Strawberry Cake

INGREDIENTS:
Makes about: 8 big pieces
1 3/4 cup All purpose flour
3/4 cup Milk powder
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking soda

1/2 cup or 1 stick Butter
3/4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Strawberry essence + Pink food colour

1/2 cup Milk
1/2 cup Curd
1/2 cup Strawberry Puree

For the butterscotch frosting:
1 stick Butter
5 tablespoons Brown sugar
3 cups Icing Sugar
Milk if required

1/4 cup Cashews (Chopped)

PROCEDURE:
1. Preheat the oven to 325F for 10 mins.
2. Dry ingredients mixture:
Sieve together flour, milk powder, baking soda and baking powder.
3. Wet ingredients mixture:
In a bowl cream the butter with sugar. Add strawberry extract. Beat well.
Liquid mixture: In another bowl mix milk, curd, strawberry extract and food colour.
4. Pour half of dry ingredients mixture to butter-sugar mixture. Pour all liquid mixture. Give it a slow mix with spatula.
5. Now pour other half of dry ingredients mixture and slowly mix everything with a spatula. Do not overmix.
6. Grease a baking loaf pan and line it with parchment paper. Pour the prepared batter in the pan. Sprinkle some chopped cashews on the top. Tap the pan gently once or twice to remove any big air bubbles.
7. Bake for 45 minutes or the knife inserted comes out clean. Let it cool down for 10 minutes and then invert the cake over an wire rack.
8. For frosting: In a saucepan, melt the butter over a medium flame. Stir in the soft brown sugar and remove from the heat source. Mix well until the sugar melts and you have a smooth sauce. Stir in the icing sugar and beat until smooth and glossy. Add milk as required.

NOTES:
1. I copied the frosting method from here.

Red Velvet / Beetroot Cake

INGREDIENTS:
Makes about: 8 big pieces
1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
4 teaspoons Cocoa powder
11/2 teaspoon Baking powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

1/2 cup Oil
1 tablespoon Vinegar
3/4 cup Beetroot Puree (directions follow)

For the Cream cheese Frosting:
8 ounce package cream cheese, at room tempertaure
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups icing (confectioner’s) sugar
1 to 2 tbsp cream or milk
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract


PROCEDURE:
1. Take 2 medium sized beets, wash them and cook in a pressure cooked until tender without peeling them.
2. Once the beets are cooked through, allow to cool and peel the skin. Chop into pieces and blend to a puree.
3. Preheat the oven to 350F for 10 mins.
4. Dry ingredients mixture:
Sieve together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
5. Wet ingredients mixture:
In a bowl mix the milk with sugar. Add vanilla extract. Beat well. Add oil, vinegar and Beetroot Puree.
6. Pour all liquid mixture to dry ingredients. Give it a slow mix with spatula.
7. Grease a baking pan and dust with some flour. Pour the prepared batter in the pan. Tap the pan gently once or twice to remove any big air bubbles.
8. Bake for 35 minutes or the knife inserted comes out clean. Let it cool down for 10 minutes and then invert the cake over an wire rack.
9. For the frosting, beat all the ingredients together until smooth and fluffy.

NOTES:
1. The original recipe is here.
2. It is important to boil the beets with their skin to get maximum colour from them.
3. Here is the three tier cake created for my daughter's 3rd birthday (with condensed milk chocolate frosting).

Donuts with Chocolate Glaze

     

INGREDIENTS:
Makes about: 8
3/4 cup Warm Milk
4 tablespoons Sugar
3/4 teaspoon Dry Yeast

1 cup + more All purpose flour
2 tablespoons Milk powder
1/4 teaspoon Salt

2 tablespoons Butter
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla essence

Oil for Deep frying

For Chocolate Sauce:
1/4 cup Chocolate chips
2 tablespoons Milk
1 tablespoon Nutella

PROCEDURE:.

1. Warm the milk, add sugar to it and mix well. Add the yeast to it and mix well. Keep aside for 5 mins. It will froth and raise. This means your yeast is good to use in this recipe.
2. Take flour, mix salt and milk powder. Make a dent,add butter, vanilla in it and the yeast completely dissolved in the milk. Mix and make a smooth dough, keep in a warm place covered with a cling wrap for an hour.
3. After an hour, the dough we prepared would have doubled in size. Punch the air down and add more flour and knead to a soft dough. Now roll this and cut into donut shape.
4. Arrange it in a plate and let it rise for 30 mins or so.
5. Fry this till golden on both sides. Drain onto paper towel and set aside.
6. For glazing: Melt carefully chocolate chips in milk using a microwave. Add Nutella to thicken the syrup. Refrigerate it for a while to get the desired consistency.
7. Dip the donuts in glaze and top it with your favourite toppings.

NOTES:
1. The original recipe is here.

2. Refer this link for ganache - here.

Stuffed Masala Buns

INGREDIENTS:
Makes about: 6
1/4 cup Warm Milk 

1 tablespoon Sugar

3/4 tablespoon Active dry yeast

1 1/2 cup All purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon Salt
3 tablespoon Olive oil

1/4 cup Water(add if more needed)

For stuffing
1 teaspoon Oil

1/4 teaspoon Mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon Urad Dal

A pinch Asafoetida

A small piece grated Ginger

1 small Onion

Salt as needed

2 small potatoes (cut into small pieces)

1/2 cup carrot,beans,peas (together) 

1/4 teaspoon Garam masala powder

1/4 teaspoon Red chili powder

1/8 teaspoon Turmeric powder

3 tablespoon Coriander leaves(chopped)

1/2 tablespoon Lemon juice

PROCEDURE:

1. Preheat the oven to 360F for 10 mins.
2. Warm the milk,add sugar to it and mix well. Add the yeast to it and mix well. Keep aside for 5 mins. It will froth and raise. This means your yeast is good to use in this recipe.
3. Take flour and make a dent,add water,olive oil,salt in it and the yeast completely dissolved in the milk. Mix and make a smooth dough,keep in a warm place covered with a cling wrap for an hour.
4. Meanwhile prepare the stuffing. In a pressure cooker add all the ingredients listed above in the same order and give 3 whistles in a medium flame. Once cools down add Lemon juice and coriander leaves.
5. Once the stuffing cools down mash and make a lemon sized balls out of it.
6. By now/after an hour, the dough we prepared would have doubled in size. Take it again and just give it a gentle knead and make six equal sized balls. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil,grease with olive oil and arrange the rolled balls with enough spacing between them. Brush with olive oil
7. Keep the rolled stuffing inside and pinch all the end towards centre to cover the stuffing.
8. Roll in to smooth bun. Repeat for every bun. Arrange them in the lined baking tray. Brush them well with olive oil.
9. When the preheat is finished, Brush generously with milk. Bake for 17- 20 mins or until the top crust turns golden brown in colour.

NOTES:
1. The original recipe is here.

Coconut Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
Yields: 16 cookies
1 cup All purpose Flour

1 cup Dessicated coconut (Not sweetened)

3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/3 cup Oil
3/4 cup Granulated sugar (I used 1 cup)

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract or 1/4 teaspoon Cardamom powder

1/4 cup Tangzhong starter (Recipe below)


PROCEDURE:

To make the tangzhong starter:

1. Mix 1/3 cup of all purpose flour with 1 cup of water without any lumps. 

2. Heat them together stirring continuously. When the whisk or spoon's tracks start being visible, turn off the heat. Use immediately after it has cooled down.

Now make the cookies:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F for 15 mins.
2. Dry ingredients mixture:
Sift together the flour, baking powder. Stir in the dessicated coconut.
3. Wet ingredients mixture:
In a bowl add sugar, oil and the tangzhong starter. Beat them till everything is combined. Stir in the vanilla or cardomom powder.
4. Pour dry ingredients mixture to wet ingredients mixture and mix well with hand to form dough.
5. Roll into small lemon sized balls, flatten using palms and place 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.
6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or till the cookies are pale in color, edges have slightly browned and the bottom is golden.

NOTES:
1. These cookies do not spread much.
2. Adjust sugar according to your taste.

3. Tangzhong starter acts as glue or egg replacer in this recipe.
4. The original recipe is here.

Chocolate Banana Muffins

INGREDIENTS:
Makes about: 6
1/2 cup Wheat flour
1/2 cup Oats ground into powder

1/6 cup Cocoa powder

1 teaspoon Baking powder
3/8 teaspoon Baking soda

A pinch of Salt

A pinch of Cinnamon powder

1 tablespoon Flax seeds powder

1 tablespoon Milk

1 no Banana (Pureed)

1/6 cup Light brown sugar

1/4 cup Milk
1/8 cup Honey
1 tablespoon Oil

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract

PROCEDURE:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F for 10 mins.
2. Dry ingredients mixture:
Sieve together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder. Add salt and cinnamon powder.
3. Wet ingredients mixture:
Add 1 tablespoon milk to flax seed powder and keep aside for 5 minutes. Mash the banana very well. Mix both of them and add sugar, honey, oil and vanilla extract.
4. Pour dry ingredients mixture slowly to wet ingredients mixture and give it a mix adding rest of the milk. Do not over mix.
5. Line the muffin tray with liners and spoon 3/4th of the liner with the batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Cool over a wire rack completely.

NOTES:
1. The original recipe is here.

Chocolate Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS:

Makes about: 8 pieces
11/2 cup All purpose flour

1/4 cup Cocoa powder

1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda

2 big cup Over-ripe mashed Banana (1 cup after mashing)

1 stick Butter

3/4 cup Sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

1/2 cup Milk

1/2 cup Chocolate chips

PROCEDURE:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F for 10 mins.
2. Dry ingredients mixture:
Sieve together flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and soda. Add salt.
3. Wet ingredients mixture:
Mash the bananas; keep aside. In a bowl beat butter and sugar well till it gets creamy texture. Add vanilla extract and mashed banana. Beat well till everything is mixed.
4. Pour dry ingredients mixture slowly to wet ingredients mixture and give it a mix by adding milk at room temperature.
5. Grease a baking loaf pan with oil and line it with parchment paper. Pour the prepared batter in the pan.Tap the pan gently once or twice to remove any big air bubbles.

6. Then sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the batter.
7. Bake for 30 minutes or the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let it cool down for 10 minutes and then invert the cake over an wire rack.

NOTES:
1. The original recipe is here.

2. I have halved the recipe in the pic.

Zebra Cake

          

INGREDIENTS:
Makes about:8 pieces
1 cup Thick curd

1 cup Sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon Baking powder
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda

2 teaspoons Vanilla essence 

1/2 cup Oil

1 1/2 cup All purpose Flour
1 tablespoon Milk powder

-------------------------------------------
11/2 tablespoon Cocoa powder

4 tablespoon Milk

For Frosting:
1 tablespoon Butter
14 oz tin of Condensed Milk
3-4 tablespoon Cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla essence
PROCEDURE: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350F for 10 mins.
2. Sieve maida and keep aside.
3. In a separate bowl take coca powder and milk, mix well without any lumps.
4. Mix the curd and sugar in another bowl, till the sugar dissolves.
5. Add baking powder and baking soda in to curd and sugar mixture. Mix well and keep aside for 2 to 3 minutes. Curd will turn frothy and start rising.
6. Add oil and vanilla essence, mix till well blended.
7. Now add maida,milk powder and fold gently.
8. Divide the batter into two equal portion. In one portion add cocoa and milk mixture, mix nicely. In another portion add two tbsp milk to adjust the consistency.
9. First pour a ladleful of the plain batter in the center of the cake pan. Do not shake the pan the batter will spread by itself.then pour a ladleful of the chocolate batter in the center of plain batter.
Repeat this process till the both batter are over.
10. Bake for 30 to35 minutes or till the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let it cool and slice.

For Frosting:
1. Heat sauce pan on medium heat and add butter, condensed milk and sieve cocoa powder in it.
2. Continue to cook for 7 to 8 minutes stirring continuously.
3. Once it becomes thick add vanilla essence, mix well. Frosting is ready.
4. Spread frosting all over cake evenly. You may need to add some water to frosting to make it easy to work on. You may also deep knife in cold water, this will help to spread frosting easily.

NOTES:

1. The original recipe is here.
2. This cake's frosting has slight sticky texture when its fresh, keep it in refrigerator overnight and it will do magic.

Banana Cornmeal Muffins

INGREDIENTS:
Makes about: 12
1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup Yellow Corn meal
1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
1 teaspoon Baking soda

1/2 cup or 1 stick Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Lemon juice

2 nos Bananas (Pureed)

1/2 cup Hot water

PROCEDURE:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F for 10 mins.
2. Dry ingredients mixture:
Sieve together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add cornmeal.
3. Wet ingredients mixture:
Mix well butter, sugar and mashed bananas. Add lemon juice.
4. Pour dry ingredients mixture slowly to wet ingredients mixture and give it a mix adding hot water. Do not overmix.
5. Line the muffin tray with liners and spoon 3/4th of the liner with the batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
6. Cool over a wire rack completely.

NOTES:
1. The original recipe is here.

Cornmeal Banana Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
Yields:10 cookies
1/2 cup All purpose Flour
1/4 cup Yellow Cornmeal
1/8 cup Mashed Banana (1/2 Banana)

1/4 cup or 1/2 stick Butter
1/2 cup Sugar (little less)

PROCEDURE:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F for 10 mins.
2. Dry ingredients mixture: 
Mix well flour, cornmeal.
3. Wet ingredients mixture: 
Melt the butter, mix sugar. Beat together till soft. Add well mashed Banana
4. Pour dry ingredients mixture to wet ingredients mixture and mix well with hand to form dough. 
5. Roll medium sized balls and flatten them slightly and place it over the baking tray lined with a baking sheet.
6. Let it cool, before removing from the baking sheet; once you take them out of the oven.

Cornmeal Cashew Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
Yields: 15 cookies
1/2 cup All purpose Flour
1/4 cup Yellow Cornmeal
1/4 cup Coarsely powdered Cashews
Pinch of Salt

1/4 cup or 1/2 stick Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
Milk (as per need)

PROCEDURE:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F for 10 mins.
2. Dry ingredients mixture:
Mix well flour, cornmeal, powdered cashew and salt.
3. Wet ingredients mixture:
Melt the butter, mix sugar. Beat together till soft.
4. Pour dry ingredients mixture to wet ingredients mixture and mix well with hand to form dough. Use milk to make a smooth dough.
5. Roll medium sized balls and flatten them slightly and place it over the baking tray lined with a baking sheet.
6. Leave enough space between the cookies.
7. Let it cool completely, don't remove the cookies from the baking sheet once you take them out of the oven. They may break.

Cornmeal Dates Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
Yields:10 cookies
1/2 cup All purpose Flour
1/4 cup Yellow Cornmeal
1/4 cup Finely chopped Dates

1/4 cup or 1/2 stick Butter
1/2 cup Sugar (little less)
Milk (as per need)

PROCEDURE:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F for 10 mins.
2. Dry ingredients mixture:
Mix well flour, cornmeal.
3. Wet ingredients mixture:
Melt the butter, mix sugar. Beat together till soft.
4. Pour dry ingredients mixture to wet ingredients mixture and mix well with hand to form dough. Add chopped Dates. Use milk to make a smooth dough.
5. Roll medium sized balls and flatten them slightly and place it over the baking tray lined with a baking sheet.
6. Let it cool, before removing from the baking sheet once you take them out of the oven.