For Love......

My son has been asking me to bake something using cocoa powder. So, I decided to bake him a chocolate packed cake. I filled and covered the cake with chocolate ganache. The cake was so chocolatey. Hubby and children loved it!!

I have always used sour cream in my pancakes but never in my bakings. For the first time I tried adding it in my cake. The sour cream made the cake rich and moist.

Soured cream is a dairy product that is rich in fats made by partially fermenting a regular cream using lactic acid bacteria. The bacteria causes the cream to sour or thicken. This process is called souring. The taste of sour cream is only mildly sour.

Sour cream is primarily used as a condiment. It is also used as the base for some creamy salad dressings and provides the base for various forms of dip used for dipping potato chips or crackers as well. Sour cream may also be used in baking. It can be eaten as a dessert, with fruits or berries and sugar topping.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

What do we need:

1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate sode
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup recently boiled water

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup sour cream

How do we do it:

Sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate soda, and salt. Set aside.

Pour recently boiled water into cocoa powder. Stir well and set aside.

Cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Stir in vanilla essence. Fold in the sifted flour mixture alternately with the sour cream, starting and ending with the flour. Finally, fold in the cocoa mixture.

Pour batter into a greased and lined 8 inches round pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 175° C for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Fill and cover the cake with your favourite frosting. Decorate as per desired.

Submitting this entry to:

Weekend Baking Session # 22

I go bananas with anything made of bananas. Containing three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber, a banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes. Energy is not the only way a banana can help us keep fit.

It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet. Banana gets rid of depression, PMS, anemia, lowers blood pressure, constipation, hangover, heartburn, morning sickness, prevents mosquito bites, help calm the nervous system and many more.

Banana Butter Cake

What do we need:

1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup mashed very ripe banana
1 egg

How do we do it:

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Stir in the mashed banana. Fold in the sifted flour mixture.

Pour batter into a greased and lined loaf pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 180° C for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Weekend Baking Session # 17

It is Father's Day today. This edition of Weekend Baking Session pays a tribute to fatherhood. To celebrate the day, I baked a peanut butter cake because hubby loves peanuts and peanut butter. Frosted the cake with chocolate icing as chocolate makes the best pair with any nuts.

Peanut Butter Cake

What do we need:

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 peanut butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

How do we do it:

Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together. Set aside.

Beat butter, peanut butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Stir in vanilla essence. Fold in the sifted flour mixture alternately with the milk, starting and ending with the flour.

Pour batter into a greased and lined 7 inches round pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 175° C for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Fill and cover the cake with your favourite frosting. Decorate as per desired.




Happy Father's Day To All The Fathers

Weekend Baking Session # 15

I was asked to bake 4 chocolate cakes for a function held by the Embassy of Malaysia in Switzerland. I was extremely happy as it is the 1st time ever I received an order to bake cakes. At last, my baking is recognised and being favoured.

I had to go on a baking marathon the day before the function. Hubby dear helped a lot. Many thanks to him. I received thumbs up from those who ate the cake. I felt very much honoured when his Excellency the Ambassador said that the cake was delicious and he thanked me for baking it.

I would like take the opportunity of sharing the recipe with everyone thru our Weekend Baking Session.

Moist Chocolate Cake

What do we need:

1 1/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp hot water
1 tsp instant coffee powder or granules

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence

3/4 cup water

How do we do it:

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Dissolve the coffee with hot water. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Beat well. Beat in the coffee and vanilla essence. Gently fold in the flour mixture alternating with water. Start and end with the flour mixture.

Pour the batter into a greased baking pan. Bake at 175° C for 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.






Cool completely before serving or frosting it with your favourite cream, as per desired. The cake tastes better the next day.

Weekend Baking Session # 13

Blueberries have more to offer than just good looks and good taste. They are a good souce of the Vitamin C and dietary fiber. Just like all other fruits, blueberries contain no cholesterol or fat and are also low in calories.

Blueberries

When choosing blueberries, select the ones that are firm, uniform in size and indigo blue with a silvery frost. Blueberries are used in bakings, jams, pies, pancakes, salads or eaten just as it is.

Blueberry Cake

What do we need

1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup plain flour

How do we do:

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

Wash fresh blueberries and drain. If using frozen blueberries, thaw to room temperature.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well. Stir in vanilla essence. Fold in the sifted flour mixture.

Dredge the blueberries in the flour. Very gently fold the floured berries together with the flour into the batter.

Pour batter into a greased and lined loaf pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 165° C for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Weekend Baking Session # 12

Its Mother's Day today. A day to celebrate motherhood and thank mothers. Mothers are the pillars in our lives. Without whom, we would not have gotten this life.

To celebrate Mother's Day, I am baking an orange cake for our Weekend Baking Session. Orange cakes are not as popular as chocolate, coffee or vanilla cakes. I love orange cake for its citrusy taste and tangy aroma.

Orange Cake

What do we need:




1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

2 egg yolks
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water
1/2 tbsp orange zest

2 egg white
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

How do we do it:

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking sofa ans salt together. Set aside.

Combine the orange juice and water. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add orange zest and egg yolks one by one. Beat well. Add the sifted flour mixture alternately with water, beginning and ending with the flour.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Add sugar little by little and beat until stiff peaks form.


Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg white into the orange mixture to lighten it. Then, pour the lightened orange mixture into the remaining beaten egg white. Fold gently but quickly and thoroughly to combine both mixtures.

Pour the batter into a greased and lined 6" round cake pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 175° C for about 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let it cool completely.




Fill and frost the cake with your favourite frosting. Decorate as per desired.




A Very Happy Mother's Day To All The Mothers.

Weekend Baking Session # 8

It is a long weekend here. Starting from Good Friday to Easter Monday. I am having such a wonderful time resting and being with my daughter.

As it is Easter, I have thought of baking something in line with the theme. Weekend Baking Session this time is going rich and fudgy.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

What do we need:




Cake:
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
50g cooking chocolate
1/4 cup yoghurt
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract



Fudge:
200g cooking chocolate
1/2 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp butter

How do we do it:

Boil some water in a pot. Add a teaspoon of salt. Place a glass bowl on top of the pot. Ensure that the water level is lower than the bottom of the bowl. In other words, make sure that the water in the pot does not touch the bowl. Break the chocolate and put them into the bowl. When the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from heat and let cool. This method is called double boiling. The reason of melting chocolate by this method is because chocolate tend to get burnt when exposed to direct heat. So, secondary heat has to be used.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Stir in the cooled melted chocolate and yoghurt. Add the sifted flour mixture alternately with the water, starting and ending with the flour.

Pour the cake mixture into a greased or lined 7" round cake pan. Bake in a preheated oven at 180° C for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove the cake and let it cake cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, on a low heat, stir the whipping cream and butter until well blended. Add broken chocolate pieces. Continue to heat until the chocolate melts. Stir constantly. Remove from heat and let the fudge cool completely.

Slice the cake horizontally into half. Fill with some fudge. Cover the cake with the rest of the fudge. Decorate as per desired.





Happy Easter To All

Weekend Baking Session # 7

This edition of Weekend Baking Session is especially meant for my baby brother. Today is his birthday. He loves cheese cakes. So, I have decided to give him a visual treat of a cheese cake.

Cheese cakes are too sinful. To reduce the richness, I am baking a fusion of butter cake and baked cheese cake. Using less amount of butter than a normal butter cake and less amount of cheese than a normal cheese cake. Also adding some compoted plums that has been sitting in my pantry for a long time. The reason is to give extra tanginess and flavour to the cake. So, here we go.......

Plum Cheese Cake




What do we need:

1 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup coarsely chopped plums in syrup

How do we do it:

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

Cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Add the vanilla essence.

Add in the sifted ingredients and the whipping cream alternately, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Finally, fold in the chopped plums.

Pour the batter into a greased and lined 7" cake tin. Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.






The cake is very moist and soft.

Happy Birthday To You, Dearest Thambi.

Weekend Baking Session # 6

I had a punnet of strawberries in my fridge. Got to use them soon or they will get rotten. So many ideas came to my mind. As I have never baked an upside down cake, I decided to bake it.

Pineapples, cherries and blueberries are the famous upside down cakes. Strawberries are rather infamous. I am glad to introduce strawberries to this type of cake.

For this weekend, I want to be fair to all the vegetarians. Weekend Baking Session has always been non veg. So, this edition of WBS is a dedication to all the vegetarians out there. Special dedication to a beautiful young lady in Chennai, India who is also a vegetarian.

Strawberry Chocolate Upside Down Cake

What do we need:

500g strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice



1 cup bread flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt

2/3 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vinegar

How do we do it:

Hull and wash the strawberries. On a medium heat, cook them with sugar and lemon juice until the strawberries are soft and liquid is thick. Set aside.

Strawberries, before cooking


Strawberries, after cooking

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Stir and make a well in the centre. Pour the melted butter, milk and vinegar into the well. Stir to mix thoroughly.

Place the cooked strawberries at the bottom of an ungreased baking pan. Pour the cake batter onto it. Bake in a preheated oven at 180° C for about 35-40 minutes or until skewer inserted comes out clean. Invert the cake onto a serving plate when the cake is still warm.





Serve strawberry chocolate upside down cake warm with a dollop of whipping cream.

Weekend Baking Session # 5

Here comes weekend again. This time I'm baking a butter cake. Butter cakes are rich cakes and it could be quite sinful with the amount of butter. They are the easiest cake to bake. Hardly fail.

For this week, I have tried to infuse an extra flavour other than the buttery taste of the cake. I chose to use peach. Typically peach has a delicate aroma and acidic tang coupled with sweetness. I am using canned peaches as they are softer. I have lessen the amount of sugar in the recipe as the canned peaches are soaked in sugar syrup.

Peach Butter Cake

What do we need:




1 cup cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 pieces canned peach halves

What do we do:

Purée the peach halves to make up to half a cup of peach purée. Chop the rest of the peach halves. Set them aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Then, add the peach purée. Fold in the flour gently. Finally, add the chopped peaches and very lightly fold them in.

Pour the mixture into a greased and flour or paper lined loaf pan. Bake at 175° C for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Remove from oven. Cool completely on a wire rack.



The cake is moist, buttery and peachy.

Weekend Baking Session # 2

Some 3 months ago there was this craze called The CCC Craze around the food forums in SE Asia. I did not wanted to join it though as it is my nature that I always do something that others are not or no more doing it. Well, since the CCC craze has now subsided, it's time that I bake it.

This recipe was posted by Kirsten in Jo's Deli & Bakery Message Board. For the 2nd week of WBS, Chocolate Cheese Layered Cake is the chosen one.

Chocolate Cheese Layered Cake

What do we need:



A
250g cream cheese
60g castor sugar
1 egg


B
180g butter
150g sugar
3 eggs
3 tbsp cocoa
120g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

How do we do it:

Beat cream cheese with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg until well incorporated. Set mixture aside.

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, one at a time until well incorporated into mixture. Sieve all the dried ingredients together. Fold into egg mixture.

To assemble, pour half of mixture ‘B’, then all of mixture ‘A’, then remaining mixture ‘B’. Bake in a preheated oven at 180° C for 45-50 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Once cool, chill in refrigerator.



Well, I did not expect it to look like this. Shapewise, I guess, I did not really do good job. It is not supposed to be wavy. There should be three parallel equal sized layers. I will have to bake this cake again and do it correctly the next time.

Tastewise, I think I have done it right as I like it very much.