ORANGE & RUM GLAZED FRUIT CAKE ( with video!)

Iam a lover of a well-made Rich Fruit Cake. By that I mean, it should be moist,slice well without any crumbles, should be dark in colour and of course, taste good. For me, those criteria can be met only by a homemade Rich Fruit Cake. Bakeries have always disappointed me.Maybe I haven't tried a good bakery yet! :)

Every Christmas, I make the traditional Rich Fruit Cake for us. I thoroughly enjoy soaking the fruits,stirring it every now and then to make sure the liquor is evenly distributed. On the day of making the cake, I feel so happy. No other cake can make me that happy. That's the magic of Christmas and Christmas Cake!

This recipe is a fun twist to the traditional Rich Fruit Cake. It's light in colour but filled to the brim with flavour! I found this recipe from Mrs.Anita Issac when I was home after Zara was born. I trust her recipes because they never fail. They are always easy to make and are always crowd pleasing! I had to make some adjustments to the original recipe. I added an extra egg and 3/4 cup milk to make the batter lighter.

This cake is incredibly moist and slices like a dream! They stay fresh for over a week,at room temperature. I am sure it will stay fresh longer if stored in the refrigerator,which I haven't gotten a chance to try. One batch yields two nine inch round cakes. I kept one plain and frosted the other one. Both are equally good. The frosting gives it a bit more festive look.

The shiny glaze you see in the video will turn firm and translucent once cooled. That's how a glaze should be. You can eat the cake as soon as it is frosted or you can wait for the glaze to firm up a bit.Once it's firm, you can slice them up and even stack them in a container. They will not stick to each other.

ORANGE & RUM SOAKED FRUIT CAKE
Yields two 9 inch round cakes

Ingredients:
Cake:
500 grams salted butter
600 grams sugar (you can use powdered)*
6 eggs
500 grams flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1 batch soaked fruits (recipe given below)
1 tablespoon orange zest
2 tablespoon orange juice
2 tablespoon rum
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup milk

Orange glaze:
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon rum

Fruit soak:
550 grams mixed dry fruits,nuts & candied peels
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup dark rum

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the cake tins with parchment paper.
For the fruit soak, mix all the ingredients together and let it soak in the fridge in a covered container for a minumum of 3 days. Stir it once a day. I kept it for one week.

Detailed method for making the cake & glaze can be found in the video.

*Recipe updated on 13 December '17. I had initally mentioned the sugar to be 300 grams. It was a typo and is corrected now. Sorry!

We loved this cake! I think I will be making this cake along with my Rich Fruit cake for every Christmas from now on. It is incredibly tasty and colourful.I have a glass cake stand with a dome and these cake slices look so beautiful in it! Like little jewel studded cake slices.

I hope you are enjoying the videos and don't forget to share them if you do!

SPICED FRESH GINGER CAKE

Ialways loved the addition of fresh ginger to any savoury dishes and never quite liked the combination of the spicy ginger and sugar while growing up. I think it was mostly in the head because whenever I ate a Fruit Cake, I never had a problem biting into a piece of crystallised ginger.Infact, I enjoyed it. Recently, I've been baking sweet stuff with fresh ginger and I am loving it, totally! It lends such a distinct taste to the baked goods.

This cake is really, really moist and incredibly delicious.Its quite easy to pull together too. No mixer needed! How's that for a change? These days, I find myself hunting for cake/cookie recipes which doesn't require a mixer. Less mess, less clean up means more time spent with Ian.Did you notice the bite marks on the star held by our Gingerbread  man? It's our Little fellow's contribution :-)

Speaking of Ian. I know, I always speak about him. In every single post. I cannot help it...he has just taken over my life.In a good way,of course! I think of him all the time.
When I read the reviews for this cake, I particularly noted one comment which mentioned that it was an adult cake. I was a bit hesitant to try it out after that because I wanted Ian to have a share of it too. He adores cakes and cookies. He even knows where I keep it !

After all the conflicting thoughts in my head, I went ahead and made the cake because I was eyeing this recipe for almost 4 years now. Yes, 4 years. I don't know why it took me so long.David published this recipe in 1999 and I got to make it now, in 2013!
When I tasted the cake batter,I knew Ian wouldn't mind eating it because I've made similar spiced cakes before and he literally gorged on them.

SPICED FRESH GINGER CAKE
Ingredients
4 oz fresh ginger,grated or chopped very fine
1 cup mild molasses
1 cup sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup water
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 eggs,room temperature

Method: Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare a 9 1/2 inch springform tin*.
In a medium bowl, mix together molasses, sugar & oil. In another bowl, mix together the flour & spices. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil and add the baking soda. Take off the heat and pour the hot liquid to the molasses bowl and mix well. Add the flour little by little and blend until incorporated. Add the eggs and mix until everything is thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 1 hour.Cool the cake for atleast 30 mins and then turn it out to cool completely.

*I used a bundt tin and the cake was done in 40 mins.

The only drawback,if you want to call it so, would be grating the ginger for the batter.The recipe clearly states that you can chop it fine but I wasn't very sure how fine that meant.So,I pulled out my trusted microplane grater and started grating only to realise how long it actually takes to finish up.Jobin came to my rescue and all of a sudden we both realised that I should have simply used my mixie and pulsed it! Mommy brains,I say!

Ian loved this cake and found it a bit spicy when he got a speck of black pepper. Other than that he enjoyed every little bite he could manage to devour. Jobin's mom thinks this cake would be very good for the winter cold and she couldn't stop herself from enjoying another slice! I shared it with some of our friends here and they seemed to have shared the same opinion that we had...delicious!It has everything to make this Holiday season special.

Here's something that you might like:















MANGALORIAN CHICKEN GHEE ROAST : Fiery chicken curry from the Konkan Coast.













RITCHIE'S FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES:These are the cupcakes I've been baking for my little Brother ever since I could remember. They are moist and delicious on their own and if frosted...to die for!



 

INSTANT EGGLESS CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE & giveaway winners!

Iknow some of you must have been wondering about my absence here. Well, I gather that up from the e-mails and msgs I have been recieving for the last few weeks. Everything is alright,it's just that our personal computer is out for servicing so,I rarely get the time to sit with his computer to upload pics and blog about it.Now that I am back, it's time for some yummy Chocolate Mousse Cake! Don't you all know my love for a good Chocolate Mousse?

I just assembled 2 of my favourite components together to make this dessert. A sponge cake and some Instant Eggless Chocolate Mousse. Yes,it's that easy and hardly takes anytime! I made this for a potluck Chritmas party last night and the kids loved it, more than the adults :-)

Remember the Cake Recipes I was talking about to you guys,which was featured in Vanitha? I finally got hold of a copy,actually the folks at Malayala Manorama sent me a copy. When I blogged about it saying I haven't seen it yet,I get an e-mail from my reader Shani with an atttachement which was nothing but an entire e-copy of Vanitha! I am so grateful to you all,for such wonderful connect !

So after I won the Pachakarani title, I recieved a call from Vanitha Magazine's office asking if I could bake some cakes for their December issue and tihs was just a few days before I left to US after my long holiday in Kannur. Inspite of all the crazy packing and last minute things happening at home, I found sometime to bake and decorate these cakes: Old Fashioned Fruit Cake,Black & White Torte, Brown Butter Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting & Flourless Mocha Truffle Cake. Even though it might sound cliche, I have to say, each one of them tasted so good! Amma, the cake hater in my family & Appan loved the Black & White Torte the most. The remaining portion was carefully packed and taken for a small family get together we had that evening and the Mocha Truffle Cake was the star, there! My lil brother,Ritchie,dug into it rightaway! I'll be posting the recipes for each one here, in the coming days...so stay tuned!

INSTANT CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE
Recipe for the cake: Amma
Recipe for the mousse: Nigella Lawson

For an 8 inch cake,you need:

1 batch of Chocolate Sponge
1 batch of Instant Chocolate Mousse
1/2 batch of soaking syrup

Assembly:
Cut the sponge into 2 horizontally and place it on a springform tin.Soak it with the soaking syrup and top it off with the Chocolate Mousse. Let it set in the fridge for 1 hour and then top with remaining cake,crumbled up and drizzle some melted chocolate over it.
Serve chilled.

The winners for the giveaway are :

1. Fruit Cake : Divya Vikram
2. Gingerbread Man:Nina Matthew
3.IPad cover:Jayz

Congratulations!!!!Please send me your postal address as soon as possible to airmathew AT gmail DOT com.

So, are you all waiting for the Santa to come down the chimney? I sure am! :-)

GIVEAWAY(S) !! CAKE, COOKIES & some more!

Those of you who have been reading this blog of mine, for a while, will clearly know my favourite month of any year! It's December! Even though we are just in November and when people are gearing up for Thankgiving, I'm waiting for the day after Thanksgiving so that the FM stations starts playing Christmas Carols 24/7 ! I am waiting for it to snow when I listen to 'I'm dreaming of a White Christmas' since I've always pictured Christmas to be full of snow on evergreens and sloping roofs of houses. Cannot blame me, blame the Christmas cards we get in India ;-)

Anyway, I'm back ,after almost a one month break. So much happened in between. I got back to Minneapolis on 19th October and the very next day we got the keys to our own Condo in Downtown Minneapolis :-) Then the remaining days of October was busy spent packing up, teaching a class of 25 at the same place where I taught before I left for India in July & finally moving to our new place on 28th October. From 28th till yesterday, it was just unpacking and days without internet. I must say, I never missed being online, catching up with my friends because I was so busy planning where to place our new furniture, crockery etc in our brand new home! The only thing that was giving me company was F.R.I.E.N.D.S. I love that show! I really wish they ran forever! :)

Now, let's get back to the topic, shall we? Well, some of you have baked it at home beofre and I have baked it many many times including last month for a Magazine shoot. That's the best thing to bake during Christmas.Any guesses what that thing could be? No? It's my Christmas Fruit cake, people! Yes, I am giving away a 6 inch Ria-baked Christmas Fruit Cake for ONE lucky reader of mine! Don't forget to make a claim for it because I can honestly say, that's the best Fruit Cake you will ever ever eat! My Amma, a hater of Fruit Cakes claims it to be the best :-) So that's going to be Giveaway no.1 :-)

Hmmm, now since it's gonna be Christmas time and we all since atleast some of us love Gingerbread Man, I'm giving away a dozen of  Ria-baked Gingerbread Man, yes with full decor on them to another ONE lucky reader of mine. That's Giveaway no.2 :-)

                                                        (Photo courtesy -Anu Menon)
So a few months back, Anu and I were chatting away on Twitter and as we discussed life and other things, she asked me if she could join me in my monthly giveaways (which I have not been doing for a while!).I was so happy about the offer and I instantly agreed! As you all know, I am a big fan of everything handmade and all things homemade! Anu knew that and therefore offered me an IPad Crochet cover which she stitched to be given away for my dear readers! How cool is that? Very cool! So that's going to be the Giveaway no. 3 :-)

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For entering the giveaway :
1. Tell me your best memories of Christmas or even the month of December! Is it your wedding anniversary? Is it your birthday? My Grandmother's birthday was on December 25 th! :) Whatever it is, tell me...don't worry, your chances of winning the above mentioned 3 things does NOT depend on the length of your stories, but definitely it's content :) So write away!

2. Like my page on Facebook  and leave another comment saying so, which gives you an extra chance to win! :-) [ I have to get something cleared out here after reading a comment below.This is just for pure fun, this option! You can totally skip it. I had double thoughts while putting this up but went again just to see how many of you actually do that! If it were for me, I wouldn't like a page just because I want to win a cake or a cookie but only if I really like that page's extension on Facebook. For me, in many cases, I never realised that my favourite blogs had a page on Facebook until they mentioned it on their blogs mostly during giveaways! It did help me at many instances because I get to interact with the author directly over their pages on FB :-)So please decide how you want things to be :-)No hard feelings and no way are you gonna lose your chance to win something I am giving away! I am doing this for you and it will always always always be for you, I am not expecting anything in return :-) This is not a camouflage to get more followers :-)  I did think of taking off this option after reading the comment but decided not to do so because I didn't want to sit back and pretend as if I never wrote a thing like that! I hate pretense! :-)]

3. Now,tell me, what would you really like to win! I have to pick 3 winners and I'm  hoping that it would help me :-)

This giveaway is only for the US residents (rather for an address in US, so you can win it for a cousin, friend or even a pet!)  :-) This giveaway ends on December 10th.

ALL THE BEST!

OF SOAKING FRUITS, MAKING WINE AND HOMEMADE JAM

Was that a weird title? Maybe yes, maybe no.

Let me tell you what I have been doing all these days, since last Thursday, since the last post of mine :-)

I have been trying to be proactive (what a change!) and preserve some fruits for:

1.Cake for which you might have to wait till December for the recipe :-/ . I you are impatient like me, you might have to be happy with my Ultra Moist Fruit Cake for the time being.

2.Jam

&

3.Wine : Uh-oh! Can't help but wait till December! :-/

The fruits that you see in the above picture are cherries and pluots. Pluots are a cross between plums and apricots. For me and Jobin, they tasted more like plums. So, it is tart and a bit sweet. They can be substitued with plums or apricots.

For this jam, you can use any fruits of your choice.

CHERRY- PLUOTS & GINGER JAM
I developed this recipe from the basic jam recipe shared by Helene on Facebook.




Ingredients:
Any fruits -1 kg, one variety or mixed. (I used a mix of cherry and pluots)
Sugar-0.5 kg
Ginger-a small piece, grated fine
Lemon juice- 1/2 to 1 tsp

Method:

• Peel (optional) and chop the fruits and transfer it to a heavy bottomed sauce pan .
• Add the sugar and mix well.
• Grate the ginger into it and mix.
• Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and then simmer on medium- low  for 1-1.5 hours or till the setting point *.
• Bottle it into clean jars.

* Setting point is exactly the stage at which you need to stop cooking your jam.To find out whether your jam has reached that stage, take a plate, leave it in the freezer for a while, pour a drop of the jam onto the chilled plate and touch it with your pointer finger and see if it's holding it's shape and not coming away with you as you pull away your finger.Start checking for the setting point after 1 hour of simmering.

Verdict:
I loved the addition of fresh ginger to it, it gets you back to reality when you lose yourselves in the sweetness of the fruits. A very simple recipe with endless possibilities!This recipe is a winner!