Last year when I posted the recipe for carrot cake with apple filling , I got a e-mail from Deepa Raj, in which she had sent me the recipe for cream cheese frosting. She also mentioned that this was her favorite frosting and it goes very well with pumpkin cake. Since I was very curious about this combination, I asked her if she can send me the recipe. Somehow one or the other thing kept me occupied for a long time and this recipe got lost in huge number of e-mails that I get. After few days I baked this and still, I am not sure why I never posted it here. But when I was searching for a recipe for Halloween cake , I remembered this. I have no idea if Halloween and pumpkin dishes have any connection, but since Halloween is almost synonymous with those spooky pumpkin faces , I thought there must be some connection.
The cake calls for pumpkin puree, but since I had butternut squash with me, I used 2 cups of grated butternut squash. I hate the cinnamon flavor in sweet dishes, it is something I am not able to stand. So I added the Indian-sweet-friendly spice, ie, cardamom. The frosting had a unique cream cheese flavor to it. It becomes more rich than any other frostings I have tried so far.
Thanks Deepa for this delicious recipe.
Pumpkin cake/bars: 2 cups all purpose flour 1 and 2/3rd cup sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 1 can (15oz) pumpkin puree or 2 cups pumpkin puree – I used same amount of grated butternut squash 4 eggs 2 tea spn baking powder 1 tea spn baking soda 2 tea spn cinnamon powder (optional) – I used 1 tea spn cardamom powder 1 tea spn salt – I used 1/2 tea spn
Method: Preheat the oven to 350F for about 10mins. Beat the eggs with sugar, oil and pumpkin puree till they are well mixed. Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Add this to the egg mixture a little at a time till everything is well mixed. Pour the mixture in a greased baking dish and bake for about 25-30mins or till a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. When cake it cooled down to room temperature, take it out from the baking pan.
Cream cheese frosting: 6 oz cream cheese 6 tbl spn butter 3 cups confectioners sugar
Method: Beat cheese, butter, sugar till well mixed. Apply on the cake.
Preparation time : 50 mins
Mysore pak or Mysore paak must be one of the most popular sweets in Karnataka. It is one of my all time favorite sweets. But there are different kinds of Mysore pak available in market. When I was a kid, they were always long rectangular shaped(as in this picture ). They used to be solid, very porous, melt in the mouth kind of sweets. But these days we get them either like semi solid ones with dripping ghee or even if they are solid ones, they don’t have pores in them, so they are too hard, they are very light in color (almost the color of besan ). Somehow I don’t like this variety. Though both are still Mysore paks and there are many fans for both types, but I like only the first one.
Since this is my hubby’s favorite too, I asked my aayi if she knew how to make these. She said when she was just married, she used to make these very regularly. When she was here, she even wanted to give me a demo, but somehow we never got to make this at that time. She gave me the exact steps to make this. She also said after sometime she had stopped making these at home since they were readily available in markets and also she clearly knew the response to any sweets at our home.
So after keeping this recipe without being tried for about 4-5months, I thought it is high time to give it a try. Since there are just 6 days left for Diwali, I thought this is the best time. Frankly, I didn’t have much hopes when I started. Even though I have 100% faith in my aayi’s recipes, I have a natural talent for messing up the dishes. These got ready in about 45mins and I had got one of the best Mysore paks , just the way I loved them. They were very porous, light, solid, crunchy. I have cut them in the shape available in bakeries, the color also came out perfect.
If I say I am on 7th sky, it won’t be wrong. Two days straight, I have been very happy. Yesterday, I had a major breakthrough in my project and I almost danced in front of everyone. My boss, who always thinks I am a quiet girl, started laughing when I was jumping with joy. Today, even though a mere sweet is nothing compared to that success, I am too happy, just can’t express in words :).
This is my first entry to Vee’s Diwali special JFI . I did a lot of circus today to take pictures with one hand while I was mixing the contents with other hand. So pardon the poor quality of most of the photos.
Ingredients: 1 cup gram flour( besan ) 1 cup sugar 1 cup ghee 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder
Normally 2 cups of ghee for 1 cup flour is used, I think that makes the texture still better. But I am very satisfied with the texture for amount of ghee I used.
Method: Heat 1 tea spn ghee and add gram flour.
On a medium flame, fry till nice aroma comes out of it and it turns slightly brownish. Take care not to burn, it burns easily, so make sure to keep stirring it. Take it out on a plate and keep aside.
Mix sugar with 1/2 cup water and bring it to boil, keep mixing with a spoon.
When it is boiling, and you can see rapid boiling, add the fried four and mix (do not wait till it forms syrup).
Now add 1 tbl spn ghee at a time, keep mixing all the time. When all ghee is done, keep mixing continuously. If you stop mixing for a min, you will see the mixture has lots of air in it and when you start mixing again, the air goes off.
When the mixture starts leaving edges and looks a bit dry, add cardamom, mix well and pour it into a greased plate and flatten immediately.
Keep the plate tilted at an angle, this way, all the extra ghee comes out of the Mysore pak and you get very dry pieces. Cut into desired shapes.
Makes about 12-14 pieces Preparation time : 45mins
PS: These are some very important notes to keep in mind – If the flour remains half fried(roasted), it gives a different taste. So make sure not to skip the first step of frying/roasting it well. – The plate where you pour the mixture should be greased with ghee and kept ready before you even start heating the water because you cannot spend time on greasing it when the mixture is ready to be poured. You have to work very fast at this point. – Always keep the plate at an angle to remove extra ghee . – Never try to make this dish on a high flame, it gets burnt very easily, so start with a cool, patient mind :D. – Cut into pieces when it is still warm. When it is completely cooled, it crumbles very easily. – Take out from the heat when the mixture looks quite dry and looks like froth. If you take out early, it wont get solid after cooling. This step comes only with practice.Â
