Vanilla cupcake | Easy Vanilla cupcake (Eggless & Butterless)

I do not want to start the post with yet another apology for being away ;) as it is just the beginning of another fabulous year & also I am in a happy happy mood to share with you all the arrival of our bundle of joy - Dhruv. He is nearing his 4th month now & so you would all be understanding my busy schedule & lack of time to concentrate on other affairs :D But many a times I had been wanting to visit this another baby of mine as well, but you see, Dhruv takes precedence :D :D

I was planning to post this cupcake recipe on his 100th day as a celebration but was not able to. This cupcake stays close to my heart for another special reason as I craved for it the most during my pregnancy time. Weird or cute, you guys should say, but this muffin stays top on my list still ! It is super easy to make with quite a few calories loaded as it has no egg & no butter. And it is fluffy soft and moist and just melts in your mouth and you can relish it absolutely fine without any topping or frosting or icing. So I am sure you would want to try this out today eve itself with your coffee & do let me know how it turned out :) 

I Took : 

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Baking Time : 40 minutes

Makes : 20-25 muffins

I Used:

All purpose flour/Maida	-	1 ½ cups - 3 tbsp
Corn flour	-	3 tbsp
Sugar	-	¾ cup
Baking powder	-	1 tsp
Baking Soda	-	½ tsp
Oil	-	½ cup
Curd	-	1 cup
Vanilla Essence	-	1 tsp

The Way:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degree C
2. Keep the muffin tray ready with the muffin liners or if you want to bake it as a cake, grease a 6 or 7 inch pan with butter & dust it with a tsp of flour
3. Sieve well the all purpose flour & corn flour in a bowl and ensure that they are evenly blended & mixed
4. In another bowl, mix well sugar & curd. Now add baking powder & baking soda into the mixture & mix well and allow it to rest for 2-3 minutes
5. Now to this frothy mixture add oil & vanilla essence & mix well
6. And then add the sieved flour, one tbsp at a time, and whisk well
7. Once all the flour is mixed, pour in 1-2 tbsps of the batter into the muffin liners (or the baking pan)
8. Bake them for around 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
9. Allow them to cool for about 10 minutes & serve with ice-cream or chocolate syrup or any dressing of your choice

Cheers,
Chitz

Lemon Glow Chiffon Cake - Baking Partner Challenge #12

So Baking Partners are back with a bang to celebrate it's one year anniversary of successful baking.. Yes, we have turned 1 year old. And this time there were 2 suggestions for baking the recipe of the month 'Cakes'. Humi suggested 'Medovik/Russian Honey Cake' & Saraswathy suggested 'Chiffon Cakes'. As I had an eye on baking Chiffon or Foam cakes from a long time, I chose Chiffon cake for this month's challenge. Thanks Saraswathy & Swathi for this wonderful challenge. Now let me share some facts with you that Saraswathy shared with us on Chiffon cake.

Chiffon (pronounced She-fon) cakes are a type of foam cakes and are light & soft & definitely yummy !! They contain egg yolks and whites separately whisked and folded in together with vegetable oil, all which makes them moist, soft & light.. This cake doesn't call for butter & the lower quantity of sugar gives me an extra reason to savor this low cholesterol cake;) Use of oil instead of butter aides in the airy quality of the cake & gives a longer shelf or refrigeration life. Refrigeration makes the oil in the cake soft & the cake becomes all the more tender. Deeps liked to have it chilled & directly from the fridge. He said, 'It tastes better when chilled'. Even my neighbor & friend 'P' was very happy with the cake & said it tasted awesome :D

The chiffon cake was created by Harry Baker, a Los Angeles insurance agent, in 1927.  Baker carefully guarded his secret technique for almost two decades, only selling his cakes to celebrities and the famous Brown Derby restaurant. The popularity of his cakes grew quickly, and he eventually sold the recipe to General Mills in 1947. 

I have halved the recipe here & used some substitutes for ingredients not available in this town. Refer the notes too while baking this cake, as they can help you get a perfect cake on your first attempt itself. The whisking of the egg whites is the most important part.. U get that right, consider half the work done. So lets see how to make this soft & tender cake. I have used normal buttercream icing & strawberries for serving.

Recipe Source: Adapted from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Serves: An 8 inch round cake pan with a ramekin in the middle

Store: Stays fresh for 3 days in room temperature, 10 days refrigerated, 2 months frozen

 

I Took:

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Baking Time: 50 minutes

Cooling Time: 85 minutes

I Used:

Dry Ingredients All purpose Flour - 1 cup (refer notes) Corn flour - 2 tbsp Caster Sugar - ¾ cup Salt - ¼ tsp Baking Soda - ¼ tsp Lemon Zest - ½ - 1 tbsp Wet Ingredients Canola/Sunflower Oil - ¼ cup Large Egg yolks - 1 no / 65 g Water - ⅓ cup Lemon juice - 1 tbsp Vanilla Essence - ½ tsp For Meringue Cream of Tartar - ¾ tsp (refer notes) Sugar - 1 tbsp Large Egg Whites - 3 nos
The Way:

1. In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients. First work the sugar & lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is grainy & very aromatic. Add the all purpose flour, corn flour (or the cake flour - refer notes), baking soda and salt to it
2. Whisk together until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. If you have a stand mixer, use the beater attachment & beat on low
3. Then make a well in the center of the ingredients and add the oil, egg yolks, lemon juice and vanilla. Mix until the batter is smooth & has no lumps. In a stand mixer, mix for about 1 minute on medium speed
4. In a second large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until they are foamy. Add lemon juice (or cream of tartar) & beat (if on stand mixer, beat on medium speed) until they reach soft peak stage. This happens when the whisk or the beater start to leave a trail or when the peaks fall over when the whisk is raised
5. At this stage add the 1 tbsp sugar & continue to beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks when the whisk is raised
6. Using the balloon whisk (or a slotted spoon) add ⅓ of the egg whites to the cake batter & gently stir until incorporated. Add the remaining egg whites to the cake batter and very gently fold them into the batter until they are incorporated and no trace of egg whites remain
7. Pour the batter into an ungreased tube pan and run a metal spatula or knife through the batter to prevent air pockets. If you do not have a tube pan but would like to have a similar shape, then place an oven usable ramekin in the centre of your round pan and pour the batter to the sides of the ramekin as I did
8. Preheat the oven on conventional mode at 165 degrees
9. Bake in the lower rack of the oven for 50-55 minutes (refer your oven manual too) or until the cake bounces back when lightly pressed in the center
10. Once cooked, take the cake pan & immediately turn it upside down on a bottle (or another ramekin or tumbler - whichever suits best for the pan). Allow to cool completely which took about 85 minutes for me
11. Use a palette knife and loose the sides of the cake. Pull out the sides and work similarly on the bottom. Turn it over on to a plate upside down & sprinkle with a dusting of icing sugar or a topping of your choice & serve

Notes:

• Do not grease or line or flour the cake pan. This will hinder the cake from rising up
• Always use large eggs as called for in the recipe. Do not use medium or small sized eggs
• Try to use castor sugar than normal ones 
• The recipe calls for cake flour, but since I could not get it here, I used the substitute. Take an equal amount of All purpose flour. Remove 2 tbsps of flour from it & replace it with 2 tbsps of corn flour (NOT corn meal). This works just fine
• Cream of tartar is used to stabilize the egg whites while beating up. Since I couldn't get those, I used the substitute lemon juice. Works perfectly OK
• Make sure that the bowl used to whisk egg whites are clean & grease free. Traces of grease or egg yolks will not guarantee you proper whisking of whites
• Proper & correct whisking of egg whites is essential to ensure the texture of the cake. Under or over beating can cause the cake to collapse or become too hard. Do the 'Overturn bowl test' to ensure that your whisking is the right amount. When you overturn the bowl of the whisked egg whites, it should hold & must not fall off
• Do not let the egg whites sit for long once whisked. Immediately fold it onto the cake batter as this stage of stiff peaks is short lived
• Take care while folding in the egg whites as over folding can cause the egg whites & thus the cake to deflate. Fold in gently using a whisk
• Before pouring the batter into the pan, take the bowl and hit against the kitchen counter. This will cause bubbles to rise up to the top and pop. Do not hit the pan after pouring the batter as this may cause the formation of more bubbles

Here are some links that helped me greatly. Hope you guys too find it useful !

http://allthatmatters2rei.blogspot.no/2008/07/chiffon-cake-tips-and-trouble-ii.html

http://www.ironwhisk.com/2012/07/tutorial-chiffon-cake/

http://www.ehow.com/info_8399101_chiffon-cake-tips.html

Cheers,

Chitz

Wanna see what the others in the Baking Partners group baked?? 

Gobi Manchurian - Dry | Cauliflower Manchurian

 Deep fried Cauliflower florets sauteed in onions & Chinese sauces

Gobi Manchurian, that's the first dish that comes to my mind when I am expecting some vegetarian guests at home. Coz, it's rich & heavy and very seldom vegetarians have an aversion to it and moreover, it's deep fried !! Definitely a winner, right?? Many of those who do not like to have cauliflower curry or gravy or stir fry, would say YES to Gobi 65 & Gobi Manchurian :) And it's very difficult to find a restaurant that doesn't have this in their menu, isn't it?? Be it any cuisine restaurant, this would be definitely on their list... So how about we look into the recipe, which is a perfect side for Chappathis and Kulchas and even fried rice..

Recipe Source: Ma

Serves: 3-4 persons

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 90 minutes

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

I Used:

Caulliflower	-	A small sized one
Maida	-	3 tbsp
Cornflour	-	3 tbsp
Ginger Garlic Paste	-	1 tbsp
Pepper	-	2 tbsp
Onion	-	1 no - medium sized
Ginger	-	1 tbsp
Garlic	-	1 tbsp
Green Chilly	-	3 nos
Soya sauce	-	1 tbsp
Chilly sauce	-	2 tbsp
Tomato sauce (optional)	-	2 tsp
Turmeric powder	-	1 tsp
Salt	-	As needed
Oil	-	For Deep frying
Spring Onion	-	2 sprig

The Way: 

1. Clean & separate the cauliflower into medium sized florets
2. In a wide pan heat water, sufficient enough to submerge the cauliflower florets. Add turmeric & salt to it
3. When the water boils, add the cauliflower florets to it. Allow it to be in the boiling water for about 2 minutes. Then drain off the water completely. This process is to get rid of the small worms that are prevalent in cauliflowers 
4. In a kitchen towel, pat dry the excess water off the florets. Else they will absorb excess oil while frying
5. In a wide bowl mix maida, cornflour, ginger garlic paste, pepper & salt with water. Marinate the cauliflower florets in this for about an hour
6. Heat oil in a kadai & deep fry the marinated cauliflower florets & keep aside. Place the deep fried florets on a kitchen tissue to drain off the excess oil
7. Preserve the remaining marination mix to add in to the manchurian
8. In a kadai or wok heat 2 tbsp oil. Add chopped ginger, garlic & green chilly & saute
9. Add chopped onions & whites of the spring onions & saute till translucent
10. Now tip in the sauces - soya sauce, chilly sauce, tomato sauce & pepper powder
11. Add the fried cauliflower florets & mix well
12. Now add the remaining marination mix to the manchurian. If the quantity is less add in little corn flour and mix with water & add this to the manchurian & saute well
13. Remove from fire & garnish with the greens of the spring onion 

Cheers,

Chitz

Pachai Pattani Vadai | Peas Vadai | Green Peas Fritters

Fritters made form ground green peas & onions mixed with Indian spices

This is yet another tasty simple recipe from the great cook I have ever met.. Hehe, ya my mom.. How intriguing is this fact rite!! Most of the people would give away the 'Best Cook ever known' award to their mom. Somehow, we are so used to their style & taste that we tend to compare any other food that we come across to theirs. And many a times we would also hear or make the comments 'Not as tasty as my mom's' or 'No one can beat my mom's chole poori' ;) 

Everyday the conversation with my mom would not be complete without asking each other what we cooked for the day.. Sometimes we won't have much to talk about. But still we would rattle about for long time about some new recipe or how something that we cooked turned out or what others commented about it. It was during one such conversation that she told me that she had prepared 'Peas Vadai' that day. I was amused. Had never heard of that vadai before. Immediately I asked her for the recipe and jotted it down. But still it took me a month to try it out.. Heights of laziness :D But I was really happy that I did. It was really good :) I enjoyed it with my evening cuppa hot coffee and the movie 'Eat, Pray & Love'

I Took:

Prepartion Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 20 minutes

Yield: 8 vadai

I Used:

Peas	-	½ cup
Onion	-	1 no - medium sized - chopped
Fennel seeds	-	A pinch
Garlic	-	2 cloves
Ginger	-	An inch piece
Red Chilly	-	3 no
Corn flour	-	3 tbsp
Garam Masala	-	1 tsp
Salt	-	As needed
Oil	-	As needed

The Way:

1. Grind together peas, fennel seeds, ginger, garlic and red chilly with a little water
2. Add onion, garam masala, salt and corn flour to the ground paste and mix well
3. Make into small patties/vadai shapes on the palm of your hand, from the mix
4. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry/deep fry and serve with hot kaapi/chai :)

Notes:

Can substitute maida for corn flour if required

Cheers,

Chitz