Chocolate Lamingtons

Lamingtons like I said yesterday was our July Challenge for the Eggless Baking Group. A group started by Gayatri where we try and convert bakes with eggs to egg less.

  I posted the Lemon Curd Lamingtons.   check these Chocolate Lamingtons out.

Lemon Lamingtons

 Do you girls collect recipes in books, files chits etc. I have this habit and the reams that they fill are enough to go round the earth at least twice.

 I am not exaggerating! Honestly, or should I say God promise! :)

So there are recipes and recipes that are just lying there for me to try out. Occasionally one of them makes its way to the top of the pile.  I was just thinking Lamingtons and if I can get someone interested in them, when for the egg less baking group Gayatri’schallenge was Lamingtons.

She gave us a choice of both Chocolate flavoured and lemon flavoured.

Almond Meal & Banana Muffins~ Eggless Baking

I have in an effort to get rid of my lethargy joined new groups where I will be challenged to push my limits and try new recipes.

One of them happens to be Eggless baking by Gayatri.   This is my first time here and I am already behind schedule. Sorry Gayatri!  Will try to toe the line next time... mind you will try... : D! 

We are to try out banana muffins this time. There are 3 issues in my place one the kids should not know there are bananas in the muffins two there has to be chocolate in it and three has to be healthy read no maida or all purpose flour in it.

Well in an effort to experiment I surfed the web and found a delicious recipe here. To be honest I have not checked out the whole fare here but that I plan to rectify shortly.

Whole Wheat and Corn Flour Muffins~ A Blog Hop

Last time I was sure it was my last Blog Hop as I missed the dates.

 I posted on 14^th instead of 11^th lucky for me I just caught the linky. The question that kept on seeping in my thoughts was “Am I still a member of this group.” Can you imagine my happiness when I saw Radhika’s mail informing about my partner for Blog Hop. Thanks Radhika.

For this times Blog Hop I am paired with Priya Srinivasan of Enveetu Kitchen!!

The choice of the recipe was easy as there was a demand for muffins, the chocolate chip ones from the kids. I generally do not want to use refined flour while baking so any recipe that uses whole wheat in muffins and cakes I bookmark. This is one down on my bookmark list but they are so delicious, tasty and soft that I will be making these muffins repeatedly.

Cup Cakes~A Blog Hop

Blog hop this time Radhika has paired me with Priya of Now Serving!

If you know not Priya then you are missing deliciously simple recipes conceived out of a Mother’s love to nourish. Do visit her.  She is a multifaceted personality always helping others. She was one of the many who guided me when I started out from anonymous blogger to the present day avatar.

Now choosing from Priya’s place is difficult for I was like a kid in the sweet shop. But my niece had come over with her mom for just 2 days.

Egg less Apple sauce Chocolate Cake

What is left of the cake

There were 2 things that came into play when I baked this cake.

When my friend Vidya told me there was a sponge cake competition in the local mall.  I was eager to join it for I would meet a lot of other better bakers.

There were apples that were about to say bye bye to this world if not attended too. So I made apple sauce from here.

 The problem was I did not have the Cameo apples as needed and I had just discovered that the apples lying around are gala apples. But I made the sauce anyway using the apples I had and the sauce was delicious. 

The yield was 1 ½ cup.

The cake just out of the oven the night before

Micro wave Orange Cake~A Blog Hop

Since my husband & I have our birthdays just 4 days off one another we celebrate together. But this time I wanted to surprise him with a cake on his birthday.

Surprise has to be surprise does it not? So what better than a cake that cooks in the microwave and in 12 minutes when he is at walk, best time his evening walk?

So I baked this cake for him from Mom’s Corner by Rudra my partner for Blog Hop for this fortnight.In case you have not checked her corner till now do so now.Thanks to Radhika who is the brains behind the entire operation! You can join the gang subscriptions to the new version are open till the 15th  Dec.

Egg-less Chocolate Cake 2 Or Whole Wheat Egg-less Chocolate Cake

The Egg-less Chocolate Cake! This is how tall it was!!

Amazed at this gargantuan cake! Well I was too and it has a story behind it…

My friend Vidya came around the other day on her way out for her evening walk and left behind a container for me to microwave as hers was for repairs. She said it was a cake and to just microwave it for 10 minutes. She had also left behind a sachet of Eno’s fruit salt to be used if needed. I used it!!

Since all my micro containers were for a wash I took out the microwave rice cooker that I rarely use and just store my extra dish cloth in it and used it. Boy was I glad I did it, the cake was huge anything else and I would have spent the evening moping the oven floor and cursing her (especially since she was on her way to a party by then)!!

Of course she shared the recipe with me!! We do that regularly. What more you use regular gehu ka atta to make it.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour (yes whole wheat /Gehu ka atta)

1 ½ cup sugar

½ tsp soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tblspn cocoa

1 tblspn drinking chocolate

½ tsp instant coffee (my addition)

½ tsp vanilla essence

2 tblspn butter (I used salted butter)

½ cup curd

½ + 1/3 cup milk (I used 1 cup)

2.5 grms Eno’s salt

Method:

1.       Melt the butter totally add the curds and milk. Mix well and keep aside.

2.       Mix all the dry ingredients except the Eno’s salt in a big bowl.

3.       Add the butter mixture. Mix well. It is okay if the mixture is soft dough consistency the sugar will melt. Keep aside for 4 hours.

4.       Grease a huge container. Mix the Eno’s salt in the batter and transfer to the container.

5.       Microwave for 10 minutes or till the knife inserted comes out clean.

Sending this to Pari's 'Only Series' of events is here at Tamalapaku this month and this time it would be

'Only - Baked'

  

 Archana

Egg-less Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake

Egg-less Chocolate Cake

+

When I saw this egg-less chocolate cake I knew I had to make it. The only question was when. I have made it exactly as Priya has said here. 

Abit contrary to my reputation isn't it? But I did not melt the chocolate pieces. Since I had scraped it with the vegetable peeler it was easy to mix it in the batter. Also since my chocolate was milk chocolate I did not get the rich colour that Priya's cake has. But taste superlative!!Thanks Priya!! 

Sending this to the other Priya and Aipi's bookmarked recipes event.

Milkmaid Egg less Cake alias Thumbs-up Cake--A Sweet Punch

I am an erratic baker at the best. So when I saw the Sweet Punch site in a fit of madness I requested for membership hoping that at least now I will start stop playing around with the ingredients and follow the recipe. 

I just cannot describe the joy I felt when my request was accepted!

Then started the dread and the self doubts, especially on seeing the beautiful bakes that the members have churned out on a regular basis.

 Can I tag along? Only time will tell.

This time at Sweet Punch we were to bake anything of our choice.

Then started the treasure hunt for the recipe that I have wanted to retry after a long time!

 When I turned with a bottle of Pepsi my daughters were sure I have lost my marbles, for just the day before I had told them off for drinking the stuff.: D Then followed my strict instructions don't touch the bottle, younger one had to be warned not to touch the milkmaid tin forget open the tab and lick it. I need it to bake a cake!!

I had “help” to bake the cake (read will get the leftover Pepsi) and but I enjoyed the baking!!

 Help, not only from my daughters Apeksha and Akanksha but also from Stacy, my neighbors’ kid. They cheered me when I thought the cake sank, helped me to join it when the cake broke. Left to myself I would have baked another one but since there was a lot of love the kids had poured in I continued. I have tried this icing myself for the first time!!  The pictures are all by the girls. The only picture I have taken is of the girls’ leftover chocolate party after which they were so full that they ate the cake the next day. And hence the cake lay at rest in full honors’ in the fridge.

Thanks Sweet Punch for a memorable time I have had!!!!!!!!!

Ingredients for the cake:

100 grms Amul butter

1 tin milkmaid

2 cups Maida

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp soda bi carbonate

2 tblspn cocoa (The original called for 3 tblspn bournvita or caramel)

1 tblspn drinking chocolate

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

250 ml coke or Pepsi (in the past we used Thumbs up hence the name thumbs-up cake)

Method:

1.     Preheat oven to 180°C. Greased and dust 9" round pan.

2.      Sieve the Maida, baking powder, soda bi carbonate and cocoa and the drinking chocolate.

3.      Melt the butter add milkmaid and mix well.

4.       Add the essence & the sieved ingredients and fold.

5.      At this stage the batter is very stiff now add the Pepsi and stir.

6.      Transfer to the greased pan.

7.      Bake till done i.e. the baked cake leaves the sides or a knife inserted comes out clean.

         Cool on a wire rack.

I was wondering what to put as the icing on the cake when one of the girls reminded me of the dark chocolate I have been hoarding.

Hardly had I agreed and they got out the milk cooker that I use as a double boiler, washed it, filled it and dumped the chocolate for it to melt. Guess they were too worried that I may change my mindJ!! 

I was already on net and I went to the first person I thought of at that moment who else, the cake lady, as my younger daughter Akanksha calls her, at LOVE 2 COOK and googled for chocolate cake and landed bang on the page that I needed. Chocolate ganache!! 

Love 2 cook called for  

500 grms chocolate (finely chopped)

300 grms heavy cream (I used the only cream we get, Amul Fresh Cream that too 200 grms)

30 grms butter (I used about 10 grms more)

  Love 2 Cook’s instruction we to heat the heavy cream till it boils. Add the chocolate after putting off the flame mix well finally add butter. Cool and use.

In my case it was too late to change the way the melted chocolate was. I added the fresh cream and butter and mixed well. Since the chocolate had a lot of ants, the 2 legged varieties, I poured it directly over the cake.

 After it set we put it up in the fridge as the girls were too full of leftover chocolate.

The next day I made butter icing with softened butter for that I used

50 grms butter

100 grms icing sugar

½ tsp vanilla essence

About ½ tblspn milk (sprinkle as needed)

1.       Beat the butter till soft.

2.   Gradually add the sugar essence and beat.

3.       Sprinkle the milk as needed to get a firm paste.

4.       I put an old icing nozzle lying in my fridge in the corner of a clean dry plastic bag.

5.       Next I filled all the butter icing sugar in the bag and sealed the bag firmly.

6.       Press the bag firmly after snipping off the edge so that the tip of the nozzle comes out in whatever designs you want.

I did not want to risk it so I just piped these stars.

Biscuit Cake(Eggless)

My SIL makes this cake very often. It's very simple, tasty, and can be made out of ingredients available at home. Her instructions are also simple but I have tried to put some standard measures.

Ingredients:

1 packet of glucose biscuits the one that costs Rs.10/- only (190 grams).

3 dav sugar (dav is a serving spoon for daal substitute with  190 grams)

2 tblspns Drinking chocolate

2 tblspns  cocoa

220 ml milk

1 sachet of Eno's fruit salt (5 grams)

Method:

1.  Grease a bowl/ tray about 6x3 inches.
2. Grind the biscuits, sugar cocoa and drinking chocolate to a fine powder.
3. Transfer to mixing bowl.
4. Add 200 ml milk and make a batter. Mix well.
5. In the remaining milk add the fruit salt and mix immediately in the batter.
6. Mix well. Transfer in the greased bowl/tray.
7. Microwave for 10 minutes or, till the cake leaves the sides of the bowl or till a knife inserted in the cake comes out dry.

P.S. the beauty of the cake is you can add 10-12 almonds, cashewnuts . I generally add it in the mixer to avoid the complaints galore.

You can use any biscuit only the sugar and flavouring will have to be changed accordingly.

Bake it as a regular cake in the oven also its divine.

Egg-less Lemon Zest Cake

It's been a long time since I have tried anything new and ages since I
baked. I am seriously addicted to Farm ville and Cafe world on
Face book so I hardly have time to do this anymore.


But I just happened to be surfing and I landed on this blog "Evolving Tastes" and there is this cake that the lady has tried and WOW !


I just had to try the cake out!


But as I had run out of Maida/cake flour I decided to try it with
wheat flour/atta. I mixed the ingredients with increased quantity of
baking powder and soda but was reluctant to experiment with the amount
of liquids. So the resultant batter had a sticky soft dough
consistency. I could not shape it in any conventional shape, by then I
was worried if anyone will like to eat the so called cake. So I just
baked it.

The result was amazing, not only the cake eaten but my family did not
allow the cake to cool!

They just kept on breaking off pieces of the stuff.

Mind you, all this was complaining, as long as the cake lasted, that
the weather was too hot to eat hot things like this.

So I decided to bake two cake now one following the recipe and one
with the" Mad Scientist" at work. So here is my version of the recipe.

You will need these as ingredients:
1 ¾ cups wheat flour
¾ cup sugar
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
2 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup curds
¾ cup milk
1 cup water
2 tablespoons oil + a little more for greasing your baking tin
½ tsp vanilla essence
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Method:

1. Grease the baking tray and pre- heat the oven to 180C. I use auto
bake in the microwave.
2. Sift flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. I did it
so that all the ingredients are evenly mixed.
3. In a large bowl mix the milk, water, oil and sugar. If you are
using Castor sugar it is a good idea to allow the sugar to dissolve a
little.
4. In the bowl add the curds, lemon juice and just swirl it a little
and mix all the dry ingredients add the lemon zest too.
5. Transfer to the baking tray and bake till a knife when inserted
comes out clean.
6. Remove from the tray and allow it to cool.