Bet it's a record!

So how much time did you take to make your Filbert Gateau?

I made it in a record time of four hours! (Confession: I ignored the sugar syrup and the apricot glaze).

Soon after Chris of Mele Cotte announced the challenge, I, like hundreds of other Daring Bakers took a print out. I had been planning to try the recipe for my sister's birthday, which is in mid-July. But that day we went shopping, came back after 5 p.m. and I was too tired, so I asked my brother to buy a cake. But my sis' long face at this made me change my mind, and I rolled up my sleeves.

So sometime after 6 (after having tea, I have a mental thing about tea) I started. Of course the b'day girl helped me a lot, and we somehow managed this feat!

And you can understand why I skipped the sugar syrup and glaze... I was too tired! Well, what after the praline, swiss buttercream, whipped cream, ganache, and of course the cake!

But the cake was amazing, it was air! And the whole combo, though very rich, was well worth the crazy four hours! One other change I made was that I used almonds; for two reasons: first, that's what I had at home, and second, buying hazelnuts, if available, would have meant a huge hole in my pocket.

And though I love decorating, I was running out of time, so I just spread some of the praline buttercream and sprinkled some nougat on top! I think it looked pretty.

And another thing, I just LOVE swiss meringue buttercream, it was amazing the way it incorporated the praline paste!

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Thrice as nice!

I missed my niece's first birthday coz of my darn exams... and it's not like I am going to do very well because I was good and studied... I didn't. But I just couldn't bake a cake because that was like admitting that I'm not going to study.. so I just sat and didn't bake a cake and didn't study... But you see I did not want to give myself the opportunity to say that I didn't study because I was baking! But then I scraped thru my exams somehow and I'm enjoying my holidays (:D) now and i felt it was time I put things right.

I was first planning to make a huge four-layer cake, two layers of vanilla cake and two layers of madeira. but then instead of making one huge cake that I wasn't sure what it would taste like, I changed my mind at the last moment and made two two-layer cakes hoping that at least one would taste good.

The reason behind this last-minute decision was that the vanilla cake was pretty flat. I had chosen recipe because How to Eat a Cupcake had paired her Vanilla Cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream and I really wanted to make some swiss meringue buttercream (hehehe) -- because then I get a chance to use homemade white butter, yeah!

The recipe was a bit strange, calling for the dry ingredients and the butter to be mixed and then later incorporating the wet ones. the cake did rise, but it was dense. A lot denser than my madeira. At that time i panicked. looking back now I guess that the madeira batter gains a lot of volume during the creaming stage and also while adding the eggs. The only rise the vanilla cake got was in the oven.

Anyway at that time i was panicking, right? So I split the madeira in half, layered it with the buttercream and topped it with some milk chocolate ganache I had in the fridge (I always have some ganache in the fridge). What you see at the top is what it looked like.

Then I split the vanilla cake in half, layered it with buttercream and covered with the same and then spent sometime making it look horribly pinky and purply... well guess what, it tasted good.

And the cupcakes? I got them from the leftover madeira batter...  topped them with leftover buttercream and the leftover ganache...

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a Birthday and an Anniversary...

My sister's anniversary and my brother's birthday fall on consecutive days in May, so I decided to make some cupcakes for my sis (as she has a small family) and a regular cake for my brother, from the same batter of Martha's One Bowl Choc Cupcakes recipe.

As you can see the cake was rather tall, because I used slighter smaller round tins, as I wanted to make the cupcakes as well. And thats Swiss Meringue Buttercream, I think am getting rather good at it, thanks to the Daring Bakers, I don't think I would have ever tried it again after my two flops.

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Shortbread

I think there can be no one who doesn't like shortbread, so if you feel like indulging... This was just perfect all around. The recipe is damn simple and tastes damn good.

This recipe comes from McDougalls Better Baking Handbook, you will never bake a simpler cookie.

Shortbread

150g (6 oz) plain flour

pinch of salt

50g (2 oz) caster sugar

100g (4 oz) butter

1. Mix the flour, salt and sugar, rub in the butter (I used half part salted and half part unsalted).

Work the mixture to a smooth pliable dough.

2. Divide the dough into two and roll each piece to a 15 cm round and place on a baking sheet. (I used a pizza/pastry roller and directly rolled them out on the baking sheet).

3. Prick all over with a fork.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes at 160C, 325F.

5. Sprinkle with some extra caster sugar and cut into pieces while still warm.

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Chiffon Shortcake with fruits and cream...

We had this for my mother's birthday last month, yeah am very very behind time. Will just make a quick post of it, it was a Chiffon Shortcake, the same recipe which I posted sometime back. This cake is always quite a hit. Its fab with cream and chocolate/fruit. I sliced the cake into three and loaded it with fruits and cream. Yeah I know that looks like a hell lot of cream, but I swear it really wasn't that much, I think while spreading it I pushed it out to the sides. And for the fruits I used whatever I could get my hands on, it had pomegranates, grapes (black and green), kiwis and strawberries. I wanted it to have tonnes of fruits, it gave me a kind of nice feeling :) I added the pomegranates because I love the colour, but they tasted good too. I dunno why I have never seen pomegranates on cakes or even fruit tarts.

Later on I drizzled some blackcurrant syrup on the cake..mmm... :P

See! I told you it didn't have that much cream. And yeah I know all three pictures look so different from one another.. And I swear I took all of them on the same setting.. My skills... argh!

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Comfort food

MASOOR DAL (Red lentil soup) 

A friend recently asked for a recipe using red lentils, so I made some dal, which is kind of like soup, so I could note the ingredients and proportions.  Yummy!

This recipe, though not one of our family traditionals, has become one. It's adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's Red lentil soup recipe in Indian Cooking. 

I love this book, and I've made almost half the recipes. I began with my mom's copy, as a 14-year-old learning how to cook (mom refused to "teach"... her advice was just watch... something i didn't have the patience for as a teen). This book gave me the skills and understanding to be able to watch my mom and understand her truncated instructions. And many years later, in NYC, I got to meet Madhur Jaffrey in person, well actually shake her hand and tell her how much I love her work! It was after a reading from Shashi Tharoor's Riot. Madhur was first an actress, before her cooking eclipsed her other talent!

Masoor Dal

Ingredients (serves 2-4)

¾ cup red lentils
2.5 cups water
½ tsp salt
2 thin slices ginger
½ tsp turmeric (scant)
1-2 tbsp butter
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp thinly sliced onion
¼ tsp coriander powder
¼ tsp cayenne (or less)
1 mild green chile, (I use a deseeded jalapeno)
2-3 tbsp cilantro, chopped

Wash the lentils (I put them in a medium bowl, fill with water, rub with my fingers and then drain, and repeat 4-5 times until water is somewhat clear), and then fill with water again and let the lentils soak for about 30 minutes.

In a 2 qt or so pot, add the lentils, water, salt, ginger and turmeric. Bring to boil and then simmer on a low flame until done, about 15-20 minutes.

In a separate small frying pan, melt the butter, when hot add the cumin seeds, then onions, when onions are brown add chile and the coriander and cayenne powders, stir a few times, then add the cilantro, stir again a few times, and then pour this mixture over the lentils. Give it a good stir, and you’re done! I like to have this with rice and an Indian veggie dish. Also as a plain soup, with a squeeze of lemon.

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Birthday spread - part 2

Here's hoping third time's the charm! Now I see that if instead of composing in the Picasa window, I had typed it up here, good old Blogger would have been auto-saving my efforts. Ah well, you live and learn. So here are some close-ups and recipes from the birthday party.

Chocolate cupcakes
This recipe has fast become my favorite chocolate cake recipe, it's fool-proof, i.e. me-proof.

Makes about 2 and half dozen cupcakes. [The original recipe from Gourmet is for a 9 inch round layer cake. ]

Cake:
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (not dutch-process)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 deg. line 2 12-muffin trays, or 2 9-inch round pans. I had enough batter left over for a 4 inch round cake after filling the two muffin pans.
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Beat the sugars and butter in a larger bowl, or bowl of a stand mixer until light, can take several minutes with a handheld. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well each time. Add melted chocolate and vanilla until. Now alternately add the buttermilk (1/3rd at a time) and flour (1/4th a time) ending with flour. Mix until just combined and spoon into muffin cases. Bake for about 20 minutes, or 25-35 if using the round pans.

White Chocolate frosting
8 oz white chocolate, broken into large pieces
1/2 cup cream
4 oz butter
12 oz confectioner's sugar
Melt the chocolate with the butter over a pan of simmering water. remove from heat and whip in the cream and the sifted icing sugar, keeping whipping until smooth and thick. refrigerate for about thirty minutes before using. I was a little hasty in using it, with the clock ticking and all, so it was a bit soft and drippy, but i had some leftover that i used later that was perfect for piping. I divided the icing into four bowls and used Ateco gel colors -- green, blue and pink in three of them. I had ordered the colors from Amazon for Halloween, but they hadn't arrived on time, but at least I had them for the birthday.

Pipe or spoon onto the cupcakes and enjoy!

Raspberry Financiers

adapted from here

4 egg whites
Scant 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
11 tablespoons butter (i used 9 because the almond meal has more fat than flour)
Scant 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup almond flour (i used almond meal)
1/2 pint fresh raspberries (about 24)

Method
Mix the egg whites and sugar in a medium bowl over saucepan filled with simmering water and stir until until the whites warm slightly and the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and set aside.
In a small saucepan, cook the butter on medium heat until it browns and gives off a nutty aroma. Don't overcook and remove promptly from heat when you see golden sediments at the bottom (FYI, this cooked butter is the ghee used in Indian cooking).
In a large bowl whisk the egg white mixture at low speed. Gently add the flour, followed by the almond flour, and mix just enough to combine. Add in the warm butter in a thin stream, mixing at low speed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and continue to mix 10 seconds so the batter is completely combined. Here is the strange part: cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight (I did overnight so there would be one less thing to do the day of the party).
When ready to bake, take out the batter and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter 2 miniature muffin pans (it's OK if you have only one, you can do them in batches). Fill the molds two-thirds full with batter, about one generous tablespoon, and place a fresh raspberry on top of each. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until golden. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Repeat if you have any batter remaining, or using one tray.
Each financier: 77 calories; 1 gram protein; 7 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram fiber; 5 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 11 mg. cholesterol; 8 mg. sodium.

Chicken Rolls

I was inspired to make this from a recipe on Delia Smith's website... she's my mom's favorite TV cook. I decided to go with chicken, hoping it would be healthier, and because several of my guests do not eat beef. For the chicken mixture, i went with a traditional family recipe for meatballs.

2 pounds chicken, ground
2-3 green chiles (jalapeno or serrano)
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
1 inch ginger chopped coarsely
1 clove garlic (optional)
1 large bunch cilantro, washed and chopped
1 medium onion, (yellow or red)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp or less of crushed red chile (not cayenne powder)
2 tsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp unseasoned bread crumbs
10 puff pastry sheets

Method
Pulse the green chiles, salt and cumin for a few seconds, until chiles are chopped. Add ginger and garlic, if using (it gives an Indian-restaurant style seekh kebab taste) and pulse until combined and there are no large pieces. Add the onions, then cilantro and pulse until you get a coarse mixture. Remove into a bowl and add ground chicken ((if you can't get ground chicken, you can use chicken breasts and chop them and whiz them in a processor with other ingredients), black pepper, crushed red chiles and vegetable oil. Mix well and taste, and adjust salt and pepper according to taste. If the mixture seems a little wet, add the bread crumbs.
I was too chicken to use the mixture uncooked -- I had visions of soggy pastry as the meat gave off water. So I shaped the meat into rolls the length of the pastry sheets, about 4 inches, and laid them in single layer in a heavy saute pan and let it cook on a low heat for about 30 minutes or until the water evaporates.
Next, heat the oven to 375 degrees. To assemble, place one roll on each pastry sheet (i added a slice of onion and tomato) roll up, and cut in two and place on a greased baking tray. Bake until golden brown.

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Daring Bakers December Challenge: Yule Log

This was my first challenge and it was hosted by Lis and Ivonne, the founders,  and the recipe chosen by 'em was for a Yule Log, which was basically genoise and swiss meringue buttercream. Anybody who remembers my first attempt at meringue buttercream would understand why I was abit nervous. My genoise was just fine. I spread chocolate ganache over it before rolling it up, and decided to tackle the buttercream the next day. It turned out that I was both, luckier and otherwise in comparison to my last time.

The buttercream was fine till I decided it looked runny and refrigerated it for a while (special thanks to Helene of Tartelette for all the tips for buttercream gone awry). What came out was a deflated curdled mass. Whisking it didn't help. So I tried melting 25% of it and adding it back to the lot and whisking again, it did get slightly better, but only slightly. I was tired and frustrated and was quite sure I didn't want to have another go, starting from the beginning, so I just put the curdled mass in a mixer grinder along with icing sugar and pulsed it. Viola, it got better, I added some more icing sugar and pulsed some more, and the buttercream came together! I thanked my stars! Though it wasn't light and fluffly but it was atleast spreadable!

Since I didn't get the time to take pictures while making, am posting a few of the finished thing which was liked by all! So here it is, with a few marzipan mushrooms and some cocoa.

Do check out the other Daring Bakers for some more logs!

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Banoffi Pie

This has become a fast favourite with my entire family. Whenever we have overripe bananas (soemtimes we let them get overripe :P) it means either Banana Bread or Banoffi Pie. More often Banoffi Pie, because it a quick no-bake thing and is absolutely delicious, never mind the calories! I think I must have made it countless times ever since we chanced upon the recipe, tried it and loved it. Posting two quick pictures, a feast for your eyes!

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Banana nut loaf

Aah, banana nut loaves/bread, you might think 'tried one, tried them all' -- but no, there are as many variations as there are recipes. For a while I used up overripe bananas by adding them to Nick Malgieri's Buttery Nut Cake recipe. About 2 bananas for half the recipe, with crushed walnuts. Rich and moist. A colleague brought in Tyler Florence's version with some chocolate chips. Dense and bread like. That was added to my tiny repertoire - with walnuts instead of pecans (somehow I can't stand them) and finally I think I've hit the jackpot with good ol' Martha's banana nut loaf. You judge, I've made it twice in a month (recipe yield 2 loaves!). Using vegetable oil keeps it lighter, IMO, and fresher. The coconut adds an interesting complexity to the taste, but is so subtle that unless told you might not know it's there. Very unusual.
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook
Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
11/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened coconut
11/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3-4)
1 cup (4 oz) walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray/butter 2 9 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. In another bowl, or bowl of an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar and oil on low-medium speed until mixed. Beat in the dry mixture, then add the remaining ingredients until just combined. Divide batter evenly between the two tins, smooth top. Bake until tester comes out clean, about 60 minutes. do rotate and swap positions half way through.
WHen done, cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing. Stores well at room temperature in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic. Can be frozen for 3 months.
Enjoy!

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Pineapple and cake and cream!

No, I haven't gone nuts over chiffon cakes.. Just that this cute li'l chap

had been lying around the kitchen and I had this funny desire to devour him with some cake and cream, and then I had two reasons, the first one being my kid sis, Aaliya, winning the inter school debate 'Materialism is degrading social values,' and her picture along with her partner's and the judges' appeared in a popular newspapers' student edition and she was rather sad that she looked fat but happy that her watch looked cool. Yes, she spoke for the motion! Well the second reason was that at that time I had only one more exam to go, and that was a really good reason. Oh, there was a third one as well, just came to my mind, and this one was the driving force, that my mother said it wouldn't be good for the poor pineapple if it was made to stand there another day, and as I just said, I had a craving, so I had to act.

As you can see the cream is all runny. I used my 25% cream again, but it appears I was only first time lucky, because I have used it thrice now, and for the past two times, no matter what, it just won't get stiff when I beat it. It does gain alot of volume but that's it. But it turns out I wasn't that unlucky, because I discovered that this runny thing goes very well cakes anyway, you can make the cake soak up some, so that it gets nice and moist, and isn't dry, and you can also then cover it with it, that is its not that runny, which is what I did. The was the same as my first time lucky one, just that this time no ganache, the layers had cream and pineapple between them, I used up the whole for this three layered one.

And another thing, I really don't why, but the cake had a definite sour taste to it. It wasn't pronounced enough to make the cake taste bad, but definitely there. I don't know if it was the cream, or the pineapple juice (which I got from boiling the remains with some water) I made the cake soak, you see I wanted a through and through pineapple cake! But the strange thing about the sour taste was that it got weaker with time. So that the last slice I and Aaliya shared on the third day of making the cake didn't have that sour taste at all!

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that same day...

The same day, because I knew I always have some leftover cream (and this time ganache as well) I baked a sheet cake merging the regular sponge recipe (30:30:1) and the chiffon shortcake recipe.

The ingredients-

30*6 gm flour
30*6 gm sugar
1*6 eggs

These are the regular sponge ingredients, apart from this I also added ( going the chiffon way),

Half a tablespoon baking powder
Half a teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Zest of half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Incase you don't have leftovers, for the filling you'll need-

Chocolate Ganache (Bring to the boil half a cup of cream in a saucepan, remove from heat and add around a quarter pound chopped semisweet chocolate to it, swirl the pan so the cream covers the chocolate, let it rest for five minutes, then whisk till smooth. Let cool, it will firm up as it does that.

And around half a cup of whipped cream, whipped with confectioner's sugar added according to your taste (around four tablespoons should be fine)

Then I proceeded as for the chiffon shortcake (check out the post before this one), with the exception that I used all the yolks as well, so that my yolks to whites ratio was 1:1. Also I noticed that using more water yields a softer cake. I cut the cake into two layers, sandwiched the layers with the ganache and then covered them with whipped cream, and it was good!

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, the baking powder, salt and 150gm sugar.

3. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks, vanilla essence, lemon zest, oil and water until smooth. Stir in the flour to form a smooth mass.

4. Beat the egg whites, slowly adding the remaining sugar, until stiff peaks are formed.

5. Fold in a quarter of the egg whites into the flour mixture. Fold in the rest.

6. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

7. Let cool.

Assembling the cake:

Slice the cake into two layers. Sandwitch the layers with ganache. Cover with whipped cream.

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Chiffon Shortcake with Chocolate Ganache and Whipped Cream

A family friend, who is like family only, recently moved to a better job, so had been wanting to make a Congratulations Cake, which I did finally a few days back. Got a bit enthusiastic and tried something new with

hmm... good results.

I decided to bake a chiffon shortcake and ice it with whipped cream and to add some flavour I layered it with chocolate ganache. Oh well you could argue that chocolate makes everything good!

I adapted the recipe for Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake from the Joy of Cooking (also of course I used no strawberries).

Cake layers:
11/8 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 and 1/4 cups superfine or regular sugar, divided
Half a tablespoon baking powder
Half a teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
Zest of half a lemon
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large egg yolks at room temperature
5 large egg whites at room temperature

Filling:
1 cup heavy cream
Half a pound semisweet chocolate, chopped.

And a cup of whipping cream for covering the cake ( though I used 25% cream, and was really happy when it stiffened up! It was very light and make the cake taste better, not at all buttery, greasy or heavy. Though am not sure if it will work everytime).

1.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Have a 9-inch round cake pan ready, lined with parchment paper.

2. Sift the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt twice together into a large bowl.

3. In a another bowl, beat the yolks, water, oil, zest and vanilla on high speed until smooth. Stir into the flour mixture until smooth. In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks are formed. Add the remaining ¼ cup sugar, and beat on high speed until the peaks are stiff but not dry.

4. Use a rubber spatula to fold a quarter of the egg whites into the flour mixture, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites, only until the egg whites are no longer visible. Overdoing it will deflate them.

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake it until the top springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes.

6. Let the cake cool before taking it out of the pan and peeling off the parchment paper.

7. Make the ganache: Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan, remove from heat and add the chocolate and swirl to cover all the chocolate. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Whisk with a hand whisk until smooth. Let cool. Whisk again.

8. Add some sugar to the whipping cream and whip it with an electric mixer till stiff.

folding in the whites...

cooling and slicing the cake...

icing...

Assembling the cake:

Split the cake into three layers or even two would be fine I don't know how I managed three! I made a ring of whipped cream before pouring in the ganache so that it wouldn't leak later. Spread the ganache and top with the other or another layer, depending upon how many you have. Cover the top and the sides with whipped cream, decorate with chocolate curls if desired, or pipe the leftover ganache.

Early on I was planning a white on white cake, but then I felt it looked too plain so I piped on some ganache and added a few chocolate curls (a firm piece of chocolate and a vegetable peeler).

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Halloween goodies!

Well, my 3-year-old is totally into Halloween now, so I decided to have a small dress-up party for her and her friends, since I'd be working on the actual day of Halloween. I didn't want to make anything too spooky for preschoolers... so I let the theme be pumpkins, no bloodshot eyes and severed hands.
First, I apologize for the poor photos, the one thing my husband did that day, and he messed up!

Anyway, the cake was this devil's food Halloween cake

from Gourmet magazine. The original recipe has a chocolate spider, its legs extending over the sides of the cake, a really neat idea that I want to try next time. The cake itself was yum, though I wonder if it would have been better with chocolate instead of cocoa powder. I did have another devil food's cake recipe using chocalate from Nick Maglieri's book How to Bake, but my stupid fridge had frozen the sour cream his recipe calls for. Anywho, everyone said they liked the cake, though my 3-year-old was a little freaked out by the orange and black icing. The icing was an amalgam of this quick vanilla buttercream icing I found online and the frosting in the Bon Apetit recipe. I also stuck some of Wilton's Halloween sprinkles along the edges, very unprofessionally.
The cupcakes were plain vanilla, to which I added half a cup of chocolate chips, using the same frosting. This was my first time piping anything, and while the spiders' webs weren't hard, my spiders turned out rather double-jointed and my attempt at a bat was unrecognizable!

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a tottering pile of sugar..

Sugar Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda.
Cream sugar and butter till light and fluffy. Blend in the eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add the flour, again mix well. Chill the dough for two hours.
Roll out the dough approx 1/8 inch thick and cut out shapes and place on a cookie sheet. Or make small balls with your palm and place them on a cookie sheet and press, which is what I did.
Bake for 5-8 minutes, or until the cookies are barely browned at the edges.

Mix together 1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar and 1 tablespoon milk. Spread on cookies, sprinkle with nonpareils.

Fun fact: I adapted the recipe I came across on a cookie sheet cover.

Next I plan to either add chocolate chips to them or make plain ones and sandwich then with chocolate. Whatever, I will surely post it here!

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a chunk of chocolate...

I just fell in love with these. Usually I use chocolate chips when I combine Madeira and chocolate, but this time I decided to push a chunk of it in them before putting them in the oven. And I love the effect.

Like this semi-sunken effect, the chocolate's peeping and its left its traces too, sort of leaked on the surface. Inviting.

And you can see the grins on these cupcakes who have swallowed the chocolate, its as if they are unaware of their own fate!

But they have their disadvantages too, your normally 'tuptake' loving (so much so that when you try to threaten him into obedience with a 'no chocolate, no toffees for you' line, he looks imploringly at you at says, 'tuptakes?') two-year-old-nephew might just dig out the chocolate and abandon the rest with a grin to match the ones above!

Note: The Madeira recipe is the same one used for Pineapple Upside Down.

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and... the cake!

This cake was a Martha Stewart recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook. And really surprisingly simple. You just mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately and then mix them together. Once baked, its nice and moist, and tastes great with chocolate sauce, though the recipe calls for Swiss Meringue Buttercream (without the food colouring). I didn't try it, though the picture sure looked cool because of the contrast, white on black. I made a layer cake, sandwiching the layers with melted chocolate, and then topped it with some nougat.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder*
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoon salt*
2 large eggs, plus one large egg-yolk*
3/4 cup warm water
1 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups warm water

Preheat oven to 350F.
Line two standard 12 cup muffin pans with paper liners.
Into the bowl of an electric mixer, sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; add the eggs and yolk, the milk, oil, vanilla, and warm water. Beat on low speed until smooth and combined, about 3 minutes; scrape down the sides occasionally.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Layer Cake Variation
Coat two 8 by 2 inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Line bottoms with parchment paper, spray the parchment as well. Follow the above instructions. These may take longer to bake, about 45 minutes. Though I would recommend checking after 30 minutes.

I don't have dutch process cocoa, so I made do with ordinary cocoa. If you like you can do a Google search for 'dutch-process cocoa substitute' there are a lot of conversions out there, adding and subtracting baking powder and baking soda, I find them all a little confusing.

And if you don't want some egg white lying around, then use three whole eggs. I have tried the  recipe both ways and the difference wasn't perceptible, at least to me.

And I don't like it so salty, so I used just half a teaspoon salt. Also I simply lined the baking tins with parchment paper, not bothering to spray it with nonstick cooking spray.

The chocolate sauce was melted semi-sweet chocolate, some water and confectioner's sugar. I won't mention the amount because of two reasons, one that different people would want different amounts depending upon how rich they like it, secondly I didn't measure how much I used. Just about enough to make the five layers and dabble some on the top. After that I covered it with nougat and put the remaining chocolate in a piping bag and made these funny crisscrossing lines on it!

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