Cake that wakes you up!

When ever i think of coffee, i think of stimulating conversations that don't let you sleep at night. As a famous campaign said... "a lot can happen over coffee" i say a lot can happen 'with' coffee. It s a very flexible ingredient which combines with many flavours easily. And yes coffee also makes me nostalgic in ways...

So one particularly chilly morning... as my neighbours brewed some coffee the aroma drifted in and woke me up... strong, intense, aromatic. I just had to, had to do something! I came across this recipe that just had me up and about within minutes... just as good coffee would anytime!

Coffee Syrup Cake with fresh fruits

Ingredients

Flour 1 and 3/4th cup
Cocoa 4 tsp
Baking powder 1 tsp
Superfine sugar 1 and 1/2 cup
Eggs 3
Vegetable oil 1/2 cup
Coffee 3 tsp
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Chopped fruits

For Syrup
Brown sugar 1/2 cup, Coffee 1 tsp, hot water 1/2 cup

Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together. Cream the eggs and sugar until smooth and creamy, drizzle the oil in slowly as you work the beater through the mix.

Mix 3 tsps of coffee with 1 tsp of water and 1 tsp vanilla essence pour it into the batter.

Add the flour mixture into the batter, folding in gently. Grease a 9 inch ring mould with butter and dust with flour. Pour in batter and bake in preheated oven for 40 mins at 180 degree centigrade.

When it is done, transfer to wire rack... Now make the syrup, just mix the 1/2 cup sugar with half cup water add a spoon of coffee and just bring it to boil, and pour the hot liquor over the cake and let it soak in all the goodness. By now your house will be smelling divine!

Serve with cherries and fruits, or even whipped cream with chocolate shavings. Just sprinkle some icing sugar from the top for that frosted look! And there you have it... a warm and fuzzy feeling in your heart and pure pleasure for the winter palate!

And that's how the cookie crumbles

One of my favourite lines from 'Bruce Almighty'. From a long list of indulgences i'd like to mention one! Cookies. I can have them anytime. I hate tea without something to nibble on, for that matter i'd rather munch on a cookie as i catch How I Met Your Mother on the telly, than have any other garbage. 

And when you like a perfect brew of Darjeeling, its a sin to not offer some good homemade cookie along with it. I have long searched for that flawless cookie recipe. And have finally chanced upon this one. I have tried them, they look yummy, taste yummier and most importantly follow my mantra of easy-breezy cooking. Try a hot batch immediately and you'll be hooked.

What you need...

100 gms melted bittersweet chocolates
1 1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
100 gms unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
1 cup confectioner's sugar plus more for rolling

How to...

Put your oven on 350 degrees. while it heats up, melt the chocolate on double boiler. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. And set it aside. Use a hand blender to beat butter and sugar till fluffy, add eggs, vanilla extract, beat untill completely combined. Keep adding the dry ingredients and blend to combine and make dough. Roll dough into a log and wrap in plastic. Leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Take the dough out and cut into 1 inch pieces. Roll into a ball. It will be chocolate coloured. Roll the ball in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on baking tray. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes.

Take them out and let them rest on a wire rack. Store in air tight jar for over a week.

And if anyone lectures you on the importance of a balanced diet... just parade with a cookie in each hand. Enough said. :)

Meet the angels in disguise

When you have planned a dinner or lunch for friends at home. It is imperative to set the mood. And what better way to do that than with some amazing appetizers. And the classic Deviled Eggs are my favourite. The great thing about this dish seems to be its universal appeal. it pleases a variety of palates young and old and are terribly easy to whip up. Prepare them in advance and serve them chilled, and watch the party take off. Here's some I made for a party last night.


You need. 6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut lengthwise, ¼ cup Light Mayonnaise or Salad Dressing, ½ teaspoon dry ground mustard, ½ teaspoon white vinegar, 1/8 teaspoon salt,  ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper, and some red paprika for garnish.


Most of these ingredients are always available in your pantry. Gently coax the egg yolk out of the whites. Gather all the cooked yolks in a bowl, add the mayonnaise, the mustard, the salt, pepper and the vinegar and mix it into a smooth paste. Now simply spoon them back into their white egg hollows, or if you are one of those fancy cooks with a piping bag, pipe them in beautifully ribbed swirls. Just sprinkle each egg with a pinch of fiery paprika to add that zing. 
Just cover the plate or bowl with cling wrap and you can refrigerate the Deviled Eggs for max up to a day. Quite contrary to the name, they are actually slices of heaven.

Crazy about cupcakes!

There's nothing cuter than cupcakes. And here are the pics of some I baked recently. Delicate, fluffy and light. They make me look forward to tea times even more. I have two types of cupcake tins, one small and one quite large. Passed on to me by mom, they are quite old. 

Well, you don't need an occasion to bake cupcakes, they are like these anytime desserts that you'd love to pop in your mouth.

I got cracking on some purely for the kick i would get out of icing them.

The recipe below makes 24 small cupcakes. This choco-chip variety is my favourite and fairly simple to make. I like this recipe because it substitutes butter with vegetable oil, which makes the cake more moist and healthy.

Take 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour. Add 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Add 2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder. And sift them together. Add 3/4 cup superfine sugar (or just take plain sugar and give it one blitz in your food processor) and 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (the yum part) This is what we call the dry mixture.

For the wet mixture take 1 cup milk. Add 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 1 egg  and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. Quickly whisk together.

Now pour wet mixture into dry, until they form a brown paste. Fill muffin cups half with them. Bake for 20 mins at 400 degrees oven.

Soon the aroma of chocolate will drift across your kitchen teasing your taste buds. But hold your horses, insert a toothpick into one of the cupcakes if it comes out clean then your cake's ready.

You can have them minus any icing or if you like icing try the butter cream one. Take 100 gms unsalted butter and icing sugar. Whisk the butter with icing sugar, keep adding icing sugar until your butter cream holds its soft peaks. Once that happens you know it's ready. Add 2 tsp of vanilla extract to add that beautiful flavour. You could use any food colour you prefer. If you want you could even add some melted chocolate but that makes the icing brown, and brown on brown though not unheard of, might just make it look a little boring.

Here's what mine looked like with vanilla butter cream icing...

As they say.... there's nothing cupcakes and coffee can't solve! So bake a bunch and have fun going crazy with the decorations. They always make me smile and i hope they add a little more sweetness to your life as well.

Beer Chicken - A recipe you can drink to!

For all of you who love your chilled beer on a hot summers day, and for all of you who can't get enough of it whatever be the season or reason... here's a recipe that'll get you high and hungry at the same time. It simply combines two terrific things - Chicken + Beer!! Yaayyyy!!

When the games not going your way, or the film's shitty... here's a shortcut to pure pleasure! Take the bottle of beer you're drinking straight into the kitchen. Any brand rocks this recipe. Get some 500 gms of Chicken or any amount you desire.Wash it and drain it. Chop two large onions. Fry the onions till golden brown on olive oil roughly 3 tbsp for 500 gms chicken. You don't need an awful lot of oil since it's olive oil and less works. Plus its completely healthy. Sprinkle some sugar on your onions and let it caramelize for a richer flavour. Stir so it doesn't burn. Now you can add mushrooms for a creamier texture, capsicum if you like, and fry them as well. When soft add your chicken pieces and let them sizzle till they change colour. Add salt and pepper to taste. Balance the sugar according to your palate.

Now comes the interesting part. Simply pour the beer over the chicken. Yes generously. Without a worry in the world. Enough to cover the pieces. Put a lid on your pan and let it simmer. Keep an eye on it so that all the beer doesn't dry up. Soon in around 15 - 20 mins you'll see that the chicken is cooked and the gravy has thickened. ( If chicken isn't cooked and beer broth is drying up, pour some more) If you want it dry then let the gravy dry up, or if you like to swathe your bread in in the gorgeous flavoursome gravy then keep the  brown broth. You could at this point add a splosh of Worcestershire sauce. And a tea spoon of chili vinegar. Season with sprinkling of parsley and oregano to taste. And there you have it. The rich taste of beer mixed with the juices of the chicken make it one of the most heady concoctions i have tasted so far. Innovative yet easy.

Try it and lemme know. And remember when you cook let your instincts guide you. So go on spread the good cheer, with a tummy full of beery beery delicious Beer Chicken!

Calling all food enthusiasts!

One day after a house party, as my guests were polishing off their plates, someone suggested that i should seriously consider teaching people how to cook! Question. Am i really that good? Well, i love experimenting in the kitchen, my food is phenomenal (according to sources) and have grown up with lots of tips and tricks that i picked up cooking with mom, but does that really qualify me as someone who can dispense kitchen wisdom? Hell i don't know. Solution. This blog! It's like this space where i intend to romance food in public and share some recipes! Yeah, you got me... that's what foodies like me do best. Because hunger is like the best sauce in the world and good food always deserves to be celebrated! So here we go... your comments are welcome and don't forget to tell me how it all turned out. And always remember that cooking is like love, enter it with wild abandon or not at all! So get hold of those pots and pans, preheat your oven and enter a world where you rule with soul satisfying creations! Yeah... it's gonna be that good!