BAKING
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ESPRESSO CHOCOLATE-CHIP CUPCAKES…Comfort with a cuppa coffee!
“Food is the most primitive form of comfort” Sheilah Graham ‘Espresso Comfort’…Coffee & Dark Chocolate Here is where my two most comforting & favourite flavours meet…in these ‘Espresso Chocolate-chip Cupcakes’. Meeta’s Monthly Mingle this month calls for ‘Comfort Foods’ & comes just at the peak of winter, where the winds seem to be getting colder by the day. Temperatures are at lows of almost 2 degrees C here in Gurgaon, & we are chilled to the bone. There was frost on the cars this morning & the kids were fascinated. I made these warming cupcakes today…just to get the better of the cold & with the MM in mind. They…
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COLOURFUL FRUIT KABOBS…Cape gooseberry, Cheddar & Basil
“A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do.” P. J. O’Rourke CAPE GOOSEBERRY APPETIZERS Its winter here in North India & many seasonal fruits are making a welcome appearance. One of them is my favourite, the cape gooseberry, or the ‘rasbharis‘ (meaning filled with juice). These little berries are sweet yet slightly tart, & are sold in bunches. In peak season, you will find cartloads of these lining the roads while driving…a sweet sight indeed. When we were kids, they would come each wrapped in its natural husky brown cover, which we would patiently…
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CHOCOLATE TARTLETS…Mini pastry shells filled with chocolate ganache.
“If you get melted chocolate all over your hands, you’re eating it too slowly.” Author Unknown CHOCOLATE TARTLETS… …Mini pastry tarts filled with a ganache, topped with marzipan. Ever since I’ve seen these mini bites, I’ve been fascinated by the little things & was looking for an opportunity to make them. There’s something very attractive about single sweet morsels because each piece has a ‘complete‘ look . Eventually made them for the daughter’s birthday, & coordinated them to match the colours & look of her ‘YIN YANG Chocolate Cake‘, pictured below. The recipe for the pastry cases / pie shells is from a quaint little book of contemporary recipes called…
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YIN YANG CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH MARZIPAN…My daughter’s birthday cake!
“And Above All…Think Chocolate!” Betty Crocker My daughter’s 12th Birthday Cake..’YIN YANG CHOCOLATE CAKE’ ” The time has come”, the walrus said, “to talk of other things”. These words from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ have been playing in my mind all morning! Hmmmmmm… Time to post my daughter’s 12th birthday cake. Chocolate cake it had to be because of its universal appeal; in addition, the daughter wanted a ‘yin-yang’ on top. DH suggested marzipan. That too was readily agreed upon. Having got direction of some sort from all quarters (the son’s direction was just ‘cake mama’), I painted a picture in my mind. The tough part was to transfer it from…
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WRAP ON 2007…the year that whooshed by!
“We have so much time and so little to do. Strike that, reverse it.”Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory View from my window in 2007… That time of the year again; am racing as usual…still so much to do, and so little done. Even the year has almost come to an end! Huff Puff!! Will make an attempt to get onboard Nupur’s blogevent ‘Best of 2007’ to mark the end of 2007…a chance to do a SWOT on ourselves! I’m not sure I’m good at this, but will give it a shot since I committed. Am still pretty new around here, and have been hooked onto blogland only since…
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MARZIPAN DECORATIONS…made from scratch!
“The preparation of good food is merely another expression of art, one of the joys of civilized living.” Dione Lucas MARZIPAN FROM SCRATCH…stuff to go on top of the cake! It’s time again for our daughter’s birthday, and she turns 12 in January. Every year begins on a note of complete frenzy where there is so much to be done for her birthday party. For the cake this year, DH suggested we make marzipan decorations like we had done for her 9th birthday. The 9th Birthday Cake… That cake was one of our favourites…so we’ve begun the preparations. Thankfully marzipan decorations can be made in advance, so a little of…
