Checkerboard cake (made without any special pan )

Wedding Anniversary special- Checkerboard cake

  When I ate Kitkat ,I got bewitched  ...as I got the curse it carries with it,"Have a break,Have a kitkat "! in my case as always it was vice-versa though :0))...and that's how & why I was on a break :P......well,kitkat apart :P,it's been a while since I did any mishmash , any golmaal here in my virtual home..I thought of sparing everyone with my yada yada yada for a while because your brain doesn't taste yummy anymore..so I stopped eating it for a while but I am back to eat your brain,steal your heart,shake your hands and rock and roll....wat sayy ??...

Well,last week was one "HELLuva" one ....I was not well ...still my mood is swinging to and fro ...but my baby blog felt abandoned,was crying for my immediate attention ....and that's untolerable and I understand afterall,"The show must go on"........and moroever,it was our wedding anniversary so like every year it's must for me to bake and make something special for my better half for making me the best half this day ;P (actually it's the other way :P)....so,I am glad I had no choice but to roll up my sleeves,get my b..body off :D,make my hands dirty and my wonder kitchen smell wonder full ....

This time I wanted to make it extra special by baking one of a kind cake and a menu unusual and lip smacking....So,the menu of the day was Spicy Kerala Crab curry,Kappa/tapioca,Ivy Gourd stir-fry/kovekya thoran with hot rice and the dessert of the day was, "The checkerboard cake" ,which I always wanted to bake once for sure....and I did...and the best part of it is baking without using any specific fancy pan , piping those roses and making those dolls representing me &honey P using cake fondant was super fun  (hope they do look like dolls though:D )....to be frank I was skeptical in the beginning about the checkboard cake but the outcome certainly blew my doubts away ...and I send half of the cake to hubby's workplace and everyone loved it but he was little sad ..I asked ,"Why?" ...he said he didn't even get a single piece :P...but he was v.glad that I did save a slice or two for him aside :D...(Bu then that's all he eats!)

This is certainly a foolproof recipe but needs more patience and effort ..all you need are a batter divided into a vanilla one and a chocolate one and two piping bags with each batter and three round pans to make three cakes in three layers respectively - 2 cakes with chocolate batter+vanilla batter+chocolate batter (again)and the third cake with the vanilla batter,chocolate batter and vanilla batter (again)and then stacking three cakes after frosting each one of them and finally frosting the entire cake with the chocolate frosting and when you slice it..tadaaaa...the cake just got transformed into an edible checkerboard..so are you ready to play ??

Checkerboard cake 

Inspired by Goodhousekeeping's 

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking powder - 2 teaspoon

Salt - 1/2 teaspoon

Sugar - 1 1/2 cup

Eggs ,large - 4 nos.

Butter ,room temperature- 3/4 cups / 1 1/2 sticks

Vanilla essence/extract - 1 1/2 teaspoon

Milk - 2 tablespoons

Semi sweet chocolate,melted - 1/2 cup

Unsweetened chocolate,meted - 1/2 cup

Chocolate frosting as needed

Cake fondant ,a ball size

Edible colors as needed - I used black,red,golden,light brown

Icing for making roses ,2 piping bags - red color and yellow color

Tip 12 and tip 104 and a flower nail

square cuts of parchment paper

white and green edible pearls

Method:The video will give you the idea-

 OR,

• Preheat oven to 350 degree F and grease the pans ,dust the flour and keep it ready aside.
• In a medium bowl,mix together the flour,baking soda and salt and keep aside.
• In a large deep bowl, beat butter and sugar until well blended with a mixer at low speed.Then increase the speed to high ,beat until it becomes light and creamy for 5 minutes approx.
• Reduce the speed to medium low and add one egg at a time and beat well after each addition.
• Reduce the speed to low,add the flour mixture and the milk (1 tablespoon) and beat it until smooth .
• Pour half of the batter into another bowl and mix melted chocolate and milk (1 tablespoon) into it. So,now you've two bowls - one with vanilla batter and other with chocolate batter.
• Now take two large piping bags and fill each one of them with vanilla and chocolate batter respectively and make 1/2 inch opening in each of them .
• Pipe 1 1/2 large inch wide band of chocolate batter around inside edge of two greased pans ,followed by piping 1 1/2 large inch wide band of vanilla batter and the third center layer filled with the chocolate batter in those two pans.
• Similarly in the third pan,do the opposite,alternating rings of batter starting with vanilla,then chocolate then center again with vanilla.
• Place two pans on a single rack and the last one on the second rack of the oven so that they all are not directly above each other.Bake them for 20 minutes or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.Allow them to cool on racks for 10 minutes.
• Loosen the cakes carefully and invert onto wire racks to cool off properly.
• Place one of the identical cake on a cake plate and apply chocolate frosting all over and top it with the non-identical cake and frost it completely.Top with the third cake and frost the entire cake properly.
• I placed my dolls with toothpicks into the cake and covered with my red and yellow roses and edible green pearls.

I made dolls like this using cake fondant- Let the pics speak for themselves...

I froze them for a day

 I piped roses referring this Youtube video ...I know I've to improve a lot in making perfect roses ...

I saved a slice just for U...

Hope you'll like it.Hope you all are doing well.

Love,

3 min Sugar free Black Forest Mug cake

Windy weather, chilly nights,

Lips chapped, face blushing in frostbites,

Layers of clothes , only my eye in sight ,

A frozen snow-woman , That's my winter's plight............ :(

The winter season has kicked in full swing ... and I hate it simply ,I hate that I can't eat ice creams anymore ,I hate that I've to wear the same sets of sweaters/coats every other day to keep myself warm and going ,I hate that it covers my beautiful embroidered salwaar kameez or my beautiful tops,I hate that I can't wear sleeveless dress anymore,I hate that I can't wear my small or long skirts and feel free and light,I hate that I am stuck at home most of the time,I hate that I feel nothing less than a polar bear going to be in a hibernation mode ..Oh I loathe you winter !!

This is me ...in every winter ...but so much hate-ttitude..isn't it ??? This list can in fact go on and on .However, thankfully it's also a season of  gratitude so I better change my attitude as it's Thanksgiving eve here in the US. Well the name of the festival of this month speaks for itself. A day dedicated to express and celebrate your blessings with good food, fun and family togetherness . A day when women are the busiest here not at their office,party,or their kid's soccer game but exclusively in their kitchen striving hard to make the yummiest stuffed (12 pound) Turkey "especially" plus other desserts and side dishes and men either helping their spouse in kitchen or busy watching games or chit chatting without any fear of being nagged :P,kids happy to meet their aunts , uncles,cousins ,grand parents after a long time under one roof and everyone looking forward to say grace and enjoy the big birdie :).

I am also extremely happy to come across this festival here which I was totally unaware of in India and I must say I feel kinda nirvana. I love it...In fact , I also celebrate this festival not by preparing the big birdie but by regrouping my thoughts, counting my blessings , expressing my gratitude, accepting my problems , ignoring my pains, cherishing my happiness , wiping my tears, smiling more, sighing less, meditating more, understanding myself and others more, expecting less, giving more, glad to be alive , always thanking more.... to the almighty , family & dear ones...

This is exactly what festivals do to me- They make the philosopher and the foodie in me go par. You met the philo in me ,now I'll introduce you to the food I am extremely grateful to (though like it or not am thankful to all foods provided by God)...

So, my dear friends the food that I am extremely grateful to on this gratitude day is none other than ,"Black Forest MUG CAKE" , yepp !!,a classic chocolate-cherry cake (though alcohol free) made instantly in a microwave with unsweetened cocoa powder and though traditionally cherry brandy Kirschwasser is used for the true flavor, I substituted it with cherry & it's juice instead and decorated it with the usual whipped cream and of course red juicy cherries and let me tell you this is one of the best and easiest black forest cake I've ever made.
And the best part, it's made in a MUG/large cup within 2-3 MINUTES max.

Now, you know why I call it my grateful food !!;) I can't THANK enough the lady who invented this mini sinless version of black forest cake , you can have it anytime if you have a microwave ,microwaveable cup and then I can't thank enough , Dr. Percy Spencer for inventing the microwave in the first place : D.. aaah I am thankful for everything Lord.....

Black Forest Mug Cake 

                        Inspired by Leslie Bilderback 's cookbook (St. Martin's Griffin, 2013)

Ingredients

Self-rising flour - ¼ cup

Unsweetened cocoa powder - 2 tablespoons 

Chopped cherries,canned or fresh - ¼ cup 

Cherry juice - 2 tablespoons 

Egg,large - 1 no.

Vegetable oil- 3 tablespoons 

Sour cream - 3 tablespoons 

Pure vanilla extract - ¼ teaspoon 

Stevia/sugar free - 1/2-3/4 cup 

Salt a pinch

Vanilla pudding - 2 tablespoon (optional)
Sweetened Whipped Cream - ½ cup 

Shaved chocolate - 2 tablespoons 

Method:

•  Take a microwaveable bowl or a cup ,combine the chopped cherries , it's juice and microwave it for 20 seconds and keep it aside.
•  In a microwavable large mug/cup ,whisk nicely egg and oil .
• Stir in the sour cream,vanilla,salt,sugar.Mix it well.
• Add the flour and cocoa.Beat well the batter until smooth and mixed.
• Add the warm chopped cheeries and juice into it and mix well.
• Divide the batter between either two small greased (light oil spray) cups or 1 large cup/mug.
• Microwave (if using two small cups) separately for 2-3 minutes each until risen and firm.
• Insert a tooth pick and check for doneness,it should come out clean.
• Top each cake with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream ,cherries and garnish with shaved chocolate.

Note :

1.  If you don't have self-rising flour,use all purpose flour + 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder.
2. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda for more softness.
3. Use a microwaveable cup/mug only.
4. Always put 1/2-3/4 of batter in the cup/mug used .Otherwise it'll overflow.
5. Usually distilled cherry brandy kirschwasser or any rum is used for the traditional BF cake but to make it alcohol free ,I used cherry juice .You can also use apple juice ,Black cherry, raspberry, black currant juice or syrups .
6. If you are using sugar use only 1/4 cup as per the original recipe.
7. I used pudding to make it little more soft which is not there in actual recipe.
8. In microwave it'll initially rise and later on deflate that is expected .
9. My microwave is of 1000 watt .So adjust the preparation as per yours.
   

“We only live once. We all have an expiration date after that we will never come again. I am not saying that to make you sad. I am saying that so you can cherish each moment in your life and be grateful that you are here and you are Special” ― Pablo


Happy Thanksgiving !!!

sending this to Sharanya's Let's cook for christmas

Mini Hearty Cake

This is a mini hearty preview of an edible heaven. Bite it and you'll land in heaven. What...you wanna live more and don't wanna go to heaven that soon? Well, I get it. You are right and may you live happy & long .Guess what that was exactly my intention that you say no to it and I can have my teeny weeny cutey shweety cake all by myself.Just kidding guys but that was how I used to be with my brother ...I would do this and that talks to distract my bro from having any snack when I was little .So that I can have all : P. But my brother was afterall my brother, ten times smarter than me :(.It would end up as ,"Better luck next time Manju".

Anyways, now I love sharing so feel free to dig in guys. This cake is also made with the batter of 1-2-3-4 Cake.

“If you wait for a cake to be given to you so you will be happy- then you will be happy when someone gives you a cake. But if you buy a cake (or bake one) for yourself so you will be happy, you have found the way of happiness.” ~ C. JoyBell C.

“If you're going to lick the icing off somebody else's cake you won't be nourished and it won't do you any good, - or you might find the cake had caraway seeds, and you hate them.” ~ Emily Carr 

“You've got this life and while you've got it, 

You'd better kiss like you only have one moment,

Try to hold someone's hand like you will  never get another chance to,

Look into people's eyes like they were the last you'll ever see,

Watch someone sleeping like there's no time left, 

Jump if you feel like jumping, 

Run if you feel like running, 

Play music in your head when there is none, 

& eat cake like it's the only

 one left in the world!”  ~  C. JoyBell C.

Bon Appetit

Mini Flower cake

As they say ,"All great things come in small packages". That's exactly what I think of them. To me they appear to be a mini preview of heaven , better than a full fledged cake. So inviting and cute but then how can someone feel like biting them ...cho chweet to be eaten !! I gave one mini cake to my hubby and the rest to my friend. I've guts to only admire them. Small yet ready to rock and roll.

These cakes are best for parties as a dessert or anytime right. I used mini pans and the batter from the 1-2-3-4-cake with icing in between. Heavenly!!

Bon Appetit,