BLACK FOREST !!!!

Happy Birthday to my Sweetheart!!


For the basic chocolate cake recipe you need:

All pupose flour : 1.5 cups
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder : 1/2 cup
Powdered Sugar : 1 cup
Baking pwd : 1.5 tsp
Baking soda : 1 tsp
Salt : 1/2 tsp
Instant coffee pwd : 1 tbsp
Eggs : 2
Milk : 1/2 cup
Oil : 1/2 cup (I used Canola oil)
Vanilla essence : 1 tsp
Boiling water : 3/4 cup

For filling and frosting:

Maraschino Cherries : 1 small can
Jello instant pudding mix (vanilla flavour) : 1 small packet
Cool Whip (plain or vanilla flavour) : 8 oz tub
Instant Coffee pwd : 1tsp
Chocolate curls : 1/2 cup ( Scrape Dairy milk chocolate using a vegetable peeler)
Milk : 1/2 cup


Method:

Pre- heat the oven at 350 F for 15 minutes. Sift All pupose flour, Cocoa pwd, Baking powder, Baking soda, Salt and sugar together and set aside. Beat eggs lightly and add milk, oil, vanilla essence to the eggs. Stir in the coffe pwd in the boiling water. Combine wet and dry ingredients together, and mix. Pour the coffee mixed in water into the cake batter. The batter will be slightly thin and water, but avoid adding too much water. Bake in a greased and floured cake pan for 30- 40 minuteso until done. Keep an eye on the cake while cooking, because baking temperatures in ovens may differ.

When the cake is done check by inserting a clean toothpick, if it comes out clean- the cake is done. Set the cake aside and cool before frosting. I left the cake for a couple of hours to cool down completely.

Mix pudding mix with the milk and the stir in the Cool whip and keep aside. Drain the cherries but do not thrown away the cherry syrup. Chop the cherries and set aside. Now mix the coffee pwd with the cherry syrup and set that aside as well.

Now cut the cake into two slices horizontally for a two layered cake. Place strips of kitchen tissue paper in the shape of 'suns rays' and place the bottom layer of the cake. I did this to keep the serving tray clean. After the frosting is done, you can simply pull the kitchen paper out carefully and Voila!! you get a clean tray!

Begin with drizzling the bottom cake layer with the coffee mixed with cherry syrup to moisten it a bit. Now slather Cool whip and pudding mixture generously and spread it evenly using a flat spatulla. Sprinkle the chopped cherries over the Cool whip layer. Repeat this procedure after placing the second layer of cake over the first cake layer(i.e. drizzling with cherry syrup, then cool whip layer and then the cherries). Finally place the last cake layer and cover the entire cake evenly with the cool whip. Sprinkle the chocolate shavings over the entire cake, pressing them gently so that they stick on the cake well. Place the cake in the refrigerator overnight and serve. Gently pull out the kitchen paper to achieve a clean serving tray.

Serves 10- 12

Christmas fruit cake

I always wanted to bake cakes and cookies for quite a long time.
And so, my friends, I was pleasantly surprized to see a nice oven here. Within a few days, I managed to buy all the stuff required for 'beginner's' baking experiments and was all smiles with a cartload of stuff which he thinks it was 'junk'. This is my very first attempt in baking and much to my amazement, it was fabulous!!

Friends, I am super excited to share this cake with you. I hope you like it.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour (maida) - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
Clove powder - 1/4 tsp
Dry ginger powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Caramel syrup - 1 tbsp
Grated orange zest - 1 tsp
Eggs - 3
Butter (at room temperature) - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Dry fruits (mixed) - 1/2 cup
Nuts (mixed) - 1/2 cup
Orange juice - 1/2 cup

Dry fruits which I used were dried cranberries, raisins, dates, and prunes. you can use dried apricots, figs, or any dry fruit of your choice. Nuts which I used were almonds, cashewnuts and walnuts.

Method:

Soak the dried fruits in orange juice overnight. Since I don't have any Rum or Brandy to soak the fruits, I believe orange juice will work just fine, and of course, it did!!

In a bowl, blend the sugar and butter well. Next step is to add vanilla essence and eggs into the same bowl, one by one and mixing well again and keep aside. Sift the maida with baking powder Baking soda, ginger powder, clove powder and cinnamon and salt into another bowl.

Now stir in sifted flour into the sugar butter and eggs mixture along with the rest of the ingredients i.e. soaked dried fruits, nuts, caramel syrup, orange zest and the orange juice used to soak the dried fruits.

Fold the mixture well. If you find the cake batter too dry or too thick, you can add some milk into it. But otherwise, fruit cakes are usually dense loaded with dried fruits and nuts.

Pour it in a greased baking pan and bake at 350F for 50- 55 minutes or untill done. To check whether the cake is done, insert a skewer into the cake, take it out. If the skewer comes out clean, it means its done. If not, bake for a couple of minutes more, keeping an eye on it. When done, allow the cake to cool done before you slice and store.

Enjoy eating a warm slice of this lovely cake this Christmas or any time of the year.


Have fun!!