Delay in posting!

Apologies for the delay in posting, though I am sure I wasn't missed around here! We're in the middle of a move and stressed out. Half unpacked with boxes all around me, just popped in to say, will be back soon with a new yummilicious post asap. Till then, take care!

Pretty girls and pink cakes...

There is something alluring about pink. So what is it with girls and pink? Do girls really like pink biologically or has it been forced into their system by the world around them? Is it a cultural phenomenon? Or is it just a secret means to recognise the baby's gender by the colour of his/her blanket? Well whatever the reason, my 7 year old Maria is absolutely obsessed with pink. She wants to wear pink all the time, most of the things that belong to her are pink in colour. Obviously when her birthday arrived, the cake had to be pink.

I made a double layered dark chocolate frosted cake and covered it with pink coloured fondant.

Here's the recipe with the pics:

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted melted butter
1 cup warm water
1 tbsp lemon juice(or vinegar)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Stir together the flour, sugar, sifted cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the melted butter, water, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. With a fork, mix all the ingredients together until well blended.

Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes at 180 C, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

I used betty crocker's chocolate fudge frosting to cover the top and between the layers.

The other pink cake was for my friend's baby daughter Ayesha and since she loves shoes, I attempted to make fondant shoes. I used a template for the shoes and cut them out of rolled fondant.

 

 

Rainbows, sunshine and cakes!

Since I am a huge fan of colourful things and sugary smells specially with notes of vanilla, I tried out the vanilla flavored rainbow cake. It was a hit! The cool thing is that if you’re making something so distractingly colourful, people will think it’s delicious no matter what.

You can use any simple sponge cake recipe or use the ready mixes available. Use half of the mixture as white and divide the other half into equal parts and mix food colours in them. Ideally, gel colours should be used for this but I didnt have them so used the liquid ones.
(the gel colours are much bolder than the very liquidy food colouring)

Starting with white at the bottom, drop the colours, one by one, into the middle of the pan, in neat concentric-ish gobs.

Follow the video below for step by step instructions-

Here's how it looked right before I popped it into the oven:

 

and voila ~

 

Chocolate chip muffins a la betty crocker!

I generally try to play safe and avoid taking unnecessary risks, so the first muffins that i baked were out of the box. Yup, I confess to the ultimate baker's crime - I baked betty crocker's chocolate chip muffins which were simply heavenly. They were moist, delicious and most importantly home-baked!!

My brothers totally loved them and actually think that I am a professional(which I will be one-day)!!

If you want the proper recipe of chocolate chip muffins, here you go:

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease bottoms only of 12 muffin cups or line with baking cups.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, chocolate chips, and salt; mix well. In a small bowl, combine milk, oil and egg; blend well. Add dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy.)
3. Fill cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle tops of muffins before baking with a combination of 3 tablespoons sugar and 2 tablespoon brown sugar.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 1 minute before removing from pan. Serve warm.

Amount Per Serving  Calories: 249 | Total Fat: 10.3g | Cholesterol: 19mg

Thats it for now....as much as I am enjoying the newfound love of blogging, I need to get some real work done. So ciao!

The cupcake girl

My love affair with cupcakes started back in Riyadh where sheer boredom and cravings for those dreaded carbs forced me to wear my oven mitts and look out for the packet of flour!

So why do I love baking?? I know its cliche to say its an art but seriously, its a lot about creativity(which btw I suck at). Its the thrill of putting things together, not knowing what the result would be and in the end just indulging in the aroma that wafts across your house.

I am no chef, just an out of work ex-teacher who loves her spatula and measuring cup. So hence forth, I shall be ranting and raving about my adventures and misadventures on this blog. Hope that I find people who can tolerate it enough to look beyond the words into the aesthetics and joy of baking....