Pineapple Crunch Cake

 

 

This is a very simple yet very satisfying dessert you can make in minutes. You can bake this cake using any fruit of your choice, somehow pineapple tastes really good. You can use blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or any fruit that is soft and juicy. You will love this cake because of its unique combination of buttery cake layers filled with fresh fruit and a crunchy top full of nuts. I tried this recipe from an old cake book given to me by my neighbor, Here is the recipe.

 

Ingredients:- (All ingredients must be at room temperature)

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup flaked coconut (sweet or unsweetened)

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup crushed pineapple . Drain the juice and reserve in 1/2 cup.

1/3 cup butter- softened

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

3 tblsp butter melted

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. Grease and flour an 8x8x2 inch pan
2. Put nuts in a blender until coarsely chopped. Empty into a bowl and combine with brown sugar and coconut. Set aside.
3. Take 1/2 cup of pineapple juice you get from crushing the pineapples. Add the juice, 1/3 cup butter, egg and vanilla in a blender and run on a high speed for 10 seconds.
4. Then add 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt and then run again on a high speed for 10 seconds.
5. Meanwhile sift flour in a bowl and add mixture from the blender container, stir and mix properly. Pour half the batter in a prepared pan, spread crushed pineapple over the batter.
6. Pour the remaining batter over the pineapple. Top with coconut mixture and drizzle with 3 tblsp melted butter.
7. Bake 35 minutes or until done. You can serve it with whipped cream or eat it plain.

 



 



Marble Cake

 

 

 

My husband regularly shops at the Whole Foods Market. Sometimes when we don't have any cake at home he gets this extremely tasty marble iced cake loaf from there. This time I thought of trying it at home. Everything about this cake is right – the delicate texture, the flavor, the beautiful swirls of light and dark. I googled various recipes for a marble cake and I finally tried this marble cake recipe by Martha Stewart. http://www.marthastewart.com/339716/marble-cake The filling of marble cake is a blend of vanilla and chocolate. It is light and fluffy, moist and rich. The cake turned out delicious. This recipe is like the best marble cake recipe ever!! I totally fell in love with it. However I did not get the perfect swirls because my batter was runny and the chocolate and vanilla batter kept running into each other. I don't know where I went wrong since I followed the steps correctly. I don't really care about the swirls as long as the taste and the texture of the cake is right and it was. This is a sure winner and you must try it. I frosted the cake with chocolate frosting and glazed it with confectioner's sugar exactly the way its made at whole foods. Enjoy! 

 



 

 

 

Mother's Best Fudge Cake

 

This is not my mother's best fudge cake, the name of the recipe says so. I have a very old book of cake recipes given to me by my friend. The book has very unique and had age old cake recipes passed on from one generation to another. Plus, I love making chocolate cakes so I keep looking for different ways to make chocolate cakes. Here is a recipe of mother's best fudge cake from the book. The cake turned out super yummy, moist and very fudgy. You can use any frosting for this cake, butter cream, cream cheese or even cover the cake with chocolate ganache or glaze. Depends on what kind of combination you like. I frosted the whole cake with chocolate frosting, drizzled confectioners sugar glaze on top of the cake and added a few M&Ms in the center.

 

Ingredients:-

3(1 ounces squares unsweetened chocolate)

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups sifted cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup milk

 

1. Combine chocolate, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk and beaten egg in a saucepan.
2. Cook and stir over a low heat till the chocolate melts and the mixture thickens, then let it cool.
3. Stir in the butter to soften it and then add 1 cup sugar, creaming the mixture till light and fluffy.
4. Add vanilla extract, slowly add the 2 eggs, one egg at a time beating well after each.
5. Sift together flour, soda and salt. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with 2/3 cup milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.
6. Beat after each addition. Blend the chocolate mixture completely. Bake in 2 paper-lined 9x11/2 inch round pans at 350 degrees approximately for about 30 mins. Cool the cakes completely before you apply frosting.

 Here is the chocolate frosting recipe.
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2/3 cup  Cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups frosting.


Fruit and Nut Cake

 

It was our wedding anniversary and I wanted to bake a cake. However I was out of eggs, fruits, cream cheese and cocoa. So I knew I cannot make any fancy cake without these ingredients. I was wondering what to do and how to make a cake without any of these. The only fruit I had at home was a pineapple. I thought of making a pineapple cake but it would need eggs and cream cheese for frosting. My neighbour had given me an old cake recipe book and while flipping through the pages I came across this fruit and nut cake recipe. I had all the ingredients mentioned in that recipe and I decided to give it a try. The result was awesome. Its the best fruit and nut cake we've ever had. The cake was super delicious, super healthy, nutty, extremely moist and flavourful. With a few ingredients at hand you can easily bake this cake and it will be an instant hit amongst your guests. My lil girl and hubby both enjoyed this cake. Here is the recipe.

 

Ingredients:-

Water – 2 cups
Dried Apricots – 1/4 cup, chopped

Dried Plums - 1/4 cup

Dried Cranberries - 1/4 cup

Tutti frutti - 1/4 cup

Fresh pineapple - 1/4 cup, chopped (you can add any fresh fruit of your choice)

Grated coconut or coconut flakes - 1/4 cup (sweet or unsweetened)

Walnuts – 1/4 cup, chopped
Pecans – 1/4 cup, chopped
Cashews – 1/4 cup, chopped
Raisins – 1/4 cup
Butter – 1 stick (1/2 cup)
Almond Extract – 1 1/2 tsp
All-Purpose Flour – 1 3/4 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Baking Soda – 1 tsp

Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon Powder – 1/2 tsp
All spice powder – 1/2 tsp

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. In a small sauce pan, add 2 cups water, cranberries, raisins, plums and apricots. Cover the pan with a lid and cook on medium heat for 7 minutes or you can microwave it for 3 mins.
3. Pour water with fruits into a large mixing bowl.
4. Add butter and mix until the butter melts. Allow the mixture to cool and then add the almond extract.
5.  In a separate bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, baking Soda, baking powder, cinnamon Powder and all spice powder.
6.  Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.
7. Then add the coconut, pineapple, tutti frutti, nuts and pour mixture into a greased bundt pan.
8.  Bake for 35 – 40 minutes until toothpick comes out clean from the center.



Achari Chicken

Chicken in Pickle spices

 

 

 

I cook chicken almost every week. After a while it does get boring eating the same style of chicken. I am always looking for new and tasty recipes to cook chicken and I tried Achari chicken last week. Its chicken cooked in same spices you use to make punjabi mango achaar/pickle. Punjabi achaar is very simple yet very tasty and is made using very few spices. These spices give an achaari or tangy  taste and aroma to any meat or vegetable you cook using them. Here is the achaari chicken recipe. You can use this recipe to make achaari gosht, vegetables or simple achaari aloo or potatoes.   

 

Ingredients:-

Half a pound chicken washed and cut. (You can use boneless or with bones)

1/2 cup- yogurt

1 tbsp- ginger garlic paste

5 -red chillies (You can use less if you don't want too spicy)

1 tsp- cumin seeds

1 tbsp- fennel seeds

1 tsp-fenugreek seeds 

1 1/2 tsp-nigella seeds

1 tsp-mustard seeds

3 small sticks of cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp-kashmiri red chilli powder

1 large onion sliced

1 large tomato sliced

1 1/2 tsp-turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Juice of half a lemon

Mustard oil for cooking

Chopped cilantro for garnishing

1. Marinate the chicken with turmeric and yogurt and keep aside for an hour.
2. Heat about 4 tbsp mustard oil in a pan and add the sliced onions. Let it cook on a low heat until they are slightly brown in color.
3. Meanwhile dry roast all the seeds (cumin, mustard, fenugreek, fennel and nigella) along with the cinnamon and red chillies. Make sure you do this on a very low flame stirring it continuously. Then grind them coarsely using a dry grinder. You can also pound these spices if you like using a pestle.
4. Once the onions are nice and brown add ginger garlic paste and tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are tender. Add the marinated chicken and cook on a high flame stirring it continuously until the oil separates.
5. Now add the ground spices, salt and kashmiri red chilli powder. Add little water and cook until the chicken is done and oil floats on top.
6. Garnish with fresh cilantro, lime juice and serve hot with rice or rotis.