BIRTHDAY CUSTARD SPONGE GATEAU for Amma's 50th!

It's my Amma's Birthday today. Happy Birthday,Amma! This one is special as she is turning 50 today,oh yes! I have a very young mother :-) Anyway, if she is celebrating her birthday today that means there's someone else born from the same womb,celebrating her birthday 400 kms away from my Amma!
Happy Birthday Twins!

Are you wondering how Ian Vaava is in her hands now while I am back home in the United States? Well,well,well...I planned a few things quite early this time,yes,for a change!I wanted to be with her to celebrate her 50th and since we knew we wouldn't be together, I thought I'd surprise her with a cake almost a month before her real birthday,which is today.

The so - not organised daughter of hers couldn't plan a thing ahead of time other than the idea of 'surprising Amma'. Hmmm, I used to be organised before because I did surprise her once long back,by baking a cake at midnight when everyone else was fast asleep. So I pulled out my cookbooks and scanned through each one of them, just the way I did a few years ago and found the perfect recipe in the cookbook Jobin sent me 4 years ago for my birthday,Nigella Lawson's FEAST. It's a very good book, especially if you love entertaining. But this time, there was no midnight baking. Rather, I couldn't bake at midnight. No,it was not the baby.

It's that thing you make out of water...Electricity! Did you know that they have started charging the users depending on the time of the day(only in India)? Well, they have. So any usage of electricty from 10 pm - 6 am was the most highly charged...1.20% more than the regular. So I thought of not doing any midnight baking this time. Luckily, for me, Appan and Amma had to go out for a day to attend a family function so I thought of using that day to bake and decorate the cake. But again, things didn't work out the way I thought it would!

The icing and the cake platter was not the best combo. This icing is not the kind which will set magically...it does flow a bit and I did not foresee that. So I ended up with a mess just when I thought the day was perfect! And that's exactly when Ritchie had to walk in with 1000000000 questions. When I am working at something, I need peace and quiet and the time to think . So you can imagine the confusion that would have happened then ,especially when I heard our car coming in!

So.I thought I'd go tell Amma about my surprise rather than Amma getting a shock seeing the mess I've created in the name of a surprise! Phew! Life was so much easier after that...I took my own sweet time to do what I wanted to but by then it was late in the night. So we cut the cake the next day! It was a very soft and delicious cake with no fancy schmancy ingredients. It is one of those cake which you will eat thinking 'homemade butter cakes are the best'! Really, for certain occassions, you really need those old fashioned butter cakes. Period.

 

BIRTHDAY CUSTARD SPONGE GATEAU
Ingredients
For the cake:
200 gram(s) all purpose flour
3 tablespoon(s) custard powder
2 teaspoon(s) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs(s)
225 gram(s) soft butter
200 gram(s) sugar
2.5 tablespoon (s) milk
Method:Preheat oven to 180C and line 2x8 inch cake tins.
Put all the ingredients,except the milk into a food processor and process to a smooth batter. Add the milk one tablespoon at a time to get the batter to a soft dripping consistency. Divide the batter equally among the tins and bake for 20 mins or till done. Let the cake cool in the tin for 5 mins then turn it out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

For the buttercream filling:
125 gram(s) icing sugar
4 teaspoon(s) custard powder
75 gram(s) soft butter
1.5 teaspoon(s) hot water
Method:Sieve icing sugar and custard powder to get rid lumps,if any. Add the butter and beat together. Add the hot water and beat well to get the filling easier to spread.Sandwich the cake with this filling.

For the chocolate icing:
60 ml water
2 tablespoon(s) golden syrup
125 gram(s) caster sugar
175 gram(s) dark chocolate
Method: Combine water, syrup and sugar in a pan stirring to dissolve over low heat.Bring it to a boil and switch off heat. Add the chopped chocolate and swirl the pan around to get the chocolate melted. Let it sit at room temperature for 10 mins. Stir the icing well and pour over the sandwiched cake.It will drip down quite a bit down the sides, so use a platter which can accommodate it.

Appan's 50th was a different story all together!He doesn't like any celebrations and cake cutting etc when it comes to his birthdays. So we knew he was not going to do it but we still wanted to have a party for him because I was getting married in a matter of less than 2 months and that would be the last one I would be celebrating with him for a long time,or so I thought. So we called our family and friends over and had a nice get together. I baked a Viennese Chocolate Genoise Sponge with Strawberry Mascarpone cake for him and that was the first time I ever made the chocolate lace! And now, many of you have been trying it out and some even call it their signature style! Very well, thank you ! So,I thought of doing the same for Amma,which I did and you guys saw it too. I must admit, I've done it better...this was not my best chocolate lace :-)

Anyway, all thanks to the Apple God's we were able to get Jobin,who was not with us then to join us for the  cake cutting! And of course, Vaava also got his little share of his 'Ammu's' birthday cake, which I know he thoroughly enjoyed! :-)
 

INSTANT CHOCOLATE & CASHEWNUT FUDGE

These are the days when I wish I can whip up something in less than 5 minutes,something which is good, in taste and looks and these blocks of chocolate goodness is my answer! If you ask me what's keeping me busy,we have been having parties at home back to back, baking and cooking on all the 4 burners at the same time,baking goodies to giveaway as gifts, some were packed and sent to my relatives on the otherside of this wide nation, some as 'under the tree' gifts for friends and some just for the 2 of us to munch on while we vaccum clean the house and load the dishwasher! :)

I still have another big batch of  fruit cakes and  cookies to be baked and in between all this I think of how to shoot some pics and post them on my blog. My blog has not been fed well the last week, but the author has been,very well! :) I made a batch  of delicious Orange Marmalade 2 weeks ago and it's been sitting inside my fridge all these days! I'm thinking of baking some tarts with it but I have made so many plans and I am planning to execute it all, but when? That's the big question,a million dollar question? Looks like my blog will have Christmas goodies till the end of January! :-)

I have made this fudge before,a pistachio version, when I was in India. At that time, we couldn't get foil trays of the mentioned size or shape in the recipe and I longed to be in US or UK then. And now that I am, nothing 's gonna stop me! The best part of this recipe is, you can make them in less than 5 minutes which definately doesn't include the time you spend in hunting for your can opener (like me!) to open the condensed milk ! Oh, you need to give them some time to chill, okay? Otherwise you wouldn't be able to chop them up into those pretty squares you just saw :-)

INSTANT CHOCOLATE & CASHEWNUT FUDGE
Recipe: Nigella Lawson


Ingredients:
350g Semi sweet chocolate/Dark chocolate chips
1 tin /396g condensed milk
2 tbsp butter
150g cashewnuts, chopped

Method:
Into a saucepan, on medium heat, add the chocolate chips , condensed milk & butter and let it melt together.
As soon as it is mixed together, switch of the flame and add the nuts and mix well.
Pour into a square* foil tray/tin lined with foil. Cover it and leave it in the fridge till well set (about 1 1/2 hr).
Mark the set fudge into squares using the tip of a sharp knife, turn it out onto a chopping board ,peel the foil away and cut into pieces.
Store it in the refrigerator.You can freeze them in a ziplock bag and eat them straight out of the freezer too!

*I used a rectangular foil tray and my fudge was a bit thin. I like it this way. If you are making it in the square tin, cut them into small pieces because these are quite rich.

Verdict: I was afraid  I would have to make another batch to give away because we both couldn't stop digging into it! It's a very easy and delicious recipe, try it and you will know! :)

I am sending these to Chocolate Extravaganza -Monthly Mingle hosted by myself and also to the new blogging challenge 'Forever Nigella' started by Sarah of Maison Cupcake.

INSTANT TRIPLE - CHOCOLATE MOUSSE...the eggless way!

What do you do when you have a guest coming over for lunch in less than an hour? I will be doing the headless chicken dance between the appetizers, main course and of course, my favourite part of the meal, dessert. Oh yeah! I do elaborate meals when we have guests. Like how I had mentioned in my previous post, I think of dessert first. So, I made this instant chocolate mousse and left it in the fridge to set,then I continued my dance juggling  between the pots on the 4 burners :-)

Clank! Plonk! Bang! Sometimes they are music to my ears, not necessarily all the time!

Some of the best things in life comes in small sizes! And that can be very true sometimes! For eg: Mini Marshmallows are the life saver of this delectable dessert. If I were to use eggs like the traditional method, I would have had to wait for another 6-7 hours for the mousse to set (unless you use gelatin) and serve it for dinner rather than lunch! :-)

Mousse's have always been a favourite of mine.One of the first recipes that I blogged about was a Chocolate Mousse Cake. Whenever I make or eat a mousse, especially Chocolate, I always think of my college friend, Priyanka. We were the mousse eating partners :-)

INSTANT TRIPLE - CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
Recipe source: Nigella Lawson


Ingredients:
Mini marshamallows - 150 g (you can use regular marshmallows too)
Butter-50 g, softened
Chocolate- 250 g (I used a mix 70%, semi-sweet and milk), chopped into small pieces
Hot water-60 ml
Cream-284 ml
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Method:

• In a heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the marshmallows,butter,chocolate and water together, stirring every now and then.
• Meanwhile, whip the cream with vanilla until thick.
• Fold it into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth mixture. ( I let the chocolate cool very well for the fear that the cream might melt.)
• Pour into individual ramekins and let it set in the fridge for about 1 hour. 

Verdict: Silky smooth luscious wonderful heavenly decadent  perfectly textured dessert!