Moist Coconut Cake

3/4 cup flour
55 gms unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup fresh grated Coconut

In a bowl take flour, add baking powder, keep it aside.

Cream the butter & sugar for 3-4 minutes.

Add eggs, add vanilla essence and whisk for another minute.

Add flour mix it slowly.

Add the fresh grated coconut, mix and pour the batter in a greased 5" x 3" pan.





Bake it for 45 minutes in a preheated oven @ 180 deg. C.


Moist yummy coconut cake with some hot coffee.

I made a big one with double quantity in a 6" x 6" pan.

Banana Chiffon Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (280 gms)
1 1/4 cups sugar (225 gms)
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
5 eggs, separated
1 tsp. pure vanilla

Preheat oven to 180°C

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Form a well in the center and add bananas, oil, water, egg yolks and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

In a small mixing bowl, beat egg whites until they hold stiff peaks when the beater is lifted from the bowl. Fold gently into the banana mixture.

Pour into a greased 10-inch pan.



Bake for 50-55 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove pan from oven and turn upside down immediately. Allow to cool for 20 minutes. Remove cake from pan.

Learn to Bake Cakes with Icing

Baked Chicken with Veggies

1 Kg Chicken
1 full pod of garlic
2' pc of ginger
3 green chillies
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tsp dark soya sauce
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp Rosemary
Mixed vegies like 1 floret Brocolli, 2 Carrots, 2 Capsicums (choicest vegetables u prefer)- cut them into long thick strips.



Trim the excess fat from the chicken. Wash it and pat dry. Leave it aside in a strainer to strain the water.

In a chopper finely chop the ginger, garlic & green chillies.

In a big bowl add black pepper powder, oyster sauce, soya sauce, rosemary & sugar. Add to this the chopped mixture. Add the sesame oil.

Now rub this marinade to the whole chicken. Make sure to rub it below the skin as well inside. Leave it to marinate for 3-4 hours.

In a baking tray bake the chicken for 40 minutes on 200 deg C. Make sure you flip the chicken on the tray every 10 minutes. Now brown the top for 5 minutes on high flame then turn it again and brown the other side. Keep basting the chicken with the drippings whenever you turn the chicken (this will keep the chicken moist). Once chicken is baked. Remove it from the baking tray.

In the same baking tray with the marinade & drippings add the vegetables and bake it for 10 minutes till the vegetable are nicely coated with the marinade & browned.

Serve the baked chicken with vegies & some warm soup and garlic bread.

Caramel Walnut Upside-Down Banana Cake

Best way to consume the over ripe bananas, bake a banana cake. The cake by itself is soft & yummy but I always want something different so I gave it a little topping with caramel walnut. The caramelized walnuts taste delicious and so does the caramel which is a little hard and chewy. Do give a try, you will love it. I couldn't wait to click pictures as the cake looked absolutely Yummilicious. Now can't wait till I pop in a piece.


Ingredients :
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
100 gms unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
3 large ripe bananas (mashed)
3 tablespoons Milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Topping:
75 gms unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp Honey
1 cup walnut pieces

Grease a 5x5x3 inch square cake pan. Bring butter, sugar, and honey to boil in medium saucepan, stirring constantly until butter melts. Boil it for 1 minute. Stir in nuts. Pour the topping in the greased cake pan. Cool it completely.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Sift dry ingredients in a bowl. Using the beater, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until its creamy. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then mashed bananas, milk and vanilla. Now add the dry ingredients. Pour the batter in the greased pan with the topping.

Bake cake for 1 hour or until the skewer inserted into center comes out clean. Now Cool it for 10 minutes. Turn the cake upside down on a serving tray or plate. Cool it for 10 minutes for the topping to set. If you like the caramel hard & chewy you can serve it plain. If you like it gooey & chewy then just warm up the slice for few seconds in the microwave and serve it.

Rainbow Pound Cake

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups of flour
1 tsp salt
400 gms butter
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
9 eggs



Preparation Method

Cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy.

Lightly beat the eggs one by one. Now add the vanilla essence.

Slowly add little by little the flour & salt to the above mixture and mix till nicely incorporated and there are no lumps.

Now divide the batter into 4 parts. add your choice of colours.

Grease a 5x9 2 loaf pans . Add the batter to the greased pans layer by layer with each colours.

Bake it in a preheated oven (180 Deg. C)for 1 hour or the wooden skewer inserted in the center of each pans comes out clean.

Remove from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack.

Yummilicious Chewy Brownies

Ingredients
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons instant coffee powder
½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons boiling water
1¾ cups sugar
1¾ cups flour
450 gms dark chocolate, finely chopped
½ stick unsalted butter, melted
½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3 large eggs
¾ teaspoon salt
30 gms Walnuts, roughly chopped (optional)

Preparation :

Add cocoa, coffee powder, and boiling water together in large bowl. Add chocolate and mix till melted. Add butter and oil. Add eggs and mix until smooth. Now to this mixture add sugar until dissolved, flour,salt & mix well. Now add the chopped walnuts

Heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a square baking pan with foil, and grease it with butter lightly.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for approx 30 to 35 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out with few moist crumbs.

Let it cool completely. Cut into 2-inch squares or as big as you like or any shape you like and serve.





If you like it the way I like it then cut a biggg peice, put it in a big bowl/plate, warm it in the microwave slightly for 7-8 seconds then add on top a dollop of chocolate or vanilla icecream, garnish it with chopped toasted nuts of your choice. Voila warm chewy gooeeey brownie is ready for walloping..

Honey Roasted Leg of Lamb

Ingredients
2.5 kg leg of lamb



For the marinade
2 tbsp vegetable oil
5 tbsp lemon juice
4 inch pc of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
15 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp water

For the honey rub

100g almonds, blanched
100g labneh (or you can use hung yoghurt)
5 tbsp honey

Preparation method
Blend together all the ingredients for the marinade in a blender or food processor.



Trim the excess fat and membranes from the leg of lamb. Make deep cuts all over the flesh with a sharp knife. Rub in the marinade, making sure you get it into the deep cuts. Leave it in the fridge to marinate for 24 hours.



For the honey rub mix together the ground almonds, labneh/yoghurt and honey.



Take the lamb out of the fridge and now rub the honey rub into the lamb and leave it for another 1 hour covered, in the fridge. Remove the lamb from the fridge and bring to room temperature before cooking.



Preheat the oven to 225C and place the lamb on a rack with a roasting tray underneath. Cook for 15 minutes then lower the heat to 180C and cook for another 2 hours, basting every 1/2 hour.



Check if the meat is cooked by piercing a thin knife deep into the flesh. If there is no blood or any juices running out of the meat then it is cooked.

Remove the lamb from the oven. Cover it with a foil and allow it to rest for 15 minutes. Carve the lamb into thin pieces & serve it with roasted potatoes or any vegetables of your choice.

Moist Zuchinni Bread

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
about 1 cup zucchini grated

Mix sugar and oil in large bowl. Add eggs and beat well. Add all dry ingredients and mix with water adding slowly. Mix until just combined and there are no lumps. Add the zucchini. Pour in a greased loaf pan and bake it for 1 hr 10 minutes in a preheated oven (180˚C). Check if done by inserting a skewer. If it comes out clean its done.

If still soft in the center leave it for another 10 minutes. Cool it and enjoy the delicious moist bread.

Hot Cross Buns

7 gms Instant dry yeast (1 Tbsp)
1/2 cup sugar
4 cups all purpose flour ( 550 gms)
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
60 gms unsalted butter
1 egg (lightly beaten)
90 gms or 1/2 cup raisins or sultanas

Flour paste for crosses
1/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp sugar
1/3 cup water

Glaze

1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp gelatine
1 tbsp hot water


Method

In a bowl take luke warm milk, add sugar, yeast mix it well. cover and wait untill mixture is frothy.

Sift flour, salt, sugar & cinnamon powder. Add the butter, egg, raisins. Knead it well. Cover it in a bowl with cling or foil and leave it in a warm place for about 45 minutes till it doubles.

Punch the dough, turn it on a floured surface and knead it for 5 minutes until dough is smooth & elastic.

cut dough into equal 16 parts, shape it round, place it on lightly greased tray. leave it for the second rise for another 20 minutes.

Place flour paste for crosses in piping bag or squeeze bottle to pipe crosses on buns. Bake on 200 C for 20 minutes. Put off the down flame. Now light the top flame on high and let the buns get a golden dark brown colour. You will see the crosses appearing. Put off the top flame remove the buns & brush tops with hot glaze while buns are still hot from the oven.

Flour paste for crosses : Blend flour and sugar with a tsp to give a smooth paste.

Glaze : combine all ingredients in a small saucepan stirring constantly over heat until sugar and gelatin is dissolved with out boiling.

PAV

7 cups all purpose flour
7 tsp butter melted
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 ½ cups water (luke warm)
7 gms yeast (Instant dry yeast)

Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water and let stand five minutes, until bubbly.
add salt and mix with the flour. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Now add the melted butter and knead for another 2-3 minutes. Place bread dough in greased bowl, and cover it with a plastic wrap. Leave it to rise in a warm place for 1 hour. The dough will double..

Punch down dough. On floured surface and knead for another minute. Place the rolls on greased cookie sheet sprinkled with flour. Cover and let rise until doubled, 45 minutes. Brush the risen rolls lightly with eggwash. This will give shine on top to the pav.

Bake at 180C or 400F for 45 minutes, until the bread is deep golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped with fingers. Remove from cookie sheet and let it cool on wire rack. Yummy soft Pav is ready to eat.

Learn to make Traditional Christmas Sweets

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

215 gms brown sugar
250 gms all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 Tbsp instant coffee
1 Tsp baking soda
1/4 Tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 Tsp vanilla
150 gms Almonds toasted & Chopped roughly 150 gms chocolate,roughly chopped



Preheat oven to 180C

To toast almonds: spread on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and place nuts in a bowl. Cool and then chop coarsely. Set aside while you prepare the dough.

Reduce temperature of oven to 150 degrees C. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift or whisk together the flour, cocoa, coffee, baking soda and salt into a bowl then set aside.

In the bowl beat the eggs and vanilla for about 30 seconds. Now mix in the chocolate/sugar and flour mixtures until a stiff dough forms, adding the almonds.

On a floured surface divide the dough in half. Form each half into a log 12 inches (30 cm) long. Do this by rolling the dough back and forth into a cylinder shape with floured hands. Transfer the logs to the baking sheet, spacing them well apart (width-wise on the pan), and pat to even the shapes. Bake until almost firm to the touch, about 35 - 40 minutes (logs will spread during baking). Remove from the oven, place on wire rack, and let cool for 10 minutes.

Transfer the logs to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife cut the dough into slices. Arrange the slices cut-side down on the baking sheet. Bake 15 minutes. Turn the slices over and bake until crisp and dry, about 15 minutes longer. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese & Maple Icing

It is my SIL’s (Angela’s) birthday today so thought of surprising her with a Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese & Maple Icing.

Devil's Food Cake

It was my friend Carol’s birthday yesterday and she requested me to bake a chocolate cake. I do bake cakes but wanted to make something special for a special friend so decided to try something different so I went to the site http://www.cacaoweb.net and tried the devils’ food cake. It turned out good but not as per my expectations. I baked the cake, made the frosting , assembled it but still there was something missing. It didn’t look that beautiful so Adrian suggested to decorate it with some chocolate shavings and it looke much better. Check out the recipe @ http://www.cacaoweb.net/devilsfoodcake.html , bake it and put in your comments.

Orange Muffins

1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tspn baking soda
3/4 tspn baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
2 caramel chocolates cut into 4 pcs each.

Add the orange juice in a mixing bowl. Add the egg, oil and sugar and beat until blended.
In a separate bowl, stir dry ingredients together and then add to orange mixture and stir with an egg beater untill its combined. Stir in raisins and spoon into 12 greased muffin tins. Sprinkle 1 pc of caramel chocolate over the spooned batter. Bake @ 200 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes.

Peach Crumble

Ingredients :

7-8 Peaches skinned and sliced

1 & 1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Egg

1 Stick Butter (softened)

1 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

Take a Square pyrex dish arrange the sliced peaches in it, sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar over the peaches. In an another bowl mix sugar , flour, and baking powder, add the beaten egg to it untill the whole mixture is crumbly. Add this crumbled mixture on top of the peaches. Drizzle the softened butter over the crumbled mixture and sprinkle the cinnamon powder and bkae it in an oven set on 180 deg. celsius for 45 minutes. Just put on the top flame for 5 minutes untill you get a golden brown colour . Serve it hot or cold with whipped cream.

Corn Meal Easy Bake Cake

My daughter Sabrina the “Little Chef” is 10 year old who loves to cook and is always ever ready to help me in the kitchen. She was all excited when we decided to make this easy cornmeal cake.







1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour (Maida)
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
½ cup oil
4 eggs (separate the yolks and egg white)
1 tsp baking powder


Pre-heat the oven at 200°C. Mix the egg yolks, sugar and oil. Boil the milk and mix the cornmeal. Mix cornmeal mixture to the eggs mixture. Sift the flour with the baking powder and add to the mixture. In a bowl whisk the eggs white and fold into the mixture. Grease a cake pan. Pour this into the prepared pan and bake for 40 minutes or until the knife comes out clean.