Fastest Fudge Cake

I have been not able to blog lately, thanks to the holidays. We went skiing in Wisconsin, caught up with friends and had a hell of a time. Couple of days back, I made this fudge cake in under 30 minutes. I was running short on time and had hardly enough time on hand to bake a cake for friend's birthday. I found this amazing recipe in a book called 'Birthday Cakes'. The cake came out super moist and yumm. Couldn't really capture a nice picture of the cake as we were getting late.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp

Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick), melted and warm

Brown Sugar - 11/4 cups, firmly packed

Large Eggs - 2

Hot Water - 1/2 cup

Method of Ingredients:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F, position the rack in the lower third of the oven. Butter the bottom of an 8 inch square or 9 inch round cake pan or line it with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, combine all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Use a whisk to blend the ingredients. If the cocoa remains lumpy, sift the mixture.

3. In a large bowl, combine the warm melted butter and brown sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla essence and beat until well blended.

4. Add the flour mixture all at once. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir just until all the flour mixture gets moistened. 

5. Pour the hot water over the mixture all at once. Stir just until the water is incorporated and the batter becomes smooth.

6. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cake pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool for about 10 minutes. You can unmold the cake onto a wire rack or leave the cake in the pan and frost only the top of the cake.

Ingredients For Frosting:

Butter - 5 tbsp

Granulated Sugar - 3/4 cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - 2/3 cup

Salt - a pinch

Heavy Cream - 3/4 cup

Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

Method of Preparation:

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the granulated sugar, cocoa and salt. Gradually stir in the cream. Heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth and hot but not boiling.

2. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Let cool until thickened to spreading consistency.

3. Frost the top of the cake and enjoy.

Easy Chocolate Pudding

I found this fabulous recipe in the book 'Starbucks Passions For Coffee'. The recipe was quite simple and easy to make. I did not have white chocolate at home, so, I just used 2 types of chocolates. The pudding came out a tad thicker than what we had expected. We really were not bothered about the consistency though, we enjoyed the chocolate pudding.

Ingredients:(Serves 6-8)
Egg yolks - 4, extra large
Granulated Sugar - 3/4 cup
All Purpose Flour - 1/4 cup
Cornstarch - 3 tbsp
Milk - 2 1/2 cups
Semi Sweet Chocolate - 5 oz (11tbsp), finely chopped
Unsweetened Chocolate - 2 oz(4 tbsp), finely chopped
White Chocolate - 4 oz(8 tbsp), cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Whipped Cream - For Garnish(Optional)

Method of Preparation:
1. Add the egg yolks, sugar, flour and cornstarch to a medium bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of milk and mix all the ingredients to a smooth paste.
2. Add the remaining milk to a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and let it start boiling.
3. Remove the milk from heat and stir into the egg mixture. Pour the milk-egg mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat, whisking constantly, until it begins to boil and thicken.
4. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring constantly. Ensure that the bottom is not burned.
5. Remove the saucepan from heat and add the semi sweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate and vanilla extract. Stir until the chocolate melt and the mixture becomes smooth.
6. Let this cool for 5 minutes, then gently fold in the white chocolate pieces, just to incorporate.
7. Spoon the pudding into individual glasses and cool at room temperature, then refrigerate until serving time.
8. Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream and enjoy the easy chocolate pudding.

Linking this to  

Baked Apple Almond Pudding

I made this yummy dish last week for thanksgiving. It was almost like an apple upside down cake. The bottom layer was apples, which were topped with almond batter. It almost tasted like almond biscotti with baked apples at the bottom. This is a dish definitely worth trying !!!

Ingredients:(Serves 6)
Golden Delicious/McIntosh/Cortland Apples - 5(about 2 lbs)
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Granulated Sugar - 1 cup
Eggs - 2
Almond Extract - 1/4 tsp
All Purpose Flour -1 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup, melted
Toasted Almonds - 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Salt - 1/4 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Butter a 2 quart baking dish or a round souffle dish.
2. Peel, halve and core the apples. Dice the apples into 1/2 inch pieces.
3. Add the apples to a large mixing bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons of sugar and vanilla extract. Spread the apples in the bottom of the prepared dish.
4. In the same bowl, beat the eggs with the remaining sugar, almond extract and salt until blended. Add the flour and melted butter and beat until smooth. Stir in the chopped almonds.
5. Spread the batter evenly over the apples. Bake until the top turns golden and the apples can be pierced easily with a thin sharp knife, around 50-60 minutes.
6. Serve the pudding warm.

Sending this to Champa's 'Bake-off'

Broiled Pineapple

Are you looking for a quick hot dessert? If you love pineapple, I am sure you will love this. A very quick, simple and tasty dessert.

Ingredients:

Sliced Pineapples - 2

Brown Sugar - 2 tsp

Salt - a pinch (optional)

Chilli Powder - a pinch (optional)

Method of Preparation:

1. Line a broiler safe baking tray with aluminium foil and put the oven in broil mode.

2. Place the pineapple slices on the baking sheet, sprinkle a teaspoon of brown sugar on each slice.

3. If using salt and chilli powder, sprinkle very little on each slice.

4. Put the baking tray under the broiler and broil the pineapple slices for 8-10 minutes or just until the sugar starts caramelizing and turns bubbly.

5. If you prefer a little more broiled pineapple, you can first broil the pineapple on either sides for 7-8 minutes, then sprinkle with sugar and broil for 2-3 minutes.

6. Enjoy the warm, succulent broiled pineapple, just like that or topped with a scoop of your favorite ice cream. 

Rasgulla

All my fellow bloggers are posting a lot of recipes for deepavali. The first thing I do every morning is to check out all the beautiful posts of my blogger friends and find out who made which sweet or savory item today :). Today I tried to make badam/almond burfi and it turned out as badam halwa, I reduced the amount of sugar in the original recipe and I guess that was one of the reasons behind burfi turning into halwa :). I do not eat many sweets, so I hardly try my hand at making them, however after looking at all the wonderful posts on sweets, I did not want to give up after the badam burfi incident. So, I tried making rasgulla. I followed the recipe posted by Raks and though my rasgullas did not turn up as good as hers, they were very yummy and we loved them. Thanks for the recipe Raks.

Ingredients:
Full Fat Milk - 1 litre/4 cups
Lime juice - 3 tbsp
Water - 31/2 cups
Sugar - 2 cups
Rose Water - 1/2 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat milk in a heavy bottomed pan till it starts boiling. Simmer the heat and add the lime juice and stir it.
2. On low heat, wait till the whey water becomes clear, then turn off the heat.
3. Line a strainer with cheese cloth/muslin cloth and pour the curdled milk into it.
4. Put the strainer with the paneer under cold running water, so that the paneer gets rid of the lime smell and sourness.
5. Squeeze the excess water, by gently squeezing the paneer in the cheese cloth and hang it for 30 minutes or press it under heavy weight, so that all the moisture gets drained.
6. Add the paneer to a mixing bowl and knead it for 10 minutes, until you get a smooth dough.
7. Meanwhile add the water, rose water and sugar to a pressure cooker and let it boil.
8. Make small smooth balls out of the paneer and add them gently into the boiling sugar syrup, one by one.
9. Pressure cook the paneer balls till you get one whistle on low heat. Let it simmer for 5 more minutes on low heat after the first whistle. Then turn off the heat.
10. After the pressure is released, the rasgullas should have doubled in size.
11. Let the rasgullas reach room temperature before refrigerating them.
12. Enjoy the ragullas chilled.

No Flour Chocolate Souffle

As the days are getting colder and colder here in Chicago, we are on the lookout for hot and warm things to eat. Today we thought of making a chocolate souffle and when I was going through the recipes to make one, I found a no flour chocolate souffle recipe in Nick Malgieri's book 'Chocolate'. The recipe was very simple and we had to try it. The souffle rose well, was baked through with a soft liquid center and we enjoyed it a lottt.

Ingredients:(Makes 4 servings)

Semi sweet Chocolate - 7 tbsp 

Strong brewed coffee - 2 tbsp

Butter - 2 tbsp, softened

Egg yolks - 2

Egg whites - 4

Salt - a pinch

Sugar - 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F and butter and dust the ramekins with sugar and place them on a baking sheet

2. Add the chocolate and coffee to a heat proof bowl and place it over a pan of hot water. Mix often and allow the chocolate to melt. Remove from heat.

3. Stir in the butter and let the mixture cool down. Stir in the egg yolks.

4. Add egg whites and salt to a bowl and using an electric mixer beat them until they hold light peaks. Add the sugar gradually and continue to beat till the egg whites form soft peaks.

5. Take a quarter of the egg whites mixture and stir it into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the rest of the egg whites mixture using a rubber spatula.

6. Pour the batter into the buttered and sugared ramekins. Fill them to the top. Bake for around 12 to 15 minutes or until the souffles are well risen and baked through, except for the center which should remain soft and liquid.(You can use a spoon to lift the top off on one side and check, the top will fall right back into place)

7. Serve the hot no flour chocolate souffles immediately.

Simple Rice Pudding

I am really not a sweets person :). However, at times when I feel like eating something sweet, the simplest thing I turn to is the rice pudding. Today, instead of using normal sugar, I used brown sugar and topped the rice pudding with fresh fruit. 

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1/2 cup

Milk - 3 cups

Sugar - 4 tsp(brown or regular sugar, adjust according to taste)

Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp

Raisins - few

Almonds - 6, roughly chopped

Any seasonal fruit - 2 tbsp, chopped

Method of Preparation:

1. Rinse the basmati rice and soak it in warm water for 45 minutes.

2. In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat the milk until it starts boiling.

3. Crush the soaked rice with fingers, so that the rice grains break into small pieces. 

4. Add the broken rice to the boiling milk and let the rice cook on low heat.

5. Keep stirring in between. Once the rice gets cooked, add the sugar, raisins, chopped almonds and cardamom powder.

6. Mix well and let the rice pudding thicken a little bit, before taking off heat.

7. You can serve the rice pudding either cold or warm.

8. Top the rice pudding with your favorite fruit and enjoy.

Home Made Vanilla Fruit Custard

Fruit custard is probably one thing which everyone has enjoyed at home. Usually branded custard powders are used, however custard can be made at home without the store bought custard powder. Here is a simple recipe for home made vanilla fruit custard.

Ingredients:
Milk - 4 cups(approximately 1 liter)
Corn Flour - 2 tbsp
Vanilla Essence - few drops
Turmeric powder/Food Color - a pinch
Sugar - 5 tbsp(adjust according to taste)
Fruits - Any available fruits, diced into bite size pieces

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel till it starts boiling.
2. Mix the cornflour with 1/4 cup milk and add a pinch of turmeric powder/food color to it.
3. Add sugar and vanilla essence to the milk and mix.
4. Now add the cornflour mixture and mix well, keep stirring while you add the cornflour mixture. Boil for 5 minutes and turn off the heat when milk starts thickening.
5. Let the mixture cool down and reach room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator.
6. Let it chill for few hours and add fruits of your choice, mix well and enjoy.

This is my entry to the event 'Cold Desserts'

Besan Halwa

Its been long since I made any sweet and today I wanted to try this simple recipe which does not need loads of ghee and sugar. Tomorrow my better half is returning from a business trip and thought of making this for him. So today I tried it out and the result was pretty good!!

Ingredients:
Besan/Senagapindi/Gram flour - 1 cup
Milk - 3 cups
Sugar - 8 tsp (adjust according to taste)
Ghee/Oil/Clarified butter - 2tbsp
Cardamom pods - 2, finely powdered
Almonds - 5-6, sliced finely

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat a non stick pan and add ghee/oil. Add the gram flour/senagapindi/besan to the pan and keep stirring continuously for 6-7 minutes on medium to high heat.
2. Once the flour turns golden brown and starts emanating a pleasant smell, add the milk and sugar. Stir continuously ensuring that no lumps are formed.
3. Once the mixture starts thickening, add cardamom/elaichi powder.
4. After the mixture reaches a halwa consistency, turn off the heat and garnish with sliced almonds.
5. Enjoy the besan halwa, while it is still warm.