COFFEE GATEAU

When I think of a Gateau, I have a vision of a multi-layered freestanding dessert made with cake. This recipe is essentially that but it's set in a pudding dish. I made this when our dear friend Shruti came home about a week ago. She was here on a last minute work trip and when we knew she was here, we brought her home immediately!

We bonded over food in 2011 and our friendship has grown so much over the past few years. We were living in two separate buildings when we first met and later ended up in the same building when we bought and moved into our condominium in 2012. We were pregnant at the same time and Kian was born 3 weeks after Ian was born. Our choice of baby names were also very similar! When we were pregnant, we used to meet each other for Tea and Shruti would bake her amazing Scones and bring them over. Our conversations were always around recipes and it still is the same!

We both have the same cookbooks and know a lot of people in common that we are literally family now! One of the books we have in common is the Kottayam Ladies Circle cookbook on Snacks & Desserts. This recipe was taken from it. It's basically a Hot Milk Sponge Cake soaked and layered with a coffee-rum buttercream. If I were to describe it's taste, I would say it's a cross between a Tiramisu & Tres Leches Cake. Absolutely moist & boozy! That reminds me, I had shared a recipe for Tiramisu long back. It's extremely good and the best I've eaten till date, just incase you needed a recipe! I've also shared a Tiramisu Cake recipe as well as a Tiramisu No Bake Cheesecake recipe here very many years ago. Okay, I admit I love Tiramisu. :-)

COFFEE GATEAU
Serves 15-20

Ingredients:
Hot Milk Sponge Cake 
(double recipe)

Soaking syrup:
1 cup condensed milk
1 cup water
4 tablespoon rum
Juice of 1 lime

Coffee Rum Buttercream:
100 grams butter
1 cup powdered sugar
6 tbsp condensed milk
2 tablespoon dark rum
2 teaspoon instant coffee powder

Homemade Cashew Praline & Chocolate for decoration

Method: Bake the Hot Milk Sponge Cake using this recipe. Double the quantities and bake it in a prepared 9 x 13 inch pan. Let it cool in the tin for 10 mins and after that, turn it out onto a cooling rack and let it cool completely.
Soaking syrup : Mix together all the ingredients and set it aside until needed.
Coffee Rum Buttercream : In a small bowl,dissolve rum & coffee powder together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add the dissolved coffee-rum solution and condensed milk. Fold just until it's combined. It will look curdled if overmixed.
Assembly: Spilt the sponge cake into two layers horizontally. Place one layer back into the baking dish and pour half the soaking syrup over it evenly and spread half the buttercream over. Covr with the remaining cake and repeat the soaking process followed by the buttercream.Sprinkle some praline & grated chocolate over it, cover and chill it for atleast 4-5 hours before you need it.

This is a phenomenal recipe. It makes a rich and supremely moist dessert. If you don't consume alcohol, you can omit it but that bit of alcohol makes it a little extra special. I love adding alcohol in my desserts because it enhances the taste. This cake will last in the fridge for a good while provided it's kept in an airtight container or else it will dry out. I did not serve this to Ian & Zara since it was boozy. If the booze was cooked out, then it's safe but here, it's as is.

Since the Holiday season is fast approaching, make this for your next party and tell me how you liked it! I really love hearing back from you and thanks to all who have been sending me photos of all that you make from this blog. It's such a lovely sight!You can send the photos via email attachments, Facebook & Instagram!

I must also mention that it's been a year since I started my YouTube channel. I've shared 7 videos so far and my Lazy Daisy Cake was the very first video. I used the same recipe for the cake base here. It makes the best sponge cake. There are more videos coming, we are working on it!

CARDAMOM YOGURT CAKE

We are back in Minneapolis now,after an almost 3 month long vacation,second time in a year. It's very cold here. I really don't feel like stepping out of our house these days,except when we have to go buy our groceries.I just want to curl up on my favourite blue LazyBoy with our blue blanket and catch up on my favourite cookery shows on TV. Ian doesn't really seem to mind the cold,even though he returned from Kannur,where it was nice and warm,just the way I like it to be.

I had bookmarked this cardamom cake from Shyama's blog a few months ago. As much I love an iced cake, I love a plain cake too.Since there is no frosting,if the cake is not really good, it will show through. This cake was moist,buttery and delicious.When I read her post about this cake, it made me nostalgic.It could be one the reasons why I went back to it after all these months and baked one for us. It's a very basic cake batter with a touch of powdered cardamom,which gives a very,very mild Indian touch to it.

I've made a few modifications to the recipe. I've substituted yogurt for sour cream because that's what I had on hand and also,added some baking soda along with the dry ingredients. For me,whenever there is an acidic agent in the ingredient list,yogurt in this cake,the ingredient list should also have baking soda.The original recipe called for only baking powder,so please do as you please.
I was also not very sure about how I should present the cake here. Should I frost it? Should I dust confectioner's sugar over the top? Should I level the top off? I gave it some thought and then decided to present it the way it was. We are so used to seeing decorated cakes now. For a change lookwise and for a change calorie wise,I decided upon this look. Naked cakes are trendy now,right?

CARDAMOM YOGURT CAKE
Makes 2 X 6 inch cakes and 4 cupcakes OR 1 loaf cake

Ingredients:
200 grams all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
150 grams unsalted butter,softened
175 grams sugar
150 grams whole milk yogurt,room temperature
2 large eggs,3 if small
12 cardamom pods crushed and seeds powdered

Method:Preheat oven to 180C/350F and prepare your cake tins.
Sift together flour,baking powder,baking soda and salt.Keep aside.
In a medium bowl,beat together softened butter and sugar till pale and fluffy. Add the yogurt and beat till incorporated. Beat in the eggs one by one till they are well incorporated into the batter. If the batter looks curdled at this point,it is OK.
Fold the dry ingredients into the batter using a spatula.Finally,fold in the powdered cardamom seeds. Transfer the batter into a cake tin and bake till done.It will take about 55-60 minutes for the loaf cake.

Serve warm and enjoy it with a cup of tea!

Since most of my cooking and baking happens when Ian is sleeping,he had a little surprise when he woke up that evening. A little cupcake for him. It was still warm and I was not really sure how he would take to a cardamom flavoured cake. He just didn't seem to mind it and was happily munching on it saying 'Cupape! Cupape!'. We,the adults,enjoyed it equally.
 

MOIST EGGLESS VANILLA CUPCAKES

I don't usually care for the amount of eggs in a recipe I am about to try because I love eggs,especially hardboiled eggs.When I say hardboiled,it should be perfectly hardboiled.No rubber like yolks for me,please!Okay,now lets get back to the topic. Well,Kannur is not a place where you can get wonderful ingredients for baking.I know it,so Amma and myself stock up really well. But on how on earth will we know that there will be shortage of eggs,especially in a place where there are atleast 3 bakeries on a street!

Well,it happened.Kannur town was out of eggs,for almost a week and that was too long for me to wait,without baking a cake of some sort. Our house is swamped with guests these days,to see our Ian vaava. So we need something,and when I say something,it has to be homemade because Amma & I cannot think of serving  anything storebought to our guests.

The hunt for something eggless started.I found way too many recipes online but only a few grabbed my attention. When I chose this recipe,it reminded me that I had tried out the same a few years ago and found the cake to be very oily.I thought of giving it a second chance and it worked just fine.

I had some buttercream with me,from the movie star's cake,so tinted it pink and used it to decorate the perfect cupcake tops.I usually don't go for such lavish decor on my baked goods for our daily consumption but since it's for the lovely folks who are visiting us,I didn't think twice.

MOIST EGGLESS VANILLA CUPCAKES
Recipe by Nita Mehta as seen on Recipe on Click


Ingredients:
300g all purpose flour
250 ml thick plain yogurt
150-180 g granulated sugar
125 ml oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

Method: Preheat oven to 180 C/ 350F. Line your 12- cup cupcake tin.

In a large bowl,beat the yogurt until smooth.Add granulated sugar and beat till dissolved completely.Add baking powder,baking soda and mix to combine.Leave aside for 5 minutes or until frothy.Add oil,vanilla and beat to mix.Spoon in flour little by little and fold it into the batter.Beat with beaters for 30 secs to make the batter smooth and lump free.Pour into tins and bake for 25-30 mins or till done.Cool in the tin for 5 mins,remove and cool completely before frosting.

For the Vanilla Buttercream recipe,click here.

Ritchie loved the frosting and mentioned that he likes cupcakes with eggs better.I found these to be really moist and perfect for eggless days!

MY LEMON YOGURT CAKE

Ibaked my very own cake,for the first time! When I say that, I mean, I didn't use anybody's recipe but my own proportions to bring it all together.Don't ask me how I got till there...it was a long bumpy ride on a very dull Thursday. Fortunately the end result was mind blowing that being sad the whole day didn't matter after all! All the thoughts, worries and confusions yielded in an awesome sauce lemony cake!
OK. I have to tell you that long story and I am not going to cut it short :-)

Last Thursday was quite eventful at home, on the lines of baking. I tried my hand at baking a piped cookie whose dough was just not pipe-able so I rolled them into small balls and baked it. It came out just OK and not so good as the recipe stated. It was a butter cookie and there was a lot of butter in it. I cannot waste butter even if I have to waste the rest of the ingredients. Yeah! I'm like that.

So after a so-so butter cookie, I thought I'll do something to get me going.It's been days since I've been longing to eat a lemon flavoured cake. The hunt was on for a good recipe but seriously, I couldn't get one. During our many e-mails throughout the day, Jobin mentioned he was going for out with his colleagues after work and will be late to get back home. I got that email right after that stupid cookie and when all my search for the perfect lemon cake came to a full stop.

I whined. I wrote back saying 'I'm sad.I want to eat a nice plain lemon cake.I cannot find any recipe.Tried baking a cookie. Flop aayi. Sad.' I mean, seriously...when there are so many food blogs and recipe websites, how is it that I cannot find one recipe which sounded good to me??? Most of them had some sort of a topping going over the hot cake and I didn't want that extra sugar going into our bodies, if I could help it. So I thought I'll compromise and start on with Amma's recipe for her famous cake. That was the beginning...just the beginning of everything!

I took out my brand new digital weighing scale that I was sent for a review and started off measuring butter and sugar. I dumped them into my Reddie to do it's work. Then I moved onto measuring the flour and I painstakingly realised that I was short on it! The butter and sugar was busy creaming up and I don't have enough flour! Ok, let's move onto Plan B...I shall make do with some wheat flour then. Hmph! Ok, now grab the eggs...and for some strange reason, I knew there were not  many eggs left in the fridge. Sadly,it was true.I looked back at my Reddie and couldn't even think of dumping that butter!

Seriously, that was not my day! I am usually very careful and pull out all the ingredients before I start baking and I have no clue what was going on with me that day! I was so let down that I couldn't get a simple cookie right and finally this cake too? Like I said before, the end result changed everything! :-)

RIA'S LEMON YOGURT CAKE
My own recipe

Ingredients:
180g unsalted butter, softened
240g sugar
3 whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk
Zest & ( 3 tbsp ) juice of  1 lime or lemon
200g maida/all purpose flour
40g whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp yogurt

Method: Pre-heat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F. Line a 9 inch baking tin.
In a bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking powder & baking soda.In another large bowl, beat together butter and sugar till creamy,for 2 mins. Add the eggs one by one and beat for 30 secs after each addition. Add the lime juice and zest and beat for 30 secs. The mixture will curdle but it doesn't matter. Add the flour mix and beat to incorporate. Add the yogurt and beat on high for a minute or two. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 1 hour 10 mins. Your oven timings maybe different, so keep checking from 45 mins.

*Updated on 26/4/2020 - Over the years I revised the method for making the cake batter. Add all the ingredients into a bowl and beat it on high speed using a hand mixer for 2 minutes.

• My current oven bakes the cake in 45 minutes.
• You can use 4 whole eggs instead.
• You can use 240 grams of maida/ all purpose flour instead.
• My 1 cup flour measures 120 grams and 1 cup sugar 200 grams. 

I always dreamt about creating my own cake recipes and never did I even dream that it would be through an accident, a very careless accident! I've actually had a successful accident a while ago and it grabbed me 1st place at a competition too! So, no complaints with accidents! ;-) Don't worry, this cake wouldn't stick to the bottom of your pan as you saw in a photograph above, I was just piling up the crumbs into the tin after I got the cake out of it.

This cake was so so soft that I feared it would crumble in my hands when I unmoulded it. The lemon taste was spot on and the cake was so buttery & incredibly moist! I am so proud of myself ! :-) It really is a wonderful delicious lemon yogurt cake!