MOIST DARK CHOCOLATE CAKE

When life gives me lemons, I bake chocolate cakes, sit with them watching my favourite sitcom and finish the whole cake all by myself, it always felt reassuring and comforting until at one point in time when I weighed way more than the healthy limit, and trying to compile my diary on experiences from then to now and still including my comfort foods in my diet and transforming my body and mind is a dream project that I'm working on. Dreams do come true when we are willing to believe and work towards that belief; the last two months have been the most challenging months for me on every front life has to offer, astrayed career, lack of focus, poor health,  my self confidence and worth was in shambles. This phase taught me only one thing and the most important one i.e, we get used to the pain and it stops hurting anymore, but you don't give up no matter what; challenges shape you and that is absolutely true. When life throws all sorts of challenges at you, there needs to be a go to cake, that is fuss free to make, extremely simple steps and when all else is collapsing around you , a perfectly risen moist cake saves the day, it restores the lost balance. You may find this rant bizarre and feel how may be I have gone bonkers to feel a cake could save your day but trust me it does !!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups flour ( whole wheat flour can be used for a healthier option )
• 2 cups powdered sugar 
• 3/4 cup dark cocoa powder 
• 1 tbsp espresso powder 
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tbsp rum ( can use 1/2 tsp vanilla extract as a replacement)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 cup milk/ buttermilk/ coconut milk 
• 1 cup boiling water 

FOR THE GANACHE:

• 100 gms dark chocolate 
• 150 ml  heavy cream 

Flaked almonds for garnishing. 

METHOD:

• Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees.
• Line two 9' pans with parchment paper or grease a bundt tin.
• In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer sift all the dry ingredients together.
• Mix the dry ingredients until well blended.
• Add oil, eggs and milk to the dry ingredients and whisk well until fully incorporated.
• Pour boiling water to the batter and mix well.
• Spoon the batter into baking trays and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes clean, your baking time is going to depend on your baking dish and oven to oven temperature varies.
• MAKING THE GANACHE:
• Chop the chocolate, fine.
• Heat the cream until small bubbles form on the surface.
• Pour the cream over the chocolate and whisk until combined.
• Pour the warm ganache over the cake.

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CLASSIC LEMON SORBET

Memories warm us form the inside;  happened to sit down with a bunch of old photographs and remembering the carefree childhood and cherished moments with family, my favourite memory caught my attention; sitting on the kitchen slab wearing  bloomer panties and an oversized jumper holding a bowl actually bigger than my face then, relishing the lemon sorbet my grandmother used to make and absolutely refusing to share any of it with my cousin who in the photograph is trying her luck to snatch the bowl away; my summer break seemed to play in a sequence before my eyes leaving me nostalgically teary eyed. Just then I realised looking back was not as mainstream as its often regarded; we tend to forget the sunny days and get too caught up focusing on on the overcast, with that thought I had to adorn the apron and get going with the sorbet as it became almost necessary to relive that moment that left me with inexplicable joy.

INGREDIENTS :

• 2 1/4 cup water 
• 3/4 cup sugar 
• 3/4 cup of lemon juice 
• Zest of 2 lemons 
• 1 cup carbonated water / any citrus carbonated drink ( I usually use limca)

METHOD:

• In a saucepan, heat the water and sugar with the lemon zest; until sugar is we'll combined.
• Allow this to cool.
• Add the carbonated water and lemon juice to this syrup .
• Freeze it for 4-5 hours or until slushy.
• Churn it in the ice cream maker as per the manufacturer's instructions.*
• Freeze it overnight  in a loaf tin, covered with cling film.

* Incase you don't have an ice cream maker, allow the mixture to freeze until a slushy consistency, which it well using a hand whisk or a hand blender; ( repeat this step 3-4 times for a light texture as it incorporates air into the sorbet) freeze over night.

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MOM'S CARROT CAKE

There is a cloud of thoughts as I write this post of the most delicious cake I've eaten and thankfully now after several years  managed to get the recipe of it aswell; my mother is a very passionate individual and I owe that quality in me to her; for years my mother and I shared a severely fractured relationship due to a lot of environmental reasons, lack of communication and the mother of all issues  mis-understandings  the only thing, despite our tiffs,  keeping us connected was the fondness of food, eating and learning, we would show our mutual love towards each other just through the food we cooked at special occasions, she would prepare my favourite  meal when I was back on holidays from school and then later uni and when I got a chance, would whip up a dish in the kitchen to give her a while to take a few moments of rest from the hectic schedule she's always had. Very recently deep conversations with an old friend about life in general and me venting out emotions that had been piling up in my system for a very long time and suggestions from the listener changed my life for the better; personal relationship management and the need of empathy and understanding in our core value system is extremely important, over everything over the top stopped making sense suddenly; Simplicity started feeling so much better, simple home cooked meals with laughter was all that I had been missing for so long and it just took a few words my friend spoke to change my outlook at life for the better and rescuing myself from the void of materialism that I was losing myself to fill in the emptiness that had taken up so much room in my system. Lately  Mom and I bake every weekend and oh boy! its one of the best feelings in the world to be able to spend time with her doing what we both love so much! This carrot cake with dulce le leche is a part of one of the most cherished memories. 

INGREDIENTS:

Batter :

• 1 1/4 cup flour 
• 1/2 cup powdered brown sugar 
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar 
• 200 gms grated carrots 
• 3 eggs 
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil 
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg 
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder 
• 1/2 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• a pinch of salt 
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts( you may use any, as I'm allergic to most nuts i use almonds or cashews in most of my recipes. ideally walnuts and pecans pair well with carrot )

Dulce le Leche: 

• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 30 ml water 
• 60 gms cream 
• 1 Tbsp butter at room temp 
• a drop of vanilla extract 

METHOD:

Batter :

• Pre heat the oven at 180 degrees and line a 8" pan with parchment paper.
• In a mixing bowl whisk the oil and sugar until it changes colour and slightly fluffy.
• Add one egg at a time to the above mixture and whisk until incorporated well.
• In a separate mixing bowl sieve  all the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula.
• Add gradually into the wet mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.
• Fold in the carrots and nuts.
• Pour the batter in the lined pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer comes clean 

Dulce le Leche:

• In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, add the sugar and water; allow the sugar to melt and geta deep amber colour.
• remove from heat and add the butter stirring gently.
• Add the cream and extract and whisk vigorously, be careful while doing so as the mixture will be bubbling. Allow it to cool completely before you spread it over the cake. 

Assembling the cake;

I used dairy free whipping cream to frost the cake with a generous layer between the cake as well as on top, and spread loads of dulce le leche on top.

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CUDDLE CAKE

Last week on my Instagram handle I shared about how stress and eating habits gets intertwined causing a lot of health problems, sometimes we feel vulnerable looking for someone to hug and comfort us; trust me this cake steps in for me at those moments , over the years I've channeled my binge eating into a binge baking spree; I find myself in absolute bliss while in the kitchen. The particular recipe is adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's baking bible and I've added cherries as it complements dark chocolate exceedingly well. 

The cake is deliciously fragile with a silken smooth texture, the bitterness of the dark chocolate  is balanced with the sweetness from the compote . As compared to baking a basic sponge baking a chiffon requires more technique and patience. I would suggest you to read the steps carefully  and pre prepare all the ingredients before you begin baking as the number of steps might lead to a confusion.

INGREDIENTS:

• 50 gms/ 2/3 cup  dark cocoa powder 
• 118 gms /1/2 cup boiling water 
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 74 gms Egg yolks 
• 115 gms Egg whites 
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extrect 
• 114 gms/ 1cup flour 
• 250 gems powdered sugar 
• 1 1/4 Tsp baking powder 
• 1/4 Tsp sea salt 
• 2 gms Cream of Tartar 

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METHOD:

• Pre-heat the oven at 175 degrees and grease a 9"round pan. 
• In a mixing bowl add the cocoa powder, pour over the boiling water and mix until combined well; mix the oil to this mixture and allow it to reach a temp where its not too hot touch it.
• Add the egg yolks and vanilla to the above mixture and set aside.
• In another mixing bowl whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium low speed until foamy; increase the speed and beat until soft peaks are formed, add 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.
• In a mixing bowl mix the dry ingredients, remaining sugar, flour, baking power and salt, whisk the batter dry for 30 seconds until combined. Make a well in the centre; add the chocolate mixture to this and whisk well; the mixture will be very thick.
• Gently add to this the meringue in three parts; cut and fold until incorporated completely.
• Pour the batter in the greased mould and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer comes clean.
• Cherry compote: In a sauce pan on medium heat add 100 gems of whole cheeries with 50 gms of sugar. Allow it to simmer for 10-15 minutes until the cherries are mushy. Remove from heat and stir gently. 
• Garnish on the cake when completely cool. 

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2 STEP COOKIES AND CREAM ICE-CREAM

I was named Ice-Cream monster by my best friend in uni, we would pick up buckets of ice-cream and stock up to last us a month while doing groceries and the next morning she would find the tubs in the sink and wake me up yelling, "you gobbled up the all the ice-cream, what are you ?? a haowrat( means greedy in Marathi) ". This ice-cream recipe came out perfect while I was experimenting in the kitchen. Ive tried various recipes before but none of them have turned out as creamy and delicious as this one and its a fairly simple. 

"Just two steps"

INGREDIENTS :

• 200 ml Chilled Cream ( I used amul fresh cream, although will suggest you use double cream )
• 200 ml Condensed Milk 
• 1 Packet oreo 

METHOD:

• Keep a whipping bowl and loaf tin in which  you would set the ice-cream in the freezer 20 minutes before you begin whipping the cream.
• Whisk the cream to soft peaks.
• Mix the condensed milk  with crushed oreo. 
• Slowly, add the condensed milk mixture to the whipped cream; Whip the mixture until well combined 
• Allow this mixture to rest in the freezer for about an hour to 45 minutes, once semi set, pull it out and whisk well.
• Pour the mixture in a loaf tin and chill overnight. 

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EGGLESS WHOLEWHEAT MATCHA GREEN TEA CUPCAKES

 Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to interact with the baking queen of India ; Pooja Dhingra the founder of Le 15 cafe and Patisserie, Mumbai. Over the last two years my passion of food encouraged me to get into entrepreneurship as well, currently working on projects with the Indian tea and coffee farmers from various parts of Assam and the South of India respectively, and promoting natural, artisan Indian products, our conversations were focussed at troubleshooting and combating the problem the food industry faces, a bunch of 8 enthusiastic foodies; a couple established foodpreneurs and most of us passionate foodies having quit our jobs to feed the passion; indeed a fun afternoon Snippets from the business lunch (click the link and read all about it ); The lunch was followed by a baking session with Dhingra, where she whipped up some fun recipes, I have always dreaded eggless baking and have very rarely succeeded at them, Pooja's first demonstration was a Vanilla cupcake, the recipe of which I've tweaked; used oil instead of butter and replaced cake flour (maida) with whole wheat flour to make it wholesome, nourishing and a bit of a guilt free indulgence. I will also be sharing tips and tricks and some basic troubleshooting while baking. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 100 gms condensed milk 
• 4tbsp + 1tsp Milk
• 50 ml Vegetable oil 
• 1/2 Tbsp powdered sugar 
• 53 gms flour ( I used a half and half mix of wholewheat flour and cake flour ) 
• 10 gms Cocoa Powder ( I used Mason and co.)
• 1/4 tsp Baking powder 
• 1/4 tsp Baking soda 
• For the Buttercream :
• 50 gms butter ( at room temperature )
• 112.5 gms powdered sugar 
• 1/2 Tbsp milk 
• 1 Tbsp Matcha Green tea Powder ( I used sprig )

BAKING TIPS:

Before I begin with the practical steps of baking the cupcakes , I'll share some knowledge on the science of baking. 

1. As Pooja told us and all otherwise when you pick up a good baking book, its always mentioned to pre-measure and pre-prep your ingredients, this helps saving time and avoid any confusion.
2. We must learn to set a tune with working with our oven as its important to understand it because the instructions always give an average timing of baking, each oven functions differently.
3. We must add our flavouring at the stage of creaming ( mixing butter and sugar); as fat carries the flavour better.
4. Dry ingredients must be sifted to add air and avoid any impurities, we must also whisk them before, to combine them well.
5. Creaming determines the texture of our cakes/cupcakes, as its the stage at which we incorporate air into our batter; the leavening agents like baking soda, baking powder etc only increase the size of the air bubbles present in the batter, they do not introduce more air to affect the texture of the cake.
6. When we add flour, we add gluten to our mixture , that gives a body and texture ( gluten adds density) to have a well balanced sponge we must alternate while adding flour and liquid (that your recipe talks about) as the liquid helps in breaking the gluten, and we get a well bodied cake, instead of a too dense to too airy one.

METHOD:

• Pre-heat the oven at 165C. 
• Line a baking tray with 12 mini cupcake liners.
• Whisk together the oil and sugar, 3-4 minutes with hand or 1-2 minutes in a stand mixer, the mixture with oil won't get creamy bye will change colour to a whitish pale. 
• Add in the cocoa powder and condensed milk and mix until combined well.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder.
• Mix the dry ingredients to the above mix, it alternating with the milk; behind with the flour and end it with it.

Bake at 165C for 10-15 minutes or until a skewer comes clean.

FROSTING THE CUPCAKES:

• In a bowl, whisk butter until smooth and creamy.
• Gradually add in the powdered sugar, whisk until combined well.
• Add in the milk and keep whisking vigorously, until light and creamy (5-7 minutes)
• Keep in it in the refrigerator for 5-6 minutes before piping the cupcakes.

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INDIAN ARTISAN CHOCOLATE REVIEW

Growing up in a family of foodies, my journey of learning and appreciating chocolates commenced at a rather early age, as a young girl I would often gobble up After-Eights which still happens to be my favourite chocolate. I remember enjoying dark chocolates over milk chocolates from ever since I had my first bar of Lindt Dark chocolate with orange, growing up in Jaipur now a metro city yet not as exposed to flavours and tastes  as all the other metros of India, the only chocolates available to us then were Dairy milks and Amul milk chocolates , My first bar of Lindt was a present from my Grandmother who was travelling back to India from England.  

Ever since dark chocolates have been my comfort food, and you'll always find a bar on my bedside table, and a voluminous stock in my refrigerator at all times. 

The  commercial chocolate Industry in India is a relatively new one as compared to the global scenario, although the home made chocolates from  Ooty have been known for its taste and texture for generations. India now boasts of brands producing single origin, vegan, artisan chocolates produced with fine Indian grown cacao beans. Coming to reviewing Indian artisan chocolates it is imperative to understand the art behind them, what makes a chocolate fine depends on many factors, being an agricultural product its character and flavour are dependant on , genetics, climate, soil, and processing practices to yield a finished product, selection of high quality ingredients and unique artistry the chocolatier uses to create a chocolate are also factors that define a chocolate's quality.

A fine chocolate must appeal to all five senses, beginning with aroma, more persistent and strong fragrance indicates a finer variety, a fine chocolate boasts of a glossy and lustrous texture, milk chocolates should not be too light or too dark, for dark chocolates shades of mahogany indicate its fineness. Funny as it may sound, a fine chocolate must appeal to the ears as well, a crisp clear and sharp snap while breaking a bar indicates a high quality chocolate as compared to a dull sound which does not justify to a fine chocolate(  also indicates lower cocoa content ), a fine chocolate must begin to melt with the warmth of your fingers. Coming to the most important sense while judging the quality of a chocolate has to be its taste. chocolate tasting is an art as complex as tasting wine, a few key point to keep in mind while doing so and judging the quality of a chocolate are, you must taste a chocolate at the front of your tongue as most taste buds are located there , a fine chocolate should be smooth and buttery, gently dissolving into a creamy liquid filling the mouth with burst of flavours, The main point to look out for is the notes of flavours, whether they linger or touch and go, flavours in a fine chocolate rise and linger, High quality chocolates also boast of varied flavour profile from the first bite to the last. 

Basic flavours of a chocolate are acidity, bitterness, astringency and sweetness and a good chocolate will be a well balanced sensation of flavours. While in Auroville in 2015, I came across the Mason and Co. chocolates, that stirred my curiosity to explore more artisan indian chocolate, the article reviews three brands of Indian Made chocolates, and rates their quality on the aforementioned parameters.

1) ALLTHINGS CHOCOLATES 

Much to my surprise The All things Chocolates are manufactured in my home-town Jaipur, these handcrafted bars come in innovative flavour combinations and even more attractive packaging, the  bars are made from handpicked ingredients from  around the world. I tasted the Belgian dark chocolate with flour de sel, the chocolate is moderately aromatic yet lacks in texture and taste, leaving a gritty and chalk like after taste. The bars are not organic, vegan or gluten free.

Rating 6/10

2) EARTH LOAF 

Born in Mysuru city, Earth loaf chocolates are manufactured from South Indian raw Cacao beans, the bars are bean to bar in small batches at low temperature to harness greatness of flavour. They are Organic, vegan and gluten free and come in a beautiful hand made paper packaging, earth loaf boasts of the most unusual flavour combinations like mango, red capsicum and chilli, from their range of flavours I prefer the 72% Karnataka single estate the most.

The bars are aromatic, have a fine texture and evolving taste,  although some of their flavour combinations do not appeal to my taste. 

Rating 8/10 

3) MASON & CO

Is currently my favourite brand of chocolate, manufactured in Auroville , India. The bars are made bean to bar using single origin organic cacao beans and are also vegan, the bar has a smooth lustrous texture with a lingering taste, although the brand could definately work on a better and more attractive packaging. Must try- Sea salt dark chocolate, Peanut butter, Bitter sweet and the Peppermint cacao nibs bar.

Rating:8.5/10

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