Last one week had been one of the busiest weeks of 2014 so far. Our little Ishaan is going to be 4 year old very soon. It feels so unreal!. It feels like yesterday I had posted about his birth! Our life has completely changed in these years. He has turned from a tiny infant to cranky toddler to a smart and very passionate boy that he is today. We feel so blessed to have him as part of our lives.
This birthday has been very special to us. Probably this is the very first birthday when he understood a lot about birthday parties. I love birthday parties, especially little kids birthdays when it is a magical day for them and they feel so special. Ishaan started going to preschool last July. Few months after he joined the school, he attended many of his friends parties. That is when he started asking when will be his birthday. He was frustrated it was not coming soon enough!. In December, he started saying, “I have waited so long! how much more do I have to wait”. Sometimes he would ask every single day. By then, he had decided where he wants the party, what theme it would be and what kind of cake he wants.
This was by far the biggest party we have arranged. A total of 60 people (including 24 kids) attended the party. We had to leave out some of our friends because we knew the venue could not hold more than that!. V thought we should order the cake from outside since it would be a lot of work to bake a big cake. But I had other plans. I had planned for this cake from last few months. I had shown different pictures of Spiderman cake to Ishaan and chosen one which he had liked, that would be easy to decorate. I knew the Spring break for the kid started this week and he would be home and that meant I would get little chunks of time to work on it. So I wanted something simple.
Although I initially wanted to choose a different cake, I finally chose my trusted chocolate cake recipe . I have prepared cakes with this recipe many times and every time the outcome was fantastic. So I did not look further. I wanted a different kind of icing though. I wanted to cut down the sweetness from the icing, but I still wanted the sturdiness of buttercream icing which makes it easier to give smooth finishing to the cake. So after a lot of researching, I decided to use cream cheese in the icing. I did not want to use whipped cream in the outer icing because I did not have a very good experience with it when I used it in jungle cake where it started melting down after a while. Cream cheese has a little salt in it which helps in cutting down the sweetness. Although I used a lot of sugar, it was not overpowering. The icing held up beautifully even after I kept it out at room temperature to smooth it out (It was not still completely smooth even after all that, but I thought it was ok). Around last month, I baked a small trial cake to make sure the chocolate frosting and cream cheese icing went well with the cake. I was totally happy with the taste and now I had to worry only about the look.
Did I say the cake was a superhit at the party? It was gone in minutes.People wanted more helpings of the cake but nothing was left. I was surprised when I saw that not even crumbs were left!. V declared it was the tastiest birthday cake I have ever baked. The child was very happy with how it looked and tasted. We kept few of his spiderman toys around the cake for that extra spidy effect.
I tripled all the measurements given in the chocolate cake recipe . Refrigerated the cake till it was completely cooled down. Every tier was then cut horizontally and brushed with sugar syrup from all sides and spread with a thick layer of chocolate icing (like a sandwich with two layers of cake with a layer of chocolate icing in between). Then a crumb coating of cream cheese icing was applied to each tier and refrigerated till the icing settled. Next day it was decorated.
Sugar Syrup: Mix about 1/4 cup water and 2 tbl spn confectioners sugar and microwave for few seconds. Mix a little vanilla extract. I had to make this syrup few times to get enough to brush entire cake.
Chocolate Icing : 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature 4 tbl spn confectioners sugar 1 cup(1/2 pint) whipping cream 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips 1 tbl spn vanilla extract 1 tbl spn cocoa powder
Heat 1/2 cup whipping cream with chocolate chips. Mix till they melt. Keep aside till it cools down. Add vanilla extract, cocoa powder and mix. Make sure cream cheese is at room temperature. Beat it with sugar till it is smooth. Now add remaining 1/2 cup whipping cream and beat it. Pour chocolate mixture in it, a little at a time beating all the time. Beat till peaks form.
Cream cheese frosting : 16oz cream cheese at room temperature 12 tbl spn (1 and 1/2 cups) butter at room temperature 1 tbl spn vanilla extract 6 tbl spn whole milk 3 cups confectioners sugar
Beat butter and cream cheese till they are well mixed. Now add the sugar (I sieve sugar to make sure there are no lumps) Add all the remaining ingredients and beat till soft peaks form. Make sure cream cheese and butter are at room temperature. If not, small pieces of butter/cheese remain in the icing. I had lot of trouble with these since I tried to rush. I used the icing in that consistency for crumb coating. After that I added about a cup more of sugar to it so that it was not so runny.
Storing and Transporting a tiered cake: I own a plastic Wilton cake carrier that I bought many years ago. I use it very extensively and I love it. But the problem is, it is not tall enough to hold 3 tiered cakes. I could use it before I applied the icing. Once the decorations were done, I realized the cake would not fit in that carrier. I don’t like refrigerating the cake without cover. V searched all major craft stores for paper carrier boxes but nothing was available that would hold the cake. So he got a cardboard box.
I cut open the top of the box with a sharp knife. Then, I covered the entire inside of the box with aluminum foil. I did not want the cake to touch the sides in case it slid when we were carrying it. It was perfect size(luckily) to fit the cake. Then I covered the top with plastic wrap. It fit into my fridge perfectly and we could carry the cake without any concerns.
We are pizza fans, instead of going out and eating pizzas, I have started making them at home frequently. I make the pizza dough with one pack yeast (with recipe given below), use half of it and freeze remaining half. So we have pizzas once in a week or two. Making everything at home gives me enough options to customize it the way I want. I usually completely skip cheese. Sometimes I use marinated paneer as topping, sometimes I use basil pesto instead of traditional tomato pizza sauce.
Last week, when I wanted to make something different, I thought about calzone . I have been thinking about making them for so long, but somehow never did. I made a spicy stuffing with loads of vegetables. Unlike the traditional stuffing where cheese is normally used along with other stuff, I left out cheese. These came out so delicious. V kept asking why I had not tried them before. They were like baked cousins of samosas. I will be making these more frequently with different stuffing. Pizza dough: 1 pack active dry yeast 1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (or atta) 2 cups all purpose flour (or maida) 1/2 tea spn dried oregano 1 tea spn brown sugar or honey 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup olive oil 1 tbl spn butter 1 egg (optional, use water Salt
Method: Heat the water till it is lukewarm (I just microwave it for 15 secs), ie, till it is warm to touch. Add sugar or honey to water and add the yeast. Keep is aside for about 5-10mins till the water becomes frothy (indicating the yeast it active). Now add all other ingredients and mix well. Once it becomes a dough, knead the dough very well for 8-10mins. I make the dough in my KitchenAid stand mixer with dough hook. Apply some olive oil to a big bowl and keep the dough in it covered. Leave it in a warm place for 2-3 hrs till the dough doubles in volume. Now use the dough to make pizza.
Spicy Stuffing: 2 cups vegetables (celery, carrots, peas, onions, corn, broccoli) 1/4 cup chopped tomato 1 tea spn dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) 1/2 tea spn chilli powder 1/2 tea spn garam masala A pinch turmeric 1 tea spn chopped garlic Oil Salt
Method: Heat oil and fry garlic. Then add onion, celery, carrots. Fry for few minutes. Add chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala and fry. Add tomatoes, salt, mix and let it cook till the mixture is dry. Now add remaining vegetables – peas, corn, broccoli. Cover and let it cook on a medium low flame. When all vegetables are cooked, take the kasuri methi on the palm and slightly crush with fingers and add to the vegetables. Mix well. Assembling : Preheat the oven at 400F for 10mins. Take small balls of dough and roll them into 1/4 inch circles. Keep 2 tbl spn of stuffing on one half and fold the other half on top like a moon. Press the edges to seal. Brush the top with water (which gives the color when baked), sprinkle a little salt and chili flakes(optional). Bake in 400F oven for about 15mins or till the top is golden brown. (I opened the oven at around 10mins and brushed the tops with water once again and kept them back). Then I turned them upside down, brushed the other side with water and baked again for 5mins just to make sure they got crispy from other side too (this is optional step). Brush the top with a little olive oil for some extra taste. Serve hot. I used half of the dough which made 5 calzones.
PS: – This is just a method more than a recipe. Experiment with different stuffing and any store bought/homemade pizza dough. – The stuffing was so tasty, I served the left overs with chapatis next day. It will go well with any bread, naan, rotis, chapatis or simple curd rice. – Serve them hot right out of oven for best results. – Make sure the stuffing is very dry. Any moisture in it would soak the dough. – Make them smaller and serve as starters at parties, they will surely win many hearts. – Above dough recipe can be used to make pizzas. It makes delicious and soft pizza base.
