Coffee Chocolate Pudding~A Sweet Punch

Sweet Punch for November was CoffeeChocolate Pudding!!

All my favourites in one Yummmmmmmmmm! 

You bet I have baked this pudding twice already. The pudding needs to be served with ice-cream  but both the times we have not had it with ice cream as one of the girls seem to be having a cold. 

Jam Tarts~ A Sweet Punch

For this month Sweet Punch Ria has chosen Jam Tarts!

My heart sank at the sight of the recipe for it looked like a shortcrust pastry and something that had ended as a mess that I had to bin. I was sure I will sink right under again!!

But since I don’t usually give up easily I decided to try my hand once again. One last time I told myself. Make only a few that you can eat up if there are no takers. And so I did!!

Before we start let me confess that I used not only Ria’s recipe to make the tarts but also what I googled about them for my fear about failing this was quite huge. 

But I was unduly worried for the tarts were a huge success!!

Not only I made it & it got over before I had a decent snap in spite of the jam that I had used was strawberry jam that was lying in the fridge for some time and hence I baked the tarts again today. To tell you how good they tasted my husband, yes the mental diabetic, fetched me the ingredients for the next bake most importantly willingly and relished the tarts… Thanks Ria!!!

Chocolate Almond Cashew Nut Biscotti~A Sweet Punch Black and White Wednesday

Today is the 7^th of September, my sister’s birthday & another Sweet Punch!

 This Biscotti is to wish her a Very Happy Birthday!! So sorry Chetana you do not eat eggs, but that’s very good for me I get to eat a lot more Biscotti!!

Strawberry Banana Muffins~A Sweet Punch

This August month‘s Sweet Punch was Strawberry Banana Muffins from Joy of Baking.

The first reaction I got was as expected, Ma……… and a sour face. But as the idea gradually sank in I was asked,” Ma when are you baking those muffins? “So now that the green signal was waved there was no stopping to making these muffins.

I had already decided to halve the given recipe and I got 6 ½ muffins, 6 huge ones and one small oneJ!!

The only hassle was that we have no fresh strawberries in the market they will start coming somewhere in October or November so I substituted

1 cup Fresh strawberries with ½ cup of strawberry crush

½ cup unsalted butter with ¼ cup salted butter (no salt)

¾ cup light brown sugar with ½ and 1/8   cup ordinary sugar

I had no means of grinding cinnamon hence I did not use it

The muffins were yummy, soft fluffy and colourful but too sweet. Next time I will reduce the sugar ½ a cup.

I will like to thank Sweet Punch for introducing me to a new taste that I had heard of but never tried.

 Archana

The Perfect Pound Cake- A Sweet Punch

The July Sweet Punch was pound cake.

 I must thank the Sweet Punch Team for making me sit up and look again at the recipe.  My basic recipe was 2 cups each of maida, sugar, ghee and 4 eggs.  The ingredients re the same but the way the whole mixing is unique.

Check the cake out!!

Never has my pound cake disappeared so fast in 1 hour!!!! Mind you I have made the same cake twice. I barely managed to get the pictures both the times!!

 Here is the recipe as it is on the Sweet Punch blog. I made absolutely no changes.

  Surprised are you not? 

Well the first time I was testing the recipe and the second time I realised I cannot change perfection!!

Perfect Pound Cake as on the Sweet Punch Blog


Ingredients
3 tablespoons Milk

3 large Eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 ½ cups sifted cake flour**(see below)
¾ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
13 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened [184 gms]

Method:

1.    Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter an 8 inch by 4 by 2.5 inch loaf pan, or any six cup loaf or fluted tube pan.

2.     Lightly whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.

3.     Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix on low speed for 30 seconds, until blended.

4.    Add the butter and half the egg mixture, and mix until dry ingredients are moistened.

5.     On medium speed, beat for one minute. This will aerate and develop the cake’s structure. Scrape down sides.

6.     Add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds between each addition. Scrape down sides.

7.    Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth surface with a spatula.

8.    Bake for 55-65 minutes (35-45 minutes if baking in a fluted tube pan), until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minutes before inverting onto a greased wire rack. If using a loaf pan, flip the cake over so the top is up.

**For making Cake flour at home - Take one cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 tbsp from it. Replace the 2 tbsp flour with cornflour and sift together 2-3 times. Cake flour is ready to use.

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.