Pumpkin Trifle.....with Gingerbread Cake, Pudding and Whipped cream !

Hello everyone. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend surrounded by family and friends , ate lots of yummy food and did a hell lot of shopping :-) It snowed here in Minneapolis exactly on Thanksgiving day, it was so lovely. Can you imagine, I was actually photographing these mini trifles out in my patio and it started snowing just then and became 2X times colder :-) That's the reason why those trifle cups looks like a frosted cup ;-P  but I managed to get few snaps for you all!

We were invited to a lovely Thanksgiving dinner on 22nd for which I made these simple and delicious individual trifle dessert. I wanted to make something with Pumpkin ever since Fall started, but never got a chance. So when I was asked to make dessert for the Thanksgiving dinner, I felt it was an opportunity I shouldn't miss. Again, wanting to make it a quick and easy dessert, I made it semi-homemade , by using canned pumpkin puree, a boxed Ginger cake mix and Jello Cheesecake flavored instant Pudding. I love making mini desserts, everyone can enjoy their own individual pretty looking dessert and also enjoy the entire dessert without feeling too guilty, afterall its a mini dessert :-)

The trifle was put together in less than 30 minutes (excluding the cake baking and cooling time). I had all the ingredients on hand, even the Gingerbread cake mix, which I had bought from Trader's Joe few months back :-)
The Trifle had a nice warm flavor imparted by the Gingerbread cake and the lovely pumpkin spice ending with a cool sweetness from the whipped cream. Everyone loved the dessert!

Pumpkin Trifle Recipe
Recipe Source: Adapted from Taste of Home

You'll need
For Cake Crumbs
Gingerbread Cake mix - 1 box (I used 14oz box)
Egg - 1
Water - 3/4 cup
Oil - 1 cup
For Pumpkin Pudding
Instant Pudding -  3 boxes (I used Jello brand , Cheesecake flavor)
Cold Milk - 2 cups for each pudding box (so total of 6 cups)
Canned Pumpkin Puree -1 can (15oz)
Pumpkin spice mix - 1 tsp Cinnamon powder + 1/4 tsp each Dry Ginger powder + Nutmeg + Allspice
For Whipped Cream topping
Heavy Whipping cream - 2 cups
Powdered Sugar - 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Directions
For Cake
Bake the Gingerbread Cake mix as per box instructions- mix together the egg, water, oil and Gingerbread cake mix and bake for 30-35mins at 350F. Allow it to cool and crumble the cake.
For Pumpkin Pudding
a. Prepare the pudding as per package instructions - Add 2 cups of cold milk to 1 pack Jello instant pudding and allow it to set for 5 mins. Repeat the same for the other pudding boxes.
b. Once pudding is set, mix the canned pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice mix into the pudding and combine it until smooth.
For Whipped Cream
Prepare the whipped cream by beating together cold heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract on high until the cream is smooth forming soft peaks.

Assembling the mini Pumpkin Trifle
I have used mini 5oz cups.
Layer with 1 tblsp crumbled Gingerbread Cake. Next add 2 tblsp Pumpkin pudding, then add 2 tblsp Gingerbread Cake crumbs and top with 2 tblsp whipped cream. Garnish with Chocolate sprinkles or some gingerbread cake crumbs.

Suggestions and Tips:
1. You can use Vanilla / Butterscotch flavored instant pudding if you'd like. I wasn't very fond of the cheesecake flavor, but Manish loved it. So I guess its just personal preference.
2. Add more or less pumpkin spice as per taste preference. I added a pinch more than the above recipe for a stronger flavor.
3. If you don't have gingerbread cake mix, feel free to use Chocolate cake, I bet it would taste exceptional. And anything with a sweet whipped cream topping always tastes heavenly!
4. You can use frozen whipped cream if you have that or if it makes your life easier :-)

I did ask my lovely facebook friends for some simple and easy Thanksgiving dessert ideas and I'm so thankful to them for giving me plenty of ideas. I'll be putting them to use each time I have a potluck invite :-) Thank you so much you all.


Next on MED, I'll be sharing details on a gorgeous two tiered cake I made for an Engagement Ceremony...you don't want to miss it. Check out my facebook page for a snap of the cake or better yet, hit 'Like' and never miss another update :-).So stay tuned!!

-Manju

Kaju Burfi or Kaju Katli...something sweet and simple for Diwali !

Happy Diwali to all my dear readers and friends. Today we celebrate the Festival of Lights, the triumph of good over evil . We burst firecrackers which actually signifies driving away evil spirits , wear new clothes, eat and share lots of delicious sweets and food with friends and family.

What I really love about Diwali the most is bursting firecrackers...nothing beats it!! And I was so happy that we were actually able to play with some crackers and watch the fireworks tonight here in Minneapolis and we totally enjoyed each minute of it.

Preparing or buying sweets and snacks to share with your friends and family is another reason I love Diwali so much :-) For my very first Diwali after my wedding, I was very much in an experimenting mood, so I made Karanji, Chakli and Besan Laddoo, all for the very first time and they came out great!  I will definitely post about them soon. We had cleaned up the whole house and decorated everywhere with beautiful diyas(candles). And bursted lots of crackers...Oh! we had soooo much fun.

This year also I prepared few sweets, but most of them got over before I could photograph them :-P But I made these Kaju Katli specially for my office friends, so I was able to keep them safe and take few quick snaps :-) Its really easy to prepare them and I don't know why I never made them before. I found a simple recipe here and it came out really well. 

I made about 10-15 small sized Kaju katli with this recipe. You can make this Kaju Katli in less than 30minutes (if done correctly), I'll guarantee you that!!

Kaju Katli Recipe

You'll need

Cashewnuts - 1 cup (at room temperature)

Sugar - 1/2 cup (heaped)

Water - 1/4 cup

Milk - 1-2 tblsp (use as required)

Ghee - to grease the hands and plate

Directions

1. Grind the cashewnuts into fine powder. It may stick while grinding, thats ok, just scoop it around with a spatula and keep grinding until its a fine dust like powder. Take out a heaping 1 cup from this.

2. Boil the sugar with water until you reach a consistency where, if you add a drop of sugar syrup into a bowl with water, the sugar syrup should not dissolve and appears like a fine thread or drop.

3. At this point add in the cashew powder and on medium-low flame keep stirring until a smooth dough like consistency is obtained. About 3-5mins.

4. Grease a plate with little ghee and transfer this dough like mixture onto the plate

5. Allow to cool down for 10mins and then grease your palms with ghee and start kneading the dough. Add little milk, only if the dough appears hard and dry. Do not add too much milk.

6. Slowly keep kneading the dough until it becomes smooth and easily pliable.

7. Roll the dough into a 1/4 inch thick circle or square, and cut them diagonally to get the diamond shape. (First make a soft line with your knife on the rolled dough before cutting and then cut over that line)

Silver Decoration

I wanted the silver foil appearance on top of the kaju katli, which is how we usually get it back home in India. Since I din't have any silver foil, I used edible Silver Dust that's commonly used for Cake decoration :-)

I cut out a diamond shape in a small parchment paper and placed it on top of each Kaju Katli and applied the Silver dust with a brush...Simple!! :-)

Suggestions:

1. Its very important that the cashews should be at room temperature , or else it may get all sticky while grinding

2. The correct sugar syrup consistency is very important again in getting this burfi/katli right.

3. Milk is only required if the dough appears dry or hard. Adding milk will reduce the shelf life if kept out, so keep them refrigerated.

So try out these simple, beautiful and yummy Kaju burfi and let me know how they turned out :-) And once again wishing you all a very Happy Diwali !!

-Manju

Piña Colada Cake - a heavenly Tropical experience!

Piña Colada is a sweet Rum based Cocktail drink which is a mixture of Rum, Pineapple Juice and Cream of Coconut , usally served blended with Ice. Piña Colada (pronounced as Peenya Colada) is Spanish for piña-pineapple + colada-strained (from Wikipedia)

I have had this drink twice and its an absolute delight on your tastebuds. Its sweet, fruity, coconutty and has a slight hint of Rum and the cocktail is usually served with a slice/wedge of ripe Pineapple and/or Marachino cherrries, so you get to enjoy that as well.

So when my friend asked me to bake her a birthday cake (for another friend) , her specifics was that she wanted a layer cake with a different cake flavor , which wasn't chocolate or vanilla. And luckily enough I had a nice ripe pineapple at home, so I suggested a tropical themed cake and immedieately thought of a Piña Colada flavored cake !
For the cake filling, she wanted something creamy, so I decided to go with a creamy Coconut Vanilla Pudding and Pineapple Compote cooked with Rum. And the cake was frosted with creamy whipped cream and garnished with sweet coconut flakes and slices of pineapple and Marachino cherries. 'Tropical Heaven' my friends , that's what this cake is!!

Now whats Cream of coconut - its not coconut milk for sure. Cream of coconut is a smooth, thick liquid made from fresh coconuts. It is thick and very sweet. It gives a stronger coconut flavor and aroma and is commonly used for mixing drinks. I bought mine from the Drinks and mixes section in Target store. Its usually found where they keep all kinds of beverage drinks and instant cocktail/mocktail mixes etc. And its definitely worth using it to get the actual flavor of the drink in this cake.

As my friend's friend does not drink alcoholic drinks, I used Imitation Rum extract for the Rum flavor, but you go ahead and use the real thing if you prefer that.
The house smelled heavenly while baking and honestly I couldn't stop eating the crumbs...I just couldn't :-)
The cake is a simple White butter cake largely adapted from here, the fillings and frosting were my own .

Piña Colada Cake Recipe
You'll need
For Cake:
Eggs (White and Yolk separated) - 2 large
Cake Flour - 1 3/4 cups (175 grams)
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Unsalted Butter at Room temperature - 1/2 cup (113 grams)
Granulated white sugar - 1 cup (200 grams)
Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tsp
Coconut Extract - 1/2 tsp
Rum - 1 tblsp (I used Imitation Rum extract)
Cream of Coconut - 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Finely crushed or grinded pineapple with pulp - 1/4 cup (60ml)
For Coconut Vanilla Pudding:
Vanilla instant pudding mix - 1 pack ( you can make you own pudding too)
Coconut extract - 1tsp
For Pineapple Compote:
Ripe Pineapple cut into tiny cubes - 2 cups ( you can use crushed pineapple from a can too)
Pineapple juice - 2 tblsp
Rum - 1 tblsp (I used Imitation Rum extract)
Sugar - 2 tsp (adjust to the sweetness level you want)
For Frosting :
Heavy Whipping cream - 2 cups
Powdered (confectioners) sugar - 1/4 cup
Pure Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
For Garnishing:
Coconut flakes - 1 cup or more (I used sweetened coconut flakes)
Pineapple wedges - almost 3 round slices of fresh Pineapple quartered
Marachino Cherries - as desired (optional)

Directions:
For Cake
1. Preheat Oven to 350F. Butter and flour two 8 inch round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper and grease and flour parchment paper**.
2. Separate the eggs into separate bowls and keep them covered for about 30minutes to allow them to come to room temperature.
3. Whisk together all dry ingredients - cake flour, baking powder and salt
4. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter until soft and then add 3/4 cup of sugar and beat on high until creamy. Add the egg yolks (one at a time while beating constantly), vanilla extract, coconut extract and Rum (or rum extract) and beat until well incorporated.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients, Cream of Coconut and Pineapple pulp ,alternaltely ,starting and ending with flour and beat on slow until the batter is smooth.
6. In a separate clean bowl , start beating the egg whites slowly at first until soft peaks form and add the 1/4 cup sugar and beat on high until stiff peaks form.
7. With a rubber spatula gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites until combined. Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.
8. Gently pour the batter into each greased baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.
(If using a single 8inch cake pan, bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean)
9. Once baked, allow to cool in pan for 15mins and then invert onto a wire rack and let it sit until it cools down completely before lifting the pan to release the cake.
10. Place the cool cakes in the freezer or fridge until assembling time.
**Placing the parchment paper cut-out in the baking pan is a MUST as the cake is very soft and moist, so it easier to get the cake out without sticking to the bottom even if the cake pan is greased.
For Coconut Vanilla pudding
Prepare the pudding as per packet instructions with 1 tsp Coconut extract, stir well and let it set .
For Pineapple Compote
In a saucepan, add the pineapple juice, sugar, Rum (or rum extract) and the pineapple chunks and cook on medium heat until the juice slowly starts to evaporate and pineapple gets soft.
[Optional- if you want a thicker compote, add little cornstarch while cooking]
For Frosting
1. Chill the bowl and whisk attachments in the fridge atleast 30minutes before preparing the whipped cream
2. Add the whipping cream into the bowl and start beating slowly.
3. Add the Powdered sugar and vanilla extract and beat on high until soft peaks begin to form and the whipped cream comes to your desired consistency.
Assembling the cake
1. Level your cake and slice or torte the cake into deisred no. of layers (If you have baked two separate 8inch cakes, then just use those, and torte as desired)
2. Place a small dollop pf whipped cream on your cake board or cake stand and place the topmost cake layer on the cake board/stand.
3. Add desired amount of Coconut vanilla pudding and top that with the Pineapple compote. Place the next cake layer on top and repeat for the diferent layers (if any), ending with the bottom layer on top for a neat finish.
4. Frost the outside of the whole cake with whipped cream frosting.
5. Garnish with Coconut flakes around the sides and add some Pineapple slices and marachino cherries on top.

My friend said she and her friends really enjoyed the cake so much that they totally forgot to take a snap of the cake cutting and the cake was over in minutes! :-) Infact she said they couldn't even believe that it was a homemade cake...awww!! So did you like it?

-Manju

Our Halloween 2012...BOO!

Hello everyone , how are you all? How was Halloween? As usual I'm always late at posting any festival or 'important day' related posts. Blame my laziness and the rather crazy hectic office work schedule we've been having lately and my weekends just get over in a blink.
But I still see carved pumpkins and Halloween decorations outside and inside of several homes , so I guess I'm  not too late to share my halloween evening with you all! It was extra special for us as it was the first time we all went trick-or-treating :-)

To be honest, all of October I kept thinking and planning to cook or bake something which screams Autumn or something Halloweeny , but trust me, I really have no idea when October started and when it ended. The days literally flew by and although dishes made with Pumpkins and Apples need not just be restricted to Autumn / Halloween day specials, I missed my chance when all the other blogs out there were displaying their Autumn delicacies...Well I won't be disheartened, and I shall come up with lots of recipes which you can hopefully try next year for your Fall get-together or Halloween party :-)

On Halloween day Oct 31st, at my office we had a lovely potluck and costume contest. The potluck was also a competition for the most eerie/scary looking yet yummy food . I never ended up buying a costume but I did make an  eerie Halloween punch, I made a slightly concentrated Rose Lemonade with some Lychee juice and filled up some Lychee fruit with blueberries for an eyeball effect and called the drink 'Eyeballs in Blood' !!!
I din't win (if anyone is wondering) but people liked the idea of my punch (Here's a snap taken on Iphone) , it tasted really good by the way.

[ I really love creating anything Eyeball related for Halloween, last year I made these Scary Eyeball Pumpkin Cupcakes :-) ]

And in the evening though we came late from office , we were immediately greeted by several trick-or-treaters come over in large groups to collect their share of treats (the little ones came with their parents) and I saw the my little guy was getting super excited.
We were almost on the verge of dropping our plans of taking him for trick or treating (bcoz he just wouldn't get into his costume) when I got this weird idea to make him wear his own clothes and draw him a moustache with my black kajal and call him 'Little Man with a mustache' , but then I realized he had a  military print sweatshirt combo, so he was quickly transformed  into 'Army guy with a Moustache'.
And off goes my 'Moocho-wala-Sipayi'  for his first trick-or-treat hunt ;-)
(For those who follow me on facebook already know this as I had posted a pic of his attire , but here are more pics) 

Though we just went around our apartment building , my little guy had lots of fun , and I was literally running behind to catch up with him to get a good shot of him trick-or-treating with his dad.
And to my surprise even now, when others in the building see him , they remember him as the little army guy! Well I'm so happy that his 'instant' costume was so liked and remembered by all!

And all the trick-or-treating made my big boy Manish all hungry and he said he smelt aromatic Chicken curry smells from the other homes (roll-my-eyes) , and I had to instantly make chicken curry for dinner :-) I guess I'll post the recipe some other time. So all in all, we had a great night and a Happy Halloween and I thank God for all these beautiful memories! :-)

-Manju

WINNER - Wilton's Checkerboard Cake pan set Giveaway

Hi folks,

I'm so happy to announce the winner of my very first giveaway to celebrate my first Blog Anniversary.
I had baked a Citrus Checkerboard Cake for celebrating and had announced my first giveaway - a Checkerboard Cake pan Set. (Please click the hyperlinks to read the respective posts)

And now , Drumrolls please :-) The winner issssssssss..............

 MINSA VARGHESE 

Congratulations and I'm so happy for you :-) . And a big Thank You to all the rest who participated and left lovely comments and Likes on my facebook page!

Message to the winner:
I have sent you a message on facebook .
Please send me a valid email address and a home address to manjuseatingdelighst[at]gmail[dot]com on or before Nov 5th, 2012.
(If you fail to do so, I'll be forced to select another lucky winner)

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween and are all geared up to celebrate Diwali (for Indians), Thanksgiving and Christmas ...oh so many festivals to look up for :-)

Image source : Google images

-Manju

Spiced Omelette with Red Radishes....for a lazy Sunday brunch!

Food definitely brings back a lot of long forgotten and childhood memories. Even a simple omelette :-)
I still remember the taste of the omelette that my dad prepared one school night . He was in the mood to get creative I guess, so he cracked up few eggs, added the usual onions, green chillies , salt and pepper and cut up few slices of Tomatoes and after pouring the entire egg mixture into a large frying pan, he placed the tomatoes on top. I noticed that he cooked the egg very slow on a low heat and slowly turned the rather huge omelette with one quick flip and cooked the other side for few minutes. That was the best omelette that I can ever remember, Juicy and slightly tangy from the tomatoes and so perfectly seasoned.
Another reason why I remember it well is because the omelette almost looked like a pizza with toppings to me :-) My mom often made individual omelettes for our breakfast (which was super yummy btw) , but a huge omelette that looked like a pizza was new to us and me and my sis loved it!

Another 'omelette' memory I want to share was when I started working at this MNC in Bangalore,India. I often used to rush out of my hostel in the mornings without eating the breakfast that was provided to catch my bus (Typical!!) And by the time I reach office I would be starving. Now our office had some beautiful canteens with all kinds of yummy food, starting from our classic simple breakfast items like Idly, dosa, vada , puri...yumm!! to international style food which was omelettes, toast and butter, French toast , fruit salads blah blah...oh I'm hungry now!

And the most priced and sought after breakfast item was the Omelette  ;-) Anyway, I would happily wait in queue , watching the theater cooking, where one guy would break two eggs, add some finely chopped red onions, green chillies, diced tomatoes, cilantro , white pepper and salt, whip it up nicely and hand it over to the guy who would fry it in front of you. And to watch him was like watching a magic show or something like that. He would pour the entire egg batter (lets call it that) into the pan, cover and cook it for few minutes and then just make a swishing movement with his hand and the entire omellete would just flip out of the pan , turn around and land in the pan...I mean WOW , could you envision that! I could never do that with a big omelette , it would just fall into pieces on the floor if I tried that, I would feel lucky if atleast a small piece landed in my pan :-)
He would then place the whole omlette on our plate and I would happily take it, take 2 slices of toast, some ketchup and butter , sometimes even some jam , fork and knife and happily gorge down the whole thing! Bliss!!

Now last Sunday morning we woke up at 10:30am or something and I wasn't in the mood to make some elaborate breakfast, and the easiest and quickest option was an Omelette. So with my tummy grumbling away, I enter the kitchen and get this crazy idea to make an omelette with red radish in it. I had a whole bag of fresh red radishes and was planning on making something with it for lunch. So I go ahead and repeat the same things my dad did and instead of Tomatoes , I added Red Radishes. Aren't they simply pretty!! :-)

Well actually I added the radish in the egg batter itself, herbed it up with freshly chopped Corriander leaves and spiced it up with a little Cumin powder, Turmeric powder and black pepper powder. Double Bliss! :-)
Oh and it was raining outside that day, so this was a perfect lazy Sunday brunch with a cup of piping hot masala chai...should I say Bliss again?? :-)

The Omelette was juicy and so so flavorful. I could just eat it like that, without the toast or anything. Even my lil' guy ate up a few mouthfulls , a big deal in his case :-)
The radishes cook very well if sliced thinly and they add a mild crunch and a mild peppery flavor. The cilantro elevates the flavor to another level and the mild hint of spices all blends together really well in this egg preparation. This recipe is a keeper, I tell you!

Spiced Omlette with Red Radishes Recipe
You'll need
Eggs - 2 large
Red Onion (chopped finely) - 1/4 of a whole Onion or as per preference
Green chillies (thinly sliced) - 1 or 2
Red Radishes (Thinly sliced) - 3-4 or more
Corriander leaves - a good handful (chopped finely)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Pepper powder (optional) - a pinch
Oil or butter - 1/2 tblsp (I just used spray-on Canola oil)

Directions:
1. Crack the egss and beat them with a fork or a whisk for few minutes, until they look smooth and has slightly increased in volume.
2. Add all the other ingredients and slowly mix them well.

3. Heat your skillet or non-stick pan and heat the oil/butter.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and pour the egg mixture and cover and cook for 2 minutes or until the omelette has slightly set and is not runny. (evenly space out the radishes and onions if you like)

5. The omelette would have puffed up when you open the lid and then gently lift it and turn it to the other side and again cook for 1 minute.
6. Serve hot with toast ! :-)

Did you know ??
1. Even with just 1 egg you can make a thick omlette if you whisk the egg well , incorporating some air into it and then cover and cook it. (For this dish you may increase the number of eggs if you prefer. I got a rather thick omlette which was more than enough for us. )
2. Cooking eggs on a low flame allows it to cook slowly and evenly, almost mimicking an oven kind of heat transfer. It also reduces the egg from burning and getting brown on the bottom.

A perfect healthy breakfast/brunch dish , don't you think? Have a great day guys!

Don't forget to participate in my Giveaway (click here), it ends on Nov 1st!

-Manju

Giveaway - a Checkerboard Cake pan set !

*** This Giveaway is CLOSED , winners to be announced tonight (Nov 2 ,2012)***

GIVEAWAY...GIVEAWAY! As you may/may not know, my little blog turned 1 on Oct15th,2012 and what's so great in keeping all the joy to myself?
So to celebrate this happy occasion, I decided I would treat you with a beautiful gift.

I did not have a checkerboard cake pan set to make my own Checkerboard Cake (above pic), so I had to do some geometry and calculation with different sized bowls and pans in my kitchen to get the correct diameters for the concentric cake layers, else your checkerboard pattern will end up with different sized cubes (you get what I mean right?).
Although I'm very happy with the results I got, I feel it would be a tad easier if you had a cake pan set that'll easily help you develop your checkerboard pattern without all that calculation! :-)
So I want to gift you all a beautiful Wilton Checkerboard Cake pan set. The set includes 3 9" cake pans with a divider ring. Here's few pics of how the cake pan set looks and few ideas of what you could create :-) (Image source: Google)

If you have an Oven and can get hold of atleast a cake box mix then bake a cake using this Checkerboard Cake pan set, you are going to SURPRISE your family and guests big time and they'll be begging you to know the technique...Pssst : Don't tell them so fast ok! LOL!! :-)

Rules for entering the giveaway:
1. Leave a comment on the blog stating which cake flavors or color combo you would be doing when you get this Checkerboard Cake pan set.
2. Follow me on Facebook , its easy, just hit 'Like' and never miss another yummy post!

One lucky winner gets to be a proud owner of this artistic cake pan set.
NOTE: This giveaway is open to US residents only! If you have anyone in the US to whom you'd like to gift this cake pan set or can win one for you, come join in the fun! ( A valid US address is a must)

This giveaway will be closed on Nov 1st,2012 (midnight) and the winner will be announced on Nov 2nd, 2012.
So c'mon, all you need to do is leave a creative comment and Like my facebook page for a free entry to win!

*** This Giveaway is CLOSED , winners to be announced tonight (Nov 2 , 2012)***

-Manju

Citrus Checkerboard Cake with Roses to celebrate 1 year of blogging !!

Hello there, I'm back with a bang...well atleast for today  ;-) Where do I begin you all?....My little blog turned 1 year old today, yaaayyyy! First of all Thank you, a big heartfelt Thank you, as its because of you all that I have been able to reach this milestone.
On this happy occasion I present to you a "CCC"....read on to know more :-)
Well first I wanted to share with you how MED came into being and its journey until now...Long 'short story' ahead, are you ready?? :-)

I used to take photographs of the food I cooked/ate ever since I went to college , mainly to share with my parents, who lived in Dubai at the time and I was in studying-living-working in India. So any dish I prepared or ate at some restaurant would be proudly presented with pictures to my parents. Who doesn't like to show off ? :-) 

I still remember this time of the year last year, when I had just decided to quit my job (in the middle of my maternity leave) as I couldn't bring myself to leave my then 3 month old at someone else's care and I honestly wanted a longer break :-) But I wanted some hobby to keep me connected and talking with other people. A few months earlier I had started posting some recipes at a common food forum called CookEatShare , but I wanted something that had 'my name' on it ;-) At that time I had created a photo album named Manju's Eating Delights on my personal facebook page to lure my friends into my new-found hobby and food photography and I just decided to keep the same name if I ever started a blog!

I was horrible at figuring out the template setup and page creation blah blah on Blogger (or just plain lazy you can say :-) ),  and I took the easy route, let Manish do all that stuff :-) I  had prepared PaalAppam with Potato Stew for breakfast that morning, for which I had taken few snaps (to send to my parents) and posted the same on the blog , evening of Oct 15th, 2011. Thus MED was born... drumrolls please!! :-P
Now I love to photograph food  in different ways and get more and more creative , and though I have lots more to learn, I'm really enjoying with each of my post :-)

Well can you imagine my excitement and happiness when I got my very first comment the very next day, someone who wished to stay Anonymous, was so kind enough to say "looks yummy" for my PaalAppam post. And without even me trying to hunt for other bloggers, several good hearted bloggers and friends started pouring in their comments, on my subsequent posts, welcoming me to the blogging world. I love you all so much, Muah!!! 

My Blog and I have grown so much in this past 1 year. I am back at my old job, I feel so full of energy and blogging has brought out a creative side in me that I never knew I had. I have learnt how to balance my life with my sweet baby and hubby, office work, homely chores and blogging!
The blog has close to 37500+ views, 119 followers and 150+ Facebook Likes and gets close to 200+ views daily (not bad for a beginner blogger), not to mention the lovely messages I get from friends, family, colleagues and other readers on various occasions.
And the reason for all this is you all...YOU are my inspiration and energy!! THANK YOU again!

So on this happy occasion I thought I would share a pretty pretty cake. A lovely Citrus Checkerboard Cake with Roses, lets call it a  "CCC' ;-) . What do you think?

I used a Vanilla Cake box mix ( well it was just taking up some of my pantry space :-) ). I divided the batter equally in half before adding the water  and substituted the 1 cup water with 1/2 cup Orange juice and 1/2 cup lemon juice respectively. The whole house smelled so citrus-ey while it baked  :-).

The first time I ever saw a chekerboard cake was at Raspberri Cupcakes blog and I loved it. And recently I've been totally hooked on to Amanda's blog and loved the tutorial she gave for her Rose cake and finally I just used both these ideas and since I had plenty of Oranges and Lemons at home, I used them for my cake flavor. Sometimes you need a change from chocolate and vanilla flavors right? :-)

Orange and Lemon Checkerboard cake with Roses
You'll need
For cake
Vanilla Cake box mix - 1 (I used Betty Crocker)
Eggs -  3
Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
Freshly squeezed Orange juice - 1/2 cup
Orange zest - 1 tblsp
Freshly squeezed Lemon juice - 1/2 cup
Lemon zest - 1tblsp
Sugar - 1tblsp
Wiltons Orange colored food gel - as required
Wiltons Yellow colored food gel - as required

For Vanilla buttercream
Butter (Softened at Room temperature )- 2 sticks (16tblsp)
Confectioners sugar (powdered sugar) - 3-4 cups
Pure Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Salt - a tiny pinch
Milk or heavy cream - 3-4 tblsp
Wiltons Orange colored food gel - as required
Wiltons Yellow colored food gel - as required
Wiltons Green colored food gel - as required (optional)

Directions 
For Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease two 8" round cake pans and keep aside.
2. Squeeze Orange juice and Lemon juice such that you get half cup of each and zest the Oranges and Lemons and keep aside. ( I had to use 2 oranges and 2 lemons).

3. As per the box cake instructions beat together the eggs and vegetable oil with the cake mix (without adding any water.)
4. Divide the batter equally into two separate bowls. (The batter should divide equally with 1cup+1.5tblsp each in each bowl)
5. Add the orange juice + orange zest into one bowl and beat it well using a hand mixer/electric mixer. Add some Orange colored food gel until the desired color is obtained.
6. Sweeten the lemon juice with 1 tblsp sugar. Add the juice and lemon zest to the other bowl with cake batter and beat well again. Add some Yellow colored food gel until the desired color is obtained.
7. Pour the Orange cake batter into the cake tin and bake for 22-25 mins until a toothick inserted in the cake come out clean.
8. Similarly bake the Lemon cake batter for 22-25 mins.
9. Once the cakes have cooled slightly, transfer to a wire rack and refrigerate until assembling.

For Vanilla buttercream
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter for few minutes on low speed. ( Its highly important that the butter is softened at room temperature, it should not be melted)
2. Add the vanilla extract and salt and beat again.
3. Now add the confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time and mix well using a spatula or a paddle attachment (if you are using a kitchen aid mixer).
4. After adding about 3 cups of powdered sugar, add milk if necessary, depending on the consistency of the buttercream you are looking for and smoothen the buttercream by folding it gently yet firmly using the spatula. (To pipe the roses , I made the buttercream at a stiff consistency and added about 2-3 tblsp of milk to smoothen it out)
5. Add desired color to the buttercream using a toothpick (Any Gel food coloring is the best, as it does not add more fluid to the buttercream)
[ I made 2 batches of this buttercream frosting , reserved 1 cup aside , and divided the rest of the buttercream and colored it orange and yellow separately]

To assemble the Checkerboard Cake
1. Once the Orange and Lemon cakes are completely chilled, level them such that both cakes are of same height or thickness.
2. We need to cut the cakes into individual concentric circles vertically. As I've used an 8" inch cake, I used 2 glass bowls of 4" and 6" diameters (If you have a cookie cutter with appropriate size measurements that's the best choice)
As shown in the pic, I have cut out the 4 inch size, and then using the other 6" glass bowl I cut out another layer around this 4" circle.

3. Keep the Orange cake outer layer on your cake stand/board, apply a light coating of buttercream (which was reserved) around the inner edges of the cake , then carefully place the Lemon cake  into the inside. Again apply some buttercream and place the Orange cake (4" part) inside and complete the cake (as shown)

4. Repeat the same for the Other cake with Lemon, Orange and Lemon and apply a light coating of buttercream over the first layer of cake and carefully place this second layer on top. (Or you can directly do the second layer over the first layer , which is how I did)

5. Apply a crumb coating with slightly loosened (with milk) buttercream over the whole cake.

To pipe the Roses
1. Attach the 1M piping tip to the tip of your piping bag or Ziploc bag.
2. Add the Orange colored buttercream to one half of the bag and the Yellow colored buttercream to the other half.
3. Squeeze out some buttercream until you see both the colors blended together.
4. Start from the sides of the cake, Keep your tip in the center and carefully and swiftly do a Swirl starting from inside to out, until a Rose shape swirl is obtained. Continue the same all around the edge and over the cake.
5. There will be gaps in between the rose swirls, which you may fill with same buttercream by simply piping small stars or dots using the 1M tip, else like I did, color some remaining white buttercream with Green gel and using a Leaf tip, pipe leaves in the gaps :-)

Few useful suggestions and tips:
1. The Lemon cake is really lemony and if you prefer a milder lemon taste, reduce the quantity of fresh lemon juice to 1/4 cup and add 1/4 cup water to obtain 1/2 cup of fluid. Sweeten with 1 tblsp sugar.
2. The cake is pretty moist and crumbly, so be careful while arranging the concentric patterns. A denser cake is preferable for such patterns (just my opinion)
3. DO NOT beat your buttercream with a whisk attachment , trust me, I learnt it the hard way. Use a spatula or wodden spoon to mix together the confectioners sugar with the butter. It results in a creamier buttrecream with less air bubbles in it.

The cake tasted very fruity and had a beautiful citrus flavor. I felt the lemon cake was too lemony for us, so next time I may reduce the amount of Lemon juice, but it went very well with the sweet buttercream. I took almost the entire cake to my office and shared with all my colleagues. They loved it and my boss gave me a double thumbs up!!! Yippeeee!!

P.S : for those who are wondering, I've NEVER taken a Cake Baking or Cake decoration class ever! I just don't have the time for that right now.
Also, I do all of the design and setup on the blog now, and still learning! :-)

And a special thanks to my hubby dear and beautiful baby boy for bearing with all my craziness while preparing for a post, starting from making the dish, styling, photographing , blogging etc etc :-)
And to my family , friends and colleagues for their constant support!

Cake anyone??? :-)

And so as MED crosses a year, let's all wait for what all is coming up next right??? What about a Giveaway? :-) Sounds interesting?....all in my next post! Stay tuned Amigos!!!

(Oct 21st, 2012) Update:  Please check here for the Giveaway information. Hope you win! :-)

-Manju

Grilled whole Mackerel with Lemon, Thyme and Red chilli flakes!

Grilled fish, that has been on my must-try list for grilling, ever since we bought our new gas grill. Finally last week I got a chance to try it out and I was very happy with the results. I grilled a 3lb Mackerel whole :-) , well Manish just happened to get one from Whole Foods without cutting it into smaller pieces, so I thought why not?!! I took these snaps in the evening around 7pm, so they look quite dull.

Found a really simple recipe here and I had all the ingredients at hand and adapted it a bit more to suit our taste. I was initially a bit skeptical about grilling fish by wrapping it in foil and just pouring the marinade over the fish without actually marinating it. But if the foil is wrapped such that the marinade does not drip out much, it retains all the flavors and results in a flaky, moist and delicious grilled fish :-)

The fish was so flavorful and flaky and the lemon wedges tasted like pickle. Manish literally ate up all the lemon wedges too. Though I had rubbed some red chilli powder on the fish and also added red chilli flakes in the marinade, it did not make the fish very spicy. I guess the lemon juice sort of gave a good balance between tangy and mild spicy, such that even my 15 month old could eat the fish.

Grilled whole Mackerel with Lemon, Thyme and Red chilli flakes

 You'll Need
Whole Mackerel - 3lb (Cleaned , I removed the head and tail)
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Marinade 
Finely grated fresh lemon zest - 1 whole lemon
Fresh lemon juice - 1 whole lemon
Extra-virgin olive oil - 3/4 to 1 cup
Dried Thyme or Orgenao - 1 tsp
Red Chilli Flakes - 2 tsp
Coarsely ground black pepper - 2 tsp (optional)
Lemon slices - 6-7 (1/4 inch thick)
Salt - to taste

Directions
1. Mix together the red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt. Cut deep slits into the fish at 1 inch intervals and rub the whole fish with this dry spice mix , making sure that the spice gets rubbed inside the slits as well and keep aside.
2. Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade. Taste test to make sure the marinade is flavorful. (make sure not to add too much salt as the fish is already rubbed with some salt)

3. Preheat your grill, and in the meantime cut out 2 large foil wraps (the foil wraps should be larger than your fish) and place 3 lemon wedges on the foil and place the fish carefully over these wedges. Again place 3 or more lemon wedges over the fish.

4. Arrange the foil such that it forms a dish like appearance and pour the marinade over the fish. Slightly lift the fish allowing some marinade to coat the bottom of the fish.
5. Completely wrap the fish carefully making sure that the marinade does not seep out. Place the fish over a lightly oiled grill and grill for 15 minutes. Using tongs, turn the fish over and again grill for another 15 minutes. (Some oil may drip out at this point, which is fine)

6. Transfer fish to a large platter using 2 metal spatulas or tongs. Let it sit for sometime before opening. Serve hot :-)

I'm sure this recipe can even be tried for Baked Fish. Here's some good tips on how to Oven bake a fish.

Very soon we were just left with this :-)

So give this a try. Its a change from our usual fish preparations and the taste is unique and really delicious.

Btw, if anyone is wondering if we ate the fish with strawberries (as shown in the pic), let me just say, all the strawberries were eaten by my strawberry loverboy - lil Manav. He simply loves the fruit and will eat it with anything. So fish and strawberries for him :-)

See you soon!!

-Manju