Somewhere around

Hello people.. We just wanted to let you know that baking buddies hasnt died(yet). Both Lakshmi and I have been rather busy this month. Therefore the missing posts. But we promise to be back with a bang soon.

Coffee- Currant cake

Siri and Srivalli almost got it right when they guessed Lakshmi’s birthday cake contained coffee and some kind of raisins/berries. The cake is a coffee-currant cake.To keep our promise, we are posting the recipe of the cake. We have for you two different recipes- Lakshmi’s has no eggs and uses butter while mine has eggs and substitutes butter with fresh cream.

Version1-

Ingredients

• All Purpose Flour – 1 1/2 cups
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Butter – 1/2 cup
• Coffee Decoction – 1/2 cup (coffee concentrate)
• Dried Currants – 3/4 cup
• Espresso Powder – 4 tbsp
• Curd – 4 tbsp (adjust as per batter consistency)
• Baking Powder – 1/4 tsp
• Cooking Soda – 1/4 tsp

Method

• Line and Grease a microwave safe square glass dish (8in to 9in in size). Leave some paper to hang from the sides.
• Soak the Dried Currants in Coffee Decoction for 1 hour or so until the currants are plump.
• Powder the sugar. Take a large mixing bowl and cream the butter and sugar.
• Add the flour followed by the Espresso Powder. Mix well.
• Add the dried currants with the Coffee dicoction.
• In a small cup, mix the curd with baking powder and cooking soda. Add this to the batter in the mixing bowl and mix well.
• Check the consistency of the batter which should be thick but flowing. Add a couple of more tablespoons of curd or milk to adjust consistency if required.
• Transfer batter to the greased dish and microwave on high for 7 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake. Keep for an additional minute or so if the toothpick doesn’t come out clean.
• Remove from oven when done and wait for the cake to cool before cutting into pieces.

Version-2

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 200gms maida
• 200 gms sugar
• 200 ml fresh cream
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 4 tbsp Coffee decoction
• 2 tbsp Cocoa powder
• 2 sachets of Bru Coffee
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 100 gms of black currants 

Method:

• Sift together maida, cocoa, baking powder and keep aside.  
• Whisk the eggs using a beater. When light and fluffy, add sugar and continue beating.  
• Add the dry ingredients(maida,cocoa, baking powder) gradually, beating lightly.
• Mix the Bru coffee in the coffee concoction and add to the batter. You can increase the quantity of either of the two coffees depending on personal preferances.
• Add the black currants and vanilla essence and mix using a ladle.
• Pour into a greased tin and bake at 200Deg C for about 40 minutes.

Source: original recipe is from the Yum Blog

Lakshmi’s notes: This cake can be baked in both microwave as well as convection mode with identical results. Use glass ware if you choose to bake in microwave mode, glass or aluminium tin if you’re using convection mode. Remember to line your baking dish if you’re making an eggless version.  

Mandira’s notes: I have basically taken Lakshmi’s recipe and turned it into an egg based one- blended the flavouring ideas from Lakshmi’s recipe and made the egg base using the fundas of the Marbled cake. I was surprised to find black currants in my local market and so I have used them. Any other currants will work just as well I suspect.  I like the use of coffee decoction- it ensures that there is a distinct flavour of coffee even after baking.

A hijacked blog

Is it legally allowed to hijack a jointly owned blog and turn it into a “private” blog? I am really not sure it is. But if the hijacking has been done for a good cause, I am sure the crime can be overlooked. Right?

So here’z the deal. I have decided to take over the blog( for only one post, mind you. I couldn’t last longer than that) to do my own post. Its a lot of effort- trust me… but I am throwing in all this effort in a bid to wish Chef Lakshmi a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAYY!!!!! Hope you have a absolutely rocking year ahead, girl! And if you do make it to the Guinness Book or the Limca Book of Records or whichever other record, make sure you give me some credit… If it hadn’t been for that late night chat session, this blog would never have come into existence!:P

It just so happened I baked a cake today. Its not really a birthday cake- no candles, no traditional ( if you spent your childhood in India, read “thick and probably pink coloured”) icing, but its a cake alright. And it tasted fine too. Its in fact a modified version of one of Lax’s cakes! I am going to call my no-icing, no-frills, simple cake, a virtual bday gift to lakshmi.:D

Since my mind’s hyper active today, I think it will be good fun to turn this surprise b’day post into a fun game. If you guys can tell us which cake this is, we’ll break our sacrosanct monthly schedule of goodies and accommodate this one in the coming week. You just need to guess the flavouring agents/additives (or whatever those things are called) and drop us a comment. Come on now, take a guess!!

Marbled cake

Mandira: Now this is a cake that looks as good as it tastes. It’s a basic marbled cake with flavours of cocoa-coffee and vanilla.

Lakshmi: In keeping with my tradition of writing about unrelated stuff along with the recipe (the tradition is just a post old), I shall diligently push the recipe down by at least a sentence. I am after all the “co-author” of the blog, so I might as well contribute to the blah I can already hear “Oh no”es and “sighs” – but worry not, its really not much blah.

I have to bring to the notice of the ”esteemed” audience of this blog that I’ve not contributed to the “muchest-needed” photo to accompany the recipe for this post. This is what I call the luxury of co writing a blog the way we (bakingbuddies) do it – trying the same recipe and posting it. The photographs and the collage that you see on this post have been painstakingly taken by Mandira with her obsolete mobile camera. I really love how the cake looks in real life and particularly in her snaps!!!  

Ingredients

• Eggs – 4
• Maida – 200 gms
• Sugar (powdered) - 200 gms
• Fresh cream - 200 ml (the Amul tetra pack works just fine. Else you can save up fresh cream from milk over 3-4 days to collect the requisite quantity.)
• Baking powder – 2 tsp
• Cocoa powder – 3 tbsp
• Bru instant coffee sachet 1 or 2 (depending on preference)
• Vanilla essence a few drops

Method

This cake requires two separately flavoured batters. To get these separate batters, you can either use the entire quantities of ingredients and proceed till the point where the flavours need to be added ( i.e.till you reach the stage of adding maida ,baking powder and essence), or you can begin the entire process by preparing two separate batters right from the beginning. I chose the latter(dont ask me why! i like to take on challenging tasks.) Using the latter method would require some amount of quick action but it is doable!

• Divide the maida, baking powder into two. Sift together 100gms of maida, 1 tsp baking powder thrice and keep aside.
• From the other measured quantity of maida remove 3 tbsp of maida and substitute with 3tbsp on cocoa powder(the weight of cocoa powder and maida is almost the same).  Add 1tsp baking podwer, and 1 sachet of Bru instant coffee. If you like a stronger coffee flavour, add another sachet. Sift thrice and keep aside. The cocoa is added along with the coffee because otherwise the batter becomes a little bitter. Sift this dry mixture of ingredient thrice and keep aside.
• Beat the eggs till fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and beat for another 3-4 minutes. Then add the cream and beat till the batter looks fluffy and light.
• Divide this egg-sugar-cream batter into two equal parts. You don’t need to be very precise, an approximate division will do.
• In one of the egg-sugar-cream mixture, cut and fold the sieved maida and baking powder (prepared in the first step).Add a few drops of vanilla essence. This is your vanilla batter. In the second egg-sugar-cream mixture, cut and fold the maida-cocoa-coffee mixture(prepared in step 2). To ensure an even aroma, you can add 2-3 drops of vanilla essence to this also. This is your cocoa-coffee batter. Thus you now have two separate batters.
• In a greased baking tin pour the two batters in alternating layers. To get the marbled effect, you can either begin pouring both the batters together or pour them one over the other.
• Bake at 200 deg C for 40-45 minutes.

Lakshmi’s notes:  The cake is super soft, moist and yet spongy. It’s the most delicious good looking cake I’ve ever made. I’ve made this recipe 4 times since Mandira wrote it out. It’s that delicious!!! 

Mandira’s notes: I was initially hesitant about making two separate batters right from the start. a-It meant too many utensils and b- I wasn’t sure if I could manage to make two batters side by side. I discovered if all the ingredients are measured and ready, it isn’t too tough a task. But if you are baking a cake for the first time, it is suggested that you make the batter till the cream stage, and then divide it into two to add the flavouring agents. You can use your creativity to come up with more flavour combinations.

I love the way this cake looks when its cut!