My kids are not too fond of any loaf or cup cakes I make with banana. But what do I do when sometimes I have over ripe bananas and the best way I know is to make cakes out of them. I took a challenge that I would make  such delicious cup cakes that the little devils find them irresistible.

      So here is what I did.

Ingredients:

1.   200 grams flour / one and half cup Indian measuring cup

2.   150 grams powdered sugar / one cup plus two tablespoons

3.   1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

4.   ½ teaspoon baking soda

5.   One cup mashed over ripe bananas

6.   100 grams softened regular salted butter

7.   ¼ cup hot milk / 50 ml

8.   One large egg

9.   100 grams chocolate chips / about a handful

10.      1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1.  Since the butter is soft / room temperature , it is very easy to cream it with sugar with just a few movements of the whisk.

2.   Add the egg , give a good stir and follow with  the mashed bananas. Don’t worry if the batter looks a little curdled as the flour with sort the problem out.

3.   Sift the flour with the baking powder and soda and gently stir into the batter with out beating too much.

4.   Alternate the flour with spoons fuls of the hot milk and in the end you will get a lumpy and stick batter.

5.   Stir in the chocolate chips and the vanilla essence.

6.   Spoon a tablespoon each into a muffin tray and bake at 190° for 18 – 20 minutes. For my size of the muffin tray which has medium sized cups/ pits I get a turnover of 24 cupcakes , but if the cup size of your cupcakes is larger then I would suggest that you bake for another two minutes more and check with a toothpick inserted in any one cupcake, if it comes out clean and the top of the cup cakes is nice and golden brown , then your cup cakes are ready.

The thing that I love most about these cup cakes is that they taste absolutely delicious when they are straight out of the oven , at room temperature and incidentally even chilled in the refrigerator.

cakes and bakes· Choclate· school tiffin meals

Banana and chocolate chip cup cakes

My kids are not too fond of any loaf or cup cakes I make with banana. But what do I do when sometimes I have over ripe bananas and the best way I know is to make cakes out of them. I took a challenge that I would make  such delicious cup cakes that the little devils find them irresistible.

      So here is what I did.

Ingredients:

1.   200 grams flour / one and half cup Indian measuring cup

2.   150 grams powdered sugar / one cup plus two tablespoons

3.   1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

4.   ½ teaspoon baking soda

5.   One cup mashed over ripe bananas

6.   100 grams softened regular salted butter

7.   ¼ cup hot milk / 50 ml

8.   One large egg

9.   100 grams chocolate chips / about a handful

10.      1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1.  Since the butter is soft / room temperature , it is very easy to cream it with sugar with just a few movements of the whisk.

2.   Add the egg , give a good stir and follow with  the mashed bananas. Don’t worry if the batter looks a little curdled as the flour with sort the problem out.

3.   Sift the flour with the baking powder and soda and gently stir into the batter with out beating too much.

4.   Alternate the flour with spoons fuls of the hot milk and in the end you will get a lumpy and stick batter.

5.   Stir in the chocolate chips and the vanilla essence.

6.   Spoon a tablespoon each into a muffin tray and bake at 190° for 18 – 20 minutes. For my size of the muffin tray which has medium sized cups/ pits I get a turnover of 24 cupcakes , but if the cup size of your cupcakes is larger then I would suggest that you bake for another two minutes more and check with a toothpick inserted in any one cupcake, if it comes out clean and the top of the cup cakes is nice and golden brown , then your cup cakes are ready.

The thing that I love most about these cup cakes is that they taste absolutely delicious when they are straight out of the oven , at room temperature and incidentally even chilled in the refrigerator.

Choclate Ice cream  with a twist

There are many varieties of chocolate ice creams I am going to put up on the blog. I thought of starting with the best one , this one is spiked with a quarter cup of “Bailleys Irish cream”.

      I wish I could make my food and desserts look more glamorous , but with a simple basic camera and a hectic schedule these are the best results I can manage , so please do not get dissuaded with the looks of the food , it looks the way it is…with a better camera and some cut and paste I can make the food look out of this world…..but I wonder if you will be able to relate to it….I mean the food should look real enough to be eaten …not something so exotic that you feel…would I be able to make that?

Well that’s my expalination and excuse for some not so great pictures of my food. Now lets get on with this delicious and simple home made ice cream.

Ingredients:

1.                 500 ml full cream / full fat milk

2.                 200 ml condensed milk 

3.                 Three tablespoons custard powder

4.                 One fourth cocoa powder

5.                 100 grams shards of milk chocolate

6.                 One fourth to half a cup of powder sugar ( depending on how sweet you want it to be )

Method:

1.                 Place the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and keep it on medium flame , reserve half a cup of milk to dissolve the custard.

2.                 Pour the custard into the boiling milk , and keep stirring till you the custard becomes thick like paint.

3.                 Add the cocoa powder and whisk vigorouly , the custard will become thicker. Turn the  gas off. Now add the shards of milk choclate , condensed milk and sugar while whisking the custard vigorously.

4.                 Let the custard cool off to room temperature  , then pour a quarter cup of baileys Irish cream into it.

5.                 Pour the contents into a aluminium container and freeze.

6.                 After about four to five hours , beat the semi set ice cream in the container itself or in a blender and pour it back into the aluminium box.

7.                 Do the same after another six hours. Thsi step not only makes the icecream lighter and fluffier but also prevents any crystals from forming in the ice cream.

8.                 The ice cream will be ready in about six hours to enjoy.

Choclate· cocoa· condensed milk· Custard powder· desserts· full fat milk· ice creams

Choclate Ice cream  with a twist

There are many varieties of chocolate ice creams I am going to put up on the blog. I thought of starting with the best one , this one is spiked with a quarter cup of “Bailleys Irish cream”.

      I wish I could make my food and desserts look more glamorous , but with a simple basic camera and a hectic schedule these are the best results I can manage , so please do not get dissuaded with the looks of the food , it looks the way it is…with a better camera and some cut and paste I can make the food look out of this world…..but I wonder if you will be able to relate to it….I mean the food should look real enough to be eaten …not something so exotic that you feel…would I be able to make that?

Well that’s my expalination and excuse for some not so great pictures of my food. Now lets get on with this delicious and simple home made ice cream.

Ingredients:

1.                 500 ml full cream / full fat milk

2.                 200 ml condensed milk 

3.                 Three tablespoons custard powder

4.                 One fourth cocoa powder

5.                 100 grams shards of milk chocolate

6.                 One fourth to half a cup of powder sugar ( depending on how sweet you want it to be )

Method:

1.                 Place the milk in a heavy bottomed pan and keep it on medium flame , reserve half a cup of milk to dissolve the custard.

2.                 Pour the custard into the boiling milk , and keep stirring till you the custard becomes thick like paint.

3.                 Add the cocoa powder and whisk vigorouly , the custard will become thicker. Turn the  gas off. Now add the shards of milk choclate , condensed milk and sugar while whisking the custard vigorously.

4.                 Let the custard cool off to room temperature  , then pour a quarter cup of baileys Irish cream into it.

5.                 Pour the contents into a aluminium container and freeze.

6.                 After about four to five hours , beat the semi set ice cream in the container itself or in a blender and pour it back into the aluminium box.

7.                 Do the same after another six hours. Thsi step not only makes the icecream lighter and fluffier but also prevents any crystals from forming in the ice cream.

8.                 The ice cream will be ready in about six hours to enjoy.

Chocolate cake
choclate cake ..choclate cake ..choclate cake ..choclate cake ..choclate cake ..choclate cake ..

choclate cake

My being featured in “Talking cranes” 
  http://www.talkingcranes.com/food/grilled-spinach-toasts
calls for a celebration but unfortunately I don’t have the time to make something elaborate because I am super busy today, so I guess this chocolate cake with the simplest frosting should do the needful.

 Ingredients:

1.         200 grams salted butter at room temperature

2.         4 eggs

3.         200 grams castor sugar

4.         200 grams  all purpose flour

5.         50 grams cocoa powder

6.         1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

7.         ½ teaspoon baking soda

8.         125 ml  curd

9.         1 teaspoon vanilla essence

10.     For the icing:  50 grams unsalted butter, 50 grams icing sugar , two tablespoons warm milk and 3 teaspoons cocoa powder

Method:

1.        Sift the flour, cocoa , baking powder and soda.

2.        Pile up all the ingredients in the food processor starting with the butter, eggs , sugar, following with the sifted flour and lastly the curd and essence.

3.        Blend till well mixed.

4.         Pour into a 8 inch round tin.

5.         Place in a preheated oven at 180° for fifty minutes.

6.         Let the cake come to room temperature before turning it over into a plate.

7.        For the icing , put the butter into a thick bottomed pan and place it on top of a double boiler or like I did , place the pan over a pan of hot water and turn the gas on low so that the water keep simmering.

8.         Now you have got to be fast …..mix the cocoa well in the hot milk and add the cocoa-milk mixture and the icing sugar to the butter and stir till just about mixed, care not to let the butter melt too much.

  9.         Spread the icing on the cake and decorate with whatever suits your style.

choclate cake

choclate cake

cakes and bakes· Choclate

Chocolate cake
choclate cake ..choclate cake ..choclate cake ..choclate cake ..choclate cake ..choclate cake ..

choclate cake

My being featured in “Talking cranes” 
  http://www.talkingcranes.com/food/grilled-spinach-toasts
calls for a celebration but unfortunately I don’t have the time to make something elaborate because I am super busy today, so I guess this chocolate cake with the simplest frosting should do the needful.

 Ingredients:

1.         200 grams salted butter at room temperature

2.         4 eggs

3.         200 grams castor sugar

4.         200 grams  all purpose flour

5.         50 grams cocoa powder

6.         1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

7.         ½ teaspoon baking soda

8.         125 ml  curd

9.         1 teaspoon vanilla essence

10.     For the icing:  50 grams unsalted butter, 50 grams icing sugar , two tablespoons warm milk and 3 teaspoons cocoa powder

Method:

1.        Sift the flour, cocoa , baking powder and soda.

2.        Pile up all the ingredients in the food processor starting with the butter, eggs , sugar, following with the sifted flour and lastly the curd and essence.

3.        Blend till well mixed.

4.         Pour into a 8 inch round tin.

5.         Place in a preheated oven at 180° for fifty minutes.

6.         Let the cake come to room temperature before turning it over into a plate.

7.        For the icing , put the butter into a thick bottomed pan and place it on top of a double boiler or like I did , place the pan over a pan of hot water and turn the gas on low so that the water keep simmering.

8.         Now you have got to be fast …..mix the cocoa well in the hot milk and add the cocoa-milk mixture and the icing sugar to the butter and stir till just about mixed, care not to let the butter melt too much.

  9.         Spread the icing on the cake and decorate with whatever suits your style.

choclate cake

choclate cake

Chocolate biscotti

I am quite enjoying this story telling form of presenting the recipes for a change.

    Biscotti for me is something like cake rusk and I like the chocolate and nut version of it the best.
I have yet to get a deliciously crisp texture to my biscottis and you can be rest assured that I will share it with you all.

    All you have to do is to take three tablespoons butter and half a cup of powdered sugar and cream it well. Add an egg and beat with a whisk or a egg beater till well mixed.

     Sift one cup of flour , one fourth cup of cocoa powder , half a teaspoon of baking soda and one fourth teaspoon of baking powder.

     Add one tablespoon of the sifted flour at a time to the butter egg mixture alternating with one fourth cup of water at room temperature.

   You will end up with a thick sticky lumpy mixture . Add half a cup of chopped cashews and stir into the batter.

    Line a cookie sheet with an aluminuim foil and grease it  and pat the mixture into an inch thick oblong log.You will have to moisten your hands to get a neat job.

     Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes , while still hot , cut into one inch thick slices with a serrated knife.

      Lay the slices flat and bake again at the same temperature for five mintues and turn over the slices and bake again for another five minutes.

     Allow the biscotti to come at roomtemperature before storing them.

cashews· Choclate· cookies and slices

Chocolate biscotti

I am quite enjoying this story telling form of presenting the recipes for a change.

    Biscotti for me is something like cake rusk and I like the chocolate and nut version of it the best.
I have yet to get a deliciously crisp texture to my biscottis and you can be rest assured that I will share it with you all.

    All you have to do is to take three tablespoons butter and half a cup of powdered sugar and cream it well. Add an egg and beat with a whisk or a egg beater till well mixed.

     Sift one cup of flour , one fourth cup of cocoa powder , half a teaspoon of baking soda and one fourth teaspoon of baking powder.

     Add one tablespoon of the sifted flour at a time to the butter egg mixture alternating with one fourth cup of water at room temperature.

   You will end up with a thick sticky lumpy mixture . Add half a cup of chopped cashews and stir into the batter.

    Line a cookie sheet with an aluminuim foil and grease it  and pat the mixture into an inch thick oblong log.You will have to moisten your hands to get a neat job.

     Bake in a preheated oven for 25 minutes , while still hot , cut into one inch thick slices with a serrated knife.

      Lay the slices flat and bake again at the same temperature for five mintues and turn over the slices and bake again for another five minutes.

     Allow the biscotti to come at roomtemperature before storing them.