Butter-cream milk-chocolate frosting for cakes

First of all, a very Happy Mothering Sunday to all you fabulous ladies! I got to enjoy some baking time with my family here as a Mother's day present. I am over the moon to have this quality time as opposed to some commercial off the shelf gift. We had a fantastic time making a chocolate cake and chocolate frosting (buttercream, is there any other?!) and putting them together and in the process eating at least half the frosting! All three of us do not care for the commercial frosting. We find them too sweet. Both Anjalie & I are not fans of dark/bitter-sweet chocolate. So we girls out voted Naz to have a milk-chocolate frosting instead. Since Naz finds the cream-cheese frosting a bit overwhelming due to the tangy taste, we decided on the milder butter-cream frosting and, yes, we did make it less sweet. Here is our recipe (which we have always loved) but feel free to add more sugar if you want it sweeter. To match the sweetness you get in the commercial product you might have to double the amount of icing sugar used in this recipe.

You will need (for the frosting):

225 grams butter (1 Cup) at room temperature -not melted

210 grams (1.5 cups) icing sugar

1-2 tsp milk/cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk chocolate powder (any hot chocolate will do) - I used cadburys

100 g milk chocolate - melted & cooled

Quick and easy chocolate cake in Microwave (egg free)

Today being Valentine's day, Anjalie said she "felt" for chocolate pudding. So we decided to make a quick and easy chocolate cake in a mug for dessert tonight. We had tried this at our Vegan friend's house, two years ago, and had really enjoyed it and the recipe is so simple that I was able to recall it tonight. Anjalie made this all by herself with me around to assist with some of the measurements and also to take the hot cup from the microwave. So, of course, by all means feel free to recruit children to make this with you. Have fun making this together!

You will need:
3 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp oil
3 tablespoons milk/soya milk 
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Christmas cup cakes/ fairy cakes

Christmas, although a busy time of the year, is absolutely the most wonderful time for us all to spend some quality time together. Since, Anjalie & I love our cooking-time together, we usually have a whole lot of baking to do. This year, Anjalie wanted to give her friends some cupcakes/fairy cakes at her nursery. Today was the last day at the nursery, so, we did some baking last evening and, although Anjalie did not stay at the nursery, we just dropped the cakes off and wished everyone Happy Holidays. We did have a busy day preparing for Christmas Eve dinner. But it was fun too. These cupcakes were decorated by Anjalie with some help from me and can be great fun to do with children.

You will need:

cupcakes/fairy cakes (you can use store bought mix or follow the recipe here)

You will need frosting/icing (I used Betty crocker chocolate icing. For recipe to make from scratch see here)

Royal icing/fondant/ready to roll icing - various colours like green, red, yellow, pink, white etc

coloured sugar (optional)

water

small pastry brush

Bake your cakes following the recipe. Allow to cool down completely.

One nice thing for me is that Anjalie loves every bit of the cake making - even the cleaning :)





Roll out the fondant/royal icing, cut out circles in various colours and cut out the shapes (like Christmas tree, holly leaves, snow flakes etc) needed to put together.

You can use cookie cutters or sugar craft kits.

Frost the cake with chocolate icing/frosting. Next add on the layer of fondant circles and using water (with a pastry brush), stick the rest of the shapes together. Here is one with holly.

Here we have made a few - Christmas trees, angels, snow flakes, holly and Santa. Anjalie needed a lot of help for Santa (naturally). But the rest she did them mostly on her own. If anything, you can simply sprinkle with coloured sugar too.

Happy Holidays!

Birthday cake (Peppa pig)

Tomorrow is Anjalie's fourth birthday party. Part of me is still amazed thinking "has it been that long?!" This year she asked for a Peppa Pig cake. Well, you can never have too much Peppa Pig (at least in our home). Last year, she was totally engrossed in Thomas Tank Engine and asked for "Choo-choo train". At least, she keeps me busy, lol! Along with Peppa Pig her next favourite TV show is number jacks. So I thought to combine the two together for her cake. I really do enjoy making these for her. This time around I actually managed to take a few pictures of the making process. So here they are..

You will need:
one round 9 inch cake (of your favourite flavour)
Chocolate frosting/buttercream icing or any of your favourite icing.
Fondant/royal icing:
Grass green  - 1 kg
Lincoln green/bottle green - 200 gm
Red - 200 gm
Chocolate - 100 gm
Yellow - 200 gm
Blue - 100 gm
white - 100 gm
Black - 25 gm
Pale pink/Flesh - 100 gm
Edible glue/water - as needed
Edible Tylose powder - 2 tbsp

Moist Chocolate cake with Milk chocolate frosting - Fathers Day special

We three of us here at home do not have much of a sweet tooth except for chocolates. We enjoy them in any form or fashion. Moist chocolate cakes are both Naz and Anjalie's absolute favourites. So what other best way is there to say "Happy Fathers day" to Naz other than to bake one for him along with Anjalie? So I did just that! We totally enjoyed it, so, let me share the recipe with you. But before I go to the recipe, let me wish all dads and grand-dads a very Happy Fathers day! Hope you had a wonderful time with your families.

For the cake:
225g butter at room temperature
350g caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
350-400 ml milk
300g plain flour
50g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

For the frosting:
60g butter, softened to room temperature
60g unsweetened cocoa
75ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
400g icing sugar
decorations like M&Ms, thousands and hundreds, sugar stars etc.

Chocolate-Cheesecake Brownies

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, LNG, who had requested that Anjalie & I try out this recipe and post the results. The name itself was quite catchy that put together two of my favourites, Cheesecake and chocolate! We have been planning to do this for a long time. But, unfortunately, we had to keep putting it off. Until now that is! Anjalie & I had a fantastic time making these brownies together. Anjalie, in particular, enjoyed as she called it "scribbling" on the cake to get the characteristic swirls/decorations on the top. All three of us enjoyed the chocolate-y cheesecake taste of the fudge-y, chewy and perfect brownies. It was quite hard to stop eating them after we have each had four, so, beware! :) I did cheat a little- I used extra light cream cheese for the cheesecake part and added 1 tbsp flour to give it some body instead of the full-fat cheese cake. This was my way of cutting down on the calories to feel less guilty about it. But feel free to use and enjoy full fat cream cheese. It will taste great, I am sure! So here is the recipe...

You will need:
For chocolate part:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour



For cheesecake part:
8 ounces full-fat cream cheese, softened or Extra light cream cheese + 1 tbsp flour (for low-calorie option)
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Madeleine Tea-cakes for Mothers Day

The rest of the world (except UK and few other countries in Europe) celebrate Mothers day in May. Today being the special day Anjalie & I (the women of the house - well, technically, girl and woman of the house) treated ourselves and Naz to sweet Madeleine Tea cakes. These yummy little things are absolutely melt in the mouth, buttery and sweet, aka, perfect for serving warm with a cuppa on Mothers day. Since it was the first time we tried, we only made 12 (for the 3 of us) and they were gone like hot cakes! (pun intended) :)

These little French butter-sponge cakes are perfect for any afternoon but they do make special days extra special :) Traditionally, these are baked in special Madeleine pans (which we did too) that give a scallop shaped sponge cakes that are soft in the centre and crispy on the edges. They are not too sweet and do not usually have icing. But do not let the "pan", or the lack of it, put you off. Try baking them in a muffin pan with foil lining (made into scallop shape if you want) instead. Anjalie loved them so much that she has requested these for her birthday in December :) Ahh...one has to be a 3 year old  to look forward to the next birthday with such enthusiasm.

I found the recipe at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/french-butter-cakes-madeleines/?scale=6&ismetric=0. I followed with some modifications. I changed the oven temperature to 180 instead of 190 degrees Celsius. Naz does not like sponge cakes that are too crispy. So change according to your preference. Also, I think UK cup size is slightly bigger since I ended up with more batter than needed for 12 cakes. But since I hate waste, I just poured them in anyway. If I had more time, and if Anjalie was not so very impatient to try them, I would have made baker's dozen instead of over filling them. But we did not mind eating larger cakes :) Also I used icing sugar to decorate instead of granulated sugar asked for in the recipe. I like the frosted look. I also added 1/4 tsp baking powder to give it a better raise and softness. So here is the recipe...




You will need:
2 eggs

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup white sugar (remember US cup measurement!)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup icing sugar for decoration

Rose water cupcakes/ fairy cakes

Today is Mothering Sunday/Mother's day here in the UK. Anjalie is learning all about it and has made me a card. When I thought about what I really would like, as a treat, for my Mother's day I realized that I enjoy baking things with Anjalie. It combines two of my favorite activities: cooking and enjoying my time with her :)  But the question was "What to bake?" It has to be something special for Mother's day. But something easy for Anjalie to help as well. So I decided to do cupcakes/fairy cakes. But I am truly fed up of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate flavors. Every time I buy a cupcake these are the usual choices (well, sometimes I get mint ones too). So I decided to try using the rose water that I have and make a  rose-flavored cupcakes. Unlike vanilla, rose-water will lose it's flavor at high temperatures and so cannot be cooked. So I came up with the idea of using sugar syrup to flavor the cupcakes after I bake them. Butter-cream is my favorite frosting. So I stuck to it but added rose water to flavor that too instead of vanilla.

The cupcakes came out moist, bursting with rose-water flavor all the way through. The cupcakes turned out a little on the sweeter side like the cupcakes we used to get in New York while we lived there. Even the icing was a bit towards the rich and sweet side. So, the only thing I will change in this for the next time is reduce the amount of sugar a little bit in the cupcakes and reduce the amount of cream cheese in the frosting. But you can adjust the sugar amount according to your taste.

You will need:
For the cupcake:
110 grams all purpose flour (sifted)
110 grams sugar
110 grams butter (softened to room temperature)
2 large free range eggs/ 1/2 cup egg substitute
1 tsp pink food coloring (optional)
1 and 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2-4 tbsp milk
For the syrup:
50 grams sugar
50 grams water
2 tsp rose water

For the butter-cream icing/frosting:
50 grams butter
100 grams cream cheese ( I used Philadelphia light cream cheese)
150 grams icing sugar
1 tsp rose water
1/2 tsp pink food coloring (optional)

Chocolate Fairy cakes or cup cakes

Who doesn't like fairy/cup cakes? Now add chocolate to it and it becomes a must have. This ia another one of Anjalie's favorites and she helps make them too. We are not big on icing, so, we chose not to use much of it. But use your imagination and you can have fun decorating the cakes with your little one too.

You will need:
100g Self Raising flour (if not, plain flour + 2 tsps baking powder)
20g cadbury's cocoa powder
100g caster sugar (use more if you like them sweeter)
40g butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vannila extract
lining paper for the cakes
muffin baking tin/tray


Preheat the oven to 160 C (fan assisted). Meanwhile, whisk all the ingredients until creamy (takes 3 mins with a wire whisk)

and spoon into Muffin tin lined with wax papers/ cup cake paper.

Cook for 15 minutes until cooked. When a tooth pick is inserted in the middle it should come of clean.

Sorry, if the pictures show only 10 cupcakes, 2 of them disappeared into our tummies before I could grab the camera. Once cooled, the cakes can be decorated with icing, buttons, thousands and hundreds etc...

This recipe makes 12 small cup cakes.