Coconut cake

It could have been the sudden onslaught of summers or the desperate need to eat something sweet or even the fact that my pantry boosted a most comprehensive collection of coconut milk that I suddenly felt this overbearing need within me to bake a coconut cake and not just any coconut cake but beautiful bundt at that and thusly here we have a gorgeously sweet, tropically kissed and easily made coconut cake.

The ingredients are eggs, flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, coconut flakes or dessicated coconut, sugar, lemon zest and coconut milk. Also vanilla extract (not pictured)

I used a food processor to mix the lemon zest in with the sugar just so it’s evenly distributed and renders a more aromatic scent. This step didn’t do much to affect the end result so it’s optional.

crack eggs in a clean mixing bowl

and add in the sugar

and beat well for a few minutes until pale

Heat coconut milk and melt in the butter ensuring it doesn’t get too hot and reserve for later.

Add vanilla extract

followed by the flour and baking powder. Add it in batches. Mixing constantly and scraping the sides of the bowl intermittently.

Once the flour is well mixed add in the coconut flakes and mix again.

and finally pour in the coconut butter mixture.

Beat well ensuring there are no dry lumps in the batter.

Pour into a well greased baking tin. I’m using a bundt pan but feel free to make it into a regular sheet cake or even cupcakes.

Bake at 170ºC for 45-50 minutes in a preheated oven or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let it rest for at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Dust with powdered sugar or sweetened coconut flakes before serving.

Ingredients

Flour: 240g
Sugar: 250g
Salt: 1/4 tsp
Baking powder: 1 heaped tsp
Butter: 80g
Eggs: 4 
Coconut milk: 200mls
Dessicated coconut: 150g
Vanilla: 1 tsp
Lemon zest: 2 tsps

Note: The picture shows 6 eggs but the recipe uses 4.

Recipe instructions

Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside.

In a clean pan heat the coconut milk and melt in the butter. Don’t let the mixture get too hot. Reserve for later.

Crack in the eggs in a large bowl and beat in the sugar and lemon zest until the batter gets well aerated and turns pale. It will take a few minutes and add in the vanilla extract.

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt mixture into the egg and sugar batter in batches until well incorporated. Keep scraping the sides of the bowl to ensure no lumps or dry bits of flour are stuck to the sides.

Once the dry ingredients are mixed in beat the coconut flakes/desiccated coconut followed by the coconut milk and butter mixture.

Mix well until you have a sunkissed pale yellow batter punctuated with grainy bits of coconut flakes.

Scrape the batter in a well greased baking pan and bake at 170ºC for 45-50 minutes or until the top of the cake is copper hued and a knife inserted comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in its pan for at least 10 minutes before inverting on a cooling rack where it needs to cool down for another ten minutes before slicing in.

Finally dust with sugar or sweetened coconut flakes before serving.

Enjoy!

Woon mamuang

These symmetrically gorgeous yellow and white pieces of soft squares are the stuff of dreams most soothing and calm. As lovely and mysterious as these are to look at, they taste almost as tranquil and smooth.

‘Woon mamuang’ as these are called in Thai are really mango mousse made with agar-agar, a sort of vegan gelatine so to say, that’s made of seaweed and thus vegan, vegetarian friendly. I first had them in Thailand and couldn’t get over the almost enigmatic texture of these tender squares. They’re not too wobbly, as one would expect regular jellies made of gelatine, yet softly yielding with a fresh fruity taste that almost feels like eating mangoes in a different form. There’s a sort of gentleness to their aspect that works really well as a light dessert, for it doesn’t fill you up, not to mention that their primary ingredients or rather the only ingredients are pureed mangoes and coconut milk, both of which form a kind of ethereal bond of mellow pleasantness.

I made these for the first time and learnt after a few errors the exact workings of agar agar, and will explain them in this post so you don’t make the same mistakes.

the ingredients are mangoes, sugar, lime, strawberries, coconut milk, water and agar agar.

peel the mangoes

and chop/cube them to be made into a puree.

add in a squirt of lime juice to add just another dimension of flavours

and blend to form a puree, making sure there are no lumps.

water in a pot, don’t turn on the heat yet, because unlike gelatine agar agar will turn into something of a mess if dumped into hot water.

add in agar agar and slowly start heating the water.

stir water constantly or else the agar agar might settle at the bottom and clump together.

keep stirring until agar agar is completely dissolved.

once that is done, add in the sugar and let is dissolve

add in mango puree

and whisk until it’s mixed well and there are no lumps

there are various ways to go about making woon mamuang. You can either make individual pieces in moulds or one big piece in a tray. I went with the latter option.

Now the the thing with agar agar is that it begins to set soon after it starts cooling down and can set at room temperature as well, so we have to be a bit quick about things, but don’t get yourself in a frenzy as I did. Pour half the mango mixture to form the bottom layer.

Add in chopped strawberries. you can even add mango cubes or coconut meat or nothing. I love the reds of strawberries with the yellows of mango.

they look like rose petals.

while that sets, we can get on with making the coconut milk layer. Start heating a pot of water with agar agar until it completely dissolves

add sugar and coconut milk

and pour the hot coconut milk mixture over the now set layer of mango layer and pop all the air bubbles or rather most of them using a toothpick.

Error: here’s the mistake I made. I checked the mango layer in corners of the pan and thought it to be set, whereas the middle part of the layer had not set at all, which is why some part of the coconut milk layer has floating strawberries on it. Therefore check that the bottom layer has almost completely set. It should be a little tacky, but shouldn’t stick to your fingers.

once the coconut layer has set pour over the remaining mango mixture and let set completely and refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving.

Note: keep the remaining mango mixture warm while the coconut milk layer sets, because once it cools down it will begin to congeal.

cut into squares and serve chilled.

Ingredients

For the mango layer

Mangoes: 430g (about 2 cups)

Water: 350 mls (1.5 cups)

Sugar: 100g (1/2 cup)

Agar agar: 2tsp

Lime juice: 1tsp

Strawberries: 80g (1/2 cup)

For the coconut milk layer

Coconut milk: 200mls (1 cup)

Water: 200 mls (3/4 cup)

Sugar: 4-5 tbsp

Agar agar: 1 tsp

Recipe instructions: Puree mangoes with lime juice, chop strawberries and keep aside.

Add agar agar to a pot of cold water and gently bring up to heat, stirring constantly until agar agar dissolves. Add sugar and pureed mangoes and whisk until sugar has dissolved and no lumps remain.

Gently pour half the mixture into moulds, making sure that no air bubbles are formed. Strew in chopped strawberries and allow this layer to set, while keeping the remaining mango mixture warm.

Make the coconut milk mixture by adding agar agar to water and slowly bringing to heat, stirring constantly until agar agar is completely dissolved. Add in coconut milk and sugar and once sugar is dissolved as well, pour the coconut milk mixture very gently over the now set mango mixture. To ensure that no air bubbles are formed you can even spoon this mixture.

In case any bubbles do get formed, pop them with a toothpick.

Once the coconut milk mixture had set gently pour the remaining mango puree over it and let it set completely and refrigerate before serving.

Few things to remember: Do not let agar agar settle at the bottom of the pan while dissolving in water. Keep stirring constantly.

Check if the layers have set by gently tapping the middle area, it should be tacky to the touch but shouldn’t stick.

Do not let remainder mixture to cool down because it begins to set. Keep over low heat in case the temperatures are cool.

Lemon cake

Just the kind of laid back cake that packs a punch while dressed most plainly in a sponge batter.

The tartness of lemons balances ever so perfectly with the sweetness of cake that it’s difficult to understand whether its complementing your palette or squeezing in your cheeks.

Even better, it tastes more delicious the next day, if it survives, that is.

The summeriness of lemons does wonders to uplift your spirits and this cake works perfectly as a midday sweet snack filler or lazy dessert. It’s not easy to say ‘no’ to this bronze slab of sour sweet zing, and if you can resist it then you ARE heartless.

there are two stages to this cake. one is the batter and the other is syrup and both idiotically easy.

begin by creaming butter and sugar

once they’re satisfactorily creamed, add vanilla extract

and lemon zest

and eggs

also mix the leavening agents into the flour for an even mix.

add flour to the mix

mix well.

it’ll be a thick thick batter, and a bit of milk will soften its consistency without thinning it.

nice dropping consistency

line a baking tin of choice with baking paper. Scrape the batter in and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean

while the cake bakes we can get on with the syrup. It’s a simple syrup. With sugar and lemon juice.

add sugar to a pot

and the lemon juice

and let it cook until the sugar begins to melt

here the contents began boiling which meant the sugar was pretty much dissolved.Convey the pot to a cooler place and let it slowly cool. DO NOT be tempted to taste the boiling potion. You’ll come to regret it so.

once the cake is baked and out of the oven, do not wait for it to cool down.

start poking deep holes in it. Use a skewer or a toothpick.

Drizzle lemon syrup all over, so that the top is sodden. Be brave. The cake won’t crumble under all that liquid. In fact it will absorb all the contents.

The surface will be slick with the syrup. Let the cake continue cooling in its tin. If you try to pry it out at this stage it will tend to crumble and break apart.

you might wonder why there’s a difference in picture of the said cake. I’d baked two cakes. The one baked in loaf tin was given away promptly and the one shown above was consumed by this blogger.

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Ingredients

For the cake

Butter: 120 g (3/4 cup)

Sugar: 170 g (1.5 cups)

Flour: 170g (1.5 cups)

Eggs: 2

Zest of 1 lemon

Milk: 4 tbsp

Baking powder: 1 tsp

Baking soda: 1/4 tsp

Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

For the lemon syrup

Juice of 2 lemons

80g (3/4 cup) sugar

Recipe instructions: cream together butter and sugar, and add lemon zest, vanilla extract and eggs. Beat them well. Add flour and leavening agents and fold all ingredients to form a batter. Add milk to thin the batter in spoonable consistency and bake in a well greased and paper lined baking tin at 180° for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

While the cake bakes prepare the syrup. Heat gently the sugar and lemon juice until all sugar has dissolved.

Once the cake is baked and out of the oven, prick holes or puncture the top with a toothpick or cake testing skewer to form holes. Pour over the syrup and let the cake rest to absorb the syrup in its pan. Don’t take out the cake until it’s completely cooled.

Cut into pieces and serve.

No woe brownies

Brownies as a rule work as devilish little mood elevator charms, and although there never can be one perfect recipe, these chocolate sodden, nuts bejeweled diabolical squares are indeed moan inducing. The reason these are called no woe brownies is because they’re the perfect antidote to many a life’s sads. They will diminish most of your life worries, though these do tend to have a rather crack life after effect, and you might be swayed to do something absolutely indecorous..but that shouldn’t stop you from either committing to that act or making these exquisite squares of forbidden pleasures. Not only do these little babies lusciously gratify your most carnal cravings, they also do double duty as your sinning needs..so if you’re one of those straight-laced, down on your luck decent ones out there, baking and ingesting one of these is guaranteed to write you off as one dirty sinner, because these brownies are in fact the miscreant adulterers of all food groups.

Now these are called no woe brownies and they are but for the little side effect that these will make you fat, and what could be more woeful than that? on the other hand if you eat another one of these, you might not feel so bad after all, and they are the perfect remedy for an aching heart.

Let’s be absolutely clear that these are not the cakey brownie kinds, I mean what’s even the point of a cakey brownie when you might as well just eat a cake. No sir..these are dense, fudgey, and every bite is packed with chunks of sweet divinity, because these have three different kinds of chocolate components.

bring on all the good stuff..chocolate chunks or chips separated into two heaps, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, cocoa powder, butter, chopped salted pistachios, sugar and coffee granules.

This is an easy easy recipe..all can me made into one bowl, and an oval bowl doesn’t really help much. So butter diced into chunks

and chunks of chocolate part-1. This one is meant for melting purposes with the butter. You can either melt the butter and chocolate over heating water in a heat proof bowl or melt in a microwave, in 30 second bursts.

add in the coffee granules. These make the chocolate more chocolatey.

this is what you get. satan’s swimming pool. Take a dip and salvation..or you can make brownies.

add in the sugar

mix well. You’ll see that the sugar doesn’t really dissolve and that’s alright, because everything will come together just fine.

crack in the eggs, one at a time and mix well before adding another.

make sure to incorporate the eggs well into the batter and you’ll end up with something like this.

add in the vanilla

and the cocoa powder and mix

add in the flour

chocolate chunks that are supposed to stay as chunks in here

and finally in with the salted nuts. It’s the salted nuts that add another dimension and elevate these brownies from fantastic to ecstatic.

mix it all in well. Ah, this marvelous mound of magnificence.

scrape the batter into a buttered baking tray

smooth well and bake at 180°C for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean

ah…sigh!!! cut into squares if you care to share, or just dive in with a fork.

here it is..in a rueful light..

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Ingredient amounts

Flour: 70g (1/2 cup)

Butter: 120g (1/2 cup)

Chocolate dark (for melting): 170g (1 heaped cup)

Chocolate chunks (milk or dark): 90g (1/2 cup)

Cocoa powder: 30g (1/4 cup)

Eggs: 3

Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

Coffee granules: 1 tablespoon

Salted pistachio: 70g (heaped 3/4cup)- you can use any salted nuts of your preference. salted peanuts would be great here too.

————————————————–

Recipe instructions: melt the butter, coffee granules and dark chocolate over a heat proof bowl or into a microwave. Add in sugar and mix briefly. Crack in the eggs, one at a time and mix thoroughly. (Let the mixture cool before adding in the eggs)

Add in the vanilla extract, cocoa powder, flour, chocolate chunks and salted nuts. Mix until well incorporated.

Scrape into a buttered baking tray and bake at 180°C for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean

if this doesn’t push you into the kitchen with a slab of chocolate in hand..you don’t deserve to sin.

Apple Cobbler Crumble

What what? a cobbler and a crumble together? Yes indeed.. for why just have a cobbler when you can also have a crumble and vice versa.

This idea happened not because I was feeling very inventive, well maybe I was.. I was greedy and the fat juicy apples sitting in front of me asked me how they’d like to be cooked.. now I’m just hallucinating. Actually I initially wanted to make a crumble but midway I started making a cobbler and then came back to crumble.. I’m confused that ways. But seriously, once you’ve had this divinity, you’d probably end up making this all the time.

Out of habit I always make a lot of crumble topping and freeze it for instant crumbles, so of course I had the crumble ready.. you never know there might be a surplus of fruits and you’d want to top them with crumble.. Be prepared in life I say.

Okay, so this is how I went with it..

I know, I know.. I couldn’t resist another picture of the gorgeousness that was this crumble cobbler or vice versa.. yes it’s an ice cream atop that.. Yes it’s winters, and yes its French vanilla ice cream.. thank you.

These are 3 apples. Peeled, cored and sliced. Use whichever ones you want. In your baking dish try to pile them evenly.. I did say TRY !!

Sprinkle some sugar. I used about 3 tablespoons of granulated white sugar

Sprinkle some cinnamon.. you can be a bit more generous.. I couldn’t because le huzbend don’t like no cinnamon very much (cry a little)

Set the apples aside and start with the crumble topping. I have flour and salt (mixed), sugar, baking powder, butter, egg and vanilla.

Sift together the dry ingredients and in a separate bowl melt the butter, add the vanilla, and bet in the egg.. so basically a bowl of dry ingredients and a bowl of wet ingredients.

Mix in the dry ingredients into the wet one or vice versa. and mix till all’s well mixed. It’ll be a thickish batter. If your batter doesn’t get to a dropping consistency then add 1 tablespoon of milk.

Spoon the batter over the apples.

I spooned over the batter in 9 uneven albeit somewhat pretty dollops. Don’t laugh.

Here’s another close up..

Here’s the crumble part. I added a bit of rolled oats to the crumble. As I said I had this crumble ready in the freezer for any passing fruit might need it..

Now sprinkle the crumble over the exposed apple parts. Honestly I didn’t mean for it to sound dirty. Sprinkle the crumble over the non cobbler parts and bake @ 180℃ for 20-25 minutes.

the baked result.. Let it cool a bit. Cut a generous slice, top with vanilla ice cream and please eat it already..

Le another picture.. ok no more.. Enjoy !!!

Ingredients & Recipe

3 Apples

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

For the cobbler

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp butter melted

1 egg

1/2 tbsp vanilla

For the crumble

1 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup almond flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup cold butter cut into cubes

2 tbsp rolled oats.

Recipe

Peel core and slice the apples and line into your baking tray. Try to make them even.

Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

For the cobbler, mix all the dry ingredients into a bowl. In a separate bowl mix the melted cooled butter with the vanilla and egg and mix.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and form a batter. If the batter is too thick add in 1 tbsp of milk. Spoon the batter over the apples.

For the crumble sift together the flour,sugar, almond flour and baking powder. Cut the cold cubes of butter. You can either use a food processor, pastry cutter or simply your fingers. Once your mixture reaches a porridge like consistency add in the oats. Let there be clumps of butter since these will brown and give your crumble a burnished look.

Sprinkle this crumble mixture over the apples which do not have any cobbler on them. Make sure your apples are mostly covered with either cobbler batter or crumble mixture.

Freeze the remaining crumble mixture and use them as and when needed..

Bake 180℃ for 20-25 minutes.

Chiffon cake

This is a cake I had made a few days back when I was asked to make a proper cake with a lot of icing. Yes, my husband is a sucker for filled or iced cakes. Considering the layers of creamy icing I’d have to slather onto the cake, I decided to bake a cake which in itself isn’t heavy at all.

This chiffon cake I think is perfect for a thick icing, since it’s not heavy on its own whatsoever. Also spongy, airy and light, and in fact tastes like one of those store bought cakes which we usually get to eat at kids birthday parties. However this was all fresh, nothing store brought except the ingredients.

The other good thing about this cake is that it only needs a very few ingredients. One can make a fairly large cake out of it too and it’s perfect for gatherings.

I have no step by step pictures this time, but it’s so easy really.

Ingredients

5 large eggs- separated

170 gms sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

90 gms flour.

For icing

Whipped cream

This is it. These are all the ingredients. No need for any baking powder, butter, nothing. It;s a very light cake.

Okay, first we have to divide the sugar into three parts.

Sift 50 gms sugar with the flour,and keep aside. 50 gms sugar for the egg yolks, and the rest 70 gms if for the egg whites, so keep aside.

Starting with the egg yolks first.

Beat the sugar and the egg yolks till they take on a pale yellow hue. I had to beat mine for about 15 minutes- I was using a hand mixer. You can by all means use whatever you feel necessary. Once you have reached that stage wherein the sugar and eggs are completely mixed and pale eggy yellow, mix in the vanilla and beat until its all incorporated. Into this mixture sieve in the flour and sugar and keep aside. Don’ mix anything right now.

Now we start beating the egg whites. Beat until they form soft white peaks. This is the time we start adding in the sugar, a teaspoon at a time. This is to ensure that the sugar is completely incorporated and that there aren’t any undissolved sugar crystal. The beating has to be vigorous. Beat until all the sugar has been mixed, the eggs are shining white in fact a bit matte by now, and forming stiff peaks when you lift your beater.

For the final folding of the batter. Take 1/3rd of the egg white mixture and gently fold in with the flour and egg yolk mixture. You have to ensure that you fold it well, instead of mixing like a maniac, because it’s the folding that ensures a very risen cake. When the batter gets well mixed, fold in the remaining egg whites.

The Chiffon cake batter will look very very pale yellow, in fact sort of creamy, like the wall pain on my kitchen.

I used a springform pan. It was easy to just take off the sides, but really, use whatever shaped mold you like.

Bake at 160℃ for 45-50 minutes. The cake will rise to extraordinary proportions. It was a joy to just watch it rise every minute.

Let the cake cool before you slather the icing. You can either bake the cake into 2 molds, or be lazy like me and bake into one and divide it into two by using a clumsy hand and a serrated knife.

Enjoy !!!

Coffee chocolate cupcake

Dark, crumbly and sinful. These cupcakes, which can be easily turned into a cake if you increase the recipe are one of my favourites. Not too sweet, gorgeously dark with a strong hint of coffee. The best way to curl up and read a book while scarfing down an entire batch.

The thing is that I usually make cupcakes, since I’m only baking for 2 people, and I hate the sight of cakes or food just transferring from table to fridge. This is a recipe for a cake, which I adapted to make into cupcakes. I made 8 of these, and you can easily decrease or increase the ingredients to suit your needs.

This is what the innards of this astounding cupcake look like. No comments on the size of the bite though.. see- moist and crumbly and oh my god WOW !!

Ingredients

110 gms flour

4 tbsp sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp buttermilk

150 mls hot coffee ( I used instant coffee)

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp cocoa powder

4 tbsp veg oil.

For this recipe, you need a bowl an a whisk. if you so wish you can use a mixer, but really this is all you need.

Sift in all the dry ingredients together. Gradually add in the egg, vanilla, oil and yogurt and mix well. Now gently tip in the hot coffee, all the while mixing you batter. The resulting batter will be liquidy and this is actually what gives it the springiness.

Bake at 170℃ for about 20-25 mins.

These cupcakes are a wonder. So easy, so tasty and so very dark and moist.

Enjoy !!

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