Carrot cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I never had the guts to try any other type of cakes other than basic chocolate. And now that I did, I’m wondering why on earth did I not try this before. Must Must try for all dessert lovers. If you have never tried it before, then go for this; a totally different world of flavours awaits you.

Note:

I don’t use ginger powder for any recipes, so I dint bother to buy. I needed ½ tsp ginger powder for this recipe, so I did a bit of poking around and found out how to make ginger powder at home. I sliced the fresh ginger root super thin, and popped into a preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes till they had completely dried out. (Microwave works fine too). Then they went into my grinder and brmm brmmm (Just used 3-4 slices). Along with this I also popped my cinnamon sticks into the oven and ground them finely. If you have ready powders, good for you. And the nutmeg, just grate it with a grater.

This recipe serves 8 slices. Each serving provides 225 calories approximately.

For the Cake:

Here is what you’ll need:

1 cup all purpose flour (Maida)

1 ½ cup finely grated carrots

2 eggs

1 cup sugar (3/4 cup sugar if you don’t like it sweet)

¼ cup melted butter

¼ cup oil

½ cup nuts (almonds/ walnuts/pecans)

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ginger powder

½ tsp cinnamon powder

¼ tsp nutmeg powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180°C
2. Grease a 10 inch baking pan and dust it with flour.
3. Wash, peel and grate the carrots finely.
4. Chop the nuts roughly and roast it on low heat till light golden and aromatic. In 1 tbsp of all purpose flour toss the roasted nuts and keep it aside.
5. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon powder, ginger powder and nutmeg powder. Keep it aside.
6. In a large whipping bowl, beat the eggs till frothy for few minutes, and add the sugar. The egg sugar mixture should froth well and thicken.
7. Add the oil, butter and vanilla extract and keep whisking.
8.  Slowly add the flour mixture into the whisking bowl and gently fold in till completely mixed. Do not over beat.
9. Gently fold in the grated carrots and nuts.
10. Pour the batter into the greased pan and pop it into the oven for 30 minutes or till the toothpick comes out clean.
11.  Let the cake completely cool before frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting:

Here is what you’ll need:

1 cup cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

½ tsp vanilla essence

2 cup whipped cream

Method:

1. Whip up cream as per packet instructions and keep it aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the cream cheese till softened and add the powdered sugar and vanilla essence.
3. Gently fold in the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture and your frosting is ready to go.

Frost your cake the way you want and Enjoy!

Recipe by Zohra Sada

Red Velvet Cupcakes

The red velvet cupcakes and cakes had been my husband’s request for quite some time and the Valentine’s Day was the best day to try it out. The amount of red food coloring used may be scary for some people but I wanted my cupcakes really RED..!!! The same recipe could be used to bake a red velvet cake.

This recipe makes 18 cupcakes and each cupcake provides approximately 149 Calories.

Ingredients:

250 grams plain flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder (sifted)

2 teaspoons baking powder

100 grams soft unsalted butter

200 grams caster sugar

1 heaped tablespoon red food colouring

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

175 ml buttermilk

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C and line 3 muffin trays with paper cases.
2. Mix the flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking powder in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar, beating well, and when you have a soft, pale mixture beat in the food colouring and the vanilla.
4. Into this mixture, still beating, add 1 spoonful of the dried ingredients, then 1 egg, followed by some more dried ingredients, then the other egg, followed by the rest of the dried ingredients.
5. Finally beat in the buttermilk and divide the batter between the 18 cases. 
6. Bake in the oven for about 55 minutes.
7. Leave them to cool on a wire rack and don’t ice with the frosting till cupcakes are absolutely cold.

Recipe by Chaya Ranasinghe

Tawsuli/Sweet rice cake

Sounds weird? I dint name it. Never heard before? You’re not from Bhatkal.

Tawsuli or if I would break it down for you as the sweet rice cake is a special Bhatkali cuisine prepare during weddings with cooked sweetened rice called sakramji.

For those of you searching for gluten free cake or eggless cakes here is something for you. The recipe of this rice cake is pretty straight forward and simple. But needs a lot of stamina as continuous stirring needs to be done non-stop. Let’s go through it step by step.

Heat oil in a big heavy bottom vessel and fry two cardamoms. (I have used a pressure cooker)

Add the washed rice to the ghee. (Do NOT soak the rice)

Roast the rice in the ghee till it turns a deep golden colour. This will take 5-7 minutes.

Add 1 cup of sugar to rice and keep roasting for 1 minute.

To this add 2 ½ cups water and pressure cook till done. Or else cook on open flame till all the rice cooks and moisture evaporates.

Once the rice is cooked add 1 whole finely grated cucumber. No, it’s not an optional step. Somehow the name tawsuli comes from cucumber being present in it.

The next main ingredient going into this will be the coconut milk. I have beaten 2 cups of coconut milk powder with 2 cups of water and added to the cooked rice cucumber mixture. Optionally you can also use thick fresh coconut milk. Add ¼ tsp salt and 1 tbsp rose water.

Now comes the time to test your patience. Cook Cook cook. Stir Stir Stir. Till the milk reduces. Thickens.  And the whole mixture comes together as a lump. It took me around 40 minutes (Phew). Then in goes 1 more cup of sugar. And the moisture increases and you cook it again and reduce it further. At this point, I did add a tad bit of yellow colour. Avoid it if you must.

I also did add a whole egg. This will just give crispier cake. If you want to go eggless, feel free, you won’t notice the difference. The third optional step is a 2-3 tbsp of almond paste/ powder. This is to give the extra rich taste.

Once this is done, the mixture must be really really dry. Transfer the whole mixture into a greased 10” non-stick baking dish. Flatten the cake with the back of a spoon. 

Pop it into a pre-heated oven at 175°C for 25- 30 minutes till the edges go dark brown. If the upper crust hasn't turned golden brown yet, grill it for 5 minutes on high till a crisp golden shell is formed.

Serve it warm.

This recipe serves 15 people and provides approximately 200 calories per serving.

Here is what you’ll need:

1 cup basmati rice / (locally used -“girsal” rice)

2 cups sugar 

1 tbsp ghee

1 cucumber

2 cups coconut milk powder

2 cardamoms

1 tbsp rose water

¼ tsp salt

3 tbsp almond paste/ powder (optional)

1 egg ( optional)

Artificial colouring (optional)

Method:

1. Roast one cup of washed basmati rice in 1 tbsp of ghee with 2 cardamoms.
2. Once the rice turns golden brown add 1 cup sugar and roast for 1 minute.
3. Pressure cook/ Cook on open flame the rice with 2 ½ cups water.
4. Grate 1 cucumber and add to it.
5. Mix 2 cups of coconut milk powder with 2 cups water and add to the rice.
6. Add a tbsp of rose water and a ¼ tsp salt.
7. Cook till most of the moisture evaporates and add the other cup of sugar.
8. Cook till further reduced.
9. Optional to add an egg, almond powder or artificial colour.
10. Cook till completely dry and transfer into a greased 10” non-stick baking tray.
11. Bake in pre-heated oven at 175°C for 30 minutes or till golden brown.
12. Serve warm .

 Recipe by Zohra Sada

Coffee Chocolate Cupcakes

This is my second attempt at baking cupcakes. I have a very long way to go to master the art. As my husband is a coffee lover, I baked this batch. This recipe is very simple and easy to bake; also it can be doubled or tripled to bake more cupcakes.

This recipe makes 7 cupcakes and each cupcake provides approximately 356.5 Calories.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

1 tsp instant coffee granules

30ml warm water

60g butter

80g caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp cocoa powder

75g All purpose flour (Maida)

40g ground almonds

60g dark chocolate

90ml milk

For the butter cream:

50g butter

100g Icing sugar

1tbsp milk

1tbsp coffee

Method:

For the cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and prepare cupcake cases on baking tray.
2. Combine instant coffee and water and set aside.
3. Mix together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add egg and mix until combined.
5. Sieve together flour and cocoa powder and add half to butter mixture.
6. Melt the chocolate and add to the butter mixture.(I melted in the microwave)
7. Add milk, remaining flour/cocoa and coffee to butter mixture and mix well.
8. Divide into cupcake cases and bake in preheated oven for approximately 55 minutes.
9. Leave them to cool on a wire rack and don’t ice with the frosting till cupcakes are absolutely cold.

For the butter cream:

Beat butter until creamy and then fold in icing sugar and coffee, adding a little of each at a time until you reach the required quantity and taste.

Recipe by  Chaya Ranasinghe

Mac n Cheese with a Meat Treat

Even the plainest of macaroni tastes yummy. But a little extra flavours can only make it mindblowingly awesome. Here is a recipe of mixed macaroni made with chicken breast and sausages. Feel your taste buds respond to the cheesy mouthfeel of this mixed macaroni.

This recipe serves 6 people. One serving of this recipe provides approximately 290 Calories.

Ingredients:

250 grams macaroni

250 grams cheddar cheese

100 grams chicken breast (minced)

100 grams chicken sausages

250 ml milk

2 large eggs

Salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C. Cook the macaroni according to the packet instructions, drain the macaroni and then put back into the hot pan.
2. While the pasta is cooking, put the cheese, milk, eggs and pepper in a processor and blitz to mix.
3. In a hot pan, sauté chicken and sausages with butter.
4. Mix macaroni and sausage-chicken mix.
5. Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni, stir well, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Grate additional cheese over for the extra cheesy taste.
7. Bake in the hot oven for about 10-15 minutes or until it is bubbling and blistering on top.

Recipe by Chaya Ranasinghe

Tandoori Chicken Pizza

When Indian and Italian taste fuses it creates an explosion of cheesy happiness and yumminess.

Tandoori chicken is popular all over India and Pakistan. The rich spicy chicken marinated in yoghurt and tandoori masala can make your mouth water. See, I’m going off tangent and talking about tandoori chicken rather than pizza.

I don’t marinate the chicken in yoghurt for making pizza. Just chop the chicken into small pieces, mix it well with red chilli, ready tandoori powder, lemon and salt. Then cook it on the stove top or grill till well cooked. If you have left over tandoori chicken, then go ahead and add it.

If you have never made the dough for pizza, roll up your sleeves and get ready.  The taste of your hardwork is going to be much sweeter. (yummier)

This recipe makes 8 slices of Tandoori Pizza. One serving of this recipe provides approximately 297 Calories.

For the dough:

Here is what you’ll need:

2 cup all-purpose flour (Maida)

1 ½ tsp instant yeast

1 tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

1 egg (optional)

3 tbsp oil

Pinch of baking powder

2 tbsp milk in warm water

1 tbsp butter (optional)

Method:

1.  In a large bowl, sift the flour.
2. Add the sugar, salt, baking powder, and instant yeast. Mix it well. 
3. Crack in an egg. Add 2 tbsp of oil.
4. Add lukewarm water- milk mix little by little till smooth dough is formed.
5. Add the remaining 1 tbsp oil and knead well for 5 minutes on the working surface.
6. Keep the kneaded dough in the bowl covered with a damp cloth.
7. Place the dough inside a switched off oven for 2 hours or till the dough rises and becomes double.
8. Roll the dough into a large circle. Roll out thin if you want thin crust pizza which will serve 8 slices or roll medium thick for serving 6 people.
9. Line the baking tray with aluminium foil and spread butter on it for crisp buttery base.
10. Place the rolled out dough on the baking tray and let the dough sit covered for 10- 15 minutes 

For the base tomato sauce:

During my initial years of cooking I would cook up the whole tomato sauce from scratch, which took up lot of time and ingredients. For lazy people like me, I then found an easy solution. Spice up the ready tomato puree!

Here is what you’ll need:

3 tbsp tomato puree

1 garlic clove grated

½ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs (thyme, basil, oregano)

½ tsp vinegar/ lemon juice

1 tbsp Red chilli sauce

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together.
2. Tada! Tomato sauce for your base is ready!

Tandoori Chicken:

Here is what you’ll need:

2 chicken breasts

1tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp tandoori powder

½ tsp lemon juice

1 tsp oil

Method:

1.      Coat the cleaned chicken piece with the the ingredients.
2.      Cook it on the stove top or grill it in the oven till well cooked and dry.

Other Toppings:

     Here is what you’ll need:

     1-2 cup mozzarella cheese

     ½  onion

     ½  capsicum

     2 tbsp black olives

     2 tbsp corn

     1 tbsp oregano

     The final step:

1.     Once the dough is rolled and rested on the baking tray, Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2.     Spread half of the mozzarella cheese on the base.
3.     Scatter the onions, capsicum, olives, corn, and the tandoori chicken.
4.     Cover the pizza completely with the rest of the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle the oregano.
5.      Place it into the preheated oven for 7-10 minutes or till the base turns golden brown.
6.     Serve hot and yummy.

     Note:

•      If you've added the egg and rolled the pizza thin, it will cook considerably faster. Keep an eye on the base after 5 minutes.
•       If you have not added egg and rolled the pizza thick, it may take longer.

Recipe by Zohra Sada

Spicy Prawns Cake

This healthy version of a savoury cake is an excellent option to serve as starters for dinner. For those of you who have never heard of this before, and love seafood, do try it and I’m sure you will be impressed.

Also called as haldawi poli meaning the yellow cake, it is a traditional bhatkali recipe made of rice, coconut and prawns.

The first step of this process is making the prawns qorma and keeping it ready.

The second step is preparing the rice mixture.

The rice I use for this is half and half ratio of parboiled rice and the white rice (used for making dosa).

Wash and soak both the rice for 2 hours

In a bowl mix the drained rice, fresh coconut, salt, green chillies and turmeric powder.

Transfer all of this into a blender/grinder and grind coarsely. The pieces of rice should be just broken into halves. It shouldn't turn into a fine paste.  Use approximately 1 cup of water to help you grind. 

To this add the prepared prawns qorma, chopped coriander and red chilli powder. Salt for taste.

At this point if your mixture is wet (Mine is because I had to use a blender and needed to add 1 ½ cup of water), Put it in a non stick pot and cook it for 2-3 minutes or till the moisture evaporates and you feel the mixture is sticking to the bottom. 

The mix should be dry as it will now go to the oven for baking and watery mixture may not hold the cake in shape.

Once this is done, line a 10” baking pan with oil and put this mixture into it. Pat it down with the back of a spoon.

If you do have a cupcake pan, it would be lovely to try that.

Put this tray into an oven pre-heated at 175°C for 40-45 minutes or till the edges turn brown and a dark golden crust is formed. The top crust should get crisp hard.

Once it’s completely cooled, cut into small squares and serve.

This perfectly cooked and crumbly rice cake is a healthy option and something new to appease your guests.

This recipe makes 15 pieces of the cake and serves 5-6 people. One serving of this recipe provides approximately 143 Calories.

Here is what you’ll need:

For the qorma:

15-20 prawns cleaned and deveined

2 onions

1 tomato

4 green chillies

5-6 curry leaves

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp tandoori powder

1 tsp coriander powder (Dhaniya powder)

1tbsp oil

For the Rice mixture:

1 cup white parboiled rice

1 cup white rice (dosa chawal)

2 cups fresh grated coconut

4-5 tbsp fresh coriander leaves

4 green chillies

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ -1 tsp chilli powder

1 cup water

Method:

1. Wash, clean and de-vein the prawns.
2. Wash and soak the rice for 2 hours.
3. Heat oil in a vessel, add the curry leaves, green chillies and sliced onions.
4. Cook the onions on low heat till it sweats and add the chopped tomato.
5. Once the tomatoes go soft, add the ginger paste and garlic paste.
6. Add all the prawns (If the prawns are big or medium,cut into halves or one-thirds) and add the curry powders. (The curry powders can be adjusted, added or removed to suit your taste. I do add a quarter piece of chicken stock cube)
7. Keep on simmer till the prawns cook.
8. In a blender, add the soaked rice drained of water, fresh coconut, salt, turmeric, and green chillies. Grind coarsely with help of a cup of water.
9. Put this mixture in a bowl, mix in the prepared qorma, and coriander leaves. Add half a tsp of red chilli powder. 
10. Cook this mixture in a non-stick pot for 2-3 minutes till dry. (If the mixture is too watery)
11. Line a baking dish with oil and pour the mixture and set it.
12.  Put it in a preheated oven at 175°C for 45 minutes or till a golden crisp crust is formed.
13. Serve as snacks or starters for dinner.

Recipe by Zohra Sada

Yummy Chocolate Brownies

A yummy dark chocolate brownie, hot and sizzling in a dessert bowl with a scoop of cold delicious ice-cream topped with favourite fresh fruits is an absolute sight of Heaven. This yummy dessert is a hot favourite among all. A combination of Hot and Cold and a mix of flavours add the X-factor to this yummilicious chocolate dessert.

This recipe serves 5 people (2 servings per person). One serving provides approximately 477.8 Calories.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups of All purpose flour (Maida)

½ cup of grated cooking chocolate

4 eggs

200 grams butter

2 cups of sugar

½ cup of cocoa powder

½ cup of cashew nuts (chopped)

1tsp vanilla essence

½ tsp salt

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180°  at least for 20 minutes.
2. Melt the butter and let it cool.
3. Beat the eggs.
4. Sieve cocoa powder and flour together.
5. In a large bowl, add flour, cocoa powder, sugar, cashew nuts with butter and beaten eggs. Fold all the ingredients together. Add grated chocolate and fold well.
6. Grease a cake tray with butter, pour in the mixture and bake in the oven for 50 minutes.
7. Serve hot with your favourite ice-cream and top with fresh fruits of your liking.

Recipe by Chaya Ranasinghe

Basboosa

A traditional Middle-Eastern cake, sometimes also called Namoura. It is extremely delicious and crumbly and made of semolina as the main base ingredient. There is a wide range of recipes out there for making it and differs greatly in all aspects. Few recipes make it with youghurt, few with milk and some do not add the coconut.

This recipe is spot on perfect for those of you with a sweet tooth. For all those vegans out there, happy news of No Eggs. The heavenly aroma of butter and ghee mix, and the taste of coconut is just mouth watering. I prefer adding yoghurt to the cake mix as compared to milk because the yoghurt gives that little tinge of sourness kick. So it’s just perfect!

Keep in mind that I use yoghurt here, and not curd. Curd that is normally available in India will be too sour and watery compared to the yoghurt which is common in Middle Eastern countries. Greek yoghurt is the best option.

So, there you go. Keep the sugar syrup ready before baking the cake. The syrup needs to be at room temperature and cake needs to be warm for the final step.

 The fat in the recipe calls for ¾ cup of butter but since I had only half the amount of butter at home, I substituted the other half with ghee and oil mix which was perfectly fine.

Once you get all your required ingredients, and make the mix, remember to leave it aside for 15-20 minutes to rest. The mix is nothing like that of a cake batter. It’s more like dough. So once the mix is made, line a baking dish with butter and put the mix in it. Pat it down with the back of a spoon and using a knife make the diamond or square cutting half way through the cake. Once it’s baked it becomes extremely crumbly and difficult to cut. Place the almonds on each piece.

Bake in the oven at 175°C for around 40-45 minutes or till sides turn brown and top crust gets a beautiful light golden color. Don’t let it get too brown as the almonds tend to get a scorched look then. Once the cake is out of the oven, pour the sugar syrup whilst the cake is still warm. Don’t worry if the syrup looks too much, I promise the cake will soak it all in.

 The cake can be stored, refrigerated and warmed again in a microwave before serving.

This recipe makes 20 pieces of the cake. One serving provides approximately 221 Calories.

Here is what you’ll need:

For the cake:

2 cups  fine semolina (rava)
½ cup unsweetened, desiccated coconut
½  cup  sugar 
¾ cup melted butter (at room temperature)
1  cup  yoghurt 
¾  tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt 
20 peeled almonds whole or halves

For the Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup  sugar
1  tbsp rose water
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Soak the almonds in warm water and peel them. Keep them in  water.
2. Preheat the oven  at 175°C.
3. Prepare the syrup by mixing all the ingredients for syrup and bringing it to a boil. Allow it to simmer for 5 minutes and switch off the flame and let it cool.
4. In a bowl, mix the semolina, salt, baking powder, sugar and desiccated coconut powder.
5. Pour in the melted butter and yoghurt and mix well.
6. Line a 10 inch baking pan with butter and set the mixture in. Cut the cake into diamonds and arrange the almonds on it.
7. Put the cake into the oven and let it cook for 40 minutes or until it turns golden brown.
8. Once the cake is out of the oven, pour the sugar syrup on the cake and let it cool for an hour before serving.

 Recipe by Zohra Sada