Orange Kiss-me cake

I almost bake every week. In school kids see other kids eating cookies and cakes which are store brought. i don't like store brought cake or cookies. So i end up baking a simple cake for the full week which i send to their school for snack time. I give them good lunch and the cake goes as snack.

Recently when i went to Sears outlet here i chanced upon Best of Pillsbury Bake-Off book. And i just loved the contents in this recipe book. Surely not going to do most of the recipes. But the pics tempted me to buy this book which was on sale. Brought this book last week and ended up doing this recipe.

The main thing in this recipe attracted is the notes on the recipe. It reads like this *Recipe by Lily Wuebel, Redwood City,CA. Bake-Off Contest, New york City, 1950*. So the year attracted me to go through the recipe. It's simple and little different recipe...We all enjoyed the cake and hope you to will enjoy making and eating it. Here goes the recipe :-

Ingredients:-

Orange 2
Raisins 1/2 cup
Walnuts 1/3 cup
All purpose flour 2 cups
Sugar 1 cup
Baking soda 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp
Milk 1 Cup
Butter 1/2 cup
Eggs 2

Topping
1/3 cup Orange
Sugar 1/3 cup
Cinnamon 1 tsp
Walnuts chopped 1/4 cup

Method:-

Heat over to 350 degrees F. Grease pan with butter and lightly with flour.

Squeeze orange from one orange and another orange peel. Remove seeds if any and grind orange with raisins and walnuts.

In a large bowl beat eggs until fluffy. Add butter and other cake ingredients. Beat all with electric mixer on low speed util moistened. Then beat on medium speed for 3 minutes. Stir in orange raisin mixture. Pour batter into pan.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Drizzle one orange juice over the warm cake.

In small bowl mix sugar  and cinnamon. Stir in 1/4 cup walnuts. Sprinkle over the cake. Cool completely about 1 hour.

Banana and pecan muffin

Happy new year to all my friends and to my readers, may this year brings you all lots of joy and happiness.

This year i am starting with a dessert, i don't think actually this is a dessert and it is not that sweet and my kids munch it as a any time snack. The recipe i am posting is a muffin. I am not sure whether this is correct or not, my 9 year old daughter told me the difference between a muffin and cup cake. According to her a muffin is without icing where as cup cake is with icing. I am not that good at icing and planning to go for a baking classes to learn about icing and frosting the cake. Now coming to the recipe this muffin is not that sweet,it has flavors of banana, lemon rind and vanilla essence. Here is the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Ripe Banana 4
Plain flour 1 1/2 cup
Butter 1/3 cup
Sugar 1/2 cup
Egg 1
Vanilla essence 1/4 tsp
Lemon rind 1 tsp
Salt 1/4 tsp
Baking powder 1/2 tsp
Baking soda (soda bicarbonate) 1/2 tspPecan pieces 5 tbsp
Walnut pieces 4 tbsp

Method:-

Mash banana. Add egg,vanilla and sugar.Add vanilla essence and lemon rind. Beat until soft and creamy.Mix dry ingredients baking soda,baking powder,salt and plain flour.

Mix dry ingredients and banana mix. Add pecan and walnut pieces and mix well.

Pour the batter in the 16 muffin cups.

Bake for 15-20 minutes in 180 degrees or until risen. Let it cool.

Enjoy as morning breakfast with chai or eat as snack or pack it for kid's school tiffin.

Orange and Vanilla cake

April 3rd was hubby's birthday and i baked this cake before the day as i had to work on April 3rd and i come home quite late. So we celebrated his birthday a day before.

Ingredients:-

Maida/all purpose flour 3 cup
Butter 1 1/2 cup
Sugar 2 cup
Eggs 4
Baking powder  1tsp
Milk 1/4 cup
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Orange juice fresh 1/4 cup
Mixed fruit jam 5 tbsp
Desiccated coconut

Method:-

Mix the dry ingredients. Divide the dry ingredients into two parts.

Take half of the butter and two eggs and beat until fluffy. Add vanilla essence.

Now slowly add the mixture into the one part of the flour. Add milk and mix well.

Grease a baking pan and pour the batter and keep aside for a while. In the mean while preheat the oven at 190 C.

Then take the second part of the dry ingredients. Take the remaining butter and add the two eggs and beat until fluffy. Add orange juice.

Now add the above mixture into the remaining flour and mix thoroughly.

Grease a banking pan and pour the batter.

Now bake both the cake for 35-40 minutes until tooth pick comes out clean.

Let the cake cool down.

Spread jam on the cake which has vanilla. Sprinkle coconut on top.

Place the cake which is in orange colour on top of the above cake. Spread jam and sprinkle desiccated coconut.

My kids wanted to decorate the cake more and they sprinkled those fancy things which we brought from a cake store here. I am not sure what they are called, excuse me for that.

Pear Blueberry and Strawberry Cake

The first time i tasted blueberries after coming here.I didn't like the taste much but kids just loved them.I like strawberries and pear.Always used to see blue berries cakes and muffins in blogs and never tasted them.I made the below mentioned cake with Blueberry and Strawberry toppings and Pear in the middle of the cake.I  loved the warm bite of cake with the warm Pear in it.

Ingredients:

Plain flour 2 cups
Sugar 1 1/4 cups
Baking powder 1 tsp
Salt a pinch
Unsalted butter 1 cup
Eggs 2
Vanilla essence 1 tbsp
Milk 1/2 cup

Sliced Pears 10-12 slices
Blue berries few
Straw berries few

Method:-

Beat eggs until fluffy.

Mix all the dry ingredients

Mix eggs,vanilla essence and butter.

Slowly pour the egg mixture and milk into the flour and mix well.If still you didn't get the thick batter you can add little milk.

Divide the batter into two.

Line the pan with butter and sprinkle flour.

Pour half of the batter into the pan.Spread Pear slices on the batter and pour the other half batter on the Pear slices.

Lastly spread blue berries and strawberries on top of the batter.

Pre-heat oven and bake the cake for 180 degrees Celsius for 40-50 minutes.

Now when you insert sewer into the cake it should come out clean. 

Fruity Nutty Cake

Merry Christmas and happy new year.Blogging has drastically came down this year did only 56 post.Not getting much time on the net, busy with the kids and other things.Hope i will be regular in the coming year.Coming to today post i made this cake for Christmas.Usually i bake my cake in microwave convention mode.When my batter was ready to be kept in the microwave,my microwave stopped working.Then i gave my batter to my neighborhood baker.Though he was busy with christmas he baked the cake for me and it came out very well.I got the recipe from Hindu newspaper.Here goes the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

Maida/All purpose flour 200gms

Eggs 4

Sugar 100 gms

Caramelised sugar 100gms

Butter 200gms

Baking powder 1 ½ tsp

Vanilla essence 1 tsp

Almond essence 1tsp

Lemon essence 1 tsp

Coffee 1 tsp (dissolved in half cup of water)

Dry fruits (Kismis,dates,apricots,tutti-frutti and nuts) ¼ kg chopped

Red wine 2 tsp

Mixed fruit jam 2 tbsp

Garam masala powder 1 tsp

Nutmeg powder ½ tsp

Fennel powder ½ tsp

Salt ½ tsp

Method:-

Caramalise 100gms sugar (Take sugar in a thick bottom pan.Heat it until the sugar melts and colour changes to brown colour.Add 4-5 tbsp of water and switch off the fire)Let it rest until use.

Chop all the nuts and sprinkle dry powder on them.This make the nuts not to sink to the bottom of the cake pan.

Beat sugar and butter together.Add egg and beat until fluffy.

Mix maida and baking powder and gradually add the flour to the egg batter.Then add all the caramelized sugar,essence,coffee powder,red wine,garam masala powder,jam,nutmeg powder,fennel powder and salt.

Bend well and then fold in the dry fruits.

Line the baking tray and pour the batter.Bake at 110 degrees celusis for 2 hours.

Let the cake cool for 3-4 hours.Prick the cake with a toothpick and sprinkle ¼ cup of wine.

Eggless Mini Samolina Cake/Sooji Cake

This recipe i adapted from Red chillies and did very few changes.

Ingredients:-

Samolina/Suji/Bombay rava 1 cup

Milk 1/2 cup

Baking powder 1 tsp

Soda bicarbonate 1/2 tsp

Butter 1/4th cup

Sugar 1/3rd cup

Salt a pinch

Raisins few

Almonds grated 4

Icing sugar 2 tbsp

Method:-

Mix all the dry ingredients.

Slowly add butter and milk.Mix thoroughly.

Add a tablespoon of plain flour to raisins and mix thoroughly.This stops the raisins in settling down when the cake is baked.

Add raisins to the batter and mix well.

Brush the cake pans with butter and sprinkle plain flour.Now pour the batter into the pans and grate almonds on top of it.

Bake in a preheated Microwave oven at 180 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until the sewer when inserted comes out clean.

Once cool sprinkle the icing.

This cake i made it into mini cause i wanted to give two cakes to both my daughters,they liked it a lot,not the cake but the individual cake.

Rasgula cake

When i saw this cake in masterchef,i so wanted to this.Once i had much milk left and i made rasgullas.Then the idea of making black forest rasgula cake struck me.That day was my sister's marriage anniversary so i got a occasion to celebrate her marriage anniversary with the cake baked by me.

My brother-inlaw liked it a lot.But i was not able to take a proper picture of the cake.As there were quite a few people in their house at the time of cutting the cake and i was not able to take a proper picture of it.

The taste was awesome and everyone liked it,in particular my b-law,he just loved it.

The cake recipe was adopted from masterchef website here and rasgullas from my blog.The only change i did was i didn't use cream to cover the cake instead i made marzipan and used that to cover the cake.I added orange essence to the icing sugar and the taste was awesome.

Strawberry upside down cake

Since long i wanted to make this cake and when i googled for the recipe i got many sites with the recipes but i used the same recipe which i use for my cakes.

Ingredients:-

Plain flour 1 cup

Strawberry sliced 20pcs

Brown sugar 1/4 cup

Sugar 1/2 cup

Eggs 2

Butter 1/4 cup

Baking powder 1 tsp

Vanilla essence1 tsp

Milk 1/4 cup

Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter, mix in the brown sugar, add the strawberries, and then set it to the side.

In a mixing bowl stir the flour, sugar, and baking powder together. Then add the milk, butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix with a mixer until smooth.

Line the cake pan with butter.Arrange strawberry pieces.Gently pour the batter on the fruit pcs and be careful the berries are not disturbed.

Bake in a preheated Microwave oven at 180 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until the sewer when inserted comes out clean.

Date and Walnut Tea Loaf

Its been long i didn't blog.It's not that i lost interest in my blog or i am not getting time.My laptop has gone for repair and i am yet to get it back even after 13 days.I am totally cutoff from my virtual world of blogging and my virtual friends.This friday hubby brought his laptop home.I have scheduled few post for this week and i wont be able to blog from sunday.From 25th feb daughter is having her first annual exams so i am planning to take a long break from blogging.I will come back after my vacation in march,until then will schedule post on fridays and saturdays.


Like all food blogs my blog has dishes i cook for my family of four.I don't do anything which is not eaten by everyone in the house.I want everyone to eat the same thing,i am against of cooking differently for each person in the house.So my blog has all the simple dishes which i cook very often.


Everyday i get up 5.00 in the morning as my daughter has to catch her school bus at 6.30.Sometimes i find it hard to decide what to cook for her breakfast.She likes to eat idly,dosa,upma and noodles but i don't send it because by time she eats them,they are cold.So in a week two days i send her cake with some juice and other days i make paratha/ puri / sandwich Almost every week i end up baking cake for her.She loves cakes and i always google for cake recipes or bake from 101 Cakes & Bakes.Here is another recipe from the said book.

Ingredients:-

Chopped Dates 1 cup
Soda bicarbonate 1tsp
Butter 1/2 cup
Self raising flour sifted 1 1/4 cups
Chopped Walnuts 1/4 cup
Sugar 1/2 cup
Egg 1 beaten
Demerara Sugar 2 tbsp

Method:-

Mix dates and soda bicarbonate in a large bowl with a pinch of salt.Pour in a large bowl 3/4 cup hot water,stir well and leave until cold.

Pre-heat microwave oven to 180 degrees.Butter loaf tin and sprinkle some flour.

Rub butter pieces into pieces into the flour until the mixutre resembles coarse breadcrumbs.Stir in the walnuts and sugar until evenly combined.

Tip the flour mixture and the egg into the cooled dates.Beat well to mix,then pour into the prepared tin and sprinkle demerara sugar on top.

Bake in the microwave oven for 50 minutes on 180 degress.

This cake tasted good after two days.

Beetroot Cake

Belated happy new year and pongal wishes to all my friends and readers.This is the first time that i took a long break in this one year of blogging.Went for a short vacation to my home town and it was short and sweet.Kids had a great time with ammamma(granny) and my sister family.Kid one cried a lot when we were coming back which i do very often and this time i controlled myself but kids couldn't.

This cake was supposed to go to mahima's event but i was away and didn't had net connection at mom's place.

Ingredients:-

Plain flour 1 cup

Beetroot 1/2 cup (grated)

Sugar 1/2 cup

Egg 2

Butter 1/4 cup

Baking powder 1 tsp

Salt 1/2 tsp

Almonds 5 (peeled and grated)

Milk 1/2 cup

Method:-

Mix all the dry ingredients.

Beat egg until fluffy and add butter.Mix throughly.

Slowly add egg and grated beetroot in the flour.Mix throughly.

To get thick and pouring consistency add milk.Don't just add the entire milk,slowly add milk to get the proper consistency and if still milk is left just dont add it to the batter.

Spoon the batter into the tin (baking tin buttered and dusted with flour)

Sprinkle grated almonds and bake for 45 minutes at 180 degrees in microwave convention mode.

Sweetened Condensed Milk Cake

After making eggless cake with milk powder i thought of making eggless cake with sweetened condense milk.I googled it and read few recipes.But the recipe i used is the same recipe which i used it for my other cake recipes.The recipe of the cake i use is a standard ones which i alter with different additions like purnes,nuts,milk powder,jams etc....This time i used nestles sweetned condensed milk.The the cake was very soft and tasty.

Ingredients:-

Plain flour 2 cups

Sweetened condensed milk 1 tin (medium) i used nestle

Salt a pinch

Baking powder 1 tsp

Soda bicarbonate 1/2 tsp

Milk 1/2 cup

Tutty fruity 1/2 cup

Butter 1/2 cup/canola oil 1/2 cup

Demera sugar 2 tbsp

Method:-

Mix all the dry ingredients.

Add oil,condensed milk and tutty fruity to the dry ingredients.

Slowly add milk and make a pouring consistency (not very loose).If still milk is left then just don't add that to the cake.

Spoon the mixture into a baking tin (baking tin should be buttered and dusted with flour)

Lastly sprinkle demera sugar on the top.

Bake in a preheated microwave oven on convection mode on 200 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until the sweker instered comes out clean.

PS:-Be careful while adding milk.Don't just add the entire 1/2 cup of milk.Slowly add the milk and the check the consistency.

Eggless Cake With Milk Powder

Few days back i brought milk powder tin and made gulab jamuns but didn't get the jamuns properly and i didn't had courage to make them again.As milk powder was nearing expiry i remembered my neighbour used to bake cake with milk powder.I checked for the recipe in my book and got the below recipe.The cake was very soft and tasty.It had the taste of milk,dry fruits and vanilla and got over within a day of preparing it.

Ingredients:-

Plain flour 2 cups

Milk powder 1 cup (nestle)

Vanilla essence 1 tsp

Sugar 1 cup

Canola oil 1 cup (can be reduced to 3/4 cup)

Salt a pinch

Baking powder 1 tsp

Soda bicarbonate 1/2 tsp

Milk 1 cup

Tutty fruity 1/4 cup

Raisins few

Cashew few

Almonds few

Method:-

Mix all the dry ingredients.

Add dry fruits,oil and milk to the dry ingredients.

Mix thoroughly.

Line a baking tin with butter and sprinkle flour.

Pour the batter in the tin and bake in a preheated Microwave oven at 180 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until the sewer when inserted comes out clean.

Dates and Apple Cake

Ingredients:-

Plain flour 1 cup

Sugar 1/2 cup

Fresh Dates 1/2 cup (can be altered)

Apples 2 chopped

Egg 1

Baking powder 1/2 tsp

Baking soda 1/2 tsp

Butter 1/4 cup

Salt a pinch

Demera sugar 2 tbsp

Method:-

1.Soak dates in warm water for 10 minutes and make a fine paste in the mixer.

2.Mix all the dry ingredients.

3.Beat egg until fluffy and add butter,mix thoroughly.

4.Slowly add egg and dates paste to the flour and mix thoroughly.

5.Add chopped apples and just mix it,don't over do as apples gets mashed in the batter.

6.Spoon the mixture into the tin (baking tin should be buttered and dusted with flour).

7.Sprinkle demara sugar and bake for 60 minutes at 200 degrees.

This cake retains moisture for about 3-4 days.It can be made eggless as well.I made both with egg and without egg and there is not much difference in the taste.

The combination of dates and the apple pieces are awesome.

Marbel Cake

Ingredients:-

Plain flour 2 cups

Eggs 2

Sugar 2 cups

Salt 1/4 tsp

Vanilla essence 1 tbsp

Coco powder 2 tbsp (or more as per taste)

Baking powder 1 tbsp

Cooking soda 1/2 tbsp

Oil 1 1/2 cup

Milk 1 cup

This is just before going into the microwave oven

Method:-

Beat eggs until fluffy.

Mix all the dry ingredients except coco powder.

Mix egg and oil.

Slowly pour the egg mixture into the flour and mix well.

Divide the batter into two.Mix coco powder in 2 tbsp of milk and add that to the one part of the batter.

Then add vanilla essence to other part of the batter.

Line the pan with butter and sprinkle flour.Pour both the batter alternatively.Use a toothpick to run it through batter to create swirls but don't over do it.

Bake in pre heated microwave oven on 200 degrees for 40 minutes or till when the tooth pick comes out clean when picked.

This cake has become favourite with my girls,they just love this.

Eggless Apple Vanilla Cake with apple crumble topping

Googled for apple cake few days back and got the recipe from the sweet simple bakes,made few changes with the ingredients and the cake came out very well.The only thing i didnt like is it took much time to bake.

Ingredients:-

Wheat flour– 1 cup

Oats (old fashioned) 1/2 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Butter – 1/4 cup
Apple puree – 3/4 cup (approx 1 medium apple)
Vanilla – a few drops
Baking Powder – 1 tsp
Cooking Soda – 1/4 tsp
Milk 1/4 cup

For crumble topping

Apple chopped (1 medium size apple)

Demerara Sugar 1/4 cup

Cinnamon powder 1 tsp

How to make

Sieve all the dry ingredients.

Mix butter,vanilla essence with the dry ingredients.

Add milk and apple puree to the flour.

Line a baking pan and pour the batter.

Lay the apple wedges on the top.Sprinkle with demerara sugar and cinnamon.

Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes on 200 degress or until the skewer comes out clean.

PS:-This cake took much time to bake as i usually bake my cake for 40-50 minutes,i am not able to figure it out why it took so much time.The crumble topping of cinnamon and apple with demerara sugar gave the cake a extra flavour.Half of the cake got over within an hour of removing from the microwave.

This cake is going to participate in Whole grain eggless baking events---oats at Madhuram's Eggless Cooking

Enjoy the cake :)

Banana Tea Bread

Ingredients:-

Plain flour 1 cup

Oatmeal 1/4 cup

Butter 1/2 cup

Sugar 1/2 cup

Baking powder 2 tsp

Cinnamon 1/4 tsp

Eggs 2

Banana (ripe) 5 nos (peeled and mashed)

Walnuts few (roughly chopped)

Method:-

1.Preheat oven 160 degree celcius.

2.Mix flour,oatmeal,butter,sugar,baking powder,cinnamon and eggs.Beat together until evently mixed.

3.Spoon the mixture into the tin (baking tin should be buttered and dusted with flour).

4.Sprinkle the chopped the walnuts and bake for 60 minutes at 160 degrees.

5.Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 5 minutes,then carefully turn out on the wire rack.

This cake is from 101 cakes & bakes

This bread is going to participate in the Sunday snacks--snacks with bread hosted by Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty,event started by Hema of Snack0rama

Custard Cake

Ingredients

Plain flour 200gms

Custard powder 3 tbsp

Baking powder 2tsp

Bicarbonate of soda 1/tsp

Eggs 2

Butter 225 gms

Caster sugar 200 gms

Milk 2 tbsp

Method

1.Combine all the ingredients.

2.Beat for 2-4 minutes.

3.Pour in a greased baking tin.

4.Bake in a 200 degree preheated oven for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

I got this recipe from google search and the toping of the cake has to be done but by the time cake cooled down my hubby and my kids had half of the cake.

Orange Flavoured Kitkat Cake

Ingredients:-

All purpose flour 1 1/2 cup
Eggs 2
Baking powder 1 tsp
Butter 1/2 cup
Nestle Sweetened Condensed Milk 1 tin
Juice of orange 1
Sugar 1/2 cup
Nestle Kitkat Chunky Caramel chopped 1 bar

Method:-

1.Combine all the ingredients except the nestle kitkat.
2.Beat for 2-4 minutes.
3.Pour in a greased baking tin,then sprinkle the chopped nestle kitkat on top.
4.Bake in a 175 degree preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

This cake recipe i got it from nestle condense milk tin.I have taken the exact measurement and cake came out very well.

Mango Jam Cake

Things required :-

Self raising flour - 2 cups

Eggs - 3 nos

Butter 1/2 cup

Mango jam 6-7 tbsp

Tutty fruity- few

Vanilla essence 1/2 tsp

Sugar 1 1/2 cup

Baking powder 1/2tsp

How to make:-

*Sift the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and set aside.

* Cream the butter and sugar till creamy (about 5 mins), then slowly add in the egg mixture

*Grease the tin with butter and dust it with some flour.

*Divide the dough into two equal parts.

*Pour the one part of the dough in the tin and spread the mango jam on top of it.

*Then pour the other part carefully and sprinkle tutty fruitys on the top.

*Bake at 200 degree for 50minutes.If the tooth pick when inserted comes out clean than the cake is done.The temp setting depends on the microwave/oven used.

This cakes goes to srivalli's Mango Mela