Marble Cake

Marble Cake

I mentioned when I shared the Mocha Coffee Cake with Espresso Glaze my friend’s daughter, Saavani, loved the cake and wanted me to bake a cake for her. I decided to “#FireUpYourOven" to make the same cake.

Disaster struck in the form of “NO COFFEE”! 

Being Dhulivandan or Rang Panchmi the day we play colours, all the shops were closed. That is when I decided to make a Marble cake.

A slight change in the ingredients and method gave me such a delicious and soft rich marble cake quite unlike the once I have eaten in the past.

Made me wonder why on earth I used to think that making a Marble Cake is beyond my capabilities.

This last month has been a wonderful journey with my friends, who like me have been preparing for this beautiful Mega Marathon that we have had. With a heavy heart I bid adieu to this series only to be back with more delicious bakes that I will make from my friends blogs.  For if I thought I will shrink the size of my bookmark list I am mistaken its grown by leaps and bounds!

Marble Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Maida/APF
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 12 tblspn butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 ½ cup milk
• 2 tblspn cocoa dissolved in 1 ½ tblspn hot water

Method:

• Grease an 8 inch pan.
• Preheat oven to 350⁰F/180°C.
• Sift flour, baking powder, and soda, salt.
• Combine butter and sugar at medium speed till pale and fluffy.
• Add the sour cream and beat well.
• Add 1 egg at a time and beat after each addition.
• Add vanilla essence.
• Add the flour alternating with milk the last addition should be flour.
• Divide the flour in 2 parts.
• In one add cocoa mixture and mix well.
• The third will remain as vanilla.
• In the   pan add vanilla batter the add chocolate next and with a knife mix the batter.
• Bang the pan on the counter 3-4 times to settle the batter.
• Bake for 45 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the cake come out clean.
• Transfer the mould to a wire rack for 10 minutes then unmould and cool.

Marble Cake

Day 26

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51

An InLinkz Link-up

Hi! First time here? Well then you are Most Welcome! I hope you keep coming back for more here. If you are my regular visitor then Thanks, for you encourage me to experiment more!! I would like you to please click on my link below and like my Facebook Page. I will be happy if you can follow me on on Twitter too!

 

Mocha Coffee Cake with Espresso Glaze

Mocha Coffee Cake with Espresso Glaze

For my younger ones birthday I wanted to order a cake for her.

Hubby and she were adamant that I should make the cake not order it.

That is when I, “#FireUpYourOven"  (d)  to bake 3 cakes.

One was a Date and Walnut Cake,  A Pound Cake that I covered with ganache the third one was this delicious cake that was appreciated a lot.

In fact one of my friend's daughter asked me for a full cake for her.

Mocha Coffee Cake with Espresso Glaze

Recipe Source: Joy of Baking

Ingredients:

Mocha Coffee Cake with Espresso Glaze

• 2 cups Maida/APF
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 12 tblspn butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tblspn cocoa dissolved in 1 ½ tblspn hot water
• 2 tblspn coffee dissolved in 1  tblspn hot water

Glaze:

• 1 ½ tblspn coffee dissolved in 2-3 tblspn water
• ¾ cup powdered sugar

Method:

• Grease an 8 inch bunt pan.
• Preheat oven to 350⁰F/180⁰C.
• Sift flour, baking powder, soda, salt.
• Combine butter and sugar at medium speed till pale and fluffy.
• Add 1 egg at a time and beat after each addition.
• Add vanilla essence.
• Add the flour alternating with sour cream the last addition should be flour.
• Divide the flour in 3 parts.
• In one add cocoa mixture and mix well.
•  in the second add the coffee and mix well.
• The third will remain as vanilla.
• In the bunt pan add a scoop of coffee, add vanilla, the add chocolate next to one another.
• Bang the pan on the counter 3-4 times to settle the batter.
• Bake for 45 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the cake come out clean.
• Transfer the mould to a wire rack for 10 minutes then unmould and transfer to a serving tray.
• Pour the glaze over the cake and let the cake cool completely before serving.

Mocha Coffee Cake with Espresso Glaze

Day 25

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51

An InLinkz Link-up

Hi! First time here? Well then you are Most Welcome! I hope you keep coming back for more here. If you are my regular visitor then Thanks, for you encourage me to experiment more!! I would like you to please click on my link below and like my Facebook Page. I will be happy if you can follow me on on Twitter too!

 

Blintzes from Russia

 

Today on in the Mega Marathon which has been christened as “Around the World in 30 Days” let us visit Russia!

If you are about my age you will remember the Span and the “Adventures of Misha.” How I used to wait to see what she came up with next.

Apeksha, my elder daughter has been always after me for pancakes. And as I was researching Russia for some reason she borrowed the laptop, the rest is history this was the page that I was on. If that was not enough after that she was trying to convince me to do crêpes as a Sub-category in street food….

On the day I made these Blintzes it was pouring and we had a lot of guests. The idea was to remake the dish for better pics. Never got down to it. Hope to remake these delicious Blintzes again soon!

According to Wikipedia, “A blin (pl. blini), blintchik (pl. blintchiki) or blintz is a type of thin pancake.  Blintzes are thin pancakes that typically lack a leavening agent and are similar to crêpes, whereas blini are typically thicker and include a leavening agent.^”

Traditionally Russian blini are made with yeasted batter, which is left to rise and then diluted with cold or boiling water/ milk. When diluted with boiling water, they are referred to as zavarniye blini and were baked in a Russian oven. Though the blini are pan fried they are cooking of blini is still referred to as baking in Russian.

 French crêpes made from unyeasted batter (usually made of flour, milk, and eggs) are also common in Russia.  Flours used for making blini range from wheat and buckwheat to oatmeal and millet, although wheat is currently the most popular.

Blintzes are made in Jewish cuisine too; blintzes that are stuffed with a cheese filling and then fried in oil are served on holidays such as Chanukah (as oil played a pivotal role in the miracle of the Chanukah story) and Shavuot (when dairy dishes are traditionally served within the Ashkenazi minhag). Blintzes are called "blinchiki" in Russian, and are ordinarily stuffed before frying a second time. Fillings include chocolate, mushrooms, meat, rice, mashed potatoes, and cheese.

Blintzes are the traditional meal in Lithuania during Fat Tuesday.

Buckwheat blini are part of traditional Russian cuisine. They are also widespread in Ukraine, where they are sometimes known as hrechanyky (Ukrainian: гречаники), and Lithuania’s Dzūkija   region, the only region in the country where buckwheat is grown, where they are called Grikių blynai.”

Blintz

Recipe Source: Tony Avey

Ingredients:

  For The Blintzes:

• 2 cup Maida or APF
• 2 cup milk
• 2 tblspn sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tblspn oil
• 2 tblspn baking powder

Ingredients for the Filling:

• 1 cup fresh paneer, crumbled
• ¼ cup cream
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk (optional)
• 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Pinch of salt

Method:

• Blend all of the blintz ingredients together using a blender or electric hand mixer. You can blend with a fork too but remember that the batter should not have any lumps.
• Warm up a non-stick tava/skillet until hot.
• The tava/skillet is ready check the heat . Sprinkle a drop of water and if it sizzles on the surface of the of the tava , your tava is ready. If the water pops or jumps out of the pan, the skillet it too hot—let it cool slightly before starting.  
• Grease the tava/skillet generously with cooking oil.
• Pour the pancake batter using a 1/3 cup into the pan.
• Tilt the pan in a circular motion till the batter coats the entire bottom of the pan in a large, thin circular shape.
• Cook for 60-75 seconds until the edges of the blintz brown and the bottom of the blintz is lightly golden. The pancake is done when the centre of the pancake's surface is dry and slightly tacky to the touch.
• Remove the pancake with a spatula and place it on a plate.
• Keep the blintzes separated by pieces of butter paper or paper towels to prevent the blintzes from sticking together.
• Similarly cook all the blintzes.

Now make the filling:

• Put all of the filling ingredients into a chutney bowl of the blender and pulse it. The filling should not be smooth. But should be well blended.
• Now let’s assemble the blintzes
•  Put about 3 tblspn of filling on the lower part of the blintz, about an inch from the edge.
• Now fold the lower edge of the blintz covering up the filling, say about till the centre.
• Now fold the sides of the blintz inward, as though you’re folding an envelope.
• Roll the blintz up and over the filling like a burrito, tucking the edges in as you roll.
• Finish them all. Then let’s fry them…
• Heat about ¼ cup of oil in a non-stick pan over medium until hot.
•  Cook the blintzes in batches see that you have enough space to turn them easily in the pan. Gently lay the flapside down in the oil (take care the oil is hot).
• The oil will sizzle after 1 ½ to 2 minutes flip carefully the blintzes. They will be brown and crispy.
• Fry the flipped side again for a 1 ½ - 2 minutes till they are browned evenly.
• Serve blintzes warm as they are or topped with fruit topping, sour cream, applesauce, whipped cream or maple syrup.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 44

An InLinkz Link-up

Hi! First time here? Well then you are Most Welcome! I hope you keep coming back for more here. If you are my regular visitor then Thanks, for you encourage me to experiment more!! I would like you to please click on my link below and like my Facebook Page. I will be happy if you can follow me on on Twitter too!