Upside Down Peach Cake

For some time now, I wanted to make a cake incorporating fruits. Initially, it was the veritable treasure of fruits I saw in the market that got me thinking on these lines. A search on the internet gave cake recipes with apples, pineapples, apricots, peaches and pears. So when I saw tinned peaches in a factory outlet in Kasauli, I quickly bought one expecting to make some lovely desserts.

Ingredients
for caramelization

Butter - 1/4 cup

Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
for cake
Peaches, cut into slices - 2 large or 3 medium sized
Butter, softened - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2/3 cup
Egg - 1
Flour – 1.5 cups
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Milk - 2/3 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Melt the 1/4 cup butter in 8 or 9" cake round (here I used a 7" x 11" baking dish and it worked just fine). Mix in 1/2 cup brown sugar and make sure entire bottom is coated with this mixture. Gently lay peaches in butter/brown sugar. I used tinned peaches, about 3 halves, both to line the bottom of the cake pan and chopped some to add to the batter.

Cream 1/2 cup butter and 2/3 cup white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the egg in. In a separate bowl stir together flour, baking powder and salt. To the creamed mix, add the flour mix alternately with milk and continue beating. Finally, add the vanilla essence. If you have any left-over peach slices that didn't fit in the bottom of the pan, chop them up and add them to the batter. Gently spread the batter over peach slices, there will be just enough batter to cover the slices.

Bake at 175 degrees C for 30 to 40 minutes or until you have a lightly browned top. Check if the cake is done after 30 minutes and if not done bake for some more time. Once done, allow to sit for 5 minutes. Loosen cake edge with knife and invert onto serving plate. If you wait too long, it will stick to the pan. Or use a springform cake pan like I did and only the bottom needs to be loosened.

 

 

 

 

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

Condensed Milk Pound Cake served with grape crush and more condensed milk

This is a pound cake that includes the deliciously thick condensed milk and flavors of cardamom and vanilla. This cake has just the right sweetness and can take a sprinkling of icing sugar or that fruit syrup or condensed milk itself! I did try other recipes for condensed milk pound cake but did not get great results but this one is a runaway hit at our home. I referred to the Condensed Milk Pound Cake from this blog inspired from the book "The Sweet Spot" by Pichet Ong. The original recipe can be taken from there. Given below is the recipe I followed which has minor changes. 

Do give this cake a try and you will be a fan for life.

Ingredients
Maida / All purpose flour - 1 & 1/3 cup / 200gms
* Unsalted Butter - 1 cup / 226 gms (I used butter-1/2 c. & olive oil-1/2 c. less 1tbsp)
Condensed milk - 3/4 cup / 239 gms
Powder Sugar - 1/2 cup / 106 gms
Eggs - 3
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Cardamom pwd - 1/2 tsp

* Salt - 1tsp

Preheat the oven to 160 degree Celsius. Grease and dust the cake pan you intend to use and keep aside till ready to use. I used my bundt pan, again, :) for this cake.

 

In a bowl mix maida, salt and baking powder and sift the three together. In a large bowl add the butter and oil and using a hand blender give a quick blend. Add the condensed milk and again give a quick blend. Add the cardamom powder to the above mixture. Then add the sugar and flour in two to three batches to the mixture and blend with the hand blender. In another bowl give the eggs a quick whisk. Add the beaten eggs to the above mixture blending quickly. Through this whole process try not to over blend, keep it just till the ingredients are incorporated. Add the vanilla essence and lightly mix with the hand till the whole batter is all mixed.

 

Pour this batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 50 to 60 minutes. Check if the cake is done by piercing the cake with a toothpick or knife after 50 minutes. The top of the cake will be a light gold when done. Let the cake cool completely before unmoulding.

Note: * Do not add salt if using salted butter.
 

I cut my cake when still slightly warm to beat my husband getting to it. Else I wouldn't get any pictures of the cake also.

 

 

 

 

 

My Condensed Milk Pound Cake goes to this event -

Holiday Baking by Ammaji Recipes

 

Ending 2013 on a Sweet Note - Gers Ogaily, a saffron cardamom flavored cake

We are at the close of 2013 and it has been a year that brought some good and some not so good things. Personally, my year has been a simple, unmomentous one and I close the year knowing my family and true friends are around and will be there for me through thick and thin. They are not physically near me but easily reachable with a big helping hand from all the technology available today. This year did bring more than my fair share of health issues, but now all of it is in the past and I look forward to the dawn of a new year bringing with it a bagful of experiences. I thank God for the gift of this year and ask for his blessings to make the next year a meaningful one. And wish the same for all of you.

And on this note, I would like to end 2013 on a sweet note with this cake called Gers Ogaily. Gers Ogaily is a traditional, saffron and cardamom flavored cake from Kuwaiti cuisine. This cake's taste is not an unfamiliar one to the Indian palette since a lot of our desserts use saffron and cardamom as flavoring agents. This cake is springy to the touch and is extremely soft with just the right amount of sweetness. I referred to the recipe given on this blog and can be referred for the original recipe. I added my touch to it and hence it is a modified Gers Ogaily.

 

Ingredients

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups

Caster Sugar - 1 1/2 cup

Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled - 1/2 cup*

Coconut Milk - 1 cup

Eggs - 4

Sesame seeds, toasted - 4 tbsp

Saffron - 1/2 tsp

Cardamom pwd - 1 tsp

Vanila Essence - 1 tsp

Rose Essence - 1.5 tsp

Baking pwd - 1.5 tsp baking pwd

Milk - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp*

Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius / 350 degree Fahrenheit. Grease and dust the bundt / cake tin and keep aside. Powder the saffron with a pestle and add the tablespoon of milk to it and keep aside to steep.

 

Sift together the maida and baking soda and add the sesame seeds and cardamom powder and keep aside. Separately combine the melted butter, coconut milk, vanilla and rose essences, mix and keep aside. In a big bowl combine the eggs and the sugar. Beat it till the mixture is frothy and has tripled in volume. Fold in the maida mix and the butter - coconut milk mix little by little into the egg - sugar mix. When adding these, start and end with the maida mix. Once completely combined, pour into the prepared bundt pan. Sprinkle the rest of the sesame seeds on top and bake for 35 to 45 minutes. After 35 minutes, pierce a toothpick / knife into the cake to check if done. Depending on the oven you may need 35 to 45 minutes to bake this cake.

 

Like I mentioned earlier, the Gers Ogaily is mildly sweet cake. So when serving, feel free to sift some icing sugar on this cake.

 

Notes:

- All ingredients should be at room temperature unless specified other wise.

- If powdering cardamom in a mortar and pestle add a bit of sugar to make the powdering easy.

- Leave the saffron strands intact instead of powdering it if you like and continue to the next step of steeping it.
 - * If using salted butter omit the salt. I used Amul butter since getting unsalted butter in India is so difficult.

 

 

 

My saffron and cardamom flavored cake, Gers Ogaily, goes to this event -

Holiday Baking by Ammaji Recipes

Beetroot Cake

I have been wanting to make a beetroot cake for some time, in the hope of having a natural pink / red hued cake. When mixing the ingredients, the batter was a deep pink color and it would have been awesome if the baked result had retained it. But no such luck, the cake when baked looked something like a banana cake. There may be some chemical reaction at such a high temperature that makes the beets lose their color. I regret not taking pictures of the batter, it would have been nice to post it here.  

This beetroot cake is really soft and retains its moistness and is good to go with a cup of tea.
Ingredients
All purpose flour - 250 gms
Baking pwd - 4.5 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 150 gms
Eggs - 2
Oil - 150 gms
Cashew nut - 50 gms
Raisin - 50 gms
Beetroot - 200 gms
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and dust the cake pan.

Grate the beetroot and then measure it. Roast the cashew nuts and break them into quarters. Keep the eggs in room temperature.

Take a bowl and mix in the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder. Beat the eggs in another bowl then add the oil and beat again till they blend and keep aside. Add the beetroot and the oil and eggs mixture into the flour mix and beat with an electric mixer. Add the cashew nuts and raisins and mix in. Pour the batter into the cake pan and pop it into the oven and bake for about 50 to 60 minutes. Pierce with a knife to check if done and let it cool before slicing it.

 

My Beetroot Cake goes to these events:

- Bake Fest @ Cooks Joy

- Cakes Mela at cooking4allseasons 

- Holiday Baking at Ammaji Recipes 

Basbousa or the Goan Baath Cake - Semolina Coconut Cake

The Baath or Batica Cake is a semolina and coconut cake from Goa, that is traditionally made during Christmas. It is very similar to a cake from the Portuguese cuisine called Bolo de Coco. Surprisingly, the Baath cake is also similar to an Egyptian / Arabic cake called the Basbousa / Hareesa and also features in Lebanese, Turkish and Greek cuisine. There is a slight difference in the method and/or ingredients that each of these cakes employ but semolina remains the primary ingredient. Like in the Tres Leches cake where milk is poured on the cake, the Basbousa Cake has sugar syrup poured on it.  This Basbousa cake is rich in coconut, and both coconut milk and coconut flakes are used in this recipe.

Being Keralites, we are partial to anything coconut and I liked the Baath cake right from my first bite. There was one store near our place in Mumbai that stocked this cake and the fellow at the counter started recognizing me as one who came repeatedly for the Baath Cake. So, I tried a recipe the minute I laid my eyes on it but it did not turn out as well as I hoped - it turned out dry and slightly burnt. I was sorely disappointed with the results and couldn't wait to try another recipe again. This recipe for Basbousa did sound daunting at first what with no sugar being used in the cake but using sugar syrup instead. The sugar syrup gets absorbed in a short time and the result is not sticky as well. The original recipe calls for 1.5 cup sugar for the syrup but I used only 1 cup sugar thinking it would turn out too sweet especially since the condensed milk was already sweet. My recipe, thus, is not overtly sweet and is a rich, moist and dense cake but tastes really yummy.

Ingredients
for the cake
Semolina / Rawa - 2 cups
Coconut flakes - 1 cup
Coconut milk - 1 cup
Condensed milk - 1 can (400gms)
Butter - 1/2 cup + 1tsp (applying on pan)
Baking pwd - 1.5 tsp
Eggs - 2

Rose essence - 1 to 2 drops

for syrup

Sugar - 1 cup

Water - 1/2 cup
Lemon juice - a few drops

Orange essence - 1 to 2 drops

Rose essence - 3 to 4 drops

Preheat the oven to 170C degrees (the original recipe stated 180 degrees, going by my oven's performance I kept the temperature at 170C degrees and it worked for me). Grease the pan you want to bake the cake in with the 1 tsp butter. I used my bundt cake pan since I could not find my rectangle shaped pan.

Take a mixing bowl and add in the butter and condensed milk and using a wooden spatula mix the two. There is no need to beat the batter in this cake. Once the two has mixed in add the baking powder and mix it in. In another bowl lightly whisk the eggs and then mix into the butter condensed milk mixture. When these contents are mixed add the coconut milk, the semolina or rawa and the coconut flakes. Mix all these ingredients lightly with the spatula till they have blended well together. Pour into the greased pan and insert it into the ready oven.

Bake the cake for about 35 to 40 minutes, till the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean when pierced.
In the time that the cake is baking in the oven, make the syrup separately on the stove. In a saucepan, combine the sugar and water to a boil. Let it simmer for 6 to 8 minutes and then take off the heat and add the lemon juice and rose or orange blossom water. I did not have rose or orange blossom water, instead I used rose essence and orange essence which I had.

 

Once the cake is ready, remove from the oven and prick it with a toothpick or fork. Pour the syrup all over the cake. Keep the cake aside to cool before serving. Slice the cake and serve.

 

 

 the sugar syrup soaked cake

 

a slice of cake anyone?

 

My Basbousa goes to these events:

- "Dish it out - coconut & sugar/salt", originally from Vardhini's cooksjoy

- Spotlight - Festival Treats (Part - 2)

- Bake Fest @ Cooks Joy

- Cakes Mela at cooking4allseasons

- Holiday Baking at ammajirecipes

 

Simple, No Bake, Semolina / Rawa Cake

This simple Semolina or Rawa Cake is in celebration of my completion of 100 posts on this blog. It did take long to reach here and it can all be attributed to my initial slow action :) True to tradition, my 101st post is a celebrative recipe - a very simple, no egg, no dairy and a no bake cake. This cake has a lot of nostalgic memories attached to it for me. There was a time when not every house had an oven and housewives had to think of ways to make a cake. Many found ways to make a cake in a cooker and my mother was one of them. I was a nut for sweet dishes then and mom had to rack her brain to make something that I would eat. This semolina / rawa cake was one of those evening snacks she made on our return from school.  And I loved it and would ask her to make it often. Then I guess we got over our fancy for this cake and mom stopped making it and forgot the recipe as well. Many years later, I saw a savory version of this recipe and spoke with mom about it and she gave me a broad idea on the ingredients she had used. A couple of trials later I got the recipe right for this Semolina / Rawa Cake.

This is a simple steamed cake with semolina, coconut and jaggery with cardamom to flavor it.

Ingredients

Semolina / Rawa - 1 cup

Jaggery - 3/4 cup

Coconut - 1/4 cup

Water - 3/4 to 1 cup

Cardamom pwd - a couple of pinches

Fruit salt (Eno) - 1/4 tsp

Ghee - 1 tsp to grease the vessel

for garnishing

Caster Sugar

Cashew nuts

Raisins

Ghee - 1 tsp

Shred the jaggery and keep aside. Heat the water and add the jaggery to it and stir till it is melted. Strain the jaggery liquid and keep it aside.

In a bowl add the jaggery liquid, the semolina / rawa, the coconut and the cardamom powder and mix well. Keep this aside and heat water in the pressure cooker or steamer. Take the ghee and grease a pan or cooker vessel or a thali with it. Lower the heat when the water in the cooker or steamer starts bubbling.  Add the fruit salt or Eno into the semolina and mix and immediately pour it out into the pan or thali. Steam this for 5 minutes on high heat then reduce to medium heat and continue steaming for another 10 minutes.

Take the thali or vessel out of the steamer or cooker and let it cool. When cool run a knife around the edges and invert onto a plate.

For serving, roast the cashew nuts and raisins in the ghee and decorate the cake with it.

Fact: Semolina or Rawa is also called Farina in some places.

When we shifted to the US we got used to picking up pre-packed bags of groceries. Later we started frequenting a store that was more like a farmers market and with a lot of stuff for the local Mexican population. This store kept bins of loose grain, sugar, lentils, different types of trail mixes and pulses. They had plastic bags into which we could scoop stuff and then had to stick a sticker with the corresponding product code. This was then weighed at the counter and billed. On one of my shopping trips I found a bin that had something called farina and on looking closely discovered it to be rawa. They also had mung bean, dried red chillies, sugar dried peas in those bins and the best thing it was way cheaper than at the Indian  store. We were happy with this find because we did not frequent the Indian store that was about 12 - 15 miles away. That's my story for today!