Bakes

Hasselback Potatoes

| Rekha Vengalil


You need –
  • Potato – 1
  • Garlic – 1 clove, thinly sliced
  • Olive Oil – 2 teaspoon
  • Butter – 1 teaspoon
  • Dried Rosemary – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper – as per taste

How to –
  • Preheat the oven to 220˚C (425˚F).
  • Place the potato flat side down. Start from one end of the potato, cut almost all the way through, at about 3 to 4 mm intervals.
  • Arrange the potato in a baking tray and insert the garlic in between the slits.
  • Scatter some butter on top of each potato. Then drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt, rosemary and freshly ground black pepper.
  • Bake the potato for about 40 minutes or until the potato turn crispy and the flesh is soft.

Vanilla cup cakes

| Rekha Vengalil

You need-
  • Unsalted butter – 110 grams, softened at room temperature
  • Caster sugar – 110 grams
  • Eggs – 2, lightly beaten
  • Vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon
  • self-raising flour – 110 grams
  • Milk – 1-2 tablespoon

How to –
  • Preheat the oven to 180C line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
  • Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale.
  • Beat in the eggs little at a time and stir in the vanilla extract.
  • Fold in the flour using a spatula, adding a little milk until the mixture is of a dropping consistency. Spoon the mixture into the paper cups until they are half full.
  •  Into the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
  • Set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.


Tips –
1.   All ingredients at room temperate
2.   Beat the butter until it turns pale
3.   When folding the ingredients, use a spatula. Do not stir in or don’t be heavy handed else you will loose the air in the mixture and your cake will be too heavy

Spanish orange and almond cake

| Rekha Vengalil
Spanish orange and almond cake

You need – 
  • Orange – 1
  • Butter – 75 grams
  • Caster sugar – ½ cup
  • Eggs – 2
  • Ground almonds – 1 cup
  • Self-rising flour – ¼ cup, sifted
  • Baking powder – 1 teaspoons
  • Icing sugar – as required for dusting.
How to – 

  • Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Line the base of cake tin with non-stick baking paper
  • Peel the oranges and place them in a saucepan of water. Cover and simmer until soft.
  • Remove from the water,  take of the seeds and  chop roughly  . 
  • Process the orange, butter, sugar, eggs, ground almonds, flour and baking powder in a food processor until smooth.
  • Transfer the mixture into the tin and bake for 35-45 minutes or till skewer comes clean when inserted.
  • Allow to cool and then dust the icing sugar and serve.
Please note -Traditionally the orange skin is used but I have not. If you would like to please do. You will need to boil the oranges with the skin.

Macarons… BLISS :)

| Rekha Vengalil

Never thought that my macarons would turn out to be a hit the first time. I did go through a lot of recipes and tips before I baked.  Adapted from Martha Stewart’s recipe which was easy to follow, but I have gone with aging the egg whites whereas the recipe uses egg whites at room temperature. One of the website says to time each process so the next time when you bake the shells you know where to correct if you have gone wrong the previous time and I think this is a very useful tip for any baking and here especially with beating the egg whites as you don’t want to over beat the whites but beat it enough to form a stiff glossy peak. The other crucial point is when mixing the egg whites with the flour and sugar mixture. You must be careful not make the batter runny as you will end up with the macarons not rising as they should. Macarons are particularly sensitive to heat, so it’s crucial that you adjust cooking times according to your oven’s power.

You could choose the filling of your choice. I have used white chocolate Ganache. Happy Baking! …And don’t lose heart if they don’t turn out so perfect the first time.. Practice makes it perfect..:-)

You need –
For The Macarons
  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 3/4 cup almond flour
  • 2 large egg whites, aged for a 2 days (Please see here on how to age the egg whites)
  • 1/4 cup superfine sugar
  • Food color of your choice

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F

How to –

  • In food processor, process the almond flour and icing sugar. Sift the flour and sugar mixture in sieve twice discarding any almond lumps that are too big to pass through the sieve.
  • Whisk the egg whites in clean dry bowl (no trace of water please) till soft peaks are formed. Add the caster sugar, and beat on a low speed. Once combined increase the speed to high and whisk till glossy and stiff peaks are formed (For me, it took 7 minutes on electric hand beater on a high speed). Add the food colour of your choice and beat for 25-30 seconds. Please make sure not to over beat the egg whites.
  • Sift the flour mixture over the whites and fold gently using a flexible spatula. You need a smooth and shinny mix.  Do not make the batter too runny or the macaroons won’t rise as they should. When you lift the batter up and let it drop down, it should slowly disappear into itself without leaving a peak.
  • Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip. On a parchment-lined baking sheet pipe the ¾ inch rounds leaving 1-2 inch gap between each piping. Drag the pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air.
  • Allow the piped macarons to stand on a room temperature for 30-45 minutes.  The stand time varies with temperature at different places. What you need is the piped macarons to form a very thin, smooth crust, when you tap it lightly with your finger, the batter will not stick to your finger.
  • Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macarons are crisp and firm, about 10 minutes. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees.
  • Let macarons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack. If macarons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macarons.
  • When fully cooled, Sandwich 2 same-size macarons with the filling of your choice.

For the white chocolate ganache
  • 70 grams white chocolate
  • 70 mls double cream
  • ¼ tsp vanilla essence

How to-
Heat cream in saucepan until it comes to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and use a spatula or wooden spoon to stir in a circular motion from the centre of the bowl and slowly incorporate more and more of the cream until the chocolate and cream comes together into a smooth emulsion. Let it cool at room temperature and the in fridge until firm enough to pipe.

Espresso slices

| Rekha Vengalil

Made with freshly done espresso! Not often I get to work with our KitchenAid espresso machine (my husband have exclusive rights on it). This time I got a chance, and got the maximum out of it 🙂 and here is the recipe –

                                                                                                         Espresso slices
You need –
  • Butter – 225 grams
  • Caster suger – 175 grams
  • Vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon
  • Eggs – 4
  • Freshly made espresso – 250 ml
  • Ground almonds – 100 grams
  • Chocolate chips – 100 grams
  • All purpose flour – 250 grams
  • Baking powder – 1 teaspoon

For the frosting –

  • Icing sugar – 200 grams
  • Coffee liqueur – 2 tablespoon

How to –
Espresso slices

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350 F or 180 C
  • Line a 16X12 inch Swiss roll tin with parchment paper
  • Beat the butter until light and creamy. Gradually add in the sugar, vanilla extract and the eggs.
  • Stir in about three-quarters of the espresso, ground almonds and chocolate chips.
  • Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture.
  • Spread the mixture into the pan and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the tooth pick comes out clean when inserted.

For the icing

  • Mix the icing sugar, remaining espresso and coffee liqueur and spread on the slightly warm cake.

Please note – I have used salted butter.

Carrot cake

| Rekha Vengalil

This cake recipe is from http://www.joyofbaking.com/. I have never baked a carrot cake before and it turned out be a hit. This is a rich and moist spice cake with grated carrot, and the cinnamon flavour adds a punch. 

I have frosted the cake with butter cream with rose swirl design. 

Carrot cake
                                                                                                              Carrot cake