Eggless Butterless Cake Rings Soaked in Strawberry Syrup

Now a day I am on an Eggless butterless cake baking spree. I made eggless cakes several times, mainly when the orders asked for. But I never dare to try eggless butterless cake thinking of the outcome - May be I have to trash it down. Being an ardent baker it is a shame for me if I don't expertise with all the versions that a baking pro asks for. So I buckeled up myself and started to experiment the Eggless butterless cakes in my kitchen. I started to make in a small amount with the minimum mesurments that a cake needs to be baked. To my surprise, I was super thrilled when I tasted one. It was soft, moist, spongy and hard to believe that it was an eggless butterless cake. I add a little bit of olive oil to make the texture more perfect. My walnut cranberry eggless butterless cake loaf was loved by those who bought in the KFB's Bakers Showcase 2016. So here is the simple version of making eggless butterless cake. I added strwaberry syrup to give it a more tastier version. Stay tuned I will be posting many more less calorie, Eggless butterless cakes.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

All Purpose Flour: 1/2 cup

Baking Powder: 1/2 tspn

Baking Soda: 1/2 tspn

Olive oil: 1 tblspn

Sugar: 1/2 cup

Yogurt: 2 tbspn

Milk - 1/4 cup (More or less)

Vanilla Essence: 1/2 tspn

For the Strawberry Syrup:

Strawberry - 2 cups chopped

Sugar - less than half cup (More or less - see notes)

Lemon juice: 2 tspn

Method:

Make the cake:

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda together. Reserve.

2. Mix all the other ingredients under cake and make a smooth paste.

3. Add the flour and fold nicely. If you need more milk add. The batter should be semi-runny.

4. Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree C. 

5. Grease the cake ring moulds. Pour the batter in the cake rings and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. One can use cupcake moulds too. If using cupcake moulds then fill 1/4 of the cup.

Make the syrup:

Heat a pan and add the chopped strawberries. Cook in a medium flame with a lid on for 5 to 6 minutes. When the strawberries will start to loose its juice and become soft add the sugar. Cook till the sugar gets completely dissolved and the strawberries come to a mushy consistency. Add the lemon juice and stir. Now take off the pan and cool. Then strain the pulp and the juice out. Use the syrup. You can use the pulp too if you want.

Note: 

If you want to make it a chocolate Eggless butterless cake then add 1 tblsp cocoa powder to 1/2 cup flour.

Oven Roasted Plum Cake inspired by Baking with Julia

"Who is Julia Child?" asked the Man.

With a puckered eyebrows I innocently answered I don't know.
It happened one night almost 6 years back after watching the movie, Julie & Julia. I never realised that Julie Powel and Julia Child would become the significant parts of my life.
I was then struggling with my baby steps into  blogging food blogging, with a very knowledge about Food and the who's who. I had already completed my stay in USA for 3 three years and gave birth to an adorable daughter. Though I had started blogging a long time back, the pregnancy and the postpartum blues somehow restricted to divulge the blog to continue.When I was able to grapple with all the odds I started blogging again. And that time as a full-time Food Blogger after almost 2 years.  Julie & Julia, the movie influenced and inspired me like a rain shower after a decade in a desert. I tied up my apron, infused the character of Julie Powel in me and reign over the kitchen copying each and every move of Julie and vigorously concentrated on blogging. I sat with my Laptop like Julie, I cooked like Julie, I talked like Julie. It might sound very childish and funny but yes it is Julie and Julie. Julia Child was then never in my thought or in my mind.
I had never thought then that almost after six years I would fall in love with Julia Child. My experiences and knowledge regarding the culinary world helped me to grow each day more matured. Now the scene at my home is a bit different. To my surprise, my eight year old daughter is all head over heel in love with the movie Julie & Julia. Her main love is for Julie Powel, where I focus my concentration on Julia Child. When I asked my daughter: 
"Why do you like this movie?" 
She answered back: "Because I love blogging and Cooking."
 I guess when you have a food blogger mum at home the influence may sound like this. :)

As a surprise gift, I received the book Baking with Julia  and the DVD of Julie & Julia from my husband a year ago. He is much aware of my fascination to imitate Julie Powel, how she blogs and Cooks and a springing up respect and likeness towards Julia Child. At the same time my weakness towards baking that I am nurturing from a long time. In the meantime, I have already finished reading Julia Child 's  My life in France and possessed the Mastering the art of French Cooking Volume 1 & 2. So the gift from him was like winning some treasure all of a sudden. While browsing through the book, I almost bookmarked all the recipes to give them a try. The book is a compilation of sweet and savoury baked recipes where many reputed bakers have contributed too. They are pretty easy, very well explained and perfect for the beginner. I found some fresh plums from our local market. So decided to try this recipe first. We were about to spend few days in our other house in Newtown when I thought of baking something over there. So I took all the ingredients with me and the book  but forgotten to take the measuring cups and spoons. Immediately my heart sank down when I was about tart it. I felt like I saw some nightmare suddenly. But since I was baking for a long time, I made myself calm down, eyeballed the measurement and made it. And yes it came out perfect. As a baker, it was a great achievement for me that experience did help one to resolve the odd situation. But yes this is also true that if the measurements are not proportionate, the outcome of a baking goodie fails most of the times. So here is the recipe. Give it try, as I am sure your kids and family members will love it.

{Recipe adapted from Baking with Julia. Contributing Baker: Marcel Desaulniers}

Ingredients:
(I follow the measurement as per the given recipe)

All purpose Flour - 1 cup

Butter - 100gm + little more for greasing (Room temperature. The recipe asked for unsalted but I used Amul butter)

Brown Sugar: 2/3 cup

Granulated sugar 1/2 cup

Eggs - 2

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tspn

Baking Soda: 3/4 tspn

Buttermilk 1/4 cup

Ripe plums, pitted and halved - 3-4

Method:

1. Mix nicely the Flour and the baking soda and keep aside.

2. In another bowl mix the butter with the two types of sugar at a time until blended properly.

3. Add  one egg at a time and blend.

4. Add the vanilla essence and butter milk. Blend.

5. Now slowly fold the flour in the egg and mix nicely.

6 Pre-heat the oven at 180-degree centigrade for 8 to 10 minutes.

7. Take 6 to 8 ramekins or cupcake molds. Grease them nicely with butter.

8. Pour the batter filling half of the each cups.

9 Take one of the half plums and slightly push it down on the top of the batter. Make sure to keep the skin side down and the cut side up of the plum. Do the same with the other cups.

10. Sprinkle some brown sugar on the top of the plum and bake for 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick prick inside comes out clean.

11. Let it get cooled completely then slowly with the help of a sharp knife running on the side of the cake slowly demould it.

Note:

1. When we use fresh fruits in a cake to bake, the cake becomes a bit soggy and will look under cooked from inside. So don't worry, enjoy eating the cake.

2. I have used peach and strawberry with the same recipe and it came out perfect.

It is not a plum season know. But it is in my draft since a long time. So found it right time to post to celebrate the season of baking.

This recipe is off to the Baking event hosted by Kolkata Food Bloggers:

Cherry Banana Bread

Feeling like it has been a decade. Yes I am blogging after almost 7 months. The main reason was my health and the new addition to the family. I was blessed with my second daughter 2 months back and surprisingly both my girls were born on the same date. I didn't have any complications except an uncomfortable back pain which totally restricted me to sit with my laptop. Otherwise I was pretty flexible with long walks and doing all the daily chores. In fact this time I was hardly get any time to think of myself since I had to keep myself fully busy with the elder one. But my only concern was to keep my diet healthy. Only the last month restricted my movement. I had a risk of water breakage which led me to confine myself at home for almost 3 weeks. And then the baby arrived and made our life happy. Lil K wished for a sister and she was gifted a sister on her Birthday. So she was more than happy as we were. She is a doting "DIDI" to her baby sis - very protective and concerned about her each and every movement. And thus we spent 2 months and my darlings were growing together making our each and every day from brighter to brightest.

From this year Lil K's school hours got extended from 4 to 6 hours. This made me tensed, worried and forced me to spend some sleepless nights. The main concern was what to give in her lunch box. Lil K is a picky eater when it comes to her tiffin. She hardly eats anything and I get the lunch box returned almost full. So every day I have to go for a brainstorming session to add something new to her lunch box which can satiate my princess's taste bud. I was always very sceptical using bananas in my bakes. I have never tasted any so was totally unsure about the fact what would be the outcome. But again the passionate baker inside me forced me try this recipe. I have bookmarked it long back. This time I thought of executing it crossing my fingers if by any chance my luck favours. And to my surprise not only I but Lil K and all the family members appreciated a lot. It happily adorned the lunchbox and the box came home empty.  So here is the recipe Cherry Banana Bread..
{Note: I was pretty surprised why a recipe that could be easily justified as a cake, named after a bread. Then a few read made me understand that since were baking it in a bread loaf pan, it was therefore considered as a bread, nothing else. }

{Recipe adapted from HERE}

Ingredients

Ripe bananas – 2 -3 medium size (approx 1 cup mashed)

Butter – 4 tbs (room temperature)

Hung Curd – ¼ cup

Brown sugar – ¾ cup

Egg - 1

Vanilla essence- 1 tsp

Flour - 1 cup

Baking soda – 1tsp

Baking powder – ½ tsp

Salt – ½ tsp

Cherry – 10-12

Flour – 2 tbs

Chocolate chips – ½ cup

Chopped Cashew nuts – ¼ cup

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade for 7-8 minutes.
2.  Peel and mash the bananas.
3. In a mixing bowl pour the sugar. Add the bananas and mix well unless the sugar blends nicely. Add the egg and mix. 
4. Then slowly pour the hung curd and add the vanilla essence. Mix until well combined.
5. In a separate container combine nicely the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Do not over mix.
6. Slowly add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and mix well but do not over mix.
7. Add the chocolate chips and the cashews nuts.
8. Seed and slice the cherries and fold them in 2 tbs flour and add them gently to the mixture. Again do not over mix.  .
9. Grease and flour a 9'x 5' loaf pan and then pour the mixture in it.
10. bake it for for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool it completely and then serve. It tastes better when it is served chill.                                                              

Note:

1. After it gets cool one can keep the bread outside for a day, depending on the temperature. Otherwise suggested to refrigerate and consumed within 3-4 days.

2. It tastes better when it is served chill.

Christmas delicacy: Chocolate Bavarian cast Blueberry topped Cheese Cake

I am totally slogging with my blogging career. Career Passion I must say that once used give me the solace in life. I am not getting my mojo back to sit and go through this thoughtful  process where I can pour down my heart out and share the experiences of my life with my readers. It is very hard to get back in  a creative world after a long  gap or break. Everyday I try to take out some time out for my blog, but the hectic schedule of life  makes my brain and mind totally idle to run the intellectual  thought process to work. Anyways after a long time I came for a vacation to a serene place where the chilling  winter  season is kissing the nature all around me. I am sitting under the warm sunlight and roasting my body to get all the warmth to make the chilling cold sooth out the limbs. Lovely colourful vibrant flowers are full bloomed all around me and singing a song of romance that I missed for so many years. The romance with nature that was once my young hood fascination and puff, without whom I used to see my future totally doomed and dead. But life keeps on moving and I am still alive and quite happy with the city life, may be because I hardly get time to think about myself, some time out from the hectic lifestyle. 

Anyways let us not spoil this festive season mood with this mundane talks. Let us cheer to welcome Santa, wish all Merry Christmas and a prosperous Happy New year. At the same time I am also celebrating my 200th posts. And what is the better way to welcome it with some delicious and scrumptious heavenly delicacy!! Enjoy  the  Chocolate Bavarian cast Blueberry topped Cheese Cake which is no doubt  going to be a winner above all dishes.

Ingrdients

Cheese Cake

Cream Cheese: 1 packet (I used Philadelphia -room temperature )

Egg: 2 (room temperature )

Powdered Sugar: 1 cup

Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp

Oreo Biscuit:  Crushed 1 cup

Butter: 1tbsp (Melted)

Blue Berry preserve: 1 cup

Bavarian Cream:

Milk- 1/4 cup

Chocolate: 1 cup

Heavy Cream: 1 cup (Amul cream will also do the tetra pack one)

Gelatin: 1tbsp

Egg yolk- 2

Bottom loose Cake tins/ Spring foam pans:

5" - 1

6" - 1

 Method:

 1. Beat the cream cheese until its soft. Add sugar beat nicely.

2. Add the egg one at time. Blend nicely. Add Vanilla essence.
3. Pre heat the oven at 160 degree Celsius.
4. Mix the oreo and butter nicely and then line on the 5" loose bottomed cake tin. Bake for 3-4 minutes.
5. Pour the mixture in the oreo crust and bake for 30-40 mnts at 150 degree C or till a tooth pick pricked in the cake comes out clean.
6. Take it out and leave it to cool down.
7. Pour the Blue Berry preserve on the top. Put in the refrigerator for at list 1-2 hours.
8. Slowly take the cake out from the cake tin and  put it very carefully in the 6 " pan.

Chocolate Bavarian Cream:

1. Add gelatin to the milk and set aside.
2. Heat the cream and melt the chocolate in it. Remove from the heat and whisk the egg yolks in it until it blends in a smooth texture. Put it again on heat and keep on whisking continuously so that the egg should not curdled up or leaves any lumps. Cook it for 3-4 mnts then remove from the heat.
3. Add the gelatin in the mixture whisk it and then pour it on the top of the cheese cake.  Refrigerate overnight for better result. Then cut and serve and enjoy the festive season.

Wish you all Merry Christmas and a prosperous Happy New year...

This is off to the KFB Christmas Spl Event:

Black Forest Cupcakes

A year passed away in a wink. And another is just standing in the doorstep to get welcomed with an open arm with lots of dreams and pending jobs to fulfill which remained untouched or unsuccessful this year. This year has seen many ups and downs, face offs and at the same time showered me with some precious friends without whom now life can't even think of breathing. This post is dedicated to that friendship, truly to those friends who are so near to my heart, my OXYGEN.......

And at the same time wish you all Happy New year 2014....

Ingredients:

(Yields 11 to 12 medium size cupcakes)

Flour- 1 cup

Eggs - 2

Butter - 100gm (I used Amul)

Icing Sugar- 1 cup

Cocoa Powder - 2tbspns

Milk - 1/2 cup (more or less)

Baking Power - 1 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp

Mixed fruit Jam - 1 tbspn

Chopped Cherries - 4- 5

Cherries to decorate - 11-12

Whipped Cream - 1/2 cup

Water - 2tbspns

Method:

1. Add Flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder and sieve nicely at least from 4-5 times.
2. Beat the butter and the sugar in a smooth paste. Add egg one at time and  beat nicely. Add the flour mixture and fold nicely altogether. Slowly add the milk. When you will lift the spatula the batter will drop in a thick string.
3. Pre- heat the oven to 200 degree C for 6-8 mnts. (I baked it in to OTG).
4. Take a muffin pan and line the cupcake liners. Pour the batter in to each cups.
5. Bake for 25-30 mnts at 180 Degree C or until a toothpick pricked comes out clean.
6. Take them out and shift the cupcake into a cooling rack and cool.
7. Take a piping bag and pour the whipped cream in to the piping bag with a tip/nozzel inserted.
8. Dissolve the jam in the water.
9. Take the cupcakes and cut the top with the knife like a plus. Slowly soak the top with the jam paste and then top with chopped cherries.
10. Pipe the cream on the top of each cupcake and the decorate it with cherry and chopped chocolates or chocolate rice.

I made these Black forest cakes long back. Hope you will like them.

Sending this to the KFB Baking Palooza 2013 Event:

Egg less Orange and Chocolate Marble Bundt Cake topped with Caramel Sauce

That day when Sayantani of A Homemaker's Diary posted the picture of her Egg less Orange and Chocolate Marble Bundt Cake in a food group, everyone drooled over the picture like anything. I was not able to sleep properly that night as in intervals the sight of the sumptuous cake popping up in front of my eyes. The next day was my SIL's birthday and got a very good reason to hit the cake without wasting any more time. And no need to say when it came out it became so tasty that I myself finished a good big portion of it.  

Before I move to the recipe I would also like to tell my readers that we Kolkata Food Bloggers are having the "Baking Palooza2013" event on our page. So don't miss to visit to get some awesome recipes on baking goodies. Now off to the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the cake:

Flour - 2 cups

Baking Powder - 2 tsps (2 pinches less)

Baking Soda- 1/2 tsp (1 pinch less)

Butter- 100gm (I used Amul)

White oil- 1/2 cup

Condense Milk- 1 can (I used Milkmaid)

Drinking Soda- 1/2 cup (More or less)

Orange Juice out of 2 large oranges

Cocoa Powder - 2 tbsps

Sweet Orange Flavour- 1/2 tsp (Optional)

For the caramel Sauce:

Amul cream- 1 small tetra pack

Brown Sugar- 1/2 cup

Butter- 2 tbsp

Method:

First make the Sauce:

1. Heat a pan and melt the butter. Add the sugar and stir till it melts. Add the cream and continuously keep on stirring. Let it change the colour and the consistency thickens. Take it off the flame and reserve.

Let’s make the cake:

2. Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda altogether 3 to four times.
3. In a separate pan beat the butter nicely. Add the condense milk, Orange juice and the oil. Beat nicely. I didn't use an electric hand beater. A normal hand beater works great here.
4. Now add the flour mixture to the liquid mixture and the soda too. Fold gently altogether in a nice batter. The consistence should not be runny but fall in drops. If you think the batter should me more soft add soda more.
5. Now separate the batter in to two halves.
6. Take one portion and add cocoa powder and mix nicely so that it gets incorporate in the whole mixture.
7. Pre- heat your for 8mnts at 200 Degree C. (I baked it in an OTG)
8. Take a Bundt pan. Grease it nicely with oil and dust with flour.
9. Pour the two halves haphazardly on each half's side and top but be careful don't mix the two portions.
10. Now tap the pan in a smooth surface to level the batter.
11. Take a knife or a skewer and in a round motion insert it in the batter and bring it out. Do it in the whole area so that it should create a swirl texture of white and dark colour when it will get cut.
12. Bake it for 40-45 mnts or until the knife inserted comes out clean at 180 Degree C.
13. Bring it out of the oven and cool it. Take it off the pan and then Pour the caramel sauce over the cake and serve.

Sending this to the ongoing baking event by Kolkata Food Bloggers:

Cherry Dark Chocolate Egg less Cake

“Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.” 
― Dave Barry

Every day I used to stare at the fresh fruit cakes made by my fellow food bloggers, drooled over those and bookmarked the recipes. But I have never gathered that much courage to bake one in fear to discard them. Using fresh fruits in baking was a very rare entry in my kitchen and a challenging job for me too. And I was also not that much confident to make some with a scary heart if I had to trash it as none of the family members ever had shown any decent interest in it. Whenever I asked my Man or my daughter if they would like to have some delicious desserts with fresh fruits they totally hooted out. But that didn't put me down. My utmost passion to experiment the fresh fruits in cooking made me to try secretly a Mango Pie. When I served them, with raising eye brows and faces with disapproval, they tasted it. No need to say they did like the Mango Pie.  I got little bit enthusiastic to use more fresh fruits in my cooking. Then I made Mango Yoghurt/ Aam Doi and Apple Yoghurt. To my surprise this time also they devoured it without any protest. More confident I am now getting more prone towards using fresh fruits in my baking.  Please don't laugh at me, once I prepared Apple Chicken too just to feed my daughter apple who was then a rigid apple hater. 

I have a very bad addiction of getting the impulse of craving for chocolates or chocolate cakes in the wrong hours. This is the reason that whenever I am in my parents’ house, my dad buys creamy chocolate cakes and stores them in the fridge. I often get caught red handed stealing cakes and guttling it surrendering completely to the pleasure of the chocolaty world in the middle of the night sitting on the kitchen platform swinging happily my legs. This time also when my Cherry Dark Chocolate Egg Less Cake was born, I was in intense labour in craving for some chocolate cake. And I got totally relieved and satiated after smacking my creation. Cherry these time was my saviour, who paired heavenly with my creamy icing chocolate cake and gave me the divine satisfaction and the taste that was still osculating my lips, my heart. Now I am off to the recipe:

Ingredients:

Cake pan I used: 5" round

For the Cake:

Flour: 3/4 cup

Baking Soda: less than 1/2 Tspn

Baking Powder: 1 Tspn

Cocoa Powder- 2 Tbspns heaped

Fresh Cherry- 8-10 seeded and cut in halves. (You can use less or more)

Condense Milk: 1/2 tin (room temperature)

Butter- 2 Tbspns heaped (room temperature)

Soda Water - 1/4 cup or less  (room temperature)

For the Icing-

Amul cream- 1 pack (200 gms)

Garted dark Chocolate: 1  & 1/2 cups

For the decoration:

Cherries: As much you need.

Method:

Prepare the Icing first:

1. Warm the cream in a double boiler and melt the chocolate in it. Mix well.
2. After it cools down refrigerate for and hour.

Prepare the cake:

1. Shift all the dry ingredients 3-4 times (Flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder).
2. Mix the condense milk and the butter nicely.
3. Pre heat the oven to 200 C degree.
4. Add the Flour , 3/4 of the 1/4 cup soda water and the cherries to the butter mixture and fold all together nicely.
5. The mixture will be little bit flowing when you drop the mixture from the spatula or spoon. If you need to add the remaining milk then mix it.
6. Grease a pan and dust with flour.
7. Put the cake mixture and bake for 25-30 mnts at 170 C degree. Check pricking a tooth pick coming out clean. It needed bake for 5mnts more.
8. Take it out of the oven and let it completely cool.
9. Teke out the cake form the pan slowly. Now cut the cake to get three layers. Evenly spread the icing in each layer and keep on stacking.
10. You can cover the whole cake nicely with the remaining icing and make simple designs. Or do the rosettes I have done here. Decorate with the cherries and refrigerate for an hour or so to set the cake and enjoy. 

 Note:

1. To know how to make Rosettes Priya of Cook like Priya has shared us her very useful post Here  and for a youtube video visit Here.

2. The cake will stay for 3-4 days in the fridge. 

3. If you want to add eggs then you can add 2 eggs and increase the butter to 200gm.