Whole wheat carrot cake with coffee flavour

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First of all thank you so much for your lovely comments on my new scarf. I have already started using it and I love it.

I made this cake 3 days ago and the reason why I'm sharing it here is:

• I want to save the recipe because 
• the recipe is my own and I don't want to forget how I made it because 
• I am certainly going to make it again and again because 
• it tasted so good!

I had made carrot cake once but that was long ago and I don't remember which recipe I used but I do remember that though it was good it was oily, dense and a little too sweet. This time when I surfed the internet for a recipe I came across several which used pineapple. All these recipes were the same with little variation here and there, so I chose one of them but decided to skip the pineapple and use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. These recipes used oil instead of butter and I knew with the amount of oil used I'll end up with an oily dense cake as before and I didn't want that. Also, my son did not approve the idea of adding carrots to a cake but I was adamant that it was going to be carrot cake or no cake. Finally he yielded thinking that some cake is better than no cake but he asked me not to add too much carrots in it. My husband looked on doubtfully as I added the ingredients one by one into the mixing bowl, whole wheat flour? carrots?? yogurt??? coffee????..... even I was getting a little skeptical. Anyway I went ahead as there was no other way out after mixing everything and it turned out to be a perfect carrot cake. It was surprisingly soft when eaten the same day.

Seen in the background are my desert in bloom baby blanket and carrot boy.

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 1 and 1/2 cups

Powdered sugar - 1 cup minus 1 tbsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 3/4 cup

Eggs - 3 large

Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Yogurt/thick curd - 1/2 cup

Instant coffee granules - 1 tbsp dissolved in 1/4 cup water

Raisins - 1/4 cup

Chopped nuts - I used cashew nuts 1/4 cup and a handful of roasted almonds

Grated carrots - 1 and 1/4 cups loosely packed

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Method

Sieve flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon powder twice and keep aside.

Beat eggs well until frothy. Then add the sugar and beat well until thick and creamy.

Add oil, yogurt and vanilla and mix well.

Then add the coffee at room temperature.

Fold in the flour.

Finally add the grated carrots, raisins and nuts.

Pour into prepared tins and bake at 150 degree C for about 50 minutes or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy your cake!

I like to have mine with a cup of unsweetened coffee.

Have a nice day!

 

Vanilla cake with chocolate bits

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This is my never-fail vanilla cake recipe. Yesterday when I baked it I added some broken bits of chocolate to the batter. I have never baked a choco chip cake or cookie but I had always wanted to. Choco chips are not available near my place and so I used regular dark chocolate bar which I broke into tiny bits. As soon as I took the cake out of the pan my son was right beside me ready to pounce on it. I couldn't even let it to cool for some time. He was getting so impatient and wouldn't let me take photos. After shooing him away I managed to click a couple of pictures.

The original recipe for the vanilla cake is from this site. 

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cups

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 3/4 cups

Eggs - 2 large

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Cooking oil - 1/2 cup

Buttermilk - 1/2 cup

Choco chips - 1/4 cups. (Since I couldn't find choco chips here, I used Amul dark chocolate bar broken into small bits)

Sieve flour, baking soda and salt together. I always powder the sugar while baking. Beat eggs using an electric mixer for a few seconds. Add the sugar and beat for a few more seconds. Then add the vanilla and oil and beat for a minute. Add flour and buttermilk alternately in 2 batches and beat gently until combined. Note that while making cake batter, you should not beat vigorously after adding the flour. You should only mix gently to allow everything to combine. Finally fold in the chocolate bits or choco chips. Fill the pan half full.  I always bake my cake at 150 degree C for 50 minutes. After 40 mins you can check the doneness by inserting a skewer, fork or whatever and it should come out clean. Cool for 5-10 mins and remove the cake from the pan. Allow it to cool completely if you have the patience.

Have a nice day! 

Cake & Crochet - whole wheat chocolate banana cake recipe

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"Cakes & Crochet" - would have been a lovely name for my blog. I always bake cakes and I always crochet which results in an ever-expanding waistline. For a few days I had tried staying away from baking but now I am back to my old baking self. 

I bake banana and apple cakes frequently. I have even shared the recipes for some of them here, but this is different. I would definitely say this was the best banana cake that I had ever made. It was so light and fluffy for a fruit cake made using whole wheat flour. Okay, I did sneak in a little bit of all purpose flour because I was skeptical of using 100% whole wheat flour. May be next time I'll try the same cake with only whole wheat flour and let you know how it turns out. Now for the recipe ...

Whole wheat chocolate banana cake

Adapted from here

Ingredients 

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

All purpose flour - 1/2 cup

Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp

Butter - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp

Eggs - 3 small 

Ripe bananas -  3 medium, mashed

Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Yoghurt - 1/2 cup

milk - 1/4 cup

Vanilla - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Method

• Sieve both flours, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. (I sieved the whole wheat flour first separately because the flour that I had at home was not finely ground)
• Mash the bananas well. 
• Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add eggs one at a time followed by vanilla.
• Now add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and mix gently.
• Finally fold in yoghurt, milk and the mashed bananas. 
• Pour into the prepared baking pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes or more. To check if your cake is done insert a toothpick (I use a knife) into the center of the cake and if it comes out clean then your cake is done.
• Remove the cake from the oven and leave it for 10-15 minutes before removing from the pan.  

The crochet that you are seeing here is my current WIP. 

Have a great day! 

    

Whole wheat chocolate pancakes

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It really surprises me that I had never ever considered making pancakes at home until recently. Maybe it's because I had always considered pancakes to be the sweet version of dosa that we often make for breakfast at home.

Anyway one day last week I was up early in the morning and pondering what to pack for the kid's lunch. I was bored of packing the usual stuff and wanted to try something different, that's when I thought of pancakes. I searched a few recipes in the internet and found that the basic ingredients are flour, egg, milk, sugar and little butter. To make it healthier I decided to use whole wheat flour and to make it tastier I added cocoa powder.  The procedure was easy but I was unsure about the taste. I was expecting a chewy, sweet version of our wheat dosa (not very appealing) but when I took the first bite I was really surprised. It was so soft and fluffy and the taste was marvelous. My son loved it. This Sunday our breakfast was whole wheat chocolate pancakes and all of us loved it. First time when I made for my son I served the pancakes with Hershey's chocolate syrup but the second time I made chocolate sauce at home, it was thinner but I felt it tasted better.

Here is the recipe if you are interested.

Whole wheat chocolate pancake recipe

Makes about 6 pancakes

Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour - About 1 cup
Milk - 1/2 to 3/4 cup
Egg - 1
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Butter - 1 tbsp melted
Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
A pinch of salt

Method:
Sieve together flour, baking soda and salt. Add sugar and the wet ingredients and whisk together. If you feel the batter is too thick you can add more milk but don't make it too runny. Heat a griddle or skillet, lightly grease with oil or butter and pour a ladle full of batter. Do not spread much, it should be thick. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface, flip and cook on the other side. Pour some chocolate sauce over and serve. It tastes good even without the chocolate sauce.

To make a quick chocolate sauce take equal quantities of cocoa powder, sugar and water. Mix them together and allow to simmer on the stove until it thickens slightly. You can add vanilla for flavoring.

If you haven't made this version of pancakes you should give this recipe a try. I'm sure you'll like it. 

Bunny babies

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Our pet buns Ninja and Tuffy have become proud parents of 7 cute babies. There were actually 8 of them but one didn't survive. It's been about a couple of weeks and they opened their eyes just two days back. These fur balls look so cute. Three of them are white like their mom and the rest are black and white like their dad. 

 We will be giving them all up for adoption but my son wants to keep one which is almost completely black except for a small white patch on the forehead and hind legs. I have been saying no because we already have three and space is an issue, but bunnies are such lovely creatures and it is so much fun to have them around. 

 I have already told you that I love baking breads. I love the aroma that fills the entire house when baking bread; it's just divine. I still have the yeast that my husband bought a few months ago and wanted to use it all up before it expires. Good quality yeast is very rare to find here and I don't want to waste it.

Last Sunday I made dinner rolls. I used a recipe that I had pinned and it turned out very well. It was also quite easy to make. You can find the recipe here. Hereafter every weekend is going to be a bread baking day.

The orange marmalade that you see here was also made by me. This is all that is left of a big bottle and it was me who finished it all up. It had a slightly bitter taste because of the peel that I used in it (I think I used excess of it) and that was enough to keep my husband away from it. My son said it tasted good but would have been better if it wasn't bitter but I think that was the best part.   

Thank you so much for all the wishes and the lovely comments you left in my previous post. You are all so sweet!

Have a great day!   

Chocolate Cupcake

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I don't bake cakes nowadays as I used to because of health issues. Two days ago on a lazy afternoon when my son asked me to bake something for him I couldn't resist any more. I searched on the internet for a recipe. I wanted to try something new but at the same time I was hesitant to experiment. Since I am only baking on rare occasions nowadays I didn't want to take any chances, so settled for the plain old chocolate cake. I adaped a red velvet cupcake recipe that I had.

It turned out very soft and spongy. I will definitely make it again. 

Sharing with Macro Monday

Cinnamon buns and cute buns

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After a very long time I made cinnamon buns last night. I love baking breads and buns but after a few failed attempts I stopped baking breads all together. Also yeast is not easily available here. Even if one or two stores have them they are always very old stuff and the dough never raises properly. This time my husband bought yeast from a store which also has a bakery and the yeast was really good. I made some French bread the other day and it came out beautifully, but unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures.

I love cinnamon buns and have made them a couple of times before. This time I used the recipe from here. I made them in 2 batches, one in a round pan and another in a small square pan and the whole house was smelling divine. I made them late in the evening, so had to wait until morning to take pictuers. But by then only one roll was left from the round pan and the top of one in the square pan was pulled out by the impatient kid. I had to pull the pan away from him to save the rest for my photographs.   

Our cute buns have grown up a lot.

Meal time

Nap time.

They look so cute when they sleep. They always sleep together piled up one on top of the other.

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments you leave here, thanks for following me and thanks for stopping by.

Have a happy weekend! 

Can I call this a cheesecake?

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I have never tasted a cheesecake, but I always wanted to make one. Cheesecakes are not commonly available here but I have seen plenty of pictures of delicious cheesecakes and drooled enough. Yesterday was a perfect day for experimenting. The main ingredient for cheesecake which is cream cheese is also not available here but that was not going to stop me. I had made up my mind and I just went ahead with whatever I had at hand even though I didn't have ANY of the main ingredients. I didn't have cream cheese, I didn't have biscuits for the crumb base. I should say this is the craziest recipe I have ever tried.

Surprising it turned out GOOD! No, I wouldn't say it was heavenly, but it was good and the whole cake disappeared within an hour or two.

Sorry, I can't share the recipe with you as there was no proper recipe here. I will just say what I did. I took some paneer (I think it is an equivalent to cottage cheese). I added some yoghurt to it and blended well. Then I added one egg, few spoons of powdered sugar and flour. Mixed them all well and baked. Then I cooled it and poured strawberry flavoured jelly on top of it and allowed it to set in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

I am happy that my craziest receipe did not turn out to be a diaster. Does it mean that I am turning into a good baker?

After gulping down the "supposed to be cheesecake," me and my kiddo made a short trip to the park. This time of the year is the best in Delhi and we can find plenty of flowers everywhere. I hadn't been out a lot recently and yesterday we made this trip especially to get some flower photographs before the season ends.

Beautiful, aren't they?

♥ Valentine Cake Hearts ♥

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I think I am the only person in blogland who hasn't made a Valentine post yet.

So here it is...



This is actually a chocolate walnut cake that I baked about 10 days or so ago but did't have the time to post it. The receipe is originally a chocolate cake recipe to which I added a handful of walnuts (that was all I had at home) to make this delicious choco-walnut cake.

This pretty flower is from my balcony garden. I am really not lucky when it comes to gardening. So this flower makes me so happy. Ah! But I should admit that the plant already had the bud in it when I planted it in the pot and it was ready to bloom :)))

The recipe for the cake is super easy and you can try it out.

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1 1/4 cups

Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp

Baking powder - 2 tsp

Sugar - 1 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Cooking oil - 1/2 cup

Eggs - 2 

Vanilla - a few drops (optional)

Sieve the dry ingredients (Flour, cocoa and baking powder).

I always powder my sugar after measuring it so that it dissolves quickly. 

Blend together the oil, milk, eggs and vanilla using an electric blender.

Add sugar and the sieved dry ingredients. Blend everything together until combined.

Pour into your greased and seasoned cake pans and bake. The ideal temperature setting for my oven is 150 degree C. I bake for 40 mins or until done.

Oops! I forgot the walnuts. Add 1/4 cup of chopped and roasted walnuts at the end and fold them into the dough. I didn't have 1/4 cup. It was a little less than that.

I ♥ed the crunchy, nutty taste in my chocolate cake. Hmm... the thought makes me drool.

I have to thank all of you for all the lovely comments you leave here. Also, I have to mention the awards that you give me. Awards are really nice and they make you feel elated, wanted, important, humbled, etc., but they also make me feel uncomforable. So I don't accept awards. Everytime someone has left an award for me I feel really bad refusing to accept it. I hope you will understand. The comments that you leave here appreciating my work mean a thousand times more to me than an award. So instead of awards leave comments and more comments. That would make me really happy.

♥ ♥ ♥ Thanks and have a nice day ♥ ♥ ♥

Lemon Cake

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One thing I am never tired of is baking cakes. Even if it had been a hectic day, the thought of taking out my measuring cups, pans, blender, etc., and most importantly searcing the web for a new recipe always seems to invigorate me.

I don't have to mention the aroma that fills the entire house when the cake is getting ready.

Though I would love to bake more often I try to limit myself to not more than twice a month as it is always me who end up gulping down major portion of the cake. My husband has become more watchful of what goes inside his tummy and my kid, after his first piece, simply gets distracted and forgets about it.

So whenever I enter the kitchen the cake starts yelling at me (especially if it has plenty of icing on it) to take just a small bite. Eventually after many small bites and when the cake has become considerably smaller in size, the kid suddenly remembers about it. By then the major chunk is happily resting inside my tummy. Ha...ha...ha...not my fault, he should have been more alert. Anyway he is not very fond of cakes with plenty of frosting. So he dosen't mind. Good for me.

Last week I made this cake. The recipe is from here. For the frosting I used the Italian Meringue Frosting that you can find here. Do I have to say that it was delicious? If not, I wouldn't have bothered to photograph it and post it here.

 

Try it and you will enjoy it.

Have a nice day.

Shortbread

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If you ask me which is the easiest and the tastiest cookies of all, without second thought I would say it is the shortbread. I have made shortbreads a number of times and not even a single time was I disappointed.

 I ♥ its crumbly texture, buttery flavour and the mild sweetness.

Also, it requires very less ingredients. For the traditional shortbread recipe you need only flour, butter and sugar, but for variation you can also add flavours of your choice.

Here is the recipe

Have a nice day.

Progressing with...

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...a new stool cover.

Yes, that is what my new diagonal crochet is all about. You might remember that I have two stools and have already dressed up one with this. The other one was badly in need of a cover. So I started this.

I could have chosen a granny for this one too but I wanted to try something different.

This is coming along beautifully. I wouldn't say my choice of colours is perfect. Everything in my house tends to get dirty and stained very quickly. So I chose these colours from my stash so as to not show dirt and stain very obviously.

Some time back I made these cookies, but forgot to post it. They are called Hamentaschen, a Jewish recipe. These cookies are made traditionally during a Jewish festival. I am not going into its details coz' I myself don't know. The only thing I know is...

...these cookies are filled with jam and tasted so yummy and jammy.

I filled some with mango jam and some with mixed fruit jam, but I didn't like the ones with mango jam. The recipe is from here.

Finally, before I say goodbye
 I would like to wish all my Indian readers a very ...