Story of a Pineapple Cake

One of the cakes I always wanted to try was the basic, most primitive of all (Pakistani) cakes, the pineapple sponge cake! Although this cake is the most easily and readily available in any and every bakery in Karachi, I had some difficult time looking for THE perfect recipe (or any recipe for that matter) on the internet, primary reason being that this cake is not that famous in the west. As fresh cream is preferred frosting in our side of the world, they rely more on butter cream frosting, which is a bit too sweet for our desi taste buds. So, anyway I decided to do some local media search and found a few recipes, mixed and matched and voila! I got a soft, spongy, moist pineapple cake…absolute delight! :)



Basic Sponge Cake:
Ingredients
4 Eggs
1 cup flour
½ cup granulated sugar (I dint want the sponge to be very sweet, you can put more sugar)
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 pinch salt

Use everything at room temperature esp the eggs

Method:
1.  Before starting, an 8-inch round pan should be ready, greased and floured.
2.  pre heat oven at 180 degrees
3.  Beat all 4 eggs, until foamy n frothy
4.  Add vanilla essence, and sugar to the eggs and keep on beating
5.  The entire mixture should increase in volume
6.  In a separate bowl, sift flour and salt 3 times to let the air pass through
7.  Add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, every time mixing in with the hand (open the hand, all fingers apart 
      and mix, try not to loose volume of the mixture)
8. Once everything has been incorporated, immediately transfer the mixture to the pan and place in the center
     rack of the oven. Bake for 20-25mins
9.  Do not open the oven during this time, check after at least 20 minutes else cake will fall from the center.

Topping/Frosting:

2 (200ml each) fresh cream packs
4 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp pineapple essence
1 tbspn sugar in 1 cup water (cook to form a dilute mixture)

Method:
1. Use chilled bowl and cream, start beating
2. Add pineapple essence and the icing sugar
3. Continue beating till soft peaks form.
4. Also, add pineapple chunks in half of the cream

Assembly:
1. After the cake is baked, let it cool down completely
2. Then cut the cake into half
3. Generously sprinkle the sugar mixture to moisten the cake
4. Apply the cream mixture on the once side and place the upper layer on top of it
5. Again, sprinkle the sugar water on the top layer
6. Cover the cake with the remaining cream w/o the chunks

And as who know me know that for me most of the desserts are not complete until covered with desiccated coconut, hence I used the same to put the final touches to my very first pineapple sponge cake! 
Do try and lemme know how it turned out!!
Happy Baking!!

oh yea as you can see, when i was photoshooting the cake, a lil theif came to lick the frosting :D i think the sight just made my day :)

         Yum!!

New Year, new plans and hopefully some regularity on this blog:)

Im going to start this post by giving some lame excuses, yup lame lame excuses ....as to why my baking has suddenly taken a back seat and also as to why this baking blog became more of a photo blog!


well to begin with, i fell into the trap of "baking to orders", which is very very easy to fall into, since ppl are more than willing to pay for the goodies and who doesnt like sum dough! so when i started doing tht my focus moved from actual baking to fulfilling orders, and between toddler running after, house hold chores, a part time job and baking to orders, i stopped baking for pleasure which is where it all had originally started...and i lost sight of my goal! good thing is i realized what was happening and have more or less stopped taking orders! phew (not that i will never bake to order, i will in a year or two, with a proper infrastructure n all [God willing!])

secondly, i needed to shed off some weight and trust me this baking business is quite fattening ...like literally! see the thing is if i bake, some1s gotta eat it ....right! and since my mothers side of the family is forever watching their weight and hubby side of the family is nt that elaborate ...blah blah .....honestly when i bake i cant resist whatever i make and end up eating at least, if not more 80% of it! sigh sigh sigh ....So i decided to put a big full stop on my mouth (and baking endeavors) and successfully lost arnd 10Kgs!! am i kool or what ;) :) so now thats done, i am starting again! hence two of my new years resolutions are literally contradictory one loosing another 10 kgs and another being more regular at baking ....so lets c what becomes of that by year end 2011! hopefully i'd be able to achieve both .....fingers crossed
well that’s all for my lame excuses...for now at least :) hopefully the blog will be more active in the coming year....no not with more excuses but actual baking ;) :)

see you next year.....byeeeeeeee

Bridal Shower

Set of 12 cupcakes for a bridal shower - something i never thought i wud be able to pull off ...but well they didnt turn out half as bad as i expected! .....and the person for whome they were made loved em!! so i am good!

Bake Sale for Pakistan Flood victims!

Had a busy busy weekend...Citizens Archive of Pakistan and Club Nitro organized a Volley ball tournment a fund raiser for Pakistan flood victims ....i put up a cupcake stall there ...which Alhumdulilah was a big hit!! a few shots from the event :)

Garfield Love!

Lazy Lazy garfield :)

this garfield cake, i made with extreme dedication and care cause i wanted it to be perfect - and i thought it did turn out very well!

Chocolate Bounty Cake - covered with marshmallow fondant...

I feel CocoNutty Today!

Did I ever mention how much I love coconut! I put desiccated coconut just about on any desert ….or a drink ….yumm! since I am not a big cake eater myself, I never did try making a coconut cake, I settled at sprinkling all my chocolate cakes with some coconut to fulfill my addiction. But a few days back while I was casually rummaging through various blogs I came across this recipe and immediately decided to try it.

The Cake turned out A-M A Z I N G….so do give it a try !
For an extra twist I converted it into bounty flavor, by adding yummy chocolate sauce!

 Ingredients:
Butter 3/4 cup
Super fine sugar 1 cup
Eggs 3
Yogurt 1/2 cup
Baking powder 1 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence 1/2 tsp
Flour 1 3/4 cup
Desiccated Coconut 3/4 cup
Corn Flour/ Corn Starch 1/3 cup

Method:

• Beat butter, sugar, coconut and vanilla essence with electric beater or in food processor.
• Beat in yogurt.
• Sift flour, cornflour and baking powder.
• Add in 1 egg and 1 table spoon of flour mixture. Continue beating. This step is required to prevent the mixture from curdling.
• Add in remaining two eggs and beat.
• Lastly add in flour mixture and beat at low speed until just combined.
• Pour into greased 8" round cake tin or 8" x 4" loaf tin.
• Sprinkle 1 table spoon each of desiccated coconut and granulated sugar.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven at gas mark 4 for 50-60 minutes until center comes out clean and is light golden in color.


Happy Baking!

Sunday Morning with yummy Cinnamon Buns

One fateful sunday morning i woke up with enormous amount of energy! And decided to make Cinnamon Buns for Breakfast….I had been thinking about them since quite some time, had also researched a few recipes ….finally decided to stick with nadia’s which was Awesome!

For those of you who want to try it here the recipe:

Ingredients:
Dough

Flour 2 cups

Egg 1

Yeast (granules) 1 tsp heaped

Sugar 1 tsp

Luke Warm water 1/8 cup

Castor Sugar 2 tbsp

Salt 1/2 tsp

Butter (melted) 2 tbsp

Milk about 1/2 cup

Filling

Walnuts (chopped) 1/2 cup

Brown Sugar 1/3 cup

Cinnamon powder 1tsp

Butter 2tbsp

Raisins (optional) 2 tbsp

Chocolate Sauce

Cocoa Powder 3 tbsp

Icing Sugar 6tbsp

Butter 1 tsp

Milk 2-3 tbsp

Method:

Dough

• Sprinkle yeast and sugar on luke warm water in a plastic bowl, cover and let it stand in warm place for about 5 minutes until pale in color and foamy.

• Place sifted flour, castor sugar, butter (melted), egg, salt and cultured yeast in a food processor or stand mixer with dough hook.

• Start mixing while adding luke warm milk, until ball starts to form but mixture should be soft and sticky. It should not be dry. The texture of dough at this stage determines how airy and soft your rolls will be.

• Turn the dough on a floured surface and knead with palms of your hand for about 5 minutes until smooth, elastic and soft. If too sticky, add in little flour as required.

• When dough is ready, place it in a greased container for proofing (to rise).

• Put a little oil on dough also so it doesn't become dry.

• Cover the container with a lid or cling film and leave it in a warm place for about 1.5 hours until risen and when touched doesn't spring back. (see picture)

• Prepare filling meanwhile.

• Once risen, punch it down (not too much, a couple will do to knock out air), transfer on a floured surface and roll out into a rectangle of 1/4th inch thickness.

• Spread the filling and roll from long side to form a log.

• Cut into 16 equal pieces for mini-bons or 8 for large ones.

• Place on a greased tray or tray lined with parchment paper.

• Cover in a plastic bag and leave to rise for about 1/2 hour until double in size.

• Bake in a pre-heated oven for 20-25 minutes at gas mark 4 until golden.

• Meanwhile prepare forsting and sauce.

• Once done, spread with forsting and pour sauce. Serve immediately.

• If not serving immediately, warm rolls for a few seconds in microwave and repeat the above process.

Filling

• Mix all well.

Chocolate Sauce

• Mix all well and cook on low flame for a little while until its sauce like.

Tips:
• Always check yeast expiry date. Remember, too hot or too cold water kills the yeast and dough will never rise.

• Keep dough in warm place, as suitable for your climate.

• Place it near lighted stove, turned-off oven or kitchen counter if you have naturally warm weather.

Happy Baking!

I am Awesome!

YES i am alive and kicking :D I have been taking things a bit slow..with a baby who crawls ...its almost impossible to bake..let alone decorate :)

anyway..so after turning down few orders i decided to take this one...sounded very challenging hence couldnt resist......the topic was .. "I am Awesome!" ......Set of 18 cupcakes ....for a recent college graduate from her highly talented mom.....after brainstorming for more than a week ...this is what we finally came up with :)
Since it is difficult to access what Exactly they mean together (as a group) my talented yound sister came up with this limerick.....adorable i must say and Just right for the theme...

So, here is how i,ve laid it out,

to think what "I am Awesome" is about!

Took me a while to realize, A single aspect wont suffice...

A little bit naughty, a little bit nice..

Colorful n girlie but extremely wise,

Loud and bold…clever as a fox

Quiet and shy…yet a chatterbox…

Confused as a cuckoo…bright as a star

None can groove like her by far.

Loves her own people, loves her nation

Proudly she celebrated her graduation…

Set of these cupcakes shall say no more, shall say no less…

Together they crown her “Miss Awesomeness”!

hope you all like it ...do lemme know !

Mothers Day Baskets!!

I Love you ... Ma!

This May i decided to do something special for mothersday ... so i did these Mothers Day Baskets  ....for my mom and for other 20 special moms :)

The Princess....and the baby :D

                                                             and the baby!

welcome!

Welcome to our lounge :)

I am NEVER going to take any last minute orders now.....decided!!! my sister's boss wanted me to make a set of 24 cupcakes for a meeting of interior decorators and that too in a day ..... i dunno y i agreed :P the quality of work really depreciates in haste...so they didnt turn out the way i intended but they werent tht bad either... but still...no last minutes orders for me anymore!!!

Six were themed rest were simply beautiful ....if i may say so myslef :)

Meow...Meow..hey kitty kitty ....

Kitty Cat....Cake .....

Yet another order from my sister's office!! to prepare a Cat cake for a friend who is a cat person..well i tried ..and tadaaaaaaaaa.......and she loved it...so i am happy :)

Peach Crumble!

I was craving for a fruity delight and guess who came to my rescue ;)...yes Bakerella!!! (its like shes turning into my baking god fairy ) anyway ...so yea it was yummmmy!!! 

So, heres how it was made....
1. Emptied a can of peaches along with the syrup into a big glass dish.

 2. Added one cup all purpose flour, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 tsp baking power ...mixed them all together in a separate bowl and dumped them over the peaches.

3. Take 100gms butter (unslated) cut into cubes and spread over the dry layer.

4. Take 1/2 cup brown sugar, half cup chopped nuts (i used almonds and cashew nuts, you can use walnuts also), few white chocolate chips(optional) and sprinkle all over the dish.

 
 5. Preheat oven @180 degrees....bake for 40-60 mins....Voilllla.......yummilicious dessert readyy....so simple so easy an absolutely worth trying!

Take some out for neighbors.........

Sprinkle with nuts ..................

Garnish with Heavy Cream...................

and let the magic begin .....in your mouth i mean ;) !!

Happy Baking !!