Category: CAKES

Lime Buttermilk Pound Cake

“It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes Happiness.”
Charles Haddon Spurgeo
Here’s a cake that makes me H A P P Y! Every baker worth his salt has a bunch of tried and tested favourite pound cake recipes in their collection. Hopefully I’m worth some salt, and I too hold a few favourites amidst a bunch of well thumbed pages in my oldest hand written book. The one that holds top place is this adaptable one from BHG, but it’s one I bake when I feel b-utterly inclined and especially indulgent … because it uses a cup of good sweet butter. It is rare that I exceed that quantity, but have to say that butter makes the world go round. As Mr PAB would announce, ‘There is but one life, live it up!‘

The other fave that I hold close to my heart is this Lime Buttermilk Pound Cake that I have baked for years. I have baked this for friends and family, and it’s one of the first recipes I offer when  anyone asks me for a simple, yet delicious change from chocolate. I baked one yesterday, and while I drizzled it with glaze, I saw this itsy bitsy spider busy weaving its magical web! Intriguing creatures these!
1
Back to the cake … The crumb is light like air, the taste refreshing and citrusy. The secret lies in the buttermilk that  goes into the batter and makes for a really delicious pound cake. The cake itself isn’t very sweet, but the glaze lends to the final taste. The lemony sugar glaze, lovingly poured over while the cake is still hot asures you of instant love at first bite! It’s a good choice for a picnic basket, for a bake sale, for high tea, for the odd hungry nibble … whichevah!

Yep, this cake is good; one that is great for beginner bakers as it offers a wonderful boost of confidence. It’s also a good choice for veterans because you can put it together in next to no time {and  bonus, you can also tweet as it bakes!}. The slices also offer an apt choice for dessert if you top them with mascarpone or whipped cream, and fresh fruit. Bliss!

I blogged about the cake almost 2 and a half years ago, one of my initial blog posts;  it was a hot fave then too. Making it yesterday, I tweeted about it, and knew I had to post it again especially for Ahn, who impatiently waited for a slice. This one’s for you Ahn. Sorry I didn’t send you a slice yesterday. Each crumb screamed your name!! Sorry it has to be virtual! Sigh …

Lime Buttermilk Pound Cake
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup vanilla or plain sugar
2 eggs
100ml buttermilk {or substitute recipe below}
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Juice of 2 limes {or 1 lemon}
Zest of 2 limes {or 1 lemon}
To make buttermilk substitute at home:
Take 100ml milk at room temp; add 1 tsp white vinegar. Let it stand 5-10 minutes. When it curdles, it’s ready.

Method:
Grease and flour the sides of a 8″ ring tin, or a 6″ round tin. Line the bottom. { I play safe line the sides too}.
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Sift the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt. Reserve.
Cream the butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract, lime juice and zest.
With beater on low add the flour and buttermilk alternately in three lots.
Bake for 50-60 minutes till golden brown on top, and the tester comes out clean.
Meanwhile, make the glaze…
Glaze
Juice of 2-3 limes {as required}
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Method:
Stir in the juice of 2 limes into 1/2 a cup of powdered sugar, and stir till all lumps have dissolved. Add some more powdered sugar if it isn’t as thick as you like it. The glaze should be nice and thick, yet of flowing consistency. Add a little zest if you like.

Finishing off…
Overturn the cake out gently on rack, and remove the lining. Turn it back on another rack, and poke holes with a skewer through it. Pour the glaze evenly over the hot cake, coaxing it all around, letting some drip over the sides. Decorate with sprinkles immediately if you like. {I had some left over royal icing which I drizzled over}.

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Vanilla Chocolate and Chocolate Walnut Eggless Cake … back to the basics

“Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
John Wooden
It’s time for the Daring Bakers and this time I have to say I’m sorry I couldn’t keep a date with the challenge. My kitchen is ‘under attack‘ {read renovation}, and things are still in disarray. What should have been completed last week is yet to be done, dragging on frustratingly. That’s not to say I haven’t managed to sneak in a bake now and then, but I couldn’t manage the chocolate dipping stage etc of the challenge. I did have a LMP {last minute plan} with some clarified butter on hand. Thought I could manage the brown butter pound cake, but bad store-keeping meant that the jar was empty, and my plans fell through. Fate maybe?
I did however set up a personal challenge for myself, something I have always vehemently denied as possible, an EGGLESS CAKE! No es posible has been my standard response to the many mails I have received in the past. A cake sans eggs? You kidding me? How in the world would it get a crumb, find rise, be good to eat etc! Eventually ate my words with this beautiful cake from Sailu’s Kitchen. {Gear up dear readers for a longish post because I tried 2 versions, with butter and with olive oil, and both were wonderful!}
I tread the kitchen floor mildly, in mortal fear that the cake would not be a cake. Never baked one without eggs. The other surprise ingredient was home made yogurt. I set yogurt at home every other day, and bake with it often, but eggs always keep the yogurt company. I watched in childlike fascination when the cake began to rise, rejoicing wildly, thankfully in solitude! Who would be able to understand the sheer joy of an eggless cake rising? I {almost} followed each step religiously, something I don’t often do, but…
… expectedly had a last minute ‘moment of panic‘, and added butter instead of oil to make sure the guinea pigs wouldn’t reject it outright! Oil sans eggs was just not convincing at the time, and I thought the luxury of butter might rescue my cake from rejection. I needn’t have been so skeptical, and the next time I used my stash of Borges olive oil from here. The cake exceeded all expectations! It was moist, it was flavourful, and above all, it was an eggless cake with a beautiful crumb! Beautiful enough to disappear very fast, some stashed away by the daughter for friends who don’t eat eggs, the rest enjoyed on a rainy day!

Eggless Chocolate and Vanilla Cake with Cherries
Adapted minimally from Sailu’s Kitchen
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sieved
1 cup yogurt {home made}
3/4 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted {or oil}
1/2 vanilla bean {optional}
1/2 cup frozen cherries {optional}
1 heaped tbsp cocoa {I used Valrhona}
1 sachet vanilla sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 C for 10 minutes. Grease a 6″ round tin, and line the bottom.
Beat the vanilla sugar, scraped vanilla bean and yogurt for 5 minutes on high speed. Add baking powder and baking soda, beat in on low, and allow to stand for 3 minutes. You will find that bubbles appear.
Beat in the melted butter and vanilla essence. Next, slowly add the flour in 4 lots, blending in well after each addition.
Take 1/3 of the dough in a separate bowl and stir in the cocoa. {You can make just vanilla as well, in which case, omit this step}
Add 1/2 the vanilla batter to the bottom of the tin, smooth it out to spread across the whole surface. Add all the chocolate batter, and smoothen it out too. It might be pretty thick, as mine was. Top with the remaining vanilla batter to make a third layer. Top with frozen cherries if using, and sprinkle over the sachet of vanilla sugar.
Bake at 200C for 10 minutes, reduce temperature to 175C and bake for 40-45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. {Original recipe uses a ring mold I think, and the baking time at 175C was 20-25 minutes. Mine took a lot longer, so test before taking it out of the o}.
Cool the cake for 20-30 minutes and then overturn onto a plate.
Wait for an hour or two before slicing it else it doesn’t slice neatly. {My kids couldn’t wait}. The cake was very good the next day too, and sliced beautifully!

I would suggest the use of a good quality dark cocoa, having recently discovered that it can make a huge difference. I used Valrhona that Shayma from The Spice Spoon sent for me, and after experiencing it’s virtues first hand in this Chocolate Almond Biscotti, I am totally sold on it! I added a scraped vanilla bean to the batter as I love the depth of flavour vanilla offers to baked goods, and some frozen cherries to give the cake a cheerful face-lift. Also a smattering of vanilla sugar on top, just because …

Small piece of advice … make sure you let the cake sit in the tin to cool for 30 minutes before turning it out. Also try and resist the temptation to slice it when warm. We couldn’t of course, but I found later that it sliced beautifully after 3-4 hours, or even the next day as it firmed up. This is a nice basic recipe to have on hand for folk who need an eggless cake for various reasons whether health, allergic, religious etc.
I had to get back to try the oil version soon enough as the Borges bottles on my shelf tempted me yet again. Time for eggless cake version 2, and this time around I enjoyed myself thoroughly, baking in careless abandon, knowing that things would work out well. I made the cake early in the morning, the minute the kids left for school, and then chilled it for a couple of hours after it had cooled down. Moist, deep, chocolaty and to die for! The walnuts scattered on top got nicely toasted, and added to the flavours.
The idea of making an eggless cake, without any compulsions, came to me whenever I looked at PAB’s search results on Lijit. Do you give your stats a second look? I’ve recently started looking at them for direction, inspiration, ideas etc and found several searches for an eggless cake. I was recently inspired from there to make a Mango Vanilla Bavarian Cream Cake. Todays view looks something like this –

Passionate About Baking

You have been searched 1498 times about chocolate sauce pudding, kebabs, strawberry bread, pie, tandoori roti
View your search stats.
… and I can already feel a ‘kebab inspiration‘ coming in!!

The thought of an eggless cake crossed my mind often, but I never did come across a recipe that tempted me out of my ignorance. Until I saw this post. It intrigued me and I looked at it in disbelief … Was it possible that an eggless cake could look so good and picture perfect? I had to give it a go, and am darned glad I did! You will be too if you are looking for a good eggless cake recipe. This was fabulous, and gone in a day between the kids and their friends! Without further ado, here is the 2nd version, using olive oil!

Lesson learnt … ‘Anything is possible, and fear needs to be conquered!’

Eggless Chocolate Walnut Cake
Adapted minimally from Sailu’s Kitchen
1 cup all-purpose flour,
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder {I used Valrhona}
1 cup yogurt {home made}
3/4 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup olive oil {I used Borges from here}
1/2 vanilla bean {optional}
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 sachet vanilla sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 200C. Grease a 6″ round tin, and line the bottom.
Beat the vanilla sugar, scraped vanilla bean and yogurt for 5 minutes on high speed. Add baking powder and baking soda, beat in on low, and allow to stand for 3 minutes. You will find that bubbles appear.
Sift the flour and cocoa 2-3 times. Reserve in bowl.
Beat in the olive oil. Slowly add the flour mix in 3-4 lots, blending in well after each addition.
Sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts, followed by a sprinkling of vanilla sugar from the sachet.
Bake at 200C for 10 minutes, reduce temperature to 175C and bake for 40-45 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. {The original recipe used a ring mold I think, and the baking time at 175C was 20-25 minutes. Mine took a lot longer}.
Cool the cake for 20-30 minutes and then overturn onto a plate.

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Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Chocolate Vanilla Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake … of ice creams & beautiful desserts

“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare;
It is because we do not dare that they are difficult.”
Seneca
The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.
This was a challenge I wasn’t going to do because it had way too many steps for me as my kitchen was going to be under ‘attack’ beginning the month of July. Then again, fate had some other plans for me, and procrastination was out. The night before, i.e. on the 30th of June, I put some peach ice cream in to set because I had bought a load of juicy peaches. When I read the challenge the next morning, I was torn between doing it because I had ice cream ready, and not doing it because there was so much more to the challenge.
Tossing coins – should I, shouldn’t I? Then the daring baker in me won and I got tempted into trying the Swiss rolls even though I knew I was pushing my luck. I thought I would serve a decontructed dessert and took a stab at attempting the challenge. One thing that initially deterred me was the amount of cream in the recipes, but I knew I would find a lighter way out, and I did, pairing low fat cream with stone fruit. I have used cherries, peaches and plums in just about every dessert I could, including the chocolate pavs in the last months challenge. I’m lovin’ it!
I absolutely adore doing Swiss rolls. I find them ever so easy to make … Mango Ice-Cream Swiss Roll, Strawberry Chocolate Swiss Roll, Star Anise Swiss Roll, Red Velvet Swiss Cake are just a few… you can tell I love them! They bake in the express lane, and are the most charming things when you slice them up! I followed Sunita’s recipe and it was great. Once filled with a low fat cream and stone fruit filling, cutting back on many calories, I loved the rustic look they had. BLISS … I love being a Daring Baker! Being one just makes me want to push my limits, inspiring me to achieve beyond the odds. The pairing of the vanilla and chocolate rolls with the low fat and stone fruit filling was outstanding!
The peach ice cream was a big batch! I knew it would be good enough for the whole filling, with still some left over. Insanely enough, I hypnotized myself into making a small batch of chocolate ice cream too just because I needed egg whites to try making macarons! The recipe is one I made on the go, based on the method for a custard or pastry cream, and that seemingly was the most luxurious part of the dessert. The kids love the deep, dark chocolate flavours it offered, right in the heart of the cake!
The whole process was a challenge given that we were in the peak pf summer in North India at 40C + temperatures, but it all came together well and was a joy to make. It was tad bit involved though, and we enjoyed each part more individually as compared to altogether! A lot of flavour and a lot of colour … and a lot of work! Yet, the experience was wonderful and gave me many ideas for similar desserts, maybe not frozen!
Do stop by here and check out the BOMBES that the other Daring Bakers have rolled out!

Thank you Sunita for this exciting challenge. It was very engaging and a bombe to make! I was over the moon when I demolded the cake and it came out so easily! Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!!

Chocolate & Vanilla Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake with Stone Fruit
Recipe source– Inspired by the Swiss swirl ice cream cake from the Taste of Home website
Peach Low Fat Ice Cream
{My recipe. This makes double the amount you need for the ice-cream cake}
1 kg peaches, peeled, stoned and pureed
1/2 – 3/4 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 cup hung yogurt
400ml low fat cream
1 tbsp vodka {optional}
1 tsp almond extract

Method:

Whisk all the ingredients together with an immersion blender or in a food processor until well mixed. {Check and adjust the sweetness}
Freeze the mixture in a wide dish or plastic container. {The larger the surface area, quicker the freezing – since we have to pulse this mixture a couple of times}…or follow the instructions of your ice cream maker.
Keep checking on the mixture every 30 minutes or so and use the stick blender to break the icicles, 4, maybe 5 times. (I used a sturdy whisk).
Chocolate Ice Cream
{My recipe}
100ml low fat cream
1 cup milk
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean scraped
4 tbsp cocoa powder
50gms dark chocolate, broken
Put the cream, 1/2 cup milk, sugar, cocoa and scraped vanilla bean on simmer. Heat till small bubbles begin to rise on the sides.
Pour this over the yolks in a bowl, off the heat, whisking continuously.
Pour the yolk mixture back into the pan, whisk in the remaining milk, and cook on low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard coats the back of the spoon. Take off heat, strain into a heatproof bowl, add the dark chocolate and mix till it melts.

Cool over an ice bath, and then freeze

Swiss Roll 1
Ingredients
3 medium sized eggs
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
3 tbsp plain flour + 2.5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
1 tbsp of boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans
Swiss Roll 2
3 medium sized eggs
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
5 1/2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans
Method

Preheat the oven at 200C. Brush the baking pans {11 inches by 9 inches} with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water. Spread the batter out evenly into the prepared pan, guiding it gently into the corners of the pans.
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
Meanwhile, spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.
Repeat the same method for the 2nd Swiss roll.

Filling
200ml low fat cream, chilled
3-4tbsps granulated sugar powdered with 1/2 a vanilla bean
5 medium peaches, peeled and chopped fine
1/2 cup sweet cherries, pitted and chopped fine
Juice of 1/2 lime
Method:

Whisk the chilled cream and vanilla sugar with a balloon whisk. Fold in the chopped fruit quickly and gently, so the cream doesn’t lose volume.
Divide it into 2, and use as filling between the completely cooled cakes
Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges {a border of ½ an inch should be fine}.
Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down. {I froze them for easy slicing as it was extremely hot here, about 42C}

Assembly
Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices, approximately 2 cms each.
Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.

Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm {at least 30 minutes}.
Soften 1/3 of the peach ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm {at least 1 hour}.
Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the peach ice cream. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze till firm, at least an hour.
Soften another 1/3 of the peach ice cream and cover the chocolate ice cream, making this the last layer. {Some peach ice cream will be left over}. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze till firm, for at least 4-5 hours till completely set.

To Serve

Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.
Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

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Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Mango Vanilla Bavarian Cream Cake … and a FOOT for MacTweets!

“Through flour, sugar, butter and eggs, you’ve created the best recipe ever – friendship!“
Janet @ LaDue & Crew

Yes, still summer here, with the rains that came and went, leaving us in a puddle of hot and humid misery. Not the perfect weather for macs, but then again, it was the finding my feet time of the month. Needless to say, they proved elusive again. The theme Jamie and I picked at MacTweets was ‘SING, SING A SONG‘, asking you to cook up something special, something toe-tapping, sing-along good! Sing I did, and the numbers being belted out in my mind were wide ranging. Primary of course the theme song from Friends, “I’ll Be There For You” which I was going to dedicate my macs to… had they found feet.

It’s like you’re always stuck in second gear
When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month, or even your year
But … I’ll be there for you (when the rain starts to pour)
I’ll be there for you (like I’ve been there before)
I’ll be there for you (because you’re there for me too)

To Bina who mailed me egg white powder from the States, to Ednah {Janet} who posted the cutest friends card for me, Johnny Depp and all, {a joke we share on twitter at the laundry club}, to Jamie who is the spirit behind my macs, to Ken who inspired the yellow, to Mardi my partner in humid conditions failed macs, to Barbara who’s become a mac-pro …

… and to all the gang at MacTweets for the inspired ‘feet‘ month after month! Thanks for joining Jamie and me at the ‘attack‘!

Songs have always been part of my life. The medley that the juke box plays in my head these days includes Waka Waka, Don’t Cry For Me Argentina, Wind Beneath My Wings, Walk of Life, Hey Soul Sister, The Day I Died, Fast Cars, Hey There Delilah. Then Jamie mentioned Cat Stevens and Leonard Cohen; she had me nodding. Add to that Dire Straits, Eagles, Van Morrison, Beegees, Barbara Streisand, Eric Clapton … the list is endless, like failed feet sagas! So well, in my little world, I had many ugly feetless macarons, and one kind of respectable ‘foot’, but they were all delicious. So here, like Cinderellas glass slipper, is my vanilla macaron with a white chocolate ganache cushioned on this Mango Vanilla Bavarian Cream Cake that I made for my Dad’s birthday. The idea was to have a whole bunch of them adorning the cake. Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be …
My Dad is as fruit obsessed as I am, though the choice of fruit differs. Summer means only mangoes for him, and though he doesn’t enjoy eating them, he is obsessed with buying kilos of them every other day. I know if the phone rings in the morning, it’s him on the other end, asking me to drive by and collect a bag of mangoes! I am mad about peaches and cherries, and it now appears that I inherited the fruit obsession from him!
So he called the other day, excitedly to tell me that a new local variety of mango, ‘langda’, that hit the market, and he had bought me some! I don’t even bother buying them now because he has a keen eye for the well ripened good varieties, and always delivers the best! Since it was his birthday in 2 days, and me being the official cake baker at home, I knew just what I wanted to bake! – A Bavarian Cream Cake with mangoes, inspired by this Raspberry Rose Vanilla Bavarian Cream Cake I had seen ages ago on Tartlette.
Baking the sponge is a cake walk {unlike making macs, sigh}, because there’s very little to the recipe. Use your favourite light sponge recipe, or use this one which I used for making ladies fingers in this Tiramisu here. I was going to make the cake in a jelly roll pan, and then decided to pipe it out since the piping bag for a macaron attempt was lying right there. The secret to a good sponge is to beat it well, and then try and retain as much beaten air as possible while folding in the flour. The measures for a 3egg sponge are in my head as I use the same recipe for making a Swiss roll often … 3 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour!
The Bavarian cream is a little time consuming, but I think that’s because I don’t make it often enough. I’ve just made it twice in the past – in this Peaches and Cream Cake  and this Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake. One vanilla bean would do fine in there to dispel off any eggy smells in the pastry cream, but I used 2 because I wanted a deeper vanilla flavour. Also, I have enough vanilla beans on hand,and love using them! I used low fat cream because we don’t get heavy cream here.I halved Helen’s recipe for the Bavarian cream, and used a combination of skimmed milk and low fat cream. You can make this cake with peaches, strawberries or raspberries too. Mango is in season now, so here we are… 

Mango Vanilla Bavarian Cream Cake
Adapted from Tartlette

2 sponge bases
1 quantity Bavarian cream
1 quantity lime syrup
3 medium mangoes, diced into cubes

 For the sponge

3 large eggs separated 
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 sachet vanilla sugar 

Method:
Whip the yolks with 1/4 cup sugar till pale and creamy. Add the vanilla extract and beat again.
Sift the flour over the beaten yolks and leave.
wash the beaters clean, whip the whites with the salt to soft peaks, add sugar and whip to a stiff meringue.
Fold the whites into the yolks and flour in 3 goes. Do this gently so as not to lose volume. Divide it into half and bake in 2 parchment paper lined 8″ shallow baking tins, or pipe into 2 9″ circles drawn on parchment paper. The bases will be very thin. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar
Bake for 12-15 minutes till golden brown and spongy.
Peel off paper, and cool completely on racks.

For the Vanilla Bavarian Cream
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 vanilla beans {One bean will do too. I wanted a DEEP vanilla flavour}
1 1/4 tablespoons powdered gelatin, sprinkled over 3 tbsps water {Can reduce to 1 tbsp in cool weather}
600ml low fat cream {25% fat}

Method:
In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until very pale.
In the meantime, in a large saucepan set over medium heat, bring the milk, 200ml cream and the vanilla bean {split open and scraped over the milk} to a boil. Slowly pour the milk over the yolks, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan over medium low heat and cook until the cream coats the back of a spoon {as if making creme anglaise}. 
Remove the vanilla bean. Add the softened gelatin and stir until melted completely into the cream. Let cool to room temperature, or cool over an ice bath, stirring from time to time, till it just begins to set.
Whip the cream to soft peaks and fold it into the cooled cream base. Use immediately.
Lime Syrup:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
Juice of 1 lime
Method:
Put all ingredients in pan over medium heat and stir till melted. Remove and cool.
To Assemble:
Trim both the sponges to an 8″ diameter {The idea is basically to fit snugly into the dessert ring, or Spring-form tin ring that you plan to use. It has to hold the Bavarian cream in place till it sets, else it will ooze out.}
Place the dessert ring on a serving platter, add one sponge base and brush with lime syrup. Top with the cooled Bavarian cream. Add the diced mango pieces uniformly over the Bavarian, and top with the second layer of sponge, keeping the vanilla sugar side facing up. Press down gently, cover the ring with cling-wrap, and chill for 6-8 hours, or better overnight.
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Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Swiss Black Forest Cake … whipping up low fat cream into submission!

“Bakers are born, not made. We are exacting people who delight in submitting ourselves to rules and formulas if it means achieving repeatable perfection”
Rose Levy Beranbaum
Was missing from bloggerville for a while as we took the kids for a vacation to a charming town called Gangtok tucked away in the Himalayas in the North East of India. It was a 2 hour flight from New Delhi, and then a 5 hour bumpy car ride to the resort. From there, I thought I would tweet and blog a bit, but surprise surprise … we had no connectivity there! It was a surreal feeling in some ways not to be able to keep in touch with the external world. In my free time I experienced twitter cravings, FBC withdrawal symptoms etc and at times felt I had disappeared into oblivion. Thankfully there was loads to do there, so these feelings were pretty short-lived!

Time to return after a good 6 day break in the beautiful Himalayan hills, and we landed on the eve of the lad’s birthday! Didn’t know what hit me as I faced his extreme birthday excitement, piles of laundry, the feeling of extreme food disconnect, and the panic that in 6 days I might have forgotten how to cook & bake! I was mighty relieved that I had baked the basic sponge for his birthday cake and frozen it before we left. Phew!!

Crept out early the next morning, while the rest of the family luxuriously snoozed in dreamland, cursing my luck, but the cake had to be assembled, and that too in soaring temperatures! Yes indeed, we were back into summer. From a cool 15C in the hills, we landed the night before at 39C The day highs here are back to 42-44C. The impending task of frosting a cake in such smoldering conditions was not exactly appealing, but I was  determined to stick to my choice of Swiss Black Forest Cake. The upside was that almost all parts of the cake can be made in advance, so assembling it is a breeze! In retrospect, it was the best Black Forest Cake we’ve ever had! Am still ruing the fact that it disappeared rather too quickly!


Rose Beranbaums version of the Black Forest Cake, a German Classic, was inspired by Confiserie Tschirren in Berne, Switzerland. They brought the recipe from Germany after World War II, and it has since become the national cake of Switzerland. In her words, the Swiss version is far lighter and more delicate than the original German one, which also includes buttercream.

My version of the cake is one which is quite popular in bakeries and patisseries all across India. I think it’s referred often as the Black Forest Gateau here, and is made with whipped cream and canned cherries. I took advantage of fresh cherry season, and loved the way the cake came together. The crumb was light and very moist, the filling luxurious and the flavours outstanding. Mr PABs verdict … the best BFC he’s ever had!

A very sweet reader of my blog, Zareena from the UAE sent me this beautiful book a short while ago. I used The Cake Bible last month to make these Cherry and Matcha Cheesecake Pots. I waited impatiently for the son’s birthday to arrive so I could bake a cake from it. On the cover it says, “If you ever bake a cake, this book will become your partner in the kitchen”! Words that ring true for me! I am also happy to blog about this because I get a large number of requests from home bakers especially in India for a BFC recipe, and even more queries for whipping up low fat cream. Our basic problem in India is that we get just one sort of cream here, a 25% low fat cream {Amul}, and in warm weather, it almost never gets whipped up. I was thrilled to read how Rose Beranbaum found a way to get the butterfat back into the cream. To quote her, “I am both abashed and delighted to announce that it is the very soul of simplicity“… music to my ears!!

Swiss Black Forest Cake
Minimally adapted from The Cake Bible, Rose Beranbaum
Serves 12-15
2 moist chocolate genoise cakes {recipe follows}
500gms cherries {fresh, frozen or canned}
1 cup syrup {recipe follows}
1 portion Real Old Fashioned Whipped Vanilla Cream {recipe follows}
Fresh cherries, grated dark chocolate and chocolate flakes for garnishing

Moist Chocolate Genoise
Adapted minimally from The Cake Bible, Rose Beranbaum
230gms dark chocolate
3/4 cup water
8 eggs
1 cup vanilla sugar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornflour

Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare 2 9 x 2″ spring form cake tins – greased, bottoms lined with baking parchment, greased and floured again.
Sift the flours. Reserve.
In a large pan, bring the chocolate and the water to boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until the chocolate thickens to a pudding like consistency. {The original recipe has 1 cup of water, but I found it way too much and the chocolate took forever to thicken}. Cool completely.
Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl on high speed till tripled in volume, about 7-10 minutes. {I use an electric hand beater}
Sift 1/2 the flour mix over the beaten egg mixture, and fold in gently but rapidly until some of the flour has disappeared. Repeat with the remaining flour until all the flour has disappeared. Fold in the chocolate mixture until incorporated.
Pour immediately into prepared pans {about 2/3 full}, and bake at 180C for 30-35 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Loosen the sides with a metal spatula/butter knife, and invert onto lightly greased cooling racks. Re-invert to cool. {At this point, the cake stays at room temperature for 2 days, in the fridge for 5 days, and in the freezer for 2 months. I froze it for 10 days, and brought it down into the fridge the night before I was due to use it}
Syrup:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp cherry brandy / liqueur / kirsch {optional}
Bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Take off heat, stir in the liqueur if using, cover and allow to cool. {Can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a month}
Cherries:
500gms fresh cherries, pitted {reserve 8-10 for topping}
1/4 – 1/2 cup sugar {depending on how sweet they are}
I tossed the cherries in the sugar and froze them as suggested by Rose Beranbaum in The Cake Bible. The sugar helps them hold shape. I brought them down into the fridge the night before, drained any liquid, and roughly chopped them up for use. I think you can use freshly pitted, chopped ones too. I have used canned cherries in the past. Halve the cherries if they are too big.
Real Old Fashioned Whipped Vanilla Cream:
Adapted from Rose Beranbaums recipe
800gms low fat cream {I used 25% Amul Cream}, chilled
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean scraped
3-4 tbsp powdered sugar {increase if desired; as per taste}
Refrigerate the bowl and beater for 15 minutes.
In a small pan, melt the butter and 1/2 cup cream, stirring constantly till the butter has completely melted. Add the scraped vanilla seeds, and bean, mix well. Transfer to a heatproof measuring cup to cool to room temperature. {Remove the bean before use}.
Beat the remaining cream with sugar until soft peaks are reached. Now begin adding the butter in a gradual stream, beating constantly on low speed, until stiff peaks are formed. {Because the temperature that day was about 43C, I didn’t get very firm whipped cream, but it was good enough to fill and frost the cake.}
Assembling the cake:
Split the chocolate genoise horizontally to get  4 layers. Sprinkle both sides of each layer with the syrup, and reserve on platters. Place the bottom layer on the serving platter.
Reserve about 1/2 the cream for the topping and frosting. Take a third of the remaining cream and spread over the bottom later. Distribute 1/3 of the cherries over the cream, poking into the cream. Repeat with the remaining 3 layers.
Put about 1/2 a cup of cream in a piping bag to make rosettes on top if desired. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining cream. Cover the sides with grated dark chocolate. Pipe rosettes on top, sprinkle chocolate flakes in the centre, and place cherries on the rosettes. Chill until ready to serve. {I found the cake easier to cut with a serrated knife because of the cherries in the filling}
Note: The cake will taste better if allowed to chill for at least 4 hours to help the flavours to mature.
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Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Caramel Cream Refrigerator Cakes with Roasted Strawberries … tiny delights!

“So many ideas, so much I want to do, so little time…
But I love the feeling of being inspired…”
Canelle Vanille on Twitter
I love the lines above. Saw them on twitter a few days ago, and they stayed in my mind. I went back to look for them today as a quote that is truly reflective of my feelings too!! Aran expressed it beautifully!
It’s now the end of the strawberry season here and I giggled with glee looking at my stash of strawberries I had lugged from my recent vacation. Sadly now with the mercury rising, they threaten to spoil very soon. If earlier I could safely keep them fresh in the fridge for 4-5 days, now even 2-3 days is cutting it fine. I had to look for ways to use them, preserve them!
I recalled having read about roasted strawberries somewhere, maybe at Canelle et Vanille, but could find only roasted rhubarb. It was back to old friend Mr Google, and I was happy to find a couple of link. Headed straight for Zoes beautiful blog Zoe Bakes (also the celebrated co-author of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a day), a place I knew I’d find something special!
I wasn’t disappointed! I found the most delectable recipe for roasted strawberries in balsamic vinegar, a promise to preserve this passionate berry for treats when the sun beats down madly. In her post (in the comments), Zoe suggests that these can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days, else frozen for longer, and they still retain their shape and taste. Couldn’t get better than this …

By the time I entered the kitchen I had forgotten the measures of ingredients but had the basic idea in mind. Instead of using a lined cookie sheet, I roasted in an oven proof CorningWare dish, which ensured that all the precious juices were saved. The sugar had to be the ever charming vanilla sugar, and the aged balsamic from a precious jar that Asha from Fork Spoon Knife parcelled to me as part of a gift from NYC! (In there also was some delicious coffee which I used in Espresso Double Chocolate Biscotti)  I loved it, the bottle, the packaging, the very idea! I’ve saved it long for something special, and this was IT! Thank you Asha…
To celebrate the gorgeous flavours that literally sang out of the bowl of the roasted strawberries, I just had to make some dessert petit fours! Made these little no bake cheesecakes as an experiment while the strawberries were chilling. They’re a sort of panna cotta but the cream is not cooked. I whipped up the cream with caramel syrup, and then added gelatin to stabilise it and help it set. Worked out fine as the dessert held it’s ground, and was very simple to demold too. Normally, my panna cotta is hardly ever as obliging to leave a mold cleanly, so I was delighted! The caramel added a special deep sweetness. NICE!!

Eggless Caramel Cream Refrigerator Cakes (No Bake)
Serves 4
70gms Homemade Graham Crackers or Digestive Biscuits, crushed
30gms melted unsalted butter
200ml low fat cream, chilled
2tbsps caramel syrup
1/2 tsp gelatin
1/2 quantity Roasted Balsamic Strawberries (recipe follows)
Method:
Mix the crushed biscuit crumbs with melted butter, divide equally between 4 X 3″ dessert rings. Press down firmly to make a base. Chill in freezer for 10 minutes.
Soften gelatin over 1 tbsp of cold water in a small bowl, and place this bowl in a bigger bowl of luke warm water till the gelatin is clear. (If the weather is very warm, you might need to increase the gelatin by a 1/8 tsp)
Beat the cream and caramel to soft-medium peaks. Taste and increase the caramel if you like. I like to keep it mildly sweet.
Next pour in the clear gelatin beating constantly.
Divide the whipped cream mix between the 4 dessert rings, level with an offset spatula, or tap gently to level, and place in freezer, covered, to set for 30-45 minutes.
Now you can bring it back into the fridge and chill until ready to serve.
Demold gently, garnish with some grated chocolate. Top with 2 tbsps of chilled roasted balsamic strawberries, and some strawberry-balsamic reduction. ENJOY!!


Roasted Strawberries in Balsamic Vinegar
Adapted from Zoe Bakes
450-500gms strawberries, quartered
1/2 cup vanilla sugar
1/8 cup aged balsamic vinegar
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C.
Place the strawberries in a glass baking dish.
Sprinkle over the vanilla sugar, followed by the aged balsamic vinegar. Mix gently.
Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Allow to cool.
Drain strawberries.Put the liquid into a sauce pan, and reduce to a thick concentrate. It will thicken a bit as it cools. Chill before use.
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Posted by Deeba @ PAB
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