Vanilla Cup Cake

Cup cakes are my all time favourites. Cute, cuddly and "cakilicious: :) Here's a recipe that is simple and the best thing is, stored in an airtight container they stay upto 5 days. So go ahead bake, store and relish every now and then !

TIDBIT - The key aspect of baking is that before you start, make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature, unless otherwise mentioned.

The recipe here makes about 12 - 14 cup cakes depending on how much batter you put into each cup.

For this you will need -

Hand Mixer / You could mix with hand if you have enough muscle power!
113 gm Unsalted Butter
130 gm Castor Sugar
195 gm Flour
3 Eggs
60 ml Milk
1 tspn Vanilla Extract
1 1/2 tspn Baking Powder
1/4 tspn Salt ( not required, if using salted butter)
Zest of 1 Lemon (Only the outer yellow part. The inner white part is very bitter!)

To make the cup cakes -

Line your cups/ cup cake tray with store bought paper cups and pre heat your oven to 180 deg C.

Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy with your hand mixer. Then add eggs, one at a time and beat till you get a yellow ribbon like consistency. Once obtained, beat in the vanilla extract.

Separately, sieve together flour, baking powder, lemon zest and salt, thrice.

Now, add the flour mixture and the milk alterantingly to the butter mixture little by little, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Beat this just enough to have all the ingredients turned into a consistent batter.

Fill the cups to not more than two- thirds, with the batter. Bake for about 15-20 minutes and check to see if a toothpick inserted comes out clean, before taking them out of the oven.

Since I have only a six cup tray, I bake six and then do another batch and with this batter, there is absolutely no problem. If the season is very dry, just make sure to close the batter in between batches.

This recipe was taken from http://www.joyofbaking.com/VanillaCupcakes.html

Joyofbaking is a great site for all bakers. Some of the recipes are simple, some are unique and worth a try, just like this one :)
 

Spiced Chocolate Cake

 

This is my first food blog post and I am really excited. Over the years cooking and food has taken a new meaning in my life much to the chagrin of my darling husband ;) He thinks I go overboard sometimes! But then amazingly I think this is what I am truly passionate about and I understand now when people can do something they like, 24/7. It's the same with food and cooking for me.

 

So naturally I had to start a blog. I really hope that when all of you, my friends, come back as critics, afficionados, well wishers, fellow food lovers, it will make me a better cook and a better person!

 

I had to start with baking as that's my most favorite form of cooking :)

On my birthday, I baked this for myself. I have loved the idea of chocolate and red chilli and always wanted to bake a cake using the two. My family and friends loved it and it especially tastes splendid with vanilla ice cream!

For this you will need -

150 gm flour
330 gm castor sugar (powdered)
170 gm butter (unsalted)
4 tbspn cocoa powder
1 tspn baking powder
1 tspn pure vanilla extract
3 eggs
100 ml boiling water
1/2 tspn red chilli powder
Walnuts and choco chip as much as you desire, roughly 25gms in all should be adequate

To make the cake -

Pre heat your oven to a 180 deg C. Take an 8 inch square pan and grease with butter or vegetable oil and flour and keep aside. If you don't have this size, take any pan in which the batter will not cross the two thirds mark and you should be fine.

Sieve flour, baking powder, sugar, red chilli powder and cocoa powder thrice and keep aside. Beat the three eggs separately, keep the water on boil and melt the butter (You can do it on a stove top or just microwave). To the dry mixture, add the beaten eggs, melted butter, boiling water and the vanilla essence and mix well to get a smooth batter. Do not overmix as that will lead to a tough cake. Just make sure that all the ingredients are mixed and the batter has turned into a consistent dark brown colour. Now fold the choco chips and nuts.

Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake at 180 deg C for 20 - 30 minutes. Insert a toothpick to check if the cake has cooked . It should come out clean or with small cooked crumbs of cake :) If there is any wet batter, wait for a few more minutes and check again. Once the cake is baked, take it out and allow to cool.

P.S - You can melt chocolate and add fresh cream and sugar to the melted chocolate and simply pour it on the cooled cake just before serving with a dollop of vanilla ice cream :)