BASBOUSA(SEMOLINA CAKE)

Semolina cake(Basbousa)

Semolina is a coarse form of wheat and used in pastas,puddings,couscous,south Indian Rava dosa and in many desserts too.....This semolina cake is made in middle-east countries.It tastes like our kesari but in a baked version.A yummy and sugary treat to all my viewers........... 

BASBOUSA(SEMOLINA CAKE)

Ingredients:For Syrup:

  sugar-625 gms

       water-200 m

lemon few drops

  orange blossom water-1 tsp I used orange essence      

   rosewater-1 tsp I used orange juice

For the cake:

semolina-400 gms

sugar-200 gms

desiccated coconut- 40 gms(optional)

 baking powder-1/2 tsp

 milk -200 ml(this is the minimum you will need, but you may need more, according to your semolina)

vanilla essence-1 tsp

melted butter-30 gms 

 tahini (sesame paste)(I haven't used) 

 blanched almonds to decorate

Method:

To make the syrup:

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water. Bring to heat and cook, stirring until it boils. Add drops of lemon and boil for 3 minutes. Let cool and mix the  orange essence and juice.

To make the batter:

Grease a baking dish with butter and set aside.In a large bowl, mix semolina, sugar, coconut and baking powder. Make a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the butter, vanilla, syrup and milk gradually. Mix with your hands. The semolina will absorb the milk ,so add milk little by little, until the batter looks like a porridge. Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish then cover and  rest aside  for about 12 hours or over night.

Preheat oven to  200°C 

 Mark the cake into  squares with a knife and place a blanced almond in each square.Bake for  about 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cut the squares into pieces.Bake somemore time till browned on top.Heat the syrup. Soak the hot cake with the syrup,cool them and remove from tin.Serve the glazing cake with some more syrup on top and enjoy............!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note:

I've avoided coconut you can use it if you want.

PEANUT AND CHERRY SHORT CAKE

Peanut and cherry short cake

Short cake is a crumble cake or biscuit having a filling of fruits and and cream on top.It usually made of flour,milk and some with eggs.It is an awesome treat for christmas,so yummy and eyecatching for kids and a popular christmas treat in many countries...........The short cake recipes were being followed from 1588 to till date with lots of variations......

I made this yummy recipe with unusual ingredients peanuts and whole wheat flour.But it doesn't leave hands in taste and texture.It is really a delicious dish with christmas special spices topped with cherries and cream.I strongly recommend all my visitors to try this recipe.It can be made easily by beginners too..........

It can be topped with any kind of fruits that available in that season.You can try this with orange,mango,rasberry,strawberry etc....I think marmalade can also work well.Lets have a look of this yummy christmas treat.......!!!!!!!!

Peanut and cherry short cake

Makes-2 medium sized short cakes

Prep.Time- 40 mins

Cooking time-15 mins 

 5 mins for assembling

Ready in 1 hr

Easy to make 

Ingredients:

Wholewheat flour-1/2 cup  

  Peanuts,ground-2 tbsp 

 Icing sugar-2 tbsp 

 Butter-31/2 tbsp

 Ice water-1 tsp 

 Cherries-1/4 cup(I used tinned) 

 Lemon juice-1 tsp or you can add orange juice also  

Nutmeg powder- a pinch 

Whipped cream-1 cup  

vanilla essence-few drops  

icing sugar-2 tsp 

caster sugar-1 tbsp 

 cocoa powder-1/2 tsp(optional) 

 pink colour-1 drop

Method:

Dry roast peanuts and remove husk.In a mixer add peanuts and 2 tsp icing sugar beat till it makes powdered form.

Seive wholewheat flour and ground peanuts with 2 tbsp icing sugar add butter and mix well to make a crumbly texture.Combine them well with ice water to make a soft dough.Wrap the dough with cling film and keep it in fridge not freezer for 30 mins.

Take out from fridge and roll flat sprinkling with some flour on top in  1/2 inch thick and cut a big roundel using a cutter.........

Meanwhile.......

Preheat the oven at 170°c/350°f

Place the flattened short cake in a baking tray and bake for 12-15 mins or till it turns light brown.

Remove from oven and cool them.In the meantime prepare the cherry topping and make the whipped cream..

Cherry topping:

In a pan add tinned/fresh cherries,caster sugar,nutmeg powder,cocoa powder,lemon/orange juice,vanilla essence cook till the cherries mashes well and reserve.

Whipped cream:

Freeze cream,beater hooks and the bowl for an hour.Now beat the cream until peaks add pink food colour mix well and put into a piping bag with decorative nozzle.

Assembling:

To assemble the short cake place a shortcake in a plate and fill the cherry topping in the middle then pipe some cream on the sides of the cake.You can decorate as you wish and enjoy the christmas treat......!!!!!!!!!

Note:

Dont hesitate if you dont have medium sized cutter,you can also use any round boxes to make the shape.

I've rolled and cut the dough and then kept in fridge becoz it will be very firm  when we take out from fridge.Obviously the dough will crack when rolling adjust it with flour.Preheating is approximately done for 10 minutes.Bake the short cake according to your oven temperature more or less than 15 mins.You can use plain flour instead of whole wheat flour and almond instead of peanut 

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OATS AND HONEY PANCAKE

Oats and honey pancake

Pancakes are nothing but cakes we do in a pan .Its more like oothappam in South India. This pancake is a mixture of oats and honey and less sugar..You can use full amount of honey and avoid sugar, can use jaggery also….Instead of flour, you can use whole wheat flour….So It’ll be more and more healthy………..I made this pancake for shh cooking secretly challenge made by mayuri patel,my partner this time who gave me oats and honey.............

Ingredients:

Oats-2 tbsp

Maida-1 cup  

Butter-1 tbsp

  powdered sugar-2 tbsp  

 honey-1tbsp

  Baking powder-1/2 tsp  

 egg-1
  Badam,chopped-1/2 cup

Method:

 

                                      In a bowl add softened butter and powdered sugar beat well till foamy. Break in egg and beat till combined well. Add in honey, oats and baking powder beat well.Fold in maida mix well and rest them for about 10 mins.Meanwhile heat the pan with some butter and pour the batter and spread slightly.Sprinkle chopped badam on top,Do on both sides and serve with maple syrup or honey...........................

WATERMELON CAKE

Watermelon cake

Don't panic on hearing the name WATERMELON CAKE..........A cakeeeeee made of watermelonn what????????This is the question my daughter's asked.......But yes it is........Last month Swathi Iyer from baking partners suggested us to make a strawberry cake,At that time strawberry was not available in my location.I got confused and thought of anyother fruits to make this cake.Suddenly Watermelon came into my mind and why not try this...................

Believe it,It came out very well soft,spongy and yummy............I followed the same recipe suggested by Swathi and swap the fruit into watermelon...........Got awesome results and the cake vanished at the moment...........

Recipe source:americastestkitchen

Watermelon cake

Ingredients:

watermelon-1,whole,deseed and cut into cubes   

APF flour-1 cup+2 tbsp   

for APF=1cup flour+1 tbsp flour+1 tbsp corn flour  

 baking powder-2 tsp  

salt-1/2 tsp 

 sugar-3/4 cup+1 tbsp 

  Butter-6 tbsp 

 eggs-2  

watermelon puree-1/4 cup 

Milk-1/4 cup

 vanilla essence-1 tsp 

fresh watermelon juice-1 tsp

Method:

In a bowl add watermelon pieces and 1 tbsp sugar boil well.When cooked remove from fire and blend to puree.Strain and reserve.

In a bowl add watermelon puree and milk combine well add van.ess,fresh water melon juice,sugar and butter beat well.Beat in eggs,sift dry ing. add to the mixture.Combine all ing's well.you can add food color at this stage but I haven't used it.

Pre heat oven to 180°c

Pour the batter 3/4th in a greased baking tray.Bake them at 180°c for abt 40 mins.First you start with 30mins then insrease the time according to your oven.Mine is kept for 40 mins and its perfect.When baked remove from oven and cool completely.You can cover the cake with cling film and store it in fridge overnight to do icing.you can reserve it for a week too and use when needed.

Icing:

Butter,softened-1 cup

  Icing sugar-4 cups 

 salt-a pinch  

 van.essence-1 tsp 

 watermelon puree-1 tbsp(optional)

Beat butter well till creamy add in sifted Icing sugar and beat well add salt,van.essence till thick and creamy.Reserve some cream and add watermelon puree to the remaining cream.

Decorating the cake:

Remove the cake from fridge and cool them to room temperature.Cut into half  coat the watermelon cream on one half and place the other.Now do the Icing in your desired way to the cake with plain cream and serve this yummy,moist,soft watermelon cake.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ORANGE AND ALMOND CAKE

       

                            Orange and Almond cake   

  Actually speaking I love oranges a lot among fruits.Dont know why,may be becoz of its smell,its taste and its color.....Making an orangy orange cake is the top of my wishlist.I found an opportunity to make this cake becoz my elder daughter,she asked for a moist and soft cake to eat.At once Oranges came into my mind and I had a dozen at home.So I started making this cake,I havent used only maida also used almond meal along with them.This gives the cake a moisty texture and softness....Adding an extra flavour I used cocoa powder thats why the cake changes color but tasted the same orangy flovour......

                                                               Ingredients:

                                                                       cake:

              Maida -3/4 cup   

Almond meal-1/2 cup

   sugar powdered- 1/2 cup   

orange juice - 1/2 cup 

cocoa powder - 1 tbsp

   Egg -1 

  Baking powder-1 tsp

  orange rind-1 tsp

 Butter - 2 tbsp

  orange essence or color - optional.

Royal Icing:

Egg white-1 egg  

 orange juice-1 tsp 

 powdered sugar or icing sugar-1 cup

For cake:

Method:

Almond meal: 

 To make almond meal soak almonds in water and microwave them for 3 mins.place them in cool water and now the skin will peel off easily.This is called blanching.now place them in a damp cloth wipe out water from almonds and dry roast them for a while in a pan.Note they should not be roasted.then cool them and grind with some icing sugar app.1/4 cup.......sift the almond meal and set aside.

For cake:

Pre heat oven to 180°c

In a mixing bowl put butter and sugar beat till soft and creamy.Mix orange juice with cocoa powder and add to the mixture beat till combined add orange rind,it is nothing but orange peel,egg,orange color beat well then fold in almond meal and maida sifted with baking powder mix well.Sprinkle orange zest in the pan and pour the batter,i used a spring form bundt pan.......

Bake the cake for 25-30 mins,cool them and remove from the pan........

For Icing:

Beat egg whites in a clean bowl,the whisk and the bowl should be clean and damp otherwise the whites will not form peaks.Beat till peaks form add in sugar powder and orange juice.I used Powdered sugar but the icing was not that stift to make decoration so I advise you to use Icing sugar......................

Decoration:

Place cake in a neat plate and pour the Icing over the cake.........Now its time to serve the cake. enjoyyy this soft and moist cake with your family......!!!!!!!!

   

               

ARABIC DATES AND HONEY CAKE

                             

       Arabic dates and honey cake

Countries have their own gourmet special recipes with what they can produce in their country.But if you noticed the recipe it will be related to any other country  in some other way starting from snacks to desserts and drinks.......

 We are quite familiar with many of the cake recipes from different parts of the world.This Arabic cake is filled with nuts and dates. This is a unique cake with two layers a cake and a caramelized butter and nuts on top......Try this delicious one.....!!!!!

Thanks to Rafeeda.R for this wonderful  cake through HBC.

Author: The Wanderlust Kitchen

Ingredients:

For cake:

Salted Butter-1/3 cup   

Eggs-3   

Brown sugar-1/4 cup  

White sugar-1/4 cup(if you don't get brown sugar use white sugar as whole)  

 Vanilla essence-1/2 tsp  

 Baking powder-1/2 tsp  

 Flour-1/2 cup to 3/4 cup  

For Topping:

Ingredients:

Butter-1/2 cup  

White sugar-1/4 cup 

Brown sugar-1/4 cup  

Honey-1/3 cup 

Sliced almonds-1/2 cup  

Cinnamon powder-1/2 tsp

Pitted dates-8to10

Method

Pre heat oven to 180°c

Beat eggs, powdered sugar and vanilla till it turns white. Drizzle the melted butter and beat continuously till it mixes well. Sift the flour and baking powder and add in slowly to the mixture without any lumps. pour the batter in a greased tray and bake it for 15 - 18 mins.

In a pan melt butter and sugar until it dissolves. Add in honey, almonds, pitted dates and cinnamon powder. Boil well for 5 - 7 mins and pour over the baked cake and place it again in the oven for another 15 mins.

Cool the cake and serve with coffee.....!!!!

NOTE:

• Use spring form tin to bake the cake for not placing the cake upside down.
• After baking the cake remove the butter that floats over the cake, if any.

                                                                               

ZEBRA CAKE

                                Zebra cake

        Cakes.......................Tell me who doesn't want cakes?Upto my knowledge everybody loves cakes egg or eggless................

No one will hate eating cakes even vegetarians loves cakes.The colorful cakes...no other arguements.....

This Zebra cake is one of that kind  its colorful and yummy....Enjoy my treat given by pallavi through Home bakers challenge by priya.

     

Ingredients: 

cake:

Flour-2 1/4 cups  

sugar-11/2 cups 

 baking powder-1 tsp  

baking soda-1 tsp 

 lemon juice-1 tsp  

salt-a pinch 

 milk-1/2 cup 

 oil/butter-1/2 cup(the texture will differ for oil and butter)  

vanilla essence 

warm water-3/4 cup(its enough in original recipe they use 11/4 cup but it'll be too watery)  

 any one color-a pinch I used pink my fav :)      

          Beat wet ingredients and sift the dry ingredients and mix together without any lumps.Half them and add color to one half.

            Preheat oven to 180°c.

        In a greased baking pan pour white mixture in a round then add pink mixture inside can pour according to the texture effect you needed.Bake at 180°c for 45 mins and cool completely.May be for one night.

cream:

whipped cream-1 cup

 icing sugar-1 tbsp

cream cheese-1/4 cup 

            Beat cream and icing sugar till peaks form add in cream cheese and whisk well.store in fridge and use.

Frosting:

whipped cream-1 cup   

nutella- 2 tbsp  

cocoa powder-1 tsp  can add instant coffee powder-1/2 tsp to enhance mocha flavour  

icing sugar-2 tbsp  

           Whisk cream and icing sugar till peaks form add in other ing.whisk well freeze and use(I used melted version)

To decorate:

color sprinkles,color gimmies,chocolate shavings.......

Assembling:

               Slit the cake into half,In one half spread the cream and close with another half then pour/pipe the frosting and decorate with sprinkles,gimmies and chocolate shavings and enjoyyyyyy the delicious cake...................

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE BROWNIE WITH APRICOTS

         

          

 

   Eggless chocolate brownie with apricots

                          Hii friends Happy valentine's day. When we hear of the name valentine immediately our thoughts will go to chocolates and roses.It is an excellent gift for our valentine to make them happy.

                   This cake is very very chocolaty and delicious with crunchy nuts and apricots.Enjoy your valentine's day with this chocolate brownie friends.........

Ingredients:

Maida-1+3 tbsp  

  cocoa powder-3/4 cup or dark chocolate-200 gms 

 butter/oil-1/2 cup 

 vanilla essence-1 tsp  

milk-1/2 cup+2 tbsp(adjust milk to get ribbon consistency) 

 walnuts-50gms(can use anykind of nuts)

 dried apricots-50 gms(soak them in hot water for 10 mins and cut them into pieces)

 demarara sugar(brown sugar)-11/4 cup,powdered

 baking powder-2 tsp

 salt-1/2 tsp(adding salt to chocolate cake will enhance the taste)

For ganache:

cream-3/4 cup  

 dark chocolate-1 cup

Method:

       Preheat oven in 190°c.

  Sift maida,baking powder,salt,cocoa powder for 3 times to combine well and set aside.

In a mixing bowl beat butter/oil and powdered Demerara sugar till soft and creamy. 

Add in vanilla essence and half of milk beat well then fold in maida mixture with wooden/rubber spatula add rest of milk according to the consistency,Now fold in walnuts and apricots.

Do not use the blender to mix maida mixture and nuts.

Pour in a greased baking tray or pour in a round/heart shaped cupcake mould and bake for 35-40 mins.

Ganache:

                   Heat cream till boil and stir in chocolates till it melts and combines well.

Cool them and can decorate with ganache and chocolate shavings or chocolate butter cream.Now give it to your valentine with love and affection.

                     

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