Sunday 28 June 2015

Blue velvet cupcakes!!!!

Prep time - 20 min
Cook time - 22 min

Serves - 28 medium sized cupcakes 

Ingredients
1.Unsalted butter- 1/2 cup
2.Sugar-2 cups
3.Blue colour food colouring (gel)-1 T
4.Violet colour food colouring(gel) - 2 drops
5.Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
6.Cocoa powder - 2 T
7.Vanilla essence- 1 T
8.Apple cider vinegar- 1 t
9.Cake flour- 2 1/2 cups
10.Buttermilk- 1 cup
11.Baking powder- 1/2 t
12.Baking soda - 1/2 t
13.Hot espresso - 1/4 cup

Procedure
1.Sieve together the cake flour , baking soda and powder and keep aside.

2.Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy , for about 5 min.Add the eggs one by one and mix until just incorporated.
3.In a separate bowl whisk in the cocoa , hot espresso , the food colourings, vanilla and vinegar until you get a smooth paste . Add this paste to the above mixture.
4.Add in the oil.
5.Add in the cake flour mixture to the above mixture alternating it with buttermilk making sure that you start and end with flour.
6.Pour the batter evenly into the cupcake moulds and bake in a preheated oven at 160 c for 22 min.
7. Frost the cupcakes when cooled. Enjoy :)






Tuesday 2 June 2015

Elvis Presley's favourite pound cake !!



Prep time- 30 min
Cook time-45 min-1 hr 
Serves- 15 

Ingredients
1.Unsalted butter-1 cup
2.All purpose flour-2 2/3 cup minus 1 tbsp
3.Corn starch- 1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp
4.Eggs-7 (large)
5.Sugar-3 cups
6.Salt - 1 tsp
7.Heavy cream - 1 cup
8.Vanilla extract- 1 tbsp

Procedure
1.Sift all the dry ingredients thrice , making sure the mixture doesn't have any lumps.Keep aside.
2.In a large bowl , cream together the butter and sugar till light and fluffy , i.e, for 10 min on high speed.
3.Add the eggs one by one mixing until just incorporated.Add the vanilla.
4.Alternate the cream and the dry ingredients making sure that you start and end with the dry ingredients.
5.Mix for another 1 minute.
6.Pour the batter into a bundt pan and bake in a preheated oven at 150c for 45 min or until the cake turns golden brown.
7.The cake can be stored upto a week.







Upside down banana cake



Prep time - 15 min
Cook time- 35 min
Serves- 8 

Ingredients
For the topping 
1.Bananas - 2 (sliced)
2.Unsalted butter- 1/3 cup(melted)
3.Brown sugar- 3/4 cup

For the cake
1.Banana- 1 (mashed)
2.Vegetable oil- 1/4 cup
3.Egg-1
4.Sugar-1/2 cup
5.Yoghurt-1/3 cup
6.Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
7.All purpose flour-1 cup
8.Baking powder-2 tsp

Procedure
1.In a springform pan , pour in the melted butter (make sure that the sides of the pan are coated with butter too).

2.Sprinkle the sugar over the butter until equally distributed, and place the sliced bananas over the sprinkled sugar. Keep aside.
3.In a separate bowl, beat the oil and sugar until the sugar partially gets dissolved.

4.Then add the egg and vanilla and beat for another 30 sec
5.Add in the banana.

6.Alternate the yoghurt and all purpose flour making sure not to over mix.
7.Finally add in the baking powder and beat for another minute.

8.Pour the mixture into the pan containing the sliced bananas and bake for 35 min in a preheated oven at 180 c .
 

 9.Serve hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream .




Sunday 17 May 2015

Almond cupcakes with vanilla and chocolate buttercream frosting



Prep time-20 min
Cook time- 11 min
Serves- 24 mini cupcakes

Ingredients
1.Almond flour(sifted)-1/2 cup
2.All purpose flour-1/2 cup
3.Unsalted butter-1/4 cup
4.Sugar-1/2 cup
5.Salt-1/2 tsp
6.Buttermilk-1/3 cup
7.Eggs-2
8.Vanilla essence- 1 tsp
9.Baking powder-1/2 tsp
10.Baking soda-1/8 tsp

Procedure
1.Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and keep aside.
2.Cream the butter and sugar and add the eggs one by one and mix well.
3.Add the vanilla.
4.Add the buttermilk and dry ingredients alternating them in 2 batches and mix for 30 sec.
5.Pour the batter into cupcake moulds and bake at 180c for 11 min .
6.Cool the cupcakes before frosting them.



Bundt cake with strawberry glaze



Prep time - 10 min
Cook time 25 min 
Serves- 8 

Ingredients
For the cake
1.All purpose flour-1 cup
2.Eggs-2 
3.Baking powder-1 tsp
4.Unsalted butter-1/2 cup
5.Sugar- 1 cup
6.Buttermilk- 1/2 cup
7.Vanilla essence- 1tsp
8.Full fat cream- 2 tbsp
9.Salt- 3/4 tsp

For the glaze 
1.Strawberry preserve- 6 tbsp
2.Fresh cream- 3 tbsp

Procedure
1.Combine all the dry ingredients and set aside.
2.In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 min.
3.Add in the eggs, one at a time mixing until just incorporated . Add the vanilla.
4.Add the buttermilk to the mixture, alternating with the dry ingredients.
5.Mix for another 30 sec.
6.Pour the batter into a bundt cake pan lined with butter and bake for 25min in a preheated oven at 170c or until the cake leaves the sides of the pan. 
7.While the cake is baking, prepare your glaze by heating the strawberry preserve and cream on a sauce pan for 2 min.
                                                
8.Let the glaze cool before covering the cake with it .

Friday 8 May 2015

Butterscotch cupcakes with swiss meringue buttercream



Prep time - 20 min 
Cook time - 30 min 
Serves - 13 cupcakes 

Ingredients
For the cake 
1.All purpose flour - 1 2/3 cups
2.Brown sugar - 1 cup
3.Eggs-2
4.Baking powder-1/2 tsp
5.Baking soda- 1/4 tsp
6.Unsalted butter- 1/2 cup
7.Salt - 1/2 tsp
8.Yogurt - 1/4 cup
9.Milk- 3/4 cup
10.Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp
11.Vanilla extract- 1 tbsp

For the sauce
1.Brown sugar- 3/4 cup
2.Unsalted butter - 1/4 cup
3.Heavy cream - 3/4 cup
4.Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
5.Salt- 1/2 tsp.

For the buttercream 
1.Egg whites - 8
2.Cream of tartar- 1/2 tsp
3.Granulated sugar- 2 1/2 cups
4.Unsalted butter - 2 cups

Procedure
1.For the butterscotch sauce , place all the ingredients in a sauce pan on medium heat and let the ingredients get heated up without stirring.

                             
      
                                         
2. When it comes to a boil , after about 5 min , stir the mixture until smooth and keep aside .

3. For the cake , start by beating the sugar and melted butter for a minute. Add the eggs.
 



4.Mix all the dry ingredients and keep aside.

5.Add in the oil , vanilla and yogurt and stir the mixture until just incorporated .

6.Add the dry ingredients alternating with wet ingredients and mix for 1 min until you get a smooth texture.

7. Pour the batter evenly into cupcake moulds and bake for 22 min in a preheated oven at 180 c .

8. While the cupcakes are baking , make your buttercream . In a large bowl place the egg whites , cream of tartar , and the sugar and place this bowl over a bowl of boiling water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water) . Heat this mixture until the sugar get completely dissolved .

9.Take the bowl and whisk this mixture on high speed until it cools down, that is for 10 min.

10.When the mixture is completely cooled , add the butter , one cube at a time and mix it properly making sure that you scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time . Add the vanilla.

11. When the cupcakes are cooled , frost them with the buttercream and drizzle them with the butterscotch sauce. Enjoy :)





Saturday 2 May 2015

Pistachio cupcakes topped with chocolate glaze and pistachio nuts :)



Serves - 15 cupcakes
Prep time- 15 min
Cook time - 22 min 

Ingredients
For the cupcake
1.Eggs- 3.
2.Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup.
3.Pistachios (finely ground) - 2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp for topping.
4.Milk- 1/2 cup.
5.Apple cider vinegar (or distilled vinegar)- 1 tsp.
6.All purpose flour- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp.
7.Corn flour- 1 tbsp.
8.Granulated sugar- 1 cup.
9.Vanilla essence - 1 tsp.
10.Baking powder- 1 tsp.
11.Green gel food colouring- 4 drops.
For the glaze
1.Dark chocolate- 100g
2.Fresh cream - 200 ml.

Procedure
1.Mix all the dry ingredients ( flour, corn flour, pistachios,baking powder) and keep aside. Now add the vinegar into the half cup of milk and keep aside.
2.In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, i.e, for 5 min on high speed.
3.Add the eggs one by one and mix until just incorporated.Add the vanilla essence.
4.Alternate the dry ingredients and buttermilk ( milk and vinegar mixture) and mix until well blended.
5.Add the colouring and mix with a spatula.
6. Pour the batter evenly into cupcake moulds and bake at 180 c for 22 min or until the toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cupcake. Cool them on a cooling rack.

7. For the chocolate glaze , melt the cream and chocolate in a microwave for 2 min, stirring every 30seconds.
8.When the glaze is done , holding each cupcake by its bottom, dip the cupcake into the glaze, allowing excess to drip off.
9.Top the cupcakes with the pistachio nuts and enjoy :)