Checkered Cookies and Cherry Cake

Hi to all.I tried these cookies for kids as they begin their '79 days' of vacation :) 

I had bookmarked these crisp beauties long back, from Dyann Bakes.

 Checkered / Checkerboard Cookies

Checkered n In Baking Tray

Baked n bit successful in checks :)

This is a combination of Vanilla Shortbread and Chocolate Shortbread, which gives a wonderful output, pleasing to eyes and our palettes of course!!

Ingredients for Vanilla Shortbread :

150 gms butter softened

1/3 C granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon (right not tsp) Vanilla essence

1 large egg yolk

1 1/2 C APF (maida)

Method : 

In a bowl, beat butter and sugar till fluffy. Tip in yolk and vanilla essence, beat well. Add flour in tiny lots and beat till combined. Turn out and knead on a flat surface, pat to a rectangular block, cling wrap and refigerate for 1/2 an hour.

Ingredients for Chocolate Shortbread :

100 gms unsalted butter softened

1/2 C granulated sugar

1 tsp Vanilla essence

1 large egg

1 1/2 C APF (maida)1/2 t baking soda

1/3 C cocoa powder (best quality)

1/8th tsp salt

Method :

Sift flour, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt together and set aside.

Beat butter and sugar, add egg and vanilla essence, beat well. Add the flour-cocoa mixture in divided lots, till combined. Turn it out on a flat surface, knead well, make a same sized rectangular block, cling wrap and refrigerate for 1/2 an hour.

The egg white from 1st set of ingredients can be used as egg wash during assembling.

Please watch Dyann's video for accurate idea of assembling or layering this. 

Assembling :
Once done, preheat oven at 170C. Lay a cookie sheet with parchment, place cookies one inches apart from each other and bake for 10-11 mins till we get lightly golden edges. Cool on wire racks, place in airtight containers, enjoy!! Makes manyyy cookies depends on how you cut it, I have kept the remaining two logs in cling wrap, refrigerated, got 48 cookies from remaining dough! :) 

Enjoy with tea/coffee or simply snack on them !!

Coming up next,  is a light crumb cake, very moist. Uses sliced glaze cherries. Family and Friends liked it alike. 

The recipe's from Tasty Food Lovers. 

Cherry Cake

 

 Ingredients : 

150 gms + 1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour (maida)

150 gms unsalted butter-softened

150 gms caster sugar

 1/2 tsp baking powder

 3 eggs

 1 tsp vanilla essence

50 gm almond -ground

6 tbsp glaze cherries (multicolor would do, I chose red)

Method :

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line and grease a loaf pan.

Sieve 150 gms of flour and baking powder. Set aside. In another small bowl, mix 1 Tbsp flour to sliced glazed cherries and set aside.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar, till fluffy. Add one egg at a time and beat well after each addition. Add the vanilla essence. Now fold the flour, gently in lots till combined. Mix in the cherry-flour mix and lastly combine the ground almond. Pour this mix into a prepared loaf pan and bake @180C/40-45 minutes.

Cool on rack and slice it. Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!!

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! 

MOLTEN LAVA or CHOCO LAVA CAKE ~ “The Best Chocolate Cake” ~ For Divyostav :D

Choco Lava Cake

Going in the Oven- Ramekins in Waterbath.

Jus Out-of-Oven - Molten Lava Cake

I feel out of touch here, coming up for a event after...can't recall my last entry....yet would like to give it a try. :D

This is a special post for a dear blogger friend, Divya Kudua, who is hosting first ever event at her lovely space @ Easycooking, the event is The Best Chocolate Cake.

Without any further digression, shall come to this lovely recipe which I have adapted from Show Me the Curry and Food Wishes, crisp on the out, gooey chocolatey goodness inside.

Choco Lava /Molten Lava Cake

Servings : 4 Indivdual Ramekins

Ingredients :

100 gms milk choco chips

100 gms butter unsalted

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 heaped tsp Hershey's cocoa (optional)

2 large eggs

1/3 cup sugar (caster)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Butter for greasing( I used clarified butter/ghee)

Method :

Pre-heat oven to 180 °C. (Pls note that oven times and temperature differ for all.)

Take the choco chips in a microwave safe bowl, melt for 30 seconds each time on high, till it melts.

Chop the butter and mix well till combined to the melted chocochips. (Here can MW for 10 secs on high power).

In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar till lemony yellow. Add the smooth butter-chocochip mix to the egg mix and whisk till well combined.

Add the vanilla essence. Add the flour and cocoa powder to the mix and whisk well till smooth.

Pour in indivual ramekins - liberally greased with- butter; till half full. Tap it on counter to make it bubble-free.

Bake for 15-16 mins in a water bath (as in pic). Once done, take it out, cool for 3-4 mins.

(** Bake it for extra 4-5 mins if you don't want it gooey-oozy, for a bit mousse like insides.)

Pass a knife along sides to loosen it, invert it slowly on a serving dish. Garnish if needed with icing sugar on top.

(I skipped icing sugar, kids were already rushing to eat it! :) Greasing with ghee did not alter the taste. This cake was loved by all and polished off within an hour of baking! You may directly relish it from ramekins too.)

Chk out the gooey choco oozing and crisp top!

Here it comes to you Divu, for your 'THE BEST CHOCOLATE CAKE' EVENT.