Wishing you all a Happy,Healthy& Prosperous New year!!!

Fruit Trifle Pudding

This is one of the most delicious and refreshing dessert i have ever had and made!!!Its very simple and less time consuming because all the ingredients are ready made and the only thing you will need to do is to layer them directly into the the bowl for serving.Custard is the only thing that i prepared at home.If we dont have time we could skip that too and get an instant custard from the store.

For the Trifle you will need:-

1 Angel food cake(or any 8'' round sponge cake)

1 tin Pineapple slices

1 tin Mandarin orange slices

1/2 Cup of Pear,Strawberry(you can choose your own favourite fruits here)

1/2 Packet of jell-o's(choose 2 flavours so that you can bring in colours to your trife say strawberry/orange or lemon/cherry etc)

500ml Milk custard(Made from Brown &Polson))

1Bowl Cool whip (8oz)

Directions:

Prepare the jelly according to the instructions on the packet.Make them a day advance and refrigerate.so that it will be ready for layering.

Prepare the custard too in advance.Try not to make them too watery.I used the Brown&Polson's custard powder You can easily follow the instructions on the pack.

For the layering....

Break the cake into squares or bite sized pieces and place them over a layer of jelly in the bowl for serving .Sprinkle the cake pieces with some pineapple syrup from the can.Next layer the fruits on the cake.Pour custard over this.Layer the 2nd flavour of jello and then spread the whipping cream .Repeat this process again.Garnish with some fresh Strawberries or Raspberries. Refrigerate them for 4-5 hours before serving.

Courtesy-My Dessert Guru Alpha:-)

Spiced Bread Pudding with Caramel

Bread pudding is one of our all time favourite desserts at home .After our sunday lunch amma would disappear into the kitchen and within half an hour she will be back with some yummy steamed bread pudding.But for me steaming is one messy task.So i was happy when one of my friends gave me the recipe for baking a bread pudding.i just spiced them up with a little nutmeg and cinnamon.

For the Pudding-

Condensed Milk-1 can

Milk-2 can(use the same condensed Milk can for the measurement )

Egg-3Nos

Bread-3 slices(Trim the edges of the bread and cut them into small cubes)

Vanilla Essence-1 teaspoon

Nutmeg,Cinnamon-a pinch

To caramelise-

Sugar-4 Tablespoon

Water-3Tablespoon

1.Preheat the oven to 375deg.

2.Heat a dry sauce pan.Put 3-4 tablespoons of sugar and stir slightly to rest in an even layer on the bottom of the pan.Turn the heat to medium.Once the sugar turns really brown pour the water and stir the mixture until it reaches a boil.Swirl the pan to keep the syrup moving until it turns to amber brown.Pour the caramel into the baking dish and allow it to set for a 5-10 mts.

3.Once the caramel is set break the bread into small cubes and spread over the baking dish.

4.In a Mixer combine Milk,egg,condensed milk, vanilla essence,cinnamon and nutmeg.Blend for a few minutes.Pour them over the bread and slightly push them with a fork until the bread is covered and soaking up the egg mixture.

5.Bake in thee preheated oven for 40 mts or until the top springs back when lightly tapped.

To serve,place a plate over the baking dish,hold firmly in place and turn over gently,caramel side up!

You can make this Pudding without Caramel too.

Serve it warm or cold.

Recipe Courtesy-Aswathy

Black Forest Cake

Was quite destined to make a black forest cake that looks like the one from a bake shop and after 2 attempts i think i was close to my Goal.:-).I followed Emeril 's recipe for the Cake .check out this link for more detail. http://www.emerils.com/recipe/3088/Black-Forest-Cake.

This one uses 8 eggs.so the cake was really soft.

If you cant get Kirsch(Clear cherry brandy) for the filling.Pit some cherries and make a sugar syrup with it.Here's the recipe for the syrup.

Pitted cherries-2 cups

Water-2 cups

Sugar-2 cups

Rum-4 teaspoons.

Boil sugar and water in a sauce pan.Once sugar is dissolved add cherries.Cover over low heat stirring occasionaly.Once the cherries are really mushy remove from heat and add the Rum/brandy.Drain the syrup from the cherries ,cool and then store them in a closed jar.

After all the experment to make a picture perfect cake these were my learnings..

1. Make the froasting 1 day earlier and store in the refrigerator.

2.Soak the cake really well in the syrup.Because the cake as such does not have much sugar.

3.Allow the cake to cool off after you take them from the oven.You can refrigerate them for an hour so its easy to cut them into layers without breaking them.

4.Refrigerate the decorated cake for a miminum of 4 hrs so that its well set.

5.While whipping the cream for the frosting add Gelatin.It binds the frosting well and prevent from being watery.Boil 1/4 th of a cup of water and put 2 teaspoons of gelatine.Cool the mix and pour it to the frosting mix at room temperature.

A baby shower cake!!!

Well it was not an easy task...

vat do u do

when your cake breaks into half while setting?

when you run short of icing?

when you feel tat this was not the colour you imagined it would become?

haaaa..Lots of trouble.......Thus my attempt to decorate a cake was a little messy.But the good thing is that now i have the answers to all those:-)

Hats off to all those ladies who decorates their cake s with so much of professionalism!

ELMO cupcakes!

The theme for my friend 'B' 's kid's second birthday party was Elmo-a furry red muppet on the children's television show Sesame Street.The kids in love with this red monster with those big googly eyes and gum ball like nose.so B ordered the entire Sesame Street character cookies as party favours.To brighten things further there were Elmo plates,Elmo cups,Elmo cake,Elmo pinatas...it was fun and ofcourse my first ever cupcake.The idea for Elmo cupcakes was taken from the cupcake blog-http://cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com/

It is fun decorating a cupcake provided you have time and patience ...i tried making the cupcakes from the scratch..the base is chocolate..The red grass on the cake is butter cream icing and used the icing tip #233.The eyes are marshamallows and black jelly beans and nose is an orange candy which resembles gum balls.

For m ore pics visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/earthwalks/

Simple decorated sponge cake..

If you are the kind of person who has had many unsucessful attempts on decorating a cake like me...this one should not let you down:-)

Sifting sugar over a template makes a very quick, simple and stunning decoration.we can easliy make a template by drawing a pattern on clean card or wax paper and cutting it out cleanly.Just that you have to be genorous with sugar to give a strong design or colour the sugar with edible powder colours:-)Here's my first successful decorated cake.

Decorating a sponge cake:-

1)Dredge the top of the cake with confectioner's sugar.place any template of your choice(i chose a star) in position,laying them gently over the sugar.Dredge with unsweetened cocoa.

2)Use tweezers to remove the template,taking care not to split cocoa on the sugar.

And for the reason behind making this cake??

My buddy Maria of Maria'sMenu have passed on the rocking blogger award to Godzown!! Thanks to her for inspiring me to blog:-)

“The Rocking Girl Blogger Award” is for blogger’s ,who are girls or women, who blog and who Rock!!

I would like to pass on this award to Mini of Mini's Kitchen who started a blog recently dedicated to the 'Starters' in cooking.For all of us who miss our mothers cooking this blog is the one you are looking for!!!

I dedicate my simple decorated sponge cake to all the Rocking bloggers!!:-))

Cheers

GODZOWN

Pineapple Souffle

Been hunting for a simple pineapple souffle recipe for some time..have heard stories about one of my aunt who had to spend 2-3 hours to make those yummy souffles...They are essentially made with eggyolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients and served as a main dish or sweetened as a dessert.
well i was lazy to to beat eggs or make a cream puree which forms the base of souffles.so i filtered my search..without eggs or milk..mhhh.And my hunt came to an end when i came across the site flavours of india..loved the recipe for its simplicity and ease of preparation.since then i been stocking condensed milk and pinepaple slices(2 imp ingredents).so this is pineapple souffle-milk-egg...lol.literally this can be termed as pineapple pudding..no i want to call them souffle:-) Love ya soufflle!

Gelatine 2 tsp

Condensed milk -i can

Water 1/3 cup

lemon juice-3tablespoon

Cream 250 gms

Powdered sugar 1 tbsp

Pineapple essence 1 1/2 tsp

Yellow colour A few drops(optional)

Pineapple slices 1 tin - at room temperature(works well with mango pulp too ..so make it your mango souffle!hws tat)

Add the gelatine to 1/2 cup of boiling water. (boil water in a microwave for abt 90sec that is more easy).Stir continuosly till it dissolves. keep it aside.

Beat condensed milk till light and creamy.

Add the pineapple syrup,lemon juice and the chopped pineapple pieces to the condensed milk.

Add 1/3 cup of water to that.

pour the gelatine solution into the condensed milk mixture, stirring continuously.

Put in the freezer till thick. Be careful not to set it by keeping it for too long in the freezer. (1/2 hour is ideal)

Remove from freezer and beat again till smooth.

Beat the cream well and add powdered sugar,essence and colour.Mix the cream mixture to the beaten pinapple -condensed milk .

Beat all once again and put it back in to the freezer for another 15-20 minutes. Remove from freezer.

Keep it in the fridge till serving.

**make sure that the gelatine solution is not too hot and is brought to the room temperature before mixing them with the condensed milk.

Apple Bread

For the bread

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs (if its medium use 3nos)

1/2 cup(1 stick)butter,softened

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teasoons vanilla extract

2 apples (peeled and chopped)

Topping

2 tablespoon flour

2 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teasppon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoon brown sugar

Preparation

1.Preheat oven to 35oF

2.To prepare the topping,combine flour,granualted sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.cut in butter until crumbly.set aside.

3.To prepare the bread,combine flour,baking soda and salt in a medium bowl

4.Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.beat in eggs,lemon juice and vanilla.

5.Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir just until moistened.add apples and stir gently to combine.

6.Spoon half of the batter into a buttered 9-by 5 inch loaf pan.sprinkle with half of the topping and then with brown sugar and fill rest of the batter into another pan of same size.You can make 2 loaves with this batter.

7 Bake for 25-30 mts or until wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.remove bread from the pan and set it on a rack to cool.

Source:cooking in style -The costco way

Lemony Jam Roll

Egg - 5 nos at room temperature

Flour-1 cup

Granulated sugar - 1 cup

Lemon zest - 2 teaspoon

Lime juice - 2 tablespoon

Jam - Half cup(of your choice)

Powdered sugar - for coating

1.Line 15 by 10 by 1-inch pan with wax paper.

2.Separate yolks from white .

3.Beat yolks;add sugar while beating

4.Add lemon peel,lemon juice into the yolk and beat until mixture is thick and coloured.

5.In another large bowl beat egg whites .

Bring in half flour, half egg white to the above yolk mixture alternating ingredients.

6.Spread batter uniformily on to the pan.

7.Bake at 375F for about 12-15 mts until GOLDEN not brown.

8.With spatula loosen edges from pan,invert into a linen towel thats dusted with

powdered sugar .peel off the wax paper

.

9.Roll up cake when its still warm .

10After its cool,spread jam.trim edges of cake if necessary and roll up again Refrigerate for a while and keep outside.later store at room temperature.

Note:-
You can put a wax paper on top of the linen towel so that you can be sure that it peels off well without being sticky.



Source-Food magazine