Black forest cake

My friend and neighbour P made this on her daughter T’s birthday. I loved it. So she let me assist her next time she made it and I learnt it :). Later i made it on P's birthday to surprise her and hubby so loved it that i had to bake another one for him....

Personally I like it better then outside cakes…..

Black Forest Cake

Ingridients:

Basic chocolate cake

Cherries – deseeded and cut in small pieces (when fresh Cherries are not available you can use tinned cherries or cherry jam or skip this)

Whipped cream (we used Rich’s whip topping)

Sugar syrup

Method:

1)  Bake the basic Chocolate cake. Here is the recipe.

2)  Then cut it in 2 horizontal layers, you will need a big sharp knife for this otherwise it may break. If you don't want to cut the cake then you can bake 2-3 thin cakes separately and then assemble it.

3)  Take the Whipped cream and whip it till it is fluffy enough, it should not drip when you hold your beater up. (We used Rich’s Whip topping, it had sugar in it. If you are using any other brand then you may want to check if extra sugar needs to be added)

4)  De-seed and cut cherries in small pieces.

5)  Now, cover a big enough plate with Aluminium foil and put the 1st layer of the cake on it.

6)  Sprinkle sugar syrup on that. To make the sugar syrup, you should mix sugar with same amount of water (by volume), P added brandy to this, but it is optional.

7)  After that apply the whipped cream on the 1st layer. Apply generously, more the cream, more the taste :)

8)  On top of this sprinkle the cut cherries evenly. If using jam then spread the jam on this layer. If not using cherries in any form then skip this step.

9)  Put another layer of cake and repeat the procedure, i.e. sugar syrup, whipped cream and cherries.

10) Once all layers of the cake are done, apply cream on the sides of the cake as well, to give to proper shape after applying cream you can use flat spatula or another Aluminium foil. You can decorate it with grated chocolate, chocolate wafers, cherries, chocolate sauce or anything you think will suit it.

 Refrigerate for half an hour. And Enjoy...

+techie ZM

Choco lava cake

This Recipe is from Various sources on internet.

You can know more about my adventure with it here.

1)      Make the batter of normal chocolate cake.

2)      Keep it a little liquidy by adding a little extra milk (and sugar for that milk). Mix well.

3)      Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree C.

4)      Now grease ramekins, or use butter paper cups.

5)      Pour the batter in the ramekins/cups.

6)      Based on the size of your ramekins/cups you will have to set the timer for baking. For the medium sized butter paper cup, bake it for 6 minutes. For a bigger ramekins you may need baking upto 10 mins.

7)      Once cooked, run a knife on the sides and take the cake out carefully in the serving plate without breaking it. If using the butter paper cup then no need to take out the cake, serve as it is.

By the way, i used normal steel katoris (of medium size) for baking this cake as i didn't have ramekins. For this, i kept timer on 5 mins. But keep in mind that based on the size of your baking bowl/ cup/ ramekin the size may differ. Please perform the test mentioned below before cooking the cake further or taking it out.

Edited to add: I am happy to report that using the ramekins, i was able to take out the cake without breaking it :) I am using Aluminium ramekins...

Here, you have to be very cautious because extra cooking may mean that there won’t be liquid in the center. There is a test to check the state. See that the top is cooked and is a springy, when you put the knife inside, it should be coated with the chocolaty liquid.

So basic idea is to cook sides, top and bottom and let the center be liquidy.

You can serve this with Vanilla ice-cream for the hot and cool effect in summers and as it is in winter to warm your guests up :)

Leaving you with one more pic:

+techie ZM

Ice-Cream cake or Cake Ice-cream?!?!

I am not able to decide the name of this dessert, but both these names suit it completely because it has both - the ice-cream and the chocolate cake...

It's not the regular ice-cream cake, where you have ice-cream frosting or even the one where you get a piece of cake with a scoop of ice-cream!!! It's a little tweaked recipe and gives you Popsicle like dessert...

Why i made it? because i was supposed to get guest and i was planning to make choco lava cake for dessert, but they got delayed, so from the same batter i baked regular chocolate cake and mixed it with ice-cream for a quick dessert next day!!!!

And let me tell you it tastes yummazing :) See for yourself...

Ice Cream Cake...

Now, don't you want to make it??!!! So Please take the recipe and make it before winter starts full blown....

Ingredients:

Vanilla Ice cream (in semi-solid state)

Chocolate cake

Cup-Cake moulds (Or Kulfi moulds will also do)

Chocolate syrup (Optional - For decoration)

Whipped cream (Optional - For decoration)

Popsicle sticks (Optional)

Method:

1) Brake your cake into crumbs.

2) In a bowl, mix ice-cream and cake crumbs thoroughly (preferably using your hands).

3) Fill in the cup-cake moulds (if you wish you can insert small dessert spoons or popsicle sticks in it, but it is completely optional).

4) Before serving freeze for 30 minutes (or till the cake sets - remember, we don't want a hard rock cake).

5) Take out and let it sit out for 5 minutes. If it became too hard in freezer then let it sit out till it gets softer.

6) I served it with chocolate sauce and whipped cream!!!! It tastes great just like that also...Take your pick and ENJOY!!!!!!

Notes:

1) You can go crazy with the combination. So in place of chocolate cake you can use vanilla cake or fruit cake. Similarly experiment with different ice-creams, (Vanilla, strawberry, butterscotch...)

2) You can add nuts/raisin/chocolate chips/Chocolate shavings (or anything else that comes to your mind) to the mixture!!!!

+techie ZM

Chocolate sponge cake.....

I am following recipe from Neeta Mehta cookery book with little modification suggested by my MIL .

This is the first cake i baked  . First time, I made it for my hubby’s birthday. As I didn’t have time to go out shopping for him, I thought of surprising him by a cake. But when I started making it, I realized that I didn’t have enough eggs with me.

So I called my front door neighbour and friend P, she not only gave me eggs, but came to see if I was doing it alright.

And thank god she came, because it was she who noticed that I had used Rice flour in place of Maida!!!! So, I discarded the flour and started again from scratch.

But now I am pretty confident with this cake, and make it very often. I have also replaced maida with whole wheat flour for health reasons

Hubby's birthday cake - The 1st cake i baked...

Ingredients:

Eggs – 4 medium sized
Powdered Sugar – 1¼ Cup
Whole Wheat flour – 1 Cup (you can use Maida, but I find this healthier and tastier :) )
Cocoa Powder – ½ cup (I use cadbury’s cocoa powder)
Baking powder – ½  tspoon
Mitha Soda – a pinch
Oil – ¾ cup
Vanilla essence – 1 tspoon

Method: 

1) Sieve the flour, Baking powder, Mitha soda and cocoa powder together using a sieve (or you can simply mix them with your hands).
2) Break egg and keep egg whites separate from yolk.
3) Now, put egg whites in food processor and run it on low speed. (if you don’t want to use it then use beater to beat egg whites)
4) Add sugar to food processor and continue to run it. (in place of food processor beater can be used)
5) Add Vanilla essence.
6) Add the flour little by little while still running the food processor. (If not using food processor, fold it using a wooden spoon a little by little)
7) Add Egg yolk. Let it mix well and stop food processor. (Use the beater if not using food processor)
8) If you find the consistency of the batter too thick then you can add a little milk or fresh cream and then mix well.
9) Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree C.
10) Grease a baking tin using oil and flour. Remove extra flour from the greased tin. (Or you can use butter paper as well.)
11) Pour the batter in the baking tin.
12) Bake it in the oven for 30 minutes or till the knife comes out clean. (You can put a knife in the cake and if it comes out clean that means the cake is ready.)
13) Take it out on a wire rack and let it cool. 

Decorate if you wish to and cut it and enjoy it :)