Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting & A No-Bake Cheese Cake To Begin With!

Dear Friends, who keep visiting me with a ray of hope of some update, here I am, today, finally without any shubh-muhurat, finding a foothold after a long gap~ few pushes from my dear fellow bloggers n family to shape up to it. :D Please do pardon or point out any flaws as still there's a thick fog on the mind as I type this out after sooooo very long.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all, new horizons, new ambitions and pleasant memories is what I wish for all!

I will begin with a Carrot Cake which I baked way back in November for my daughter. It is a simple tasty cake, meant for less sweet eating world, nutritious and can be pepped up for Kiddos with any kind of sweetest frosting making it fit for a sweetest tooth! Leaping to the recipe.

CARROT CAKE WITH CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Ingredients :
Carrots Grated - 1 1/2 C
Eggs beaten - 2 
Oil - 1/2 C
Walnuts - 1/4 C
All purpose flour (APF) - 1 C
Sugar - 1 C
Baking Soda - 1/4 t
Baking Powder - 1 tsp


For Cheese Frosting :
Butter - 25gms
Cream cheese-  50gms (used Mascarpone Cheese)
Icing sugar sifted- 3/4 C
Vanilla essence-  1/4 tsp
Colors - yellow, blue,red and brown (gel)

Method : 

Grease & flour a 9" round spring form pan. Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and mix sugar, combine well.
In another bowl, take the beaten eggs, shredded carrots and oil, beat till blended. Add it slowly to the dry ingredients in large bowl until combined well.
Pour in the prepared pan, bake @180°C for 35-40 mins. (mine got done by 30th minute.)
An easy video help that I referred to for shaping and decoration is here.
Cool on a rack, and frost with the cream cheese and sprinkle some walnuts. (I skipped walnuts as my kids do not like nuts in their cake.)
Method for cream cheese : Bring the mascarpone to room temperature. Beat at the lowest speed for a minute, not more, and add the butter, once combined, add the sifted icing sugar. The frosting is ready. Divide into small bowls and then add color gels as per your choice and shape and frost the cake.
* Those who donot like the cheese and frosting, this cake is good all by itself. Its low on sweetness too.

A YUMMOLICIOUS N NUTRITIOUS CARROT CAKE IS READY!




I found the cheesecake easy to make, ahead of time and it involved no baking at all! It tasted chocolatey-rich. Do give it a try.

NO BAKE CHOCOLATEY CHEESECAKE  (Fridge)

Ingredients :
For the base :
150 gms digestives (McVitie's)
 1 Tbspn cocoa powder
50 gms butter at room temperature
10 gms sugar (2 tsp)


Method : Pass the digestives through processor till they look like crumbs, and add cocoa powder, butter and sugar in the same and pulse for a minute or two till combined well.
 Take an 8" round springform (its a must) and press this mixture at the base with the help of a spoon or flat based steel bowl. Refrigerate it for 30 minutes.


Ingredients for Cheesecake :
100 gm castor sugar
120 ml cream (fresh)
200 gms cream cheese (mascarpone at room temperature)
200 gm dark chocolate (mine was carrefour brand)
1 Tbsp gelatin
2 Tbsp cocoa powder

Method :

Cream the cheese with the help of a spoon ( beating too much will spoil the texture of cheese) in a large bowl.Add sugar and keep mixing with spoon for another minute or two till well blended.

In a small bowl, beat the fresh cream  till its fluffy.

In a microwave safe  medium sized bowl, add the chopped dark chocolate, and melt on high. First 50 seconds,mix well, then for 10 seconds. ( melting time varies for microwave so be careful) Allow to cool a bit.

Dissolve gelatin in 2 Tbspn of cold water and MW for 30 seconds till it dissolves completely. (Small bowl # 2)

Add 2 Tbspn of warm water to 2 Tbspn of cocoa powder,  dilute well and keep aside.

(Small bowl # 3 )

Combine the whipped cream, cocoa solution into the dark melted chocolate with a low speed beater until all is well blended. Pour this mixture in the mascarpone cheese and sugar mixed bowl, beat well on low speed for less than a minute, add the gelatin till combined.

Pour this mixture in the 8" spring form pan evenly on the biscuit base. Refrigerate for 3 hours , overnight is best. It sets in two hours. Tastes best the next day. Decorate with chopped strawberries, piped cream or chocolate as per your choice.

A Cheesy-chocolatey goodness to devour!