Some of my friends surprised us on our anniversary last month with a cake. It is such a great thing to take out some time from our busy schedule and have fun with friends, at the same time making someone feel very special. One of my friends had her birthday last week. We decided to surprise her by showing up at her place with a cake and food. Since she is a vegetarian, I decided to bake an eggless cardamom cake.
I used cream cheese – butter frosting to decorate the cake. Instead of using the whole milk, I added cream. I also added a pinch of cardamom powder to the frosting. The frosting tasted so great and went well with the cake. I made the chocolate flowers and leaves using modeling chocolate. The recipe and method to make the modeling chocolate and roses can be found at Veena’s art of cake . (OMG, I am in love with that site, just check out all her tutorials!. I have learned so much from her in last few weeks). I mixed some of that melted modeling chocolate and mixed with frosting to write Happy Birthday on the cake.
My friends loved the cake. My efforts paid off. A big hats off to my 4 month old to let me work on the cake!.
Pictorial : Peel and powder cardamom. Sieve together all purpose flour, corn flour, baking soda and baking powder. Take butter, orange juice, condensed milk and cardamom. Beat well to mix. (It is a good idea to beat butter first and then add other things to avoid splattering!). Then slowly add the flour mix a little at a time and mix well. Add the batter in a greased pan. The batter is pretty thick, but it will bake beautifully. Bake in preheated oven. Let the cake cool and then cut horizontally. Spread some strawberry jam in between(optional). Keep the top layer. Make the icing and decorate the cake (optional step).
Eggless Cardamom Cake
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups cake flour see notes below
- 2 tea spns baking powder
- 1 tea spn baking soda
- 1 can 14oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1/8 tea spn freshly ground cardamom powder
- 1 cup butter I used salted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350F for about 10mins.
- Grease a baking dish with butter and flour, keep aside.
- Sieve together dry ingredients - cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and keep aside.
- Take condensed milk, orange juice, cardamom powder, butter in a bowl and beat till mixed.
- Add the flour mixture a little at a time and mix till combined.
- Bake at 350F for about 40-45mins till a tooth pick inserted in the center comes clean.
Notes
Eggless Cardamom Cake
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups cake flour see notes below
- 2 tea spns baking powder
- 1 tea spn baking soda
- 1 can 14oz sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup orange juice
- 1/8 tea spn freshly ground cardamom powder
- 1 cup butter I used salted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350F for about 10mins.
- Grease a baking dish with butter and flour, keep aside.
- Sieve together dry ingredients - cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and keep aside.
- Take condensed milk, orange juice, cardamom powder, butter in a bowl and beat till mixed.
- Add the flour mixture a little at a time and mix till combined.
- Bake at 350F for about 40-45mins till a tooth pick inserted in the center comes clean.
Notes
Our food habits have changed so much after we had kids. V and I grew up eating rice for lunch and dinner. But when Ishaan turned one, he preferred chapatis over rice. So I started making chapatis regularly. But we still had rice every day. Now after Ayaan was born, I had to come up with dishes that did not take a lot of manual work. We have started eating more salads, burgers (homemade, healthy ones), pastas, grilled fish/chicken etc, anything that saves me time. Sometimes dinner is ready in less than 30mins. There are two days a week when Ishaan does not have any classes in the evening when I can make chapatis or spend a little more time in kitchen. While trying to come up with more easy recipes, I realized making bread was actually much easier compared to making chapatis. Most of the hard work is done by my KitchenAid stand mixer. I just have to shape it and bake in oven. So I am making sure atleast one day of the week we eat pizza or bread. That is how it started and now I am totally into bread making!. My latest creation was this pesto filled flower shaped savory decorative bread.
From last few months, I was noticing amazing breads baked by Finla and Aparna . I finally asked Finla about these breads and she pointed me to the FB group We Knead to Bake started by Aparna. Here the members bake one bread every month, Aparna posts the recipe every month and everyone bakes it and posts it on a set date. It was just the thing I was looking for. I requested to join the group and Aparna was very kind to accept it. This month the members were asked to bake a savory decorative bread . I googled for ideas and this nutella bread caught my attention. It looked so beautiful and easy to make. I used store bought basil pesto instead of nutella because my child loves basil pesto.
Pesto Filled Bread - Savory Decorative Bread
Ingredients
For bread
- 2 and 1/2 cups wheat flour atta
- 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 cups water
- 1 packet 2 and 1/4 tea spns active dry yeast
- 1 tea spn honey
- 2 tea spns olive oil
- Salt
For Stuffing
- Butter
- 1/2 cup basil pesto or any strong flavored chutney
- 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese optional
- Cherry tomatoes optional
Instructions
- Microwave water for about 20 secs (or just heat it up till it is lukewarm).
- Add honey and active dry yeast and keep it aside for about 10mins till the yeast activates (the mixture becomes frothy).
- Add salt, olive oil and wheat flour. Mix till all the wet ingredients are incorporated into flour.
- Now add all purpose flour, 1/2 cup at a time till it forms a uniform and non sticky dough.
- Take a tea spn oil in a bowl, keep the dough and swirl it around to coat the dough.
- Cover with a damp towel and keep it aside for around 1 hr till dough is doubled in volume.
- Punch down the dough and cover it back.
- After around 1 hr, it would have doubled again.
- Punch it down and knead it to make a smooth ball.
- Preheat the oven at 350F.
- Cut into two equal parts. Save one for later.
- Make 6 equal balls from one half. Roll each ball into a 8-9" disc.
- Take one disc, spread pesto and mozzarella cheese on pesto.
- Keep the next disc on top. Spread pesto and mozzarella cheese on top.
- Repeat till all discs are done.
- Cut and decorate as shown in pictures (or refer video ).
- Mark a round in the center. A glass can be used to do this.
- Then with a sharp knife, make 16 cuts from the circumference of the circle to the edge like shown in picture.
- Carefully lift two adjacent pieces and twist them in opposite direction. Then stick the ends together.
- Top with cherry tomatoes.
- Cover the bread with damp towel and leave it aside to rise for another 45mins.
- Brush with butter or eggwash (eggwhite + little water) and bake at 350F for about 30mins or till bread is baked through.
