White Chocolate and Passionfruit Celebration Cake

I had an eye on this White Chocolate and Passionfruit Cake for a long time and was waiting for an occasion to try it. Finally on our 20th Wedding Anniversary last week I decided to make this cake to celebrate.  This is a time consuming, very rich and dense cake and just as its name suggests "a true celebration cake". The whole cake is huge for a small family like ours, so I halved the recipe and baked two 8 inch round cakes which gave me a two layer cake. If you are making half the amount you can also bake it in three 5 inch round pans to get 3 layers. Finally, I decorated the cake with sugar paste roses.  

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Caramel Cupcakes (Dulce de Leche Cupcakes) with Buttercream Frosting

It’s been a long time my blog was on a sleep mode..... Took a small break and it got extended for more time than I indented.... It’s hard to come back to regular blogging after taking a break and I will try to post regularly from now on :).... These cupcakes have been in my draft for more than a year now. I made it for our Church’s harvest festival and somehow couldn't post it. The cupcake recipe was already posted some time back with a frosting of Swiss Meringue ButterCream, But this time I decorated it with American Butter Cream Frosting..... You can use homemade dulce de leche or store bought in the recipe....

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Playing with Fondant

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Coffee Chocolate Mascarpone Layered Cake

It was my hubby’s birthday a couple of days ago and unlike every year this time he was pretty sure of the cake he wanted! He had seen the picture of this cake on my FB feed and asked me to make it… I knew I didn’t have to worry about how the cake would turn out as I trust Deeba’s recipes blindly and from experience I know her recipes always turn out perfect :)…. Like we expected this is a beautifully flavored, 6 layers of delicious cake which you will definitely like if you are a coffee lover! I followed the recipe as is, but added a little rum in the filling and frosting. Also I reduced the gelatin in the filling to 1 tsp as I used heavy whipping cream… Only trouble I had was the frosting… mine turned out a little loose and it was difficult for me to frost it on to the cake so I added a little gelatin to the frosting to make it thick… The procedure is a little lengthy and elaborate  but if you split the work and start making a day or two  ahead, it will be an easy job…. But worth the effort for a beautiful 6 layered Coffee Chocolate Mascarpone Cake!

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One - Bowl Dark Chocolate Cake with Butter Cream Frosting

I made this for my son as he was requesting me to make his favorite chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. After several days of nagging I finally decided to make this as I wanted to try out a frosting idea I saw recently on Amanda’s blog… For the decoration she suggests # 32 tip and you can see her detailed tutorial here…I didn't have # 32 tip so I tried with my star nozzle. .. It didn’t come out perfect and I ran out of butter cream frosting at the last row … But somehow I liked the overall look of the cake, so I thought of blogging it… Was intended as a blog anniversary post last week but due to time constraints I could not manage it last week...  It’s been 6 years of blogging and thank you so much for the love and support you have given me :)...

This chocolate cake I have already posted a long time ago... I used to make this cake regularly and the best part is that it is a one bowl cake and uses oil no butter…  it’s a very  soft cake and you can frost it with Butter cream or with Whipped cream ....

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Two-Tier Birthday Cake with Marshmallow Fondant ~ My first fondant attempt on a two tier cake

I made this cake on my birthday last week. Every year, at Christmas, I used to make homemade fondant and decorate a small fruit cake… but I had never tried fondant on a regular sponge cake… so  to experiment fondant on a two tier cake I made this on my birthday… Bottom layer of the cake was a Vanilla Buttermilk cake and top layer was a Dark chocolate Cake and I layered and lightly crumb coated the cake with Buttercream Frosting and then covered and decorated the cakes with homemade Marshmallow Fondant… I really enjoyed making this cake :) …. 

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Orange Cardamom Bundt Cake

I love simple citrus cakes and I enjoy making bundt cakes:).... It’s amazing to see the beautifully baked bundt cake in front of us when we remove the cake from the pan..... My heart always beats faster when I try to remove the cake from the bundt always apprehensive of whether the cake will retain its beautiful shape or not ;)..... Now a days I am obsessed with collecting bundt pans along with props; so if anyone is planning to give me a gift, hope you got some ideas right?? ;).... Jokes apart, this is a fabulous cake with the orange and cardamom flavor and the citrus glaze drizzled on top of the warm cake makes it a delicious treat!

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Pastel de Tres Leches – Three-Milk Cake ~ Daring Baker’ September 2013 Challenge

Pastel de Tres Leches or Three milk cake was on my do list for quite some time and I even bought all the ingredients once too… But somehow I was never able to make it …. When this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge was announced I did not want to miss the opportunity to make this cake. I did not add fruits to the cake layers, just decorated the cake with some raspberries. If you want you can add fruits like peaches, mangoes, berries or cherries. I really enjoyed this month’s challenge and will definitely make this cake again!

This recipe slightly adapted from an interview given by one of Mexico's best Pastry Chefs; Paulina Abascal to the magazine Revista Secretos de la Pastelería Caserais it produces a super moist yet light Tres Leches.

Pastel de Tres Leches– Three-Milk Cake is a super moist, light, airy and super delicious sponge cake soaked in the three kinds of milk (evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream). Tres Leches is a very light cake (especially if made without butter), with many air bubbles in its crumb. This distinct texture is why it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk.

Inma was our Sept. 2013 Daring Bakers’ hostess and WOW did she bring us something decadent and delicious! Pastel de Tres Leches or Three Milk Cake, creamy yet airy, super moist but not soggy.. just plain delish!

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Ombre Rose Wedding Cake

Hi everybody.... I am back after a 2 month vacation..... Usually I used to schedule a few posts when I go on holidays but this time around I couldn't find time to do so and hence my blog was idle for the last 2 months! I have been away from my blog most of the time..... and could not respond to your comments or queries.... After returning I tried my best to reply to all of you and if I have missed any please let me know..... And thanks a lot to all my readers who have visited this space and to those who liked my FB page too.... 

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Orange-Soaked Bundt Cake

Recently when I saw this recipe I tried it and we really loved this amazingly moist cake.... The cake has a good orange flavor and is very moist.... both flavor and moistness improves with time..... I made some changes from the original recipe, the amount of oil in the original seemed a little too much for me so I reduced it to ½ cup, I used orange zest in the cake not lemon zest and for syrup I used fresh orange juice not frozen.... It was a really good cake and the best part is you can make it 2 or 3 days ahead of time if you are planning a party and the cake tastes wonderful after 2 days.....

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Mini Carrot Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting ~ March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge: Hidden Veggies

Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!

It’s been a busy month as my son has school holidays and my whole day is spend with him.... I didn't even read the challenge properly to understand that we have to hide the veggies.... I made this carrot cupcake for the challenge.... Though the carrots are not hidden, these cupcakes are really soft, moist and tasty with the lemon cheese frosting.... try it I am sure you will love it....  

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Ombre Rose Cake Recipe

It was my hubby’s birthday a couple of days back and after much planning & discussion with him and our little one I finally decided to try an Ombre Cake with buttercream frosting... then came the part of choosing the color and both had their own views but finally I chose peach :D.... An Ombre cake is a layer cake with graded hues of a single colour, as well as matching, graded frosting. I used the same White Cake recipe from my Black and White Layer Cake and baked the cake in four 6 inch round pans. Rose frosting is inspired from Amanda and you can the detailed tutorial on her blog.... Here is how I made this cake.... 

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Marshmallow Fondant Icing Recipe / MM Fondant Icing Recipe

Every year I decorate one of my Christmas cakes with fondant icing and this time I made Marshmallow Fondant.... I got the recipe from Spicyana girl Archana sometime back.... I adore her cake decorating skills and the beautiful cakes she makes.... so once when she mentioned on FB that she uses homemade MM fondant, I asked her for the recipe and she immediately sent it to me with the links and a lot of tips.... I got a chance to try it at Christmas.... it is so smooth and pliable and tastes great too.... Only thing is you have to knead it really well... In Archana words “knead for some 10 minutes, in a stand mixer using the dough hook and then knead for a good ten minutes or more by hand. Be sure to liberally smear the hands and the hook with shortening. The longer you knead the better and hand- kneading is the most important part. Make the fondant the day before, and keep it in a ziploc bag at room temperature. This "resting" part is also important. Also, when you roll out the fondant, thinly smear the surface and rolling pin with shortening”. I followed all these instructions and I got a perfect fondant!!!....  Thank you so much dear for the recipe and the tips.... I know my cake won’t come anywhere near as beautiful as your cakes, but I hope one day I will able to :):) .....I made half amount of the fondant for one cake....

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Lemon Buttermilk Pound Cake

I love citrus cakes and this PassionFruit Buttermilk Pound Cake was a huge hit in my family… Many tried the cake after I posted the recipe and I received a lot of compliments....since then I was thinking of making the Lemon flavor like in the original recipe from Deeba’s blog... Recently I tried that and we loved this very soft and yummy Lemon Cake....

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One Bowl Eggless Chocolate Cake Recipe

How about making a quick and easy, moist and crumbly and tasty chocolate cake, that requires only one bowl to mix everything and is eggless too??? Not impressed by my description ;) ;)... Believe me it’s as easy to make as spinning a magic wand and you will get the awesome cake in front of you without much effort.... Once you have baked & cooled the cake you can frost it with chocolate ganache by pouring it on top of the cake in the pan.....this cake is not very sweet, if you are not frosting it, it is excellent with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.... Get ready and bake this cake as soon as possible....

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Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I made these cupcakes sometime back but did not like the way I frosted it… at that time I didn’t have those jumbo size icing tips and I tried to frost it aiming for a nice swirl design and failed terribly …. so don’t judge by this picture….These are rich and incredibly moist cupcakes with a light and fluffy texture. These are made by the same method used for making brownies – melted chocolate is added to a whisked mixture of eggs and sugar, and then flour is stirred in. The resulting batter almost resembled a mousse; both thick and light. And this is my attempt on trying Peanut Butter frosting; I think you will like this frosting only if you like peanut butter… otherwise I doubt… we loved these chocolate cupcakes more than the frosting

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Vanilla Latte Cupcakes

Owning a KitchenAid is a dream of all home bakers and I always wanted one for quite some time.... Unlike in the US it is not an easily obtainable appliance here and now that it’savailable hubby gifted me one last week. It was a dream come true for me to own a black KitchenAid!!!  Of course I first wanted to try a cake with a frosting on it and I chose this cupcake from my favorite blogger Annie’s Eats.... The coffee flavor cake is very soft and the frosting is coffee flavored Swiss Meringue Butter cream.  Both cake and frosting came out perfectly and we all enjoyed the cupcakes!  

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Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

I had intended to post this on 15^th June to celebrate my brother’s birthday and also Father’s day.... But couldn't as I was busy with a three day long weekend that put paid to my plans to celebrate my brothers birthday virtually like I did earlier..... But it’s better late than never right?  These cupcakes are for you my dear bro my best friend, supporter, helper...... Thank you for being such a wonderful and caring brother in the world! May God Bless you with all the happiness in life that you truly deserve......  I promise I will make this cake when we meet next!

I tried Dulce de Leche(DDL) of which I have become an ardent fan.... The more recipes I try with DDL the more I like it.....earlier it was Banoffee Pie, Banoffee Slices and Dulce de Leche Brownies  and now these cupcakes..... This is one of the best tasting cupcakes and frosting I have made recently! The Cupcake itself is very soft and tasty.....and it was my first attempt of making Swiss Meringue Butter cream frosting; I absolutely love this smooth, creamy and delicious frosting..... Far better than regular butter cream frosting!!! Addition of DDL in the frosting was heavenly..... Do try this with either homemade DDL or store bought.... I used store bought DDL and you will soon find out what I did with the rest of the DDL...... so stay tuned for another delicious dessert with DDL :) :)  

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