3 Ingredient Mango IceCream | Manju's Eating Delights Turns 6!

Hello one and all! I have been writing and updating a blog post to share our baby girls big 1st birthday party that was in July, but it's taking longer than expected to get all the details in :-) I'll share that shortly , but meanwhile I realized that my little space here turned 6 years old yesterday on Oct 15th...yaay! That surely called for a quick thank you post and ofcourse a yumm recipe...

Happy Birthday to my little blog and thank you to all who still visit this space, though I have been very poorly with updating it in the past year. I still get lots of messages and updates from friends and family who tried a recipe from here and came out well. I also get thank you notes from families who got inspired from the various birthday themes posted here and how it worked great for them. So Thank you all, my virtual family for always being there to inspire and motivate. 
Wow! thats 6 years of blogging and though I've had several hobbies that I started and left, this is probably my only one that's lasted this long. Pat on the back for me and big group hug to all of you for being there by my side.

These days I love watching all these quick FB cooking videos. An entire dish is shown done in 5 minutes and they make it look so damn easy. I tried doing a very simple Mango Lassi video beginning of this year and I have to say it was no easy job at all. I was nervous, felt weird and hated how I sounded although the recipe was good and I enjoyed drinking it all up after the shoot :-) Probably it's easier if you don't have to show yourself too much in front of the camera, mayb I should try that next.

Anyways, there was some more mango pulp left from after making the lassi and I had this sudden idea to try making an instant Mango icecream. The recipe is so easy, specially since I'm using canned and sweetened mango pulp. And not to mention how I love anything with Mango  ;-)

Mango IceCream

You’ll Need

1 cup Sweetened Mango Pulp

1 cup Heavy whipping cream

1  cup Condensed Milk

1 teaspoon Cardamom powder (optional)

Fresh/canned diced Mango (optional)

 Directions:

1. Add the mango pulp and condensed milk to a bowl and mix it up - easy if you use a whisk.

2. Whip the heavy whipping cream until they form smooth yet stiff peaks.

2. Slowly incorporate the whipped cream to the mango pulp-condensed milk mixture until its smooth and well incorporated.

3. For additional flavor and to overcome the sweetness I added some cardamom(elaichi) powder to the mango ice cream.

You can also add nuts or tutti-fruitti chunks or diced mango/peach or any fruit of liking to the icecream.

4. Transfer to a rectangular freezer safe dish and allow it to freeze for atleast 12hrs.

5. Scoop and enjoy in a bowl or over a cone.

Suggestion:

Above recipe makes a small quantity, as I used the remaining Mango pulp which was leftover after making a mango lassi.

If you prefer to make a larger quantity I would suggest using the entire can of Mango pulp + entire can of condensed milk  and atleast 2 cups of whipping cream or double the recipe.

The Mango pulp can I used is 30 oz 

Condensed Milk is 14oz 

Flavor/Garnish as preferred. Pistachios pair really well with Mangos ;-)

It's always Icecream season somewhere and specially if you can make a super quick and easy one like this without the need of any fancy icecream maker machine/gadgets. Make this for any party or at occasions when you've invited guests over and they'll be asking you for the recipe for sure.

Recently at an India Fest here we tasted a Paan (beetle leaf) flavored icecream, mildy green colored and so full of beetle leaf and gulkhand (rose jam) flavor....it was so good. I am definitely gonna try that sometimes soon. 

Ciao my dears...See you soon!

-Manju

Brownie Butter Cake | Manju's Eating Delights turned 5!

I'm several weeks late in celebrating my blog's birthday but well these days I'm just not able to keep up with anything...Lol!
Though I wouldn't call last year a successful one at blogging as I was literally MIA for almost 9-10 months, this space is still thriving and it still has a lot of loyal followers. I'm so thankful for the love and attention you all give to this space and thereby to me as well. Muah!!

Manju's Eating Delights published it's first blog post on Oct 15th, 2011. Since then it's been my passion, stress buster and companion all along. I love to cook, bake, take pictures of the food I cook and of my family and my favorite part is sharing it here on this little space where I can pen my thoughts, share my opinions and ofcourse safekeep recipes and memories like an online diary of sorts. I started this blog when my son was a sweet little 3 month old and now he's 5years old and now I have another sweet little 3 month old girl. I love my family and they keep me going. 

As many of you know I love Cakes. No celebration according to me is complete without some cake. I've had my eyes on these Brownie Butter cakes ever since I saw a pic of them on Bee's space via Pinterest.  Btw...I just love Pinterest. My other love is Food Network and I can get spend any number of hours immersed in both :-P

These are so easy to make and its the best of both worlds.  In one bite you get a mouth melting butter cake and rich chocolaty brownie. Yumm!

The Butter Cake here is a killer I tell you. It just melts in your mouth. It's one of the best recipes I've tried and makes a perfect 6" cake if you want to make just the cake by itself.

For the Chocolate Brownie portion, if you prefer a sweeter brownie either use Sugar in your recipe or use semi-sweet chocolate chips. I felt the original recipe of Dark chocolate chips with brown sugar resulted in a rather less sweet brownie but the sweetness form Butter Cake makes up for that. So it's your call.

Brownie Butter Cake

Makes 1 loaf cake or one 6" round cake

You’ll Need

For Brownie

5oz Dark Chocolate (Or use Semi-Sweet Chocolate)

¼ cup unsalted Butter

¼ cup Brown Sugar (Or regular Sugar)

1 Egg

¼ cup All purpose Flour

For Butter cake

½ cup unsalted Butter

½ cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 cup sifted  All purpose Flour

¼ teaspoon Baking powder

3 ½ Tablespoons Milk

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

2. Grease and line a loaf pan with parchment paper  (Loaf pan size : 4”x8”)

To make brownie

1. Using double boiler method, melt chocolate and butter and once mildly cooled,  add in brown sugar (or regular sugar) and mix until sugar is fully blended in.

2. Add in the egg and mix well. Finally fold in the flour and mix until everything is combined.

3. Pour the brownie batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 15 minutes and remove from oven.

To make Butter cake

1. In a bowl, beat Butter and Sugar until smooth and creamy.

2. Add in the eggs one at a time and beat it well.

3. Sift and combine the All-purpose flour and baking powder and fold it in alternating with milk and mix well to form a smooth and thick batter.

4. Reduce oven temp to 320F and spread the butter cake batter very quickly over the brownie and bake for 25-30 minutes or until fully baked. A toothpick inserted in the cake should come out clean.

Some Notes:

1. For the Brownie if you prefer a sweeter taste, use regular Sugar instead of brown sugar. Else use Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips instead of Dark Chocolate.

2. The cake batter when spread over the hot brownie may start to melt, so we need to spread it very quickly or pipe it on using a piping bag.

3. This entire brownie Butter Cake can also be made in a 6”x3” round cake pan if you do not have the correct loaf pan. I used mini loaf pans and adjusted my baking time accordingly.

Source: RasaMalaysia

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Do try this out, trust me, you won't be disappointing! I sign-off now wishing myself plenty more years of blogging ahead and a deep heartfelt Thank you to all who are with me :-)

You can keep up with Blog updates on my FB page

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Manjus-Eating-Delights-273157692772414/

I also share snippets from my life and cooking experiments on :

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manju_nair/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ManjusDelights

If you would like to keep up with my craze on Pinterest, follow me here:
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/manjumanish1/

-Manju

Chocolate cupcakes with Buttercream Roses to celebrate 3 years of blogging!

Hello to all. It's been since we all met hasn't it? :-) We went for a much needed, month long vacation to Kerala and let me say....we had enormous fun. Our vacation started with a lovely Onam celebration with our whole family. A House boat trip in the back waters of Allepy and a dream visit to Delhi were some of the other highlights of our trip and yes, we saw the Taj Mahal. It's quite an experience I tell you, you have to see the Taj to know its glory. Another major event was a big pooja that my Dad was sponsoring for our home temple - Sarpa Kaavu. An ancient folk dance event called Padayani was performed throughout the night and the entire village came to see it. The program was a huge success and was aired on several TV channels. And best of all our lil'Appu had the best time of all, playing care-free along with his niece lil'Akku to share all the fun, play and kid fights with. In all it was a superb vacation and we are still in hangover mode ;-)

Anyways, it's time to get off my blog-slumber. Today is a special day and the reason why I'm still here. It's our little blog's 3rd b'day. Now that I think of it, my blog and my baby boy are of the same age now ;-) I'm not going to say too much about how much I love blogging and what it means to me....the fact that I'm still here after 3 years says it all.  
If I have you all with me I'll be here sharing more recipes and all kinds of baking joys from my kitchen to yours and your feedback and comments are what keeps me going. 

So Happy 3rd Birthday dear MED :-) 

I love Chocolate Cake and I wanted to try out a really rich and moist chocolate cake. This recipe is perfect in all ways. It's rich, moist and very chocolaty and there's a secret ingredient.....Coffee! Yes, a little coffee adds a huge burst of flavor in this cake. Along with cocoa powder, it also uses fresh bittersweet chocolate, which again adds to it's richness! Yumm! 

It bakes up perfectly and literally perfumes your house with the most amazing chocolaty aroma :-) 

After baking up these beauties I was very much intrigued to try making some buttercream roses, which I've wanted to try for a long time now. So I made a batch of my favorite Vanilla buttercream and tinted them pink and yellow and little bit green for the leaves.

I also tried a dual color tone for the petals which also came out pretty decently. Initially my petals weren't forming properly, but as I continued they started forming and getting in shape. Some of the petals even got a ruffled edge, making it look like a slightly weathered petal. I loved that look. 

I did not get a chance to take any video or step-wise pics while making the roses, mayb next time...but you can find several videos on youtube for this technique.

I'm only sharing the recipe for the Chocolate cupackes here. Both Chocolate and Vanilla buttecream goes very well with these cupcakes. You can find the buttercream recipes here . 

Rich Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

This recipe makes:

24 standard-size cupcakes or

50 mini cupcakes or

Two 8" cakes

You'll need:

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

⅓ cup Cocoa powder

¾ cup hot Coffee

¾ cup All-purpose flour

¾ cup granulated Sugar

½ teaspoon Baking Soda

6 tablespoons Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs

2 teaspoons White Vinegar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a standard-size cupcake pan/ mini cupcake pan with liners. Place the chopped chocolate and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Pour the hot coffee over the mixture and whisk until smooth. Refrigerate mixture for 20 minutes.

2. Whisk together the flour, sugar and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Whisk the vegetable oil, eggs, vinegar and vanilla extract into the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth. Add the flour mixture and whisk until smooth.

4. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake pan cups.

If making cupcakes, bake for 9mins and turn over the pan halfway and bake for another 9 mins (total of 18-20mins)

If making mini cupcakes , bake for 5 mins one side and turn pan halfway for another 5 mins (total of 10-12 mins)

5. Cool the cupcakes in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and place on the wire rack to cool completely for about 1 hour.

                                     *****************************************

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Makes 3 cups

You’ll need

Unsalted Butter , at room temp – 1 cup (that’s  2sticks or ½ pound)

Powdered sugar or Confectioners’ sugar (sifted) – 3 or 4 cups

Pure Vanilla Extract – 1 tblsp

Milk or heavy cream – 4 tblsp or as needed

Salt – a pinch (optional)

Directions

1.Beat butter until smooth and creamy using a paddle attachment on medium speed if using KitchenAid mixer or using electric hand blender.

2. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar , little at a time on low speed, until it mixes well with the butter.

3. Increase the speed to medium and add Vanilla extract, salt (if using) and 4 tblsp of milk/heavy cream. Combine well for few minutes until smooth and creamy. 

(If you want a thicker frosting add remaining 1 cup sugar. If you want a thinner consistency add more milk 1 tblsp at a time )

                                       *****************************************

For the Buttercream Roses:

Prepare Vanilla Buttercream and divide them to color into desired colors using food grade gel colors. Make sure the buttercream is of a smooth yet stiff consistency to hold it's shape. 

Add the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with Wilton's Rose Piping tip # 125 and make the swirls.  For a final touch add some leaves using a leaf tip.

(You can make the roses on a nail ring or directly pipe the buttercream roses onto the cupcakes)

Refrigerate each cupcake after the roses are placed on top to help them stay in shape.

Recipe Source: adapted from Cooks Illustrated

I shared these with some friends and colleagues and they all loved it.  But best of all my lil'Appu loved them the most. He wanted all the roses and the mini cupcakes were just the right size for him to enjoy! It's so much fun baking for family and friends :-)

-Manju

Tres Leches Cake to celebrate MED's 2nd b'day :-)

Two years and I’m still here sticking on to a hobby that I just started for fun. It’s been two full years now and my blog is as old as my baby boy and has been a part of my family through thick and thin. I feel so proud today as I write this post for having successfully completed two years into blogging and still continuing. Happy Birthday MED!! 
( Oct 15th was the actual date, but what's in a date or mayb I forgot... oops! :-P)

Last year I was so excited about celebrating the First Anniversary of my blog baby and I made my first ever buttercream decorated CheckerboardCake incorporating the colors of fall and I even shared my story on how this blog was born! 
And since then this baby has grown and grown, from having close to 2,97,000+ total blog visits (as of today), receiving an average of 11,000 page views per month, more than 100 recipes, 900+ followers on my Facebook Page and several Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest followers. The stats may not sound too great when compared with other blogs that achieve more than this within a single year, but for me its precious beyond words. I cherish each and every feedback, comment and suggestion from my readers. My family has supported me and helped me in so many ways to help me continue with my passion on the blog and I enjoy every minute I spend on this virtual space of mine and the friendships I have made through this forum is priceless and I hope it grows and lasts. 

I know I’m not a very regular blogger and there are dry stretches when I hardly blog or update anything here and I've had my share of writers block or blogger's blues as they call it, but the moment I share a new post I have seen how my stats go up and I know there are people waiting for my posts. I love you all for this constant encouragement and I hope to continue it. I know as a person and as a blogger I have definitely grown up a lot and I want to continue to share snippets from my kitchen, home and life to you all. There's still lots to learn, lots to share and lots to improve upon and I want you all to come join me through all this fun and excitement. Your feedback is my fuel and that’s what’s most important to me, so lets continue to keep in touch!

This year also I wanted to plan an elaborate blog anniversary worthy treat, however life got in my way in the form of busy schedules, sick baby, early bed times and more Appu time, so I had to use up a treat from my drafts ;-) I had made this simple Tres Leches cake last week for a casual dinner get-together with some good friends and I thought it was quite elegant in its own way to be a part of my blog’s second anniversary! 

Tres Leches is Spanish for Tres = Three and Leches = Milk, so it’s a three milk cake and its super gooey and yummy with all the goodness of milk in the form of Sweetened Condensed Milk, Heavy Cream and Evaporated Milk. OOH ya!  The cake itself is a fatless sponge cake with lots of air bubbles which helps in soaking up the three milks syrup, which is simply poured on top of the cake and allowed to rest overnight. The final result is a very moist, sweet and not at all soggy cake.

You could just eat this cake as it is without any fancy frosting or anything, but some cool whipped cream and some bites of fruit adds to the elegance of the cake and brightens up the flavors. I used canned peaches (peaches and cream is a match made in heaven you all) and also used some glazed cherries for some color. I had no plans of how to decorate the cake and as I kept swishing the whipped cream up and down the cake, it sort of resembled the shape of a flower and I left it at that…a rustic flower pattern!

The recipe for the Tres Leches cake was taken from the Daring Baker’s challenge which was hosted by Imma of La Galletika and the feedback from the various bakers who used this recipe and baked their tres leches cake's were immense and I did not have to think twice.

Tres leches Cake or Classic Three Milks Cake

You’ll need
For the Vanilla sponge cake
Eggs - 5 large (Yolk and Egg whites separated)
Sugar - ½ cup (120 ml / 4 oz / 125 gm)
Vanilla Extract - 2 tsp (10 ml)
All-Purpose flour (sifted) - 1 cup (240 ml / 5 oz / 140gm)

For Three Milks syrup
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1 can (14 oz / 400 gm)

Evaporated Milk - 1 can (12 oz / 340 gm)
Heavy cream (about 35% fat) – 1 cup [or 1 cup of half & half / 1 cup milk (240 ml) ]
1 cinnamon stick
Rum or other flavoring (optional) - 2 tsp (10 ml) (I just added vanilla extract)

For Frosting and Filling
Whipping cream or heavy Cream - 2 cups (500 ml)
Confectioners’ Sugar or Powdered Sugar – ¼ cup  

Canned or fresh fruit (to fill and decorate the cake)

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to moderate 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease a square 9”x9” (23cmx23 cm) pan or 9”(23 cm) round cake pan.
2.  Separate the egg whites from the yolks. 
3.  Beat the egg whites on medium speed, 3 – 5 minutes. When soft peaks form slowly add the sugar in small batches. Whip until stiff peaks form about 5 minutes and set aside.
4.  In a medium bowl beat egg yolks at medium-high speed for about 5 to 6 minutes, or until the egg yolks become pale colored, creamy and puffy. Stir in vanilla extract.
5.  Pour the egg yolks over the egg whites, gently fold until just combined trying not to lose any volume from the mixture.
6.  Fold in the flour little by little in the form of rain. Mix until just combined (over-beating will result in a denser, flatter cake).
7.  Pour the batter into the prepared 9”x9” (23cmx23 cm) square cake pan or 9” (23 cm) round cake pan.
8.  Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean and allow it to cool to room temperature completely.

9.  Once cool, split/torte the cake in half, flip the top of the cake and place it on a base. Poke using a fork holes all over the cake to better absorb the three milk soaking liquid. 

Prepare Three milks syrup
1. In a saucepan add the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and cinnamon stick,
bring to a boil, reduce the heat and continue boiling for 5 minutes. Remove it and let it cool.
2. Once it is cool, add the rum or any other flavoring you are using
3. Gradually brush all the milk soaking liquid into all sides of the cake (including the cut surfaces), slowly until all absorbed. Best to rest the cake in the fridge overnight to complete the soaking process.

Frosting and Filling
1. Whip the cream, when soft peaks form add the sugar little by little, continue whipping until stiff peaks form (about 2 mins).

2. Layer some whipped cream on the bottom layer and cover with canned or fresh fruit and decorate the top layer with whipped cream and the fresh or canned fruit.

My friend's, who have eaten several tres leches cakes from bakeries, found the homemade one really delicious. I felt my sponge was a bit dense (need to improve my sponge cake skills) but it soaked up the three milks very nicely. My lil’Appu happily gobbled up a huge slice both at my friend’s place and also the slices we brought back home for him…yes, just gobbled it up I say! He poses for me while chomping away ;-)

So do try out this awesome treat of a cake, which is so easy to put together and tastes so rich and delicious…and I will keep blogging and hopefully will have several more blog anniversaries to celebrate. Have a fun day ahead you guys…

Thank you Winnie for inspiring me to make this cake :-)

-Manju