Eggless Mango Semolina (Rava) Cake

I had been long waiting to bake something with mangoes in this season abundant with the king of fruits.  My baker friend, Radhika gifted me with some lovely farm fresh organic mangoes (ton of thanks to her) amidst my spree of baking other goodies for my guests that week.  I didn't miss the chance to try this recipe though was damn tired and was really happy with the outcome and my tiredness just vanished on tasting the cake.   I had halved this recipe but repented for doing so.  This really is a keeper recipe.  Also, no maida or wheat flour is used.  The texture from the rava is different for the palate but yet simply superb.  Do give a try.

Ingredients:

Fine Semolina/Rava - 1 cup

Mango Pulp - 1 cup

Oil (flavorless) - 1/4 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp

Chopped nuts - 2 to 3 tbsp

Salt - A pinch

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.

Whisk together semolina, sugar, cardamom powder, salt, and baking powder.

Add oil to this and mix well together.

Finally, add the mango pulp and mix well until combined.  Leave it aside for 15 minutes.

Pour the batter in a greased loaf tin and garnish with chopped nuts.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees C for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove immediately and allow to cool completely.

Cut and serve or store in airtight container until use.

Notes:

Canned mango pulp or fresh mango pulp can be used.  The taste and color of the cake depends on the quality of the mango pulp used.  Hence, use the best quality mango pulp.  I used fresh mango pulp.

To make fresh mango pulp, blend in mixer jar chopped mango pieces and strain through a sieve.

Make sure the mango pulp is thick and not watery.  If the pulp is watery, the batter will be watery.  So, allow the batter to sit for more time, say for about 20 minutes.

If fine rava is not available, run the rava in a mixer jar for a minute or so and fine rava is ready to use in this recipe.

If the mango pulp (canned or fresh) is sweet, the sugar can be reduced to 1/2 cup.

I used sunflower oil and granulated sugar in this recipe.

Eggfree Vanilla Cupcakes

I had been baking egg based cupcake recipes most often times, almost regularly. This eggless recipe comes in handy whenever egg free cupcakes are sought for. This basic vanilla cupcake recipe is very versatile and can accomodate many variations into it to create different cupcake flavors. I baked these for a charity sale in a school here in my place and have shared the cupcakes image made for the sale (though the pic does not do justice..I should develop on photography skills and patience of clicking them too...)

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour (Maida) - 170 gm
Cornflour - 15 gm
Thick Curd - 240 gm
Castor Sugar - 170 gm
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder - 1 tsp (slightly heaped)
Vegetable Oil (Flavorless) - 125 mL
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Water - 2 to 3 tbsp (depending on the consistency of the curd)


Procedure: Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line cupcake molds with liners.

Sift together flour, cornflour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a bowl, using a whisk, cream together sugar and curd until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add oil and vanilla to this sugar-curd mixture and mix well.

Add the sifted flour in 2 to 3 parts into the wet ingredient mixture and fold in gently until well incorporated. Do not over mix. Add water till the batter reaches dropping consistency.

With a spoon or an icecream scoop, scoop the batter in the cupcake liners up to two-thirds level of the lined cupcake mold and bake for 12 to 14 minutes at 180 degrees C in the preheated oven or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven when done and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Store in an airtight container.

Use as such or top with desired cream - buttercream, ganache, or whipped cream, and serve.

I have made these cupcakes (in pic above) decked with choco chips and tuitty fruity.


Notes:

This recipe can be used to bake an 8-inch cake. Baking time would be 30 to 35 minutes at 180 degrees C.

You can replace oil with butter to make it richer.

Maida can be replaced with whole wheat flour in whole or partially. Other options would be to use ragi flour, millet flour, or any nut flour but only half the quantity of maida can be replaced with these types of flours.

Variations you can make with this base recipe are chocolate, orange, lemon, fruit and nut, chocochip etc. I leave the rest to your creative ideas and imaginations.

Add different essences to make those particular flavors viz., pineapple essence to make pineapple cupcakes. Add about a handful of chopped nuts, tuitty fruity, chocochips to the batter to make those slight little variations and make them kid friendly.

To make chocolate cupcakes, take off 2 tbsp of maida and replace with 2 tbsp of cocoa powder and proceed as above.

Happy Baking!!

Lemon Curd

When I had some egg yolks left with me after using the egg whites for the meringue based recipes viz., swiss meringue buttercream, italian meringue buttercream, meringue kisses and the like, it just struck to do the easy and simple yet delicious lemon curd.

Lemon curd is a thick, smooth, velvety, silky, sweet n citrusy cream that is commonly used as fillings in tarts, chocolates, pies, cakes and also mousse or cheesecakes (if thinking out of the box, so many other desserts too).

Ingredients:

Egg Yolks - 4
Sugar - 120 gm
Butter - 60 gm
Lemon Zest - 1 tsp
Lemon Juice of 1 lemon


Method:

Add the yolks in a heavy bottomed sauce pan and add the sugar and whisk continuously until it has thickened.

Add the butter and heat on low flame until it melts well.

Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and keep whisking until it thickens.  This may take around 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove from fire.  If desired to get a very smooth, velvety texture, immediately pour through a fine strainer to avoid lumps.  It becomes thicker as it cools down.

Transfer to a sterilized jar and cover immediately so as to avoid forming of skin on top.

Keep refrigerated.  It stays good for up to a week.

Use the lemon curd as a spread on sandwiches, infused with buttercream or whipping cream as fillings in cakes or can be used as such too for filling in cakes, make mousse layers, use in creamcheese cakes, pie or tart fillings and so on...your ideas are endless to use this creamy lemon curd.

I used this lemon curd as a filling along with non-dairy vanilla whipped cream in a 6-inch tall chocolate sponge drip fresh cream pastry cake and the taste was really very amazing.  Do give a try.



Notes:

You can make it lighter by adding around half a cup of heavy cream and whipping it up.

Lemon juice and lemon zest can be replaced with orange juice and zest to get orange curd.


Recipe credits: Fondbites 

Eggless Christmas Fruit Cake/Plum Cake with Wheat Flour

My ever favorite plum cake is now a bit healthier with the substitution of maida with wheat flour in part, though you can give a full substitution.  I tried this recipe with both full and part substitutions and they are the best in any form.

Also, this cake is egg free too.  If by any reason, you would like to avoid eggs, be it social reasons, allergic to eggs, personal preferences, and more, this recipe comes handy and very easy peasy too with all ingredients on hand.

And one more thing making it really easy is we don't need the caramel syrup done.  I don't know about you all, but I am a bit stressed out preparing the caramel syrup in its right color and consistency.  Now, that step is also not there, so really a hassle-free recipe.

Here goes the recipe for this "no egg, no caramel syrup and no or less maida" plum cake.


Ingredients:

Wheat Flour - 3/4 cup
Maida - 1/2 cup
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1 pinch
Brown Sugar - 1 cup
Butter - 85 gm
Curd/Yoghurt - 1/2 cup
Hot Milk - 1/4 cup
Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp
Soaked Dry Fruits - 1 cup
Spice Powder - 2 tsp

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees for 10 minutes.

Line the base and sides of an 8-inch baking pan with greaseproof (butter/parchment) paper.

Sift the wheat flour, maida, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.

In a bowl, combine softened butter and brown sugar using a hand whisk until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla essence, whisked curd/yoghurt, and the hot milk and mix.  At this stage, the batter will look curdled and that's the right way, do not panic.

Mix together the sifted flour, spice powder, and the soaked and drained dry fruits.  Add this to the whisked batter and combine with a spatula until well incorporated.

Pour the batter in the prepared baking tin and bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes at 170 degrees C. 

Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool on a wire rack.  When warm, pour about a tablespoon of homemade wine or white rum all over the cake and allow to cool.  Wrap the cake with a cling film and store in an airtight container.

If desired, drizzle daily or on alternative days with about a tablespoon of wine or alcohol until use to make it a boozy, rich plum cake.

Homemade Tutti Fruiti - Candied Papaya

Tutti Fruiti are colorful and cute little jewels that adorn your dessert, be it cakes, cookies, breads or buns.  When I got hold of 2 raw papayas from my mom's place, I just couldn't think of making anything else other than these as I had exhausted making all other recipes using them viz., raw papaya dosa, raw papaya muffins, stuffed chappathis with raw papaya filling, kootu, etc.  With the holiday season around, I felt this was the best time to make these beauties using the raw papaya though ideally the tutti fruiti is made of different candied fruits.  Here, I have made tutti fruiti with raw papaya.  You can also name it aptly as candied papaya.

I have stored them safe to be used in my Christmas fruit cakes for this season which I am a die-hard fan of.

Raw papaya is good for health in that it has a lot of nutrients and minerals though the color and sugar content may to a certain extent not support the health factor.  Yet, the basic goodness of the raw green papaya remains.  Even I was skeptical about it earlier, but then when I had my hands on making them, was more than satisfied that health bhi and attractive bhi...

Let's try our hands on this recipe now.

Ingredients:

Raw Papaya - 2 (medium sized)

Sugar - 3 cups

Vanilla Essence - 1/2 tsp

Edible Gel/Liquid Colors - Few drops

Water - 5 cups


Method:

Wash and peel skin of the raw papaya.  Chop and remove seeds and the center white part of the papaya.  Finely chop the cleaned papaya into small cubes.  This gave 4 cups of chopped raw papaya.

In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat 3 cups of water.  Once it starts boiling, add the chopped raw papaya and allow to cook for 3 minutes exactly on the clock on low-medium flame.  Switch off the stove and remove the pan from the heat.  Let the papaya remain in the same hot water for 5 minutes more.  Strain the blanched papaya pieces and keep aside.  This would measure about 3 cups.

In another pan, heat 2 to 2-1/2 cups of water and add 3 cups of sugar to it.  Once the sugar melts completely, add the blanched and strained papaya cubes to the sugar syrup.  Cook on low-medium flame for about 15-20 minutes until the sugar syrup becomes sticky and is of a thin one-string consistency.  Switch off the stove and remove the pan.

Add vanilla essence to the contents of the pan and stir.

Divide the contents into separate bowls according to the number of colors needed for the tutti fruiti.  I made 5 colored tutti frutti - yellow, orange, red, pink, and green; so I divided into 5 bowls.  You can divide into 3 or more as desired.

Add a drop of the edible gel color in each bowl and mix well.  Keep aside for 12-15 hours or at least overnight.

After 12-15 hours, take out the papaya pieces from the colored sugar syrup and strain completely.  I then transferred to a bowl with a small plate placed half way through so that the excess syrup would drain out and collect at the bottom,  repeating the same for all other colored batches.  Keep aside for about an hour.

Spread those strained papaya cubes on a wire net placed on top of a plate and allow to dry until the stickiness is totally absorbed.  At this stage, you can leave it at room temperature or under a fan to dry completely for about 2 to 3 hours.

Store each colored tutti fruiti in separate airtight containers.  Alternatively, you can mix all the colored tutti fruiti and store in an airtight container until use.

These colorful tutti fruiti pieces can be used in cakes, cookies, dilkush (coconut bun), christmas fruit cake etc.

For a longer shelf life, store the container in fridge.



Notes:

I used Americolor gel colors to color the tutti fruiti.  Liquid or powder colors can also be added.

It is optional to colored the candied papaya cubes but coloring them is an attraction.

Do not overcook the papaya cubes in the sugar syrup, else they turn very soft and do not retain the slight crunchiness that normally has to be.

Adjust sugar up to 1/2 cup less or more according to the sweetness you desire.

Caramel Popcorn (Baked)

My love for popcorns is too big that I grab a packet of it wherever I go and my mouth keeps busy munching on them.  If not available anywhere around, I just pop them up at home whenever I just get the thought of it.  And I, in general, am a sweet-toothed person and love to munch on something crisp too.  Caramel popcorns just popped up in my mind.  I have not had a chance to taste them all these days (as not very commonly available at my place) though have heard many a times of them.  Just in the right moment, this recipe came to my eye and I just immediately worked on it.  Success at the first trial as it is an easy, peasy and fail proof recipe.  With a large bowl of it in your hands, anyone just can't resist munching on them these little caramelly delicacies.  Crunchy munchy go....

Here goes the recipe of making these little golden munchies...


Ingredients:

Popcorn Seeds (kernels) - 1/2 cup

Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp

Butter - 1/4 cup

Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup

Corn Syrup - 3 tbsp (or half of an 1/3 cup)

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/8 tsp (a big pinch)


Procedure:

In a pressure pan, heat coconut oil and add the popcorn seeds.  Close with the lid (without vent on).  Keep the stove on medium flame.  Shake the pan once in between to help uniform popping up of the seeds and there are not much seeds left out without popping.  Once no more popping up sound is heard, switch off the flame immediately.  Open the lid and transfer the popcorn to a large bowl.  This would be equal to about 6 cups of popped up corn.

Preheat the oven at 150 degrees for 10 minutes.

Line a baking tray with butter paper or silicon mat and grease with butter generously.

In a saucepan, add butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup.  Heat on a high flame and stir until the butter melts and everything comes together.

Reduce the flame to low and let it be undisturbed (do not stir) for 5 minutes exactly.

Switch off the flame and add baking soda.  It will bubble up, so carefully stir with an wooden spatula.

Now, pour this caramel syrup all over the popcorn making sure each popcorn is coated with the syrup.  Use a wooden spatula to stir up uniformly.

Spread the caramel coated popcorn on the prepared baking tray evenly.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes at 150 degrees.  After every 5 minutes, remove the tray from the oven and toss the popcorn with a wooden spatula.  Continue to bake till the set time of 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow the tray to cool completely on a wire rack.  Break the baked caramel popcorn with your hands and store in an airtight container.  This stays good for about a week at room temperature.

Crunchy, caramelly baked popcorn is a sure treat to munch on.

I packed them in small containers for a bake sale here and it was a sure hit around.


Notes:

I used coconut oil to pop out the popcorn seeds.  You can use any vegetable oil or butter alternatively.

If brown sugar is not at an easy reach, you can very well substitute it with the regular white sugar.


For want of time for the bake sale, I requested the local popcorn maker (a friend of mine) to supply me with plain popcorns and I worked on the caramelizing and baking portions.  You can try both ways as you feel convenient. 

Festive Floral Cookies

Recently, I had baked a Captain America Shield Theme fresh cream pastry cake.  In a spree to get the right colors of the whipped cream to be used for decorating the cake, I ended up with loads of bright red colored and blue colored whipped cream left over after decorating the cake.  Normally, whipped cream is used to make mousse, cream cheese cakes, dessert jars etc. apart from cake decorating.  I wanted to do something else other than these with the leftover whipped cream and found this recipe of whipped cream cookies on the internet shared by Mrs. Rajeswari Ganesh.  Also, at the same time, a contest had been announced for the festive season in one of the home bakers groups on Facebook in which I participated.   I chose do a simple rangoli style arrangement of floral theme with these cookies and was pretty happy with the outcome.

Here goes the recipe of the Whipped Cream Cookies.


Ingredients:

Whipped Cream - 120 gm

Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup

Almond Essence - 1/4 tsp

Unsalted Butter - 40 gm

Coarsely Powdered Nuts (Cashew, Almonds, Pistachios) - 1/4 cup

All Purpose Flour - 1½ cups

Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 pinch

Chopped Nuts and Saffron Strands - To decorate

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees for 10 minutes.

Sieve together well all-purpose flour and baking powder.  Keep aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat whipped cream and icing sugar until well combined.

Add the essence and the coarsely powdered nuts to this and mix well with a spatula.

Add the butter and beat at medium speed.

Finally, add the sifted flour and mix to form a cookie dough.  Add butter if necessary to get the right consistency of the dough.  Do not use milk or water.  Only butter is to be used to get the dough consistency to be of mashed potatoes.

Smear ghee or butter in your hands and roll small balls of the dough to form a flower shape.  Decorate with chopped nuts and saffron if desired.

Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until the sides turn light brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.  It will be soft when hot and perfect when cooled.

Store in an airtight container until use.

I had used the colored whipped cream for this recipe and hence got bright red and blue colored cookies in floral shapes.  To color the whipped cream, I have used Americolor Red gel color and blue gel color.  These cookies can be done without the color effect and will appear light colored when white whipped cream is used.

To make fresh whipped cream, scoop out 1 cup of frozen non-diary whipping cream stored in the freezer and place in a bowl in the fridge for about 1 to 2 hours.  When it turns to a thick liquid consistency (some frozen chunks can also be there), transfer to a mixing bowl.  Whisk with an electric beater at medium speed for a minute and then increase to high speed and beat until soft peaks.  This may take around 5 minutes or more.   Transfer the whipped cream to an airtight container and store in fridge until use.  The mixing bowl and the beaters/whisk should be chilled prior to whipping up the cream.  An ice bath can also be used by keeping a big bowl of ice cubes underneath the mixing bowl while whipping up the cream.



This is the cake I had done on the Captain America Shield Theme.

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