Coca cola cupcake

Ingredients

Part One

• 1 cup coca cola or other cola drink
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup powdered cocoa
• 22 large marshmallows
 

Part two

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs, beaten

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  These cupcakes work best with the silver metallic liners.

Part one

In a small saucepan mix cola, butter, vegetable oil and cocoa.  Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and add marshmallows.  Place lid on saucepan and leave until marshmallows begin to melt.  Stir well.

Part two

Mix flour, sugar, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl.  Add buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla.  Mix well.

Combine Part One and Part Two in the mixing bowl.  Spoon cupcake batter into cupcake pan liners until they are 1/2 to 2/3 full.

Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Coffee cake

This is the recipe for cake that I baked for my hubby's birthday. Continued from previous post. Got this lovely recipe from One Perfect Bite- Mary's blog and it turned out just perfect.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup instant coffee granules
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound (1 cup) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs

Method:

1) Adjust a rack to lower third of oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Generously coat a 14 x 4 x 3-inch loaf pan with butter. Dust with flour. A nonstick baking spray may also be used.
2) Combine milk and coffee crystals in a small saucepan. Heat, stirring to dissolve crystals. Set aside to cool.
3) Sift flour with baking powder and salt. Set aside.
4) Cream butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add vanilla and sugar and beat for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat for 1 to 2 minutes at high speed after adding last egg. Mixture will look curdled. It's not a problem.
5) With mixer on low speed, add flour in three additions and milk mixture in two. Beat only until smooth. Turn into pan. Spread until level, then use a spatula to move batter slightly up the sides of pan, leaving center slightly lower than sides.
6) Bake for 55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes. Invert on rack and remove pan. Ice cooled cake upside down.

She has wonderful recipe for the icing too. Try that too. Mine had buttercream frosting.

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Coconut cake from Patrick and Gina Neely's recipe

We frequently watch food network and other than Paula an Ina garten, the Neelys are on our list. We love to catch Sunny Anderson but seem to miss her show. This is a typical southern style coconut cake, been in the Neely's family for generations now. So we can safely say this is a pretty authentic recipe. We all loved the cake. Try it and see for yourself.

Ingredients:

• Nonstick baking spray, for pan
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
• cream cheese lemon Glaze, recipe follows
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray and dust with flour.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder.

In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, 1 at a time. Once incorporated, add the extracts. Stir in the coconut milk and beat until combined. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients until the mixture is smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cool cake 5 minutes before turning it out onto a rack. Let cool completely on the rack.

Once the cake has cooled, ladle the glaze over the cake, and top with flaked coconut. Let glaze set before serving. Transfer the cake to a platter or serving dish and slice.

Cream cheese and lemon glaze:

3 tablespoon Cream Cheese (room temperature)

1 ½ cup powdered sugar

2 teaspoon lemon juice

2tablespoon milk

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Let stand for 20 minutes to thicken.

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Poppy seed cake

We are in love with this cake. We couldnt stop eating it( not for it narcotic properties as you think) for it is very tasty , soft and has got great flavour. This recipe was bookmarked sometime ago from Mary's One Perfect Bite blog.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup poppy seeds
1 cup milk
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites, stiffly beaten

Method:

1) Add poppy seeds to milk and let stand for 1 hour.
2) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13-inch pan. Set aside.
3) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4) Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in another bowl.
5) Add flour and milk alternately to creamed mixture, beginning and ending with flour.
6) Fold in egg whites, half at a time. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let sit in pan for 10 to 15 minutes before removing to a rack to complete cooling.

Sour Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

1 cup + 3 tablespoons sour cream, divided use
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts( We used cashews)

Method:

1) Blend 1 cup sour cream and sugar in a 3-quart pan. When smooth, add water. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until soft ball stage is reached. Remove from heat. Cool slightly.
2) Add vanilla and reserved 3 tablespoons sour cream. Beat with a hand mixer until creamy. Spread quickly on top of cake. Top with nuts if desired. Yield: 12 servings.

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Strawberry Tartlettes

Ingredients

For Crust

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, cut into small cubes
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold water

For Filling

1 bar cream cheese (softened)
1/4 cup sugar
3-4 cup strawberries, hulled and halved
3 tbsp corn starch

Makes 8 servings

Method

* Blend flour, butter, sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form in a food processor for around a minute.
* Transfer the dough to small round tartlette pans.
* Roll out the pie crust with a rolling pin and place it in the tart pans and press with your fingers. Press the bottom with a dry measuring cup.
* Freeze crust until firm for about 10 to 15 minutes.
* Preheat oven to 350°
* Using a fork, prick crust all over. Bake until golden, 25 to 30 minutes, pressing down gently once or twice with a spoon during baking if crust puffs up. In fact, placing something heavy on the pie crust will be preferable. Cool completely in pan.
* For making the filling, in a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth; spread mixture evenly in bottom of baked crust (still in tart pan).
* Chop the strawberries and place them into a saute pan
* Add one cup of sugar combined with three tablespoons of corn starch.
* Cook strawberries and sugar/cornstarch on medium heat.
* Using a whisk, crush strawberries as they soften and continue cooking on low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
* Pour the strawberry pie filling into your perfectly baked crust.
* Chill the pie for about 2 hours.

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Goat cheese souffle

Nice and fluffy souffle that are good with almost anything. Souffle is a light fluffy dish of egg yolks and stiffly beaten egg whites mixed with e.g. cheese or fish or fruit. We have cheese souffle here. They go fine wherever bread is used. They are great with gravy or sauces that you prefer. They pair with salads very well.

Ingredients:

3 ounces cultured butter lightly salted
2 tablespoon bread crumbs
2 ounces all purpose flour
8 ounces whole milk
16 ounces plain goat cheese
6 eggs, separated
1 dash Tabasco
Salt and ground pepper to taste


Method:

• Rub the inside of six 3/4-cup souffle dishes or two and one half muffin tins with one ounce of butter. Coat with breadcrumbs(We used panko breadcrumbs with garlic flavour. It complemented the taste of the souffle) and tap out excess. Set aside.
• Lightly toast flour in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add butter and stir until flour and butter are combined to form a roux. Add milk while whisking over medium heat. Whisk until smooth and roux thickens to a mashed potato consistency.
• Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add the chèvre and egg yolks and mix using a rubber spatula, until well combined. Season the base with Tabasco(any hot sauce will do), salt and pepper.
• While the base is cooling, whip egg whites until they form soft peaks., then fold into the souffle base.
• Divide the mixture among prepared ramekin dishes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake in the oven until they are puff and golden brown (about 50 minutes).

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Donuts and a Swarovski Giveaway

Hi Readers,

We have always liked donuts(or doughnuts). Finally we managed to muster up enough guts to try it and say what, it came out really nice. Fluffy, soft and beautiful looking. No, we are not talking about a newborn, it is about a donut.




Ingredients:

flour - 2 cups
sugar - 3/4 cup
unsalted butter softened - 5 tbsp
egg yolks - 3 (added 2 whole eggs and still turned out fine)
yeast instant - 2 tsps
warm milk - 1 cup or little less

Method:

• Add all the ingredients together. Sift the dry ingredients together to avoid lumps.

• Kneed the dough for sometime and leave it aside in a greased bowl till it becomes twice in size.
• After that punch out the excess air and roll them into 1/4 inch thickness. and using a cookie cutter and bottle cap(or anything), cut them in the shape of doughnuts.
• Take the excess dough and repeat.
• Let them rise again for another hour or two in a warm place. One hour is enough though.
• Heat oil and fry the donuts on each side for a few minutes to make sure it cooks evenly.
• Glaze with things you like - chocolate, or plain glaze or sprinkle plain cinnamon sugar.

Now to our giveaway. We were contacted by ChunkyBling.com, an online jewellery store who have a variety of eye-catching rings, bracelets and watches with straps that can be switched. They have got some nice chunk jewellery that are very very good, if we may say so. The lucky winner who will be selected randomly selected will be receiving a Swarovski Pearl ring
or a Swarovski Crystal ring. The winner will choose the colour and style of the ring.


Following are the things you need to do to participate in the giveaway:

1. Follow us(our blog) on Google Friends Connect, Facebook and Twitter.
2. Go to Name that Bling page on the ChunkyBling.com website and participate in naming their new jewellery addition and leave a comment on our blog along with the name you suggested there. Name That Bling is a weekly contest where participants submit names for new jewelry designs. At the end of the week, they select five finalists and let their customers vote for their favorite. The winning name is featured on their website and the person who submitted that name wins a FREE watch of their choice(this is in addition to the giveaway). Isn't that cool?
3. The winner will be selected randomly and notified duely. They will have to leave an address for receiving the gift by mailing us (creationz2009@gmail.com).

All the Best and Happy shopping.

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Baked Eggs

This is an Ina Garten recipe. Made few changes to it though. Skipped a few ingredients n added a few. loved the result. This is a very easy to make recipe and makes a great breaker.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
• 6 extra-large eggs
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• Tomatoes or sundried tomatoes - just a little
• 
  
• 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven for 5 minutes at 350F. Butter coat the ramekins.

2. Add all the herbs and spices.
3. Add the tomatoes.

5. Add an egg in each ramekin and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with parmesan.
6. Bake at 350F for 10- 15 mins. Keep the Ramekins in a water bath while baking just so that the eggs dont break.
7. Can be served with a side of Toast.

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"Mighty" Tiramisu

Well, Tiramisu has been our all-time favourite dessert. Mainly it has got the flavour of coffee. Need we say more? We got this recipe from Showmethecurry blog. They had two ways of doing. We prefered the later. It turned out well. We didnt exactly follow the assembling pattern and we used a round cake pan but that is entirely upto your taste. You can even make use of your own cake mix and not the store bought one as we did.



Ingredients:

Cream Cheese – 8oz box at room temp (Mascarpone cheese is the one used traditionally)
Sugar – 6 Tbsp (divided)
Whipped Cream – 3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream plus 1 Tbsp Sugar whipped to 1 1/2 cups (1 1/2 cups of Cool Whip may be used as an instant alternative)
Egg Yolks – 3
Strong Coffee – 1 cup (or as needed) mixed with 2 Tbsp Rum (optional)
1/2 box white cake mix
Cocoa Powder & Powdered Sugar – for garnishing

Method:

1. Bake cake per package directions. Only 1/2 box is necessary for this recipe.
2. After cake has cooled, flip baking pan over on a flat dish or work surface.
3. Using a long bread knife, cut the cake in half horizontally, creating two thin layers of cake.
4. Carefully place the top layer back into the baking pan.
5. Using a pastry brush, dab coffee onto the cake. More coffee may be required to soak the cake.
6. Spread 1/2 of the cream cheese filling onto the cake and dust with cocoa powder.
7. Carefully place the second layer of cake on top of the filling.
8. Dab more coffee onto the cake.
9. Spread remaining filling evenly and dust with cocoa creating an even layer.
10. Cover and chill overnight.

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Baked Sweet potato chips

This is a very tasty, healthy and easy to m(b)ake recipe. Have fun eating this.

Ingredients:

3 to 4 sweet potatoes, red skin
Spray vegetable oil
Cookie sheet

Method:

1. Scrub sweet potatoes to remove any soil. Slice, in rounds, very thin.
2. Spray cookie sheet with vegetable oil. Lay rounds on sheet and spray the tops.
3. Place in preheated 350 degree oven and bake until crisp.
4. Make several batches and store in air tight plastic.

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Happy Birthday Diya!

Well this post is about cutest daughter and beloved niece's Diya's birthday. She is a big girl now that she is 2. We are all thrilled to see her speak non-stop. I baked a cake that looked like a pair of flip flops. She loves to wear shoes and slippers especially ones that are too big for her. She was thrilled to see the cake. She went about singing " Happy byay you you" the whole day .


We are including videos in youtube..You can find links below..Hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it.

Preparing the frosting

Crumb coating the cake before refridgerating

Final frosting

Piping and decorating

You will hear the birthday girl's background score and kuddos to my hubby who did a great job videographing.

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Rye crackers

We came across this recipe in The Hindu, Metro Plus, those of you who are from India would know about this newspaper. thought we will try it and guess what, they were really good. This recipe is very nutritious.

Ingredients:

Rye flour 250g
wheat flour 250 g
salt 1/2 tsp
baking soda 1/4 tsp
vegetable oil 1/2 cup
water 1 cup or more
caraway seeds 1 tbsp

Method:

Mix all the ingredients and make a soft dough. Roll out thinly on floured surface.
Cut into desired shapes. Bake on cookie sheets at 275 F for about 30 mins.

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Ginger bread Man cookies...

Now with Christmas and New year around the corner, we thought cookies and cakes would be more helpful our viewers. Lets start with the more traditional ginger bread cookies. Though store bought ones are easier and we do it ourselves, homebaked ones are always special...so for those of you who want to try it in your kitchens, here you go.

Ingredients:

4 cups white whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup dark natural cane sugar (i.e. muscavado), or alternately use a dark brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs
2/3 cup organic unsulfured molasses (blackstrap)
large grain sugar (turbinado) for decoration
popsicle sticks (optional)

Method:

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.

In a large bowl by hand (or with an electric mixer) cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugar and mix again until light and creamy. Blend in the eggs one at a time and then the molasses. Add the flour mixture in two additions either by hand or on low speed. Divide the dough into two pieces, wrap each in plastic and chill for an hour or so.

Heat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the middle, and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats. Set aside.

Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured countertop roughly 1/8-inch thick and cut into gingerbread men (or other desired shapes). Transfer to baking sheets and arrange a popsicle stick underneath each (if desired), no need to press the stick aggressively into the dough, gently is fine - the cookies will bake right onto the sticks. Sprinkle with sugar (optional) and bake for 7 -10 minutes (for 3 - 4-inch cookies), less for smaller cookies, more for larger.

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