During our childhood days, Cake was a luxurious treat for us. Rarely we had a chance to eat the bakery products like cakes, so it felt like cakes were the most delicious food when compared with whatever Mum made at home with all the love! Gone are those days and now, many of us have ovens at home and its easy to prepare cakes or other bakery food whenever we feel like.

I often prepare varieties of eggless cakes at home. When kids are at home, how much ever snacks I prepare, they all vanish so quickly! My daughter loves to eat cake for her evening snacks. Eggless Vanilla Cake and Eggless Chocolate Cake were here favourites before. And when we found this way of making Eggless Orange Cake, this cake has become her favourite now!

I just tried to follow the technique of Hot Milk Cake while preparing my Eggless Orange Cake and the result was - Wow! My eggless loaf turned out to be the most delicious one with a soft, airy, moist texture. It tastes the same like Iyengar Bakery Plain cakes. 

Below is the recipe of Eggless Orange Cake for you all:

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Baking time: 25 - 30 minutes

Difficulty level: medium

Serves: 1 loaf cake

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 1/2 cup (Or you can use Maida and wheat flour in 50:50 ratio)
• Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Fresh orange juice - 1/4 cup
• Sugar - 1/3 cup
• Orange zest - 1 1/2 tbsp
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Curd - 1/4 cup
• Oil - 1/2 cup

Recipe Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 175C.
• Grease the baking pan with oil, dust it lightly with flour and line it with baking paper. 
• Sieve together flour, baking powder and baking soda 2 - 3 times.
• Mix together sugar, salt and curd in a bowl.
• Once sugar is dissolved completely in the mixture, add orange juice, zest and oil. Mix it well.
• Fold in the flour in small batches and mix it gently. 
• Add the hot milk to the batter little by little and bring it to thick, pouring consistency (like dosa batter).
• Transfer the batter into the lined baking pan and bake it for about 25 - 30 minutes or till the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Mine got done exactly at 25 minutes.
• Wait for it to cool down on a cooling rack. 
• Once its almost cool, take it out of the pan and allow to cool down completely before cutting it into slices.
• You can pour some icing if you would like to. Or it can be eaten as it is.

Tips:

• Tutti frutti chunks can be added to this cake to enhance the taste and make it more colourful.

ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಲು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ. 

Continue Reading

Being born and brought up in a village environment, we rarely used to eat the bakery food. All we knew was only Bread those days! We didn't had an oven, so there was no chance to eat any baked food at home. When I started going to college, I came to know about more varieties of bakery food and got addicted to them.

Veg Puffs are one of my favourite bakery food. Making the pastry sheets at home is bit tedious task. These days, puff pastry sheets are available in super markets, so making the Puffs at home is not that difficult. Here is my version of Veg Puffs!

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Baking time: 25 minutes

Difficulty level: Medium

Yield: 6 Veg Puffs

Ingredients:

• Eggplant - 1 (small sized)
• Potato - 1 (medium sized)
• Capsicum - 1 halve
• Beans - 4 to 5
• Green peas - 1/2 cup (*see Tips)
• Onion - 1 large
• Salt - to taste
• Amchur powder - 1/2 tsp or to taste
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp or according to taste
• Garam masala powder - 1/4 tsp
• Oil - 3 tbsp (plus more for brushing)
• Puff pastry sheet - 1 1/2 (can make 4 puffs from 1 sheet)

Method:

• Cut the potato into two halves, cover with enough water and pressure cook upto 2 whistles. Once they are cool, peel off the skin and chop them into medium sized cubes.
• Chop eggplant, capsicum, beans and onion into small chunks and keep separately.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add chopped beans and eggplant. Cook them covered on low flame. Add up to 2 tbsp of water if needed.
• Once these veggies are almost cooked, add green peas and chopped capsicum.
• Add chopped onion after a minute and mix well. Cook it on medium flame for 4 - 5 minutes.
• Add the potato pieces followed by salt, amchur powder, red chilli powder and garam masala powder. Mix everything well and turn off the flame.
• Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
• Thaw the puff pastry sheets according to the instructions on the package.
• Take one whole pastry sheet and cut it into 4 equal squares. Take one piece and put it on a flat surface. Pour 2 tbsp or little more of stuffing mixture on the middle of the pastry piece. Apply little water to the sides of pastry piece and fold it keeping the stuffing mixture inside. Press the edges and make sure that stuffing won't comes out. Do the same with all the pastry pieces.
• Line the baking tray with aluminium foil or baking sheet and place the veg puffs on it. Keep some space for them to expand.
• Brush the puffs with oil or butter and cook them for around 25 minutes or till they turn golden brown.
• Serve them hot with Tomato ketchup and a cup of hot tea!

Tips:

• If using dried green peas, you nee to soak it for 4 - 5 hours and pressure cook along with potatoes. I have used fresh ones here hence, no need to cook before using.
• For the stuffing, use any vegetable which has less water content. Veggies like carrot, beetroot, sweet corn, cabbage also go well for the stuffing. Or if if there is any leftover stir fry, you can use it too!

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ 

Continue Reading

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ 

Blueberries are one of among the Baker's favorite fruits. As the name indicates, these pretty fruits are blue in color and have a sweet and a bit sour taste. I had eaten fresh blueberries quite a few times, but never used them in baking. Last month, we bought the frozen ones to prepare smoothie and I thought of preparing Blueberry Muffins for the kiddo with the leftover fruits. 

Whenever I plan to bake something, I need to think of the egg substitute first, since we wont eat eggs. This time, I decided to use milk to prepare my muffins. Experiment went on well and the muffins tasted good. But I felt like some more improvement is needed. Next time, I replaced milk with curd in the same recipe and yippee..muffins came out perfect!

I have tried this recipe several times and yes! now its the time to share the recipe with you all!! Here is the recipe of Egg less Blueberry Muffins..

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 23 - 25 minutes

Yield: 6 muffins 

Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour / Maida - 2 1/2 cup (1 cup = 70 gm)
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Curd - 1 cup
• Baking powder - 1 1/4 tsp
• Baking soda - 3/4 tsp
• Cooking oil - 1/2 cup
• Vanilla essence - 3/4 tsp
• Salt - pinch
• Blueberries - 1/2 cup

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C. 
• Sieve all purpose flour 2 - 3 times and keep aside.
• Combine curd and sugar in a mixing bowl and dissolve the sugar completely.
• To this, add baking powder, baking soda and mix it slowly. Leave it for 2 - 3 minutes to rise.
• Add oil, pinch of salt and vanilla essence to the curd mixture and mix it lightly.
• Fold in the all purpose flour in small batches and mix it slowly without lumps. This batter will be thicker than the regular cake batter. If you find it too hard to mix, you can add 1 - 2 spoon of milk. For me, it was fine and I didn't add any milk.
• Finally add the blueberries to the muffin batter and mix it well.
• Fill the batter in lined muffin cups up to 3/4th level and leave some space for them to rise. This batter would be sufficient to make 6 medium sized muffins.
• Keep the muffin tray inside the oven and bake for 23 - 25 minutes or till done. Check the muffins after baking for 20 minutes. If the toothpick or knife inserted comes out clean, its the indication that the muffins are done.
• Take out the muffins and keep them on a cooling rack. 
• Enjoy the home made Egg less Blueberry Muffins with your family!

Tips:

• I have used frozen blueberries here; fresh blueberries also goes well for this recipe.
• Don't add more blueberries than mentioned above. Once I had added 3/4th cup of blueberries instead of 1/2 cup. It was too moist and the texture was not to good.

Continue Reading

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ

If there are kids at home, demand for snacks will obviously be more. This holds good for our house as well and not only the kiddo, we are also snacks lovers! More than deep fried items, we like the baked goodies.
This biscuit recipe caught my eyes sometime back while reading a local magazine. I just gave it a try and the biscuits tasted delicious! Original name of this biscuit is 'ANZAC Biscuit'. As I read in Wiki, the name of these biscuits is associated with Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC). During the time of 1st World War, wives of the soldiers were preparing biscuits using flour, rolled oats, desiccated coconut, sugar, etc. They were sending those biscuits to the soldiers which had a good shelf life. There are several ways to prepare these ANZAC biscuits. This recipe was published in a local magazine during the time of ANZAC Day. Original recipe called for Golden Syrup. I have replaced it Honey and it worked out well!
Recipe courtesy: Coles Magazine

Preparation time: 15 - 20 minutes
Baking time: 15 minutes
Yield: 25 - 30 biscuits
Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup (1 cup = 150 gm)
• Rolled oats - 1 cup
• Desiccated coconut - 1 cup
• Butter - 125 gm
• Brown sugar - 55 gm
• Caster sugar - 110 gm
• Honey / Golden syrup - 2 tbsp
• Bi Carbonate soda - 1/2 tsp
• Hot water - 1 1/2 tbsp

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• Transfer the rolled oats into mixie jar and make it a course powder.
• Combine all purpose flour, rolled oats, desiccated coconut, brown sugar and caster sugar in a mixing bowl and mix it well. 
• Heat the honey and butter together and allow the butter to melt on low flame. Stir it occasionally. Once the butter is completely melted, turn off the flame and keep it aside for cooling down.
• Mix 1/2 tsp of Bi Carbonate soda with 1 1/2 tbsp hot water. Add it to the melted butter and honey.
• Fold in the flour mixture into melted butter and mix it nicely.
• Take tablespoons of mixture and roll them into balls. Pat the dough balls and arrange them on a lined baking tray. 
• Bake the biscuits for 15 minutes and allow to cool.  

Continue Reading

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ 

Fruit Biscuits from Karachi Bakery situated at Hyderabad are one of our family favorites. These biscuits are unique in taste and flavor. They just melt in your mouth and are truly addictive. Since these goodies are not available for us here in Australia, we always had missed them. 

Ever since I started my baking journey, I was trying to replicate the taste of these fruit biscuits. After some experiments and guess works, finally I got it perfect!
Here is my version of Fruit Biscuits or Tutti Frutti Biscuits. Try these delicious biscuits and enjoy with your family :)

Preparation time: 15 - 20 minutes
Refrigeration time: 30 minutes or more
Baking time: 20 - 25 minutes
Yield: 40 - 45 pieces (depending on the size)

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour / Maida - 5 cups (1 cup = 70 gm approx)
• Unsalted butter - 185 gm (at room temperature)
• Sugar - 1 cup (110 gm)
• Milk powder - 1/2 cup (25 gm)
• Custard powder - 1/4 cup (13 gm)
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Rose water - 3 tsp
• Tutti frutti - 100 gm

Method:

• Take the sugar and make a fine powder in a mixie. Alternatively, you can use the caster sugar available in stores. 
• Beat the butter in a mixing bowl till creamy. I have used the electric beater to ease this process. 
• Add the powdered sugar in 2 - 3 batches to the butter. Continue beating till the mixture is fluffy and creamy. 
• Now, add the vanilla essence and rose water and mix gently.
• Pour in the custard powder and milk powder and mix it nicely.
• Add the all purpose flour in small batches and keep mixing till you get a soft, non - sticky dough. If needed, you can add little more extra flour than mentioned above, absolutely no probs!
• Finally, add the tutti frutti and mix it nicely. 
• Divide the dough into two equal parts. Take each part of dough, and make it into the shape of a log or as you like.
• Wrap it in a butter paper and keep refrigerated for 30 minutes or more.
• Pre heat the oven to 175°C. Line the baking tray with butter paper.
• Take out the dough from the refrigerator. Cut them into slices of 1 cm width. 
• Arrange them on the lined baking tray.  Leave some space in between for the biscuits to expand.
• Bake them for 20 minutes or till done. 
• Enjoy the delicious biscuits with a cup of tea or just like that!

Tips:

• You can keep the dough refrigerated even for more than 30 minutes. For me, it took 5 minutes more to bake when I kept the dough in the refrigerator for 1 1/2 hours.

Continue Reading

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ 

Banana is one of those healthy fruits which is commonly available everywhere. This nutritious fruit can be eaten as it is and also can be used in preparing ice-creams, cakes and delicious desserts. It works as egg re-placer for some cakes and hence, is good for egg-less baking.
When I find over ripened bananas in my pantry, either I will prepare Banana Rotti or go for baking something. Over ripened bananas are perfect for preparing cakes and muffins. I had posted Banana Cupcake / Muffins recipe some time back. Here is the recipe of perfect Banana Bread..hope you like it!

Preparation time: 10 - 15 minutes
Baking time: 45 minutes
Yield - 1 loaf (serves 5)
Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:
Over ripened banana - 1 (equal to 2 cups of puree)
All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cup (175 gm)
Salt - pinch
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Curd - 1/2 cup
Melted butter - 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 175°C.
Cut the peeled banana into medium size cubes. Combine sugar and banana pieces in a blender or mixie and prepare the puree.
Melt the butter in a bowl and allow to cool.
Sieve together all purpose flour, salt and baking soda and keep aside.
Take the banana puree in a mixing bowl. Add melted butter, baking powder and vanilla essence. Mix it gently.
Fold in the flour mixture little by little and mix it well without lumps.
Transfer the batter onto the greased loaf pan and spread it evenly.
Bake it for around 45 minutes or till done. Keep an eye on the loaf after baking for 35 minutes.
Take the loaf out of the pan before it cools down completely. Put the loaf on a cooling rack to allow proper air circulation.
Cut down into slices once it is completely cool and enjoy it with a cup of hot coffee or tea!

Tips: 
If you want to avoid using butter, just replace it with cooking oil. 

Continue Reading

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ 

If there are any special occasions like birthday or anniversary of near and dear ones, it calls for a celebration. Baking a cake at home is not a big deal, but decorating the cake needs some thinking and more efforts. Depending on the type of cake, we need to decide which type of frosting will be suitable.
I tried chocolate frosting for my chocolate cake few days back. Chocolate cake with layers and yummy frosting..it was divine! You can remember my earlier recipe of Egg-less Chocolate Cake which I shared sometime back. I just prepared 2 chocolate cakes in that way, layered and decorated them and finally, here is the outcome!

Time required: 45 - 50 minuted
Cooling time: 2 - 3 hours
Servings: 10 - 12
Difficulty level: Difficult

Ingredients:
- Egg-less chocolate cakes - 2 nos (prepare and keep them ready)
- For Frosting:

• Unsalted butter (at room temp) - 1 cup
• Icing sugar - 3 cups (adjust according to taste)
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Dark chocolate - 200 gm
• Milk - 1/2 cup
• Big pinch of salt
• Chocolate shaves - as needed (see Tips)
• Chocolate coated peanuts (or any other chocolate bytes) - few

Method:
- How to prepare frosting:

• Melt the dark chocolate and allow to cool.
• Beat butter using a beater or hand mixer till creamy. 
• To this, add melted chocolate, salt and 1 cup of icing sugar. Beat them for a minute.
• Add 2 - 3 tbsp of milk and one more cup of sugar. Beat the mixture again. 
• Continue adding milk followed by sugar till you are done. 
• Adjust the consistency and taste.
• Beat the mixture for 2 - 3 minutes or till its light and creamy. 

- How to assemble the cake:

• Slice each cake carefully into two layers. You will have 4 separate layers in total now.
• Keep the first layer on the cake base or on a plate. Cover it with one layer of chocolate frosting.
• Put the second layer of cake upon that and cover with frosting.
• Fix all the four layers in the same way and cover the top and sides with frosting.
• Decorate the sides with chocolate shaves. Arrange the choco-coated peanuts / your favorite chocolates on the top. Sprinkle some chocolate shaves as you like.
• Refrigerate the cake for 2 - 3 hours before cutting. 

Tips:

• Dark chocolate which I used for frosting was sweet and hence, 3 cups of icing sugar was enough. If using unsweetened chocolate, add more sugar accordingly.
• You can prepare the chocolate shaves easily at home. Refrigerate the chocolate block and once it becomes really hard, peel them using a peeler. Your chocolate shaves are ready to use!

Continue Reading

ಕನ್ನಡ ಆವೃತ್ತಿ 

Happy new year to everyone! I was planning to post this recipe on the first day of new year. But it was time to enjoy the long holidays and I couldn't find any time for blogging. We were busy with shopping and roaming around here and there. Holidays got over like that and now, I am back to my routine!

First recipe for this year is dedicated to all the chocolate lovers! I have adopted this recipe from a fellow blogger's site. Few years back when I started my baking journey, I used to keep browsing for varieties of cake recipes. I think, this was the first chocolate cake I prepared. It was so yummy and we just loved it! Then onwards, I have prepared this soft and delicious chocolate cake many a times. I have tried few other versions of chocolate cake recipes, but very much addicted to this recipe.

This recipe is from Raks Kitchen. She has a wonderful collection of recipes with mouth watering picks. I have tried this recipe exactly the same way she wrote and didn't make any changes. Try this yummy cake and let me know how it turned out!

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Baking time: 35 - 40 minutes

Servings: 10

Difficulty level: Medium

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour / Maida - 1 1/2 cup
• Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Water - 1 cup
• Oil (vegetable oil or sunflower oil) - 1/4 cup
• Lime juice / vinegar - 1 tbsp
• Vanilla essence - 1/2 tbsp

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. 
• Grease the baking tray and dust with some flour. Dusting with flour is to avoid the cake sticking to the vessel.
• Combine all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Sieve it once so that everything will be mixed properly. 
• Powder the sugar and mix it with water. Once sugar is diluted, add lime juice, oil and vanilla essence. Mix it well.
• Fold in the flour mixture into this water and mix it nicely. 
• Transfer the batter onto the greased baking tray and bake it for 35 - 40 minutes. To check whether its done or not, insert a tooth pick upto the bottom of the cake. If batter is not sticking to the toothpick, its clear that the cake is done. 
• Allow the cake to cool down. Then, cut it into pieces and enjoy!

Continue Reading