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:

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.