake and P took the rest of it to a family get together where, according to her, it was relished and gone in no time. My cousin P and her husband S completed 6 years of married life yesterday as well. This is a small cake for them too.

I am sending this to the JFI - Chocolate hosted by Deepz.

I hope that during this time of the year when it is not at all bad to spend time in the kitchen (the temperature being 4 degrees C and our houses having no central heating), I will be baking more and trying out newer stuff. I need your continued support.

I am still unable to view many blogs on blogger. I have two blogs. I am able to view one but not this one. I am able to read several blogs through Google Reader, but am unable to comment. So, do bear with me.

Candy Cake with lots of love

I Owe It All To Mother!
It’s your birthday, Mom.

So I will raise a cheer.

For without you, wondrous person,

I would not be here.
Yes, I owe it all to you, Mom.

From the time that I was small,

You encouraged me in everything,

And tried not to let me fall.
Throughout my life your caring,

Brightened each and every minute.

You loved me and enriched my life,

And I’m so glad to have you in it!

I came across this wonderful poem on a site called http://www.poemsource.com/ and this poem was penned by Karl Fuchs.

Today is the birthday of one of the most important people in my life. She's the lady that many of you admire without even having met her. The lady who broke many barriers in her lifetime, most without even her own knowledge. She travelled to the United States when she was just 20. That too, in the late 50s when most people in India didn't get to travel within their own cities. She married of her own choice, outside her community. Switched careers half way through to be able to have a full time career and raise her two children with no compromise. She has been my source of strength when I've faced trouble at work. She's the woman who called me at 2 a.m. because she knew I'd be awake after a painful breakup. I can count on her to laugh with me and double my joy and to cry with me to reduce my pain. As I always say, "If I can achieve, in my lifetime, even a tenth of what she has so far, I'll count this life a successful one." She says she's lucky to have gotten a great family, but we feel we're luckier because we got her.

I didn't bake this cake today. It was my colleague's birthday about a month ago. And I decided to bake a little cake for her. As you can all see from the picture, I'm not exactly great when it comes to decorating my cakes. I have a long way to go. This is yet another recipe adapted from my much used and much loved Ann Pillsbury's Baking Book. The recipe calls for chocolate bits and I ran out of chocolate chips. So, I decorated the top with chocolate vermicelli and confetti. I should really be saying that I tried to decorate the cake.

P, my colleague for whom I baked this, was thrilled to bits. She didn't expect me to get her a cake. And she said this was the first time someone baked her something for her birthday. Well, she liked it. And that is all that really matters.

2 cups Flour

4 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Oil

2 eggs

3/4 cup Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

Butter and flour for dusting

Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes. Pour into a prepared pan and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the batter and bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

I will be making something special today or tomorrow to celebrate. Two other special people also celebrate their birthdays. My friend and partner in crime from my college days, Subha, is one of them. My best friend's daughter, Meghana, turns one today. I was to travel to Madras today and celebrate this special day with my family. But my plans changed. I will be visiting next month. In the meanwhile, I have sent a bunch of roses and a chocolate cake. That's really the best I could do. That's the simplest way for me to be able to say:

Happy Birthday Amma.