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!!

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.

Watch out for more of my works on my Facebook page Kriyaetions.

Paalada Payasam Cupcakes (Eggless)

Paalada Payasam, also fondly called as ada pradhaman, is an all-time favorite for Keralites all over the world.  It is a rich dessert made with either homemade or readily available rice ada (flakes), milk, and sugar.  This pradhaman adorns the sadhya (a special meal) in weddings, parties, or festive occasions of Onam, Vishu, etc.  The process of making it is simple though takes around 1 to 2 hours to get a thick creamy payasam/pradhaman.  Nowadays, these payasams are readily available at stores or can be made to order through caterers too.

My family has a great craze for this ada pradhaman and we grab every chance of relishing this dessert whenever available - at weddings or parties we attend, at exhibitions, etc.   The "Top in Town" palada payasam is very famous in my place and is really very tasty; just forget the calories it holds.

Though we are die-hard fans of the palaada payasam, when it is in excess and cannot be had any more, I had to think of other ways to use it up.  What struck my mind was why not try incorporating them in cupcakes and it was a success at the first attempt itself.  Here, I have used the Indian traditional flavors of cardamom and nutmeg in the cupcake batter as well as the buttercream to give it a traditional festive touch.  It is an egg free recipe too just in case you would want to avoid eggs for any reason, be it festive time, personal preferences, allergy issues, religious reasons, etc.  

This paalada payasam cupcake is very moist and soft with small specks of freshly ground cardamom and nutmeg glowing here and there.  Vanilla extract can also be added to enhance the flavor of the cupcake.  I tried using both and they were good to taste equally.  Also, you can serve this cupcake as such or frosted with buttercream or any frosting of your choice like white chocolate ganache or whipped cream or cardamom infused mousse.  Scooping out a tiny portion in the top center of the cupcake and filling it with paalada payasam and then frosting over gives a really special taste to the entire dessert.  Give it a try the way you wish to.  Of course, you all would have your own special ideas too.

The payasam or pradhaman to be used in this recipe should be a really thick and creamy one.  Either homemade or store bought payasam can be used to make these cupcakes.

Here goes the easy peasy recipe of making these cute little Paalada Payasam Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter - 2 tbsp
Powdered Sugar - 2 tbsp
Paalada Payasam - 200 gm
Cardamom (Elaichi) Powder - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg Powder - 1 pinch 
All Purpose Flour - 100 gm
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - A pinch
Aerated Water/Drinking Soda - 100 mL (1/2 cup)


Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.

Line the cupcake moulds with paper liners.

Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Keep aside.

In a bowl, whip butter for a minute until soft.  Add sugar and whip again for a minute until creamy.

Now, add the thick paalada payasam and whisk for about a minute or so until incorporated well.  Add the cardamom and nutmeg powders and whisk gently.

Then, add one-third of the sifted flour and whisk gently.  Now, add the half of the drinking soda and mix.  Add the flour and soda alternately until they are fully used up.  Whisk the batter gently until all the ingredients are incorporated well together.  Do not over mix.

Fill this batter in the cupcake molds until two-thirds level giving enough space for the cupcake to rise while baking.

Bake them at 180 degrees C in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.  Do not over bake, else the cupcake will sink in the center.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container once cool or just grab one and test the taste.

I decorated these cupcakes with cardamom flavored buttercream frosting.



For Buttercream Frosting:

Unsalted Butter - 80 gm
Table Butter (Salted) - 20 gm
Icing Sugar - 200 gm
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1 to 2 tbsp

Soak cardamom powder in warm milk for 10 minutes and allow to infuse the flavor in the milk.  After 10 minutes, strain the soaked milk and allow to cool.  Keep aside.

In a bowl, add both the butters and beat for 2 to 3 minutes on high speed of an electric beater until soft.

Add icing sugar 4 tbsp at a time and beat on high speed for 2 minutes on each addition until all the icing sugar is used up.  Again, beat for 5 minutes until semi-stiff peaks are achieved.  Add more icing sugar if needed to get peaks.

Now, add the cardamom infused milk to the buttercream and whip well to get peaks again.

Chill the buttercream until use.


To Assemble:

Scoop out a tiny portion of the cupcake in the top center of the cupcake.

Fill the cavity with a teaspoon or more of the Paalada Payasam and close the cavity with the scooped cake bit.

In a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, fill the prepared buttercream and pipe a rosette over the filled cupcake.

Decorate with sprinkles of your choice or drizzle with payasam over it.

Delicious Paalada Payasam Cupcakes will lure you to grab one and relish, and you cannot stop with one, I bet.

They stay good for 2-3 days if stored in fridge.  Remember to keep them out of the fridge at least half an hour before serving them.

Notes:

Use thick and creamy Paalada Payasam/Pradhaman for this recipe.  Freshly made or left over payasam can be used.

Vanilla extract or any other flavor of your choice can be added.

Any other creamy and thick payasam can be used viz., semiya payasam, phirni, basundhi, etc. can be replaced for the Paalada Payasam to make these little treats.  Jaggery based or coconut milk based payasams can also be used but the most important point to be noted is they are to be thick in consistency like condensed milk.

Eggless Rich Fruit (Plum) Cake

Come winter season and traditional cakes are flooded in everywhere around.  I remember even now the craving I had for the plum cakes right from my childhood.  I think the dry fruits and nuts and the special aroma and flavor of the authentic plum cake gave me the craving for it over other cakes in spite of they being iced and decorated and attractive.  The taste lingers as yet whenever I get the thought of the words "plum cake" itself.  Being so fond of it, I tried my hands on it this time.  I got a great insight on the traditional and authentic method of doing it by researching about it on the internet and from old traditional recipe books and found out a foolproof recipe that worked out best for me.  On a special request from a TamBrahm friend for an eggless version, I did this for her specially.  

This cake is an eggless cake and also nonalcoholic in that I have used homemade grape wine (the recipe of which I will share soon).  If using alcohol, we can use either rum or brandy for soaking the dry fruits and also boozing the cake.  Fresh fruit juices like orange juice and grape juice can also be used to soak the fruits but they need to be stored in fridge and should be soaked only for a day or overnight and used to bake the cake.

Dried fruits and nuts are of your choice.  Prunes, candied strawberries, apricots, pistachios, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans are of some of the options that can be added.

Ingredients:

Butter - 100 gm

Granulated Sugar - 75 gm (1/2 cup)

Warm Water - 50 mL (1/3 cup)

Maida - 200 gm (2 cups)

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp

Spice Powder - 1 tsp 

Soaked Dry Fruits - 150 gm (1-1/2 cups)

Aerated Soda - 150 mL

Condensed Milk - 400 gm (1 tin)

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

2.  Grease and dust with maida an 8 inch round cake tin.  Take a wet towel and tie around the tin or pin both ends of the towel together around the tin.  This wet towel method helps in even baking on the sides and the center of the cake when baked for longer time.  

3.  Heat sugar in a pan until it melts and becomes brown and then a little darker.  Be careful not to burn too much.  If it becomes too dark, the syrup will be bitter and have to be discarded and have to start over again.  It would be better to be alert at this stage.

4.  Add warm water to the dark browned sugar solution and allow to boil in medium flame for 2 to 3 minutes until it becomes slightly thicker.  This is caramel syrup.  Allow to cool.  Keep aside until use.  The darker the caramel syrup, the darker and richer will be your cake.

5.  Sift together maida, baking powder, baking soda, spice powder, and a pinch of salt.  Mix this to the soaked dried fruits and keep aside until use.

6.  Soften the butter in a pan.  Add the entire condensed milk to this and mix well.

7.  Now, fold in half of the maida-dry fruits mixture to the butter-condensed milk mixture little by little.  Mix in half of the aerated soda followed by half of the caramel syrup.  Repeat this process until all three are fully used.

8.  Pour the batter in the greased cake tin and bake for 1 hour at 170 degrees or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

9.  Remove from the oven and cool for a while.  Loosen the sides of the cake and turn out onto a plate.  Allow to completely cool.  Drizzle about a tablespoon of alcohol/homemade grape wine over the cake and cling wrap until use.  Store in a cool dry place.  If storing for more days, drizzle alcohol/homemade wine every alternative day, say about a teaspoon of wine.  The more the cake ages, the more traditional and authentic taste it gives, but who leaves it till then.

Notes:

1.  Spice Powder - Dry roast 7 cloves, 1 inch cardamom piece, 1 small nutmeg, 1 tsp cake jeera seeds, 1 star anise and powder it.  Store in an airtight container.

2.  Soaked dry fruits -  Roughly chop 25 gm cashewnuts, 25 gm almonds, 50 gm raisins/black currants/sultanas, 25 gm dates, 10 gm figs, 10 gm glazed cherries, 5 gm candied orange peel or candied ginger and soak them in 1/4 cup alcohol/homemade grape(red) wine with a 1-inch cinnamon piece.  Store in an airtight container and mix with a wooden spoon daily for the first week and once every week until use.