Birthday Cake - Lawn Mower

This was baked a few weeks ago for my husbands birthday. He maintains the lawn like any professional landscaper and I thought this would be a perfect cake for him.

Personally, I think the cake would have been nicer if it was a rectangular one rather than a round! The grass is made with butter cream frosting with a star tip. Wilton carries grass tip which is next on my list to purchase.

Birthday Cake - With Fondant Flowers

A close friend of mine recently had a week long birthday celebration. She lives her life to the fullest and has a fantastic sense of humor.  She loves the art of creativity and creates amazing creation on crochet.

I decided to try fondant flowers for the first time with the fondant tool kit that I had recently purchased. It took awhile but was a lot of fun to work.

The cake was regular butter cake flavored with lemon juice, lemon zest and marbled with green food coloring.

Pineapple Sheera

Happy New Year 2014

Ingredients:

1 cup coarse sooji (cream of wheat)
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 stick butter
1 - 20 oz can crushed pineapple
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
4-5 strands of saffron
a handful of raisin

How it's made:

In a wide pan, melt 1 stick butter. Roast sooji for 5-10 mins on medium high heat, making sure it doesn't get burnt. Add sugar and stir until well incorporated.
In a saucepan, boil water. Add water and canned pineapple to sooji/sugar. Stir continuously making sure there are no lumps. Keep cooking for 5-10 mins. Then add 1/2 stick butter. Keep cooking on medium heat until the whole mixture comes together and it starts leaving the sides of the pan. Add cardamom and saffron. Decorate with raisins or almond slices.

Season's Greetings! - 2013

Merry Christmas and Wishing all friends, family and readers a flavorful Holiday Season!

My kitchen has been popping with cake pops this holiday season. These are a little messy to work with (I prefer using lollipop sticks) but they are super cute. And the best thing of all, they are bite size. Calories, hmmmmm!...not to be considered during the holidays!

These are made similar to cake pops (which you can find here) but I use a spoon to coat the cake balls with melted chocolate. Set them aside on parchment paper to dry and then place them on paper cups. 

Cake Pops

Last weekend while we were at friends for Pre-Christmas gathering,  few of my sons friends wanted to surprise him on his birthday. Since my son was busy on his birthday with music rehearsals etc, they decided to stop by and surprise him on 24th. So I decided to make something special for all the kids.

Cake pops were popular early this year and it was on my list for long to try them. I thought there wasn't a better time than to treat this group of witty and energetic group of teenagers. The left over cake that I had trimmed from  trifle cake worked wonderful to create these treats.

To make these cake pops, I don't have the exact measurements. I just eye balled all ingredients together. Cut cake into small pieces and crumble to almost powder. (Hands work best, but you can use a food processor). Pulse for a few seconds in a food processor. Add a few teaspoon of store bought frosting (just enough to hold crumbs together and it forms a soft dough). With the help of tablespoon, scoop and make smooth even size balls. Once they are ready , refrigerate them for 30 minutes.

Remove from refrigerator and let them rest at room temperature. In the meantime, melt chocolate chips on double broiler until smooth. Dip the tip of lollipop sticks into chocolate and stick them into cake ball (just to help the stick glue to the cake pop. Gently roll cake pop in melted chocolate until well coated. Immediately top with sprinkles, crushed nuts, toasted coconut or mini M & M's. Stick them onto Styrofoam to hold them upright until they are dry.

Although they are little too sweet for me, it was a hit with the kids. Since my son is a huge fan of football, I made a few to look like football. These are definitely on my list again for Super Bowl.

Happy Birthday Son! - Trifle Cake

It's hard to believe, how fast kids grow. My little baby, now a teenager, turned a year older yesterday. With each passing year, its unbelievable how fast they change. Until early this year, he waited to get taller and within a span of few months he is taller than me and still growing.
The year 2013 had quite a few memorable moments. He moved to a new school and it was a big transition, he joined a music group at school and they won the state championship.There are many more special times but the craziest and my most favorite of all was touring The Citadel at Montreal.
On the day we were at The Citadel, it was a windy day but we didn't expect heavy rains. We bought rain ponchos just incase and we lucked out. We landed up touring the historical site with our rain ponchos in the middle of a storm. The tour guide must have thought we were out of our minds when it was raining cats and dogs. I don't remember hearing a word what our guide said but I saw my son enjoying every minute of the tour. The tour guide said she had never done a tour in the rain and always had a group of 50 people or more!

On the occasion of his birthday, I didn't share any words of wisdom. At this stage, talking to a teenager can sound like a lecture to them. I came across these words in a book that I read few months ago and shared it with him----
Your heart: follow it; Your dreams: work on them; Your family: Treasure them; Your fears: Embrace them and let them make you stronger; Your friends: Be loyal to them; Your Money (when you start earning): respect it; Your passion: Live it!
I was wanting to bake a special fancy cake for him. But he requested for trifle, his favorite dessert. You can find the recipe for trifle here.
To make this look like a cake, I baked two 9"round cakes. Trim the uneven top off and layer in a spring form pan with pudding, jello and mandarin oranges. Top with pudding and decorate with jello and oranges.

The cake needs to be refrigerated for 4-5 hours. I made this before leaving for work and decorated the cake. Jello started dripping down and as you can see, the cake looks a little sloppy. I would recommend to layer the cake and refrigerate. Decorate the cake just before serving.

Jelly Roll

Jelly Roll brings back a lot of old memories.
During my school days, on my way home from school, I used to pass by this family owned bakery. They had one of the most amazing desserts and bakery products. Every time I passed by, the air was always filled with the wonderful smell of cookies and cakes. My Mom would occasionally let us buy a slice of warm jelly roll that was sliced and stored between wax paper. I remember how fascinated I was with jelly rolled up between the cake. I would unroll it to one long strip and relish every bite.

Ingredients:

5 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup strawberry jam
sugar for dusting

How it's made:

Grease an 18 by 13 inch pan. (I used cookie sheet). Grease the bottom of pan and line the sheet with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper and set aside.
Combine flour, salt and baking powder. Whisk together and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, vanilla and sugar with an electric beater. Beat until mixture is thick and fluffy (approx. 5 minutes). Mix in dry ingredients with a rubber spatula. Spread batter evenly onto greased cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes.
Remove cake from oven, run knife through the side of pan. Flip the cake on a large sheet of parchment paper which has been lightly dusted with sugar. (Be very gentle when flipping the cake onto parchment  or else you will have sugar all over on the counter and maybe on the floor too!) Peel off parchment paper from the cake (that was used for baking) and immediately roll the cake starting from the shorter side to form a log. Wait for 20 minutes until the cake cool down.
Warm jam in microwave for a few seconds. Unroll cake. Spread jelly and roll up the cake again leaving behind the parchment paper.

Wait for an hour or more. Slice and serve.

Sabudana Kheer/Doodpak (Tapioca Pudding)

This is a recipe for bulk cooking.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups sabudana (pearl tapioca)
1 gallon whole milk
1 gallon 2% milk
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup uncooked basmati rice
3 cups water
a generous pinch of saffron
1/2 -1 tsp caradmom powder
1/2 -1 cup raisins, soaked in 1/4 cup warm water

How it's made:

Wash and soak sabudana for 2 hrs.
Wash and rinse basmati rice.
In a heavy bottom pot, combine rice and sabudana. Add 3 cups water and cook until sabudana is transparent and rice is half cooked. (More water can be added if required). Add milk, sugar and saffron. Boil and stir frequently making sure it doesn't get burnt at the bottom. Cook on medium low flame for 20-25 minutes. It will gradually thicken. Add cardamom powder and raisin.

Serves: 60-70 people

Phenori

Growing up, Phenori was an Indian sweet that I loved and especially the one that my Bapama (Grandmother in Konkani) made. The crunchy layers coated with sugar was one delicious dessert! I had planned on trying this for last Diwali but when my mother explained the process, I thought it was a little too complicated. With the help of Konkani food bible written by Narayani Nayak, the step-by-step instructions made it pretty easy. To make it easier for readers, I tried to add pictorial for this recipe but the images didn't turn out great since I made these late at night.

Ingredients:

For the dough:
1 1 /2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
5 tsp clarified butter (ghee)
a pinch of salt
water

1 tsp heaped rice flour
2 tsp clarified butter (ghee)

For the sugar syrup:
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

How it's made:

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, ghee. Add little water at a time to make a soft dough.  Divide dough into 10 portions and roll them about 4-5" circles. ( I have struggled using rolling pin and still struggle to roll out dough into circles. My family always jokes around when I roll out roti/chapati - they try to figure out the country or continent that it might resemble!)

Mix rice flour and ghee in a small mixing bowl. Rub flour/ghee paste on one side of rolled out dough. Place five dough circles over lapping each other. From one end, roll dough and cut into 10 equal parts. (I first used a serrated knife which ruined the layers. Use a sharp edged knife to cut dough).
Repeat the same process with the other five dough circles.

Roll out the cut pieces into 3" circles. Leave them medium thick without ruining the layers.

 Deep fry 2-3 at a time in medium hot oil until light brown. Cooking on high heat will not make the Phenoris crispy. Let them drain and set aside for 15 mins to cool.

In the meantime, boil sugar and water for the syrup. As the sugar water syrup boils, you will see the syrup thickening. It has to be a little stringy. Remove from heat. With the help of tongs, dip each Phenori in sugar syrup and set aside on wax paper for an hour (or until sugar hardens) without over crowding.

Store in air tight containers.

Ubbati/Puran Poli

Ingredients:

For the dough:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1 tsp sugar
5-6 tsp oil
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
a pinch of salt
water

For the filling (Puran):
3/4 cup bengal gram dal (Channa dal)
3/4 cup brown sugar (I used jaggery)
1 tsp cardamom powder

How it's made:

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, oil, turmeric powder and enough water to make a very soft dough. Cover and set aside for 3-4 hours.
Cook Bengal gram dal with 1 1/2 cup water. I pressure cooked for 10-12 minutes. (Remove excess water--it can be used to make Dal/ Rasam). Use a hand blender and mix until dal is smooth. Add brown sugar and transfer to a heavy bottom pan.

Cook until mixture turn to almost a soft dough. This might take about 15-20 minutes on low heat.

To assemble:
 Divide dough and Puran into 20 equal portions. (A little oil can be used to make work easier).

With fingers, spread each  dough ball into 2"circle. Place the Puran in the center and cover up the Puran, stretching the dough.

Dust the roll with flour and roll into 7-8" circle.

On a iron skillet, roast the Puran Poli over medium heat. They will puff like Phulkas. Turn them occasionally.

Place on a sheet without over stacking or over lapping. Once cool, they can be stored at room temperature in an air tight container for 2-3 days. 

Makes 20 puran polis.

Chocolate Pistachio Muffin

The past 2-3 months have been busy not to mention the busiest summer I had. Juggling between summer camp, working full time and overseas family relatives, it was a hectic summer but time well spent. I cooked quite a few authentic Konkani dishes when we had family members visiting but unfortunately didn't find time to plate, capture images and update on my blog. Never the less, I also had the luxury to enjoy good fresh food waiting when I got back from work.
Summer went by like a breeze and we are back to school routine. No more lazy weekends!
I hope to edit and post recipes that have been sitting in my inbox for awhile. My sister-in-law recently said she was bored seeing Batate Upkari on my home page every time she logged onto my blog!

Weekday mornings are always busy, and with school bus arriving by 6:45 am sometimes breakfast is on-the-go. Brainstorming options, first on my list was Banana Bread, something that everyone likes at home. But I was tempted to try something that I hadn't baked for a very long time. While browsing through my huge collection of recipe that I mostly inherited from my Mother, I found this to be quick and easy and these Muffins turned out great.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup margarine, melted
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips + 2 tbsp for topping
1/2 cup pistachio, coarsely chopped + 2 tbsp for topping


How it's made:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat melted margarine, egg, vanilla and milk. Mix in dry ingredients until well combined.
Grease or line muffin pan with paper cups. Fill each muffin cup until half filled. Top with reserved chocolate chips and pistachio.

Bake for 20 mins or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Makes: about 15 muffins

Sabudana Kheer (Tapioca Pudding)

This is one kheer that everyone likes at home. I like to use a tsp of basmati rice to the kheer as it acts as a thickening agent and gives a nice aroma to the dish.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sabudana (tapioca)
1 tsp basmati rice
1/2 cup water
1 cup milk ( I use 2% milk, you can use whole milk)
4-5 tsp sugar, heaped
a pinch of saffron, soaked in a few tsp of milk
10-12 raisins
a pinch of ground green cardamon powder
Nuts to garnish


How it's made:

Wash Sabudana under running water and soak for 30 mins.
Wash rice and set aside.
Drain water from sabudana. Combine with rice in a heavy bottom pan. Cook in half cup of water until rice is half cooked and sabudana turns transparent. Add milk, sugar and saffron. Boil, stirring continuously. Once mixture thickens, add raisins and cardamom powder.
Garnish with cashewnuts/ almonds/ raisins.

Serves: 3

Fresh Fruit Tart

Fruit tart makes a perfect dessert for casual or formal event.
It takes less than an hour (with prep time) to put  together this colorful and elegant treat.
I made this simple and classy dessert on the occasion of my friends birthday.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
6 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
8 oz cream cheese ( I used 1/3 less fat Neufchatel), at room temperature
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
2 tbsp sour cream
Cut up fruits -kiwis, strawberry, madarin oranges, blueberries

How it's made:

Grease a 9"pie pan. Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F.
Melt chocolate chips and set aside.
Combine graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, salt and sugar. Once well mixed, transfer mixture to pie pan and press into the bottom and sides of the pan. Bake at 350 deg F for about 15 minutes or until edges start to brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
In the meantime, in a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, sour cream and melted chocolate. Pour into cooled crust. Decorate with fruits and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving.

Happy Birthday - My Friend!

This past weekend, we celebrated my friend "B" milestone birthday and I volunteered to make this treat for her special day. Her husband along with her new born Princess were the first Indian family that I met when I landed in this foreign country. She remained to be one of my best friends although we now see each other a few times in a year. With her busy work schedule and her little baby, she was my big support when I went through a difficult pregnancy. I will forever be grateful for all that she did. I like to call her as my "Bold and Beautiful" friend.
Knowing her as a very affectionate, artistic, ambitious, creative (the list goes on...) and a multi-talented person, I knew she would cherish these cupcakes and she did!
I find it important to appreciate people when they make a difference in someones lives and I like to make them feel extra special on their special day. The party was one of the best- good food, music and loads of laughter. After a fun-filled weekend, birthday girl responded back the next day "Good friends can see the best in a person and that is priceless".

Happy Birthday!

It was fun making these cupcakes once my mind was stable after brain storming several thoughts. I was undecided with the design until the day before the event. "B" who enjoys art during free time (and also a writer), I thought this would be a perfect arrangement of cupcakes. She loved it and I got a big hug in return. It was 100% satisfaction for me. I only wished, I used fondant to make an edible paint brush.

Cupcake

Merry Christmas! Cheers to good health & great food!

This past weekend, I had volunteered at a kids event to bake 3 dozen cupcakes which needed just frosting & sprinkles. My kitchen has been like a bakery for the last 10 days with cakes, cookies & brownies. To end all the baking for this season, I baked another dozen more to play around with frosting & create something different. With a few Wilton tips that I had, I enjoyed decorating these cupcakes.