Bakes

Dundee cake – A traditional Scottish fruit cake

| Rekha Vengalil
So for this season it’s the Scottish  fruit cake that is moist, fruity and very chirstmassy. And it is ludicrously straightforward.
There is someone I want to thank and that’s Jehanne of “The cooking doctor”. I have been discussing for over 2 weeks about the cake with her. Thank you for the recipe, tips and ideas.  They went well in making this cake a hit.
 
A few notes I would like to share; the cake takes around 2 hours to bake and will turn golden much before but do the skewer test and then remove the cake from the oven. It does look a bit oily when you remove from the oven due to the ground almonds but don’t worry they will be absorbed as the cake cools.
 

You need –

  • Unsalted butter – 175 grams, at room temperature
  • Caster sugar – 1/4 cup
  • Egg – 4, at room temperature and lightly beaten
  • Ground almonds – 1 & 1/3 cups
  • All purpose flour – 1 cup
  • Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Baking powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Sultanas/ golden raisins – 1 & 1/4 cup
  • black raisins – 1 & 1/4 cup
  • Glazed cherries – chopped, 1/4 cup
  • Mixed candied peel – 2 tablespoons
  • Ground mixed spices – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Orange juice – 1/4 cup
  • Blanched almonds – to decorate, around 20

How to –

In a bowl, put the sultanas, black raisins, glazed cherries, mixed candied peel and orange juice. Cover and let it soak overnight.

Preheat the over to 150 C. Line a 8 inch cake tin with parchment paper and set aside. Sift together the flour, mixed spices, salt and almond flour. set aside.
 
In mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter till pale and fluffy. Gradually add the egg and wait till in forms a smooth batter before each addition. With a wooden spoon fold the ground almonds – flour mixture and mix till smooth. Stir the soaked dried fruits and stir till evenly distributed.
 
Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin and level the top with a palette knife. Decorate the top of the cake with blanched almonds.  Bake the cake for 2 hours or when skewer is inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.
 
Brush the hot cake with 1 tablespoon orange juice. Cover tightly with a foil and cool in the pan.
 
 
 

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Honey and cinnamon drizzled teacake

| Rekha Vengalil
 
A Quintessential teatime treat. Drizzled with warm honey and cinnamon is so comforting and they take very little time to make.  Oh yes they disappeared to quick too!
 
 

You need –

  • All purpose flour – 1 cup
  • baking powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Unsalted butter – 60 grams, @room temperature
  • Caster sugar – 2/3 cup
  • Egg – 1, @room temperature
  • Milk – 1/3 cup
  • Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon

For the drizzle –

  • Honey – 1/4 cup
  • Ground cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
  • butter – 2 teaspoons
 
 

How to –

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 8 inch round cake tin and line the base with a baking sheet. Sift the flour, baking powder and set aside.
 
In a mixing bowl cream the butter, sugar, essence and egg with electric mixer till light and fluffy. (took me about 8-9 minutes). Now gradually add the flour alternating with milk. Mix well till everything is well combined. Make sure not to over beat.
 
 
 
Spread the mixture into the prepared cake till and bake for 25-30 minutes or till the toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.
 
Turn the cake on to a wire rack.
 
To make the drizzle –
 
 
In a small sauce pan gently heat the honey, butter and cinnamon till the butter has melted stirring continuously. Turn of the heat.
 
Allow the honey to cool a bit. Drizzle over the warm cake and serve.
 
 

Corn flake Cookies – A guest post

| Rekha Vengalil
 
Time for a Guest Post again! It’s indeed very exciting featuring some incredible bloggers who I do share a wonderful amity.
It’s such a joy to have Vineetha of “Malabar Ruchi” over. Welcome Vinee!Its indeed a pleasure having you over.
I am extremely happy to have met Vinee here in the blogosphere. A wonderful person and a versatile cook. Yes! Our comments on each other’s space gave way to a beautiful friendship. Ruchi is a blog I refer very often for some lip smacking Kerala recipes (even much before I joined the blogging community); a humble blog with so many wonderful recipes. Her repertoire goes from splendid Malabar recipes to some great bakes and cakes. So don’t forget to head over for some yummy goodies!   
Now over to Vineetha…
It was during one of my lazy afternoon browsing session that I stumbled upon Rekha’s blog accidentally. I was totally impressed by her blog, her beautiful pictures and superb collection of recipes. I immediately became her FB fan and  left few comments and  it led to  the beginning of a new friendship ! The one  good quality that  I really like about Rekha is the way she support and encourage other bloggers. I have seen Rekha sharing fellow bloggers recipes on  her Social media platform. It is indeed really sweet of her to do that and support other blogs.
I have to say Rekha  is a versatile blogger as she contributes a variety of recipes, some of them are very unique and innovative. Picking few favourites from her blog would be a tough job but few pictures which left me drooling are Gongura Mutton, Bread Gulab Jamun, Mediterranian Meat balls and Malai Kofta.
 
Thanks you  Rekha for inviting me for a guest post, its indeed a pleasure to do a guest post for friends.
 
 
Coming to todays post, it’s a melt in mouth kind of cookies with crunchy cornflakes coating. I tried this recipe from MyKitchenatics and it was a hit expect that it was a  bit less sweet to our liking, so the second time I made this I added a bit  more sugar to adjust to our liking and it was perfect.
 
Ingredients  ( makes 20 cookies)
  • Plain flour/ Maida – 150 gm/ 1 1/4 cup(roughly)
  • Corn flour – 15 gm / 2 tbs (roughly )
  • Baking powder -1/4 tsp
  • Unsalted Butter – 100 gm / 1/2 cup (roughly)
  • Sugar – 100 gm /1/2cup 
  • Egg – 1 large
  • Vanilla extract – 1/4 tsp
  • Corn flakes  ( crushed ) – 40 gms/ 1 1/2 cup
 

 

Method
 
Take flour, cornflour, baking powder in   a mixing bowl and stir until combined.
 
Cream butter and Sugar for few minutes until fluffy.
 
Lightly beat egg in a bowl and add this to the creamed butter.
 
Add vanilla extract and beat until combined.
Add the flour mixture to it and fold until combined.
 
 
Scoop out a tsp of the batter and roll it into a ball and roll them in crushed corn flakes.
 
Place them in a baking tray lined with a baking paper leaving few cms between each balls.
 
Bake them in preheated oven at 175 degree C for 25 minutes.
 
 
Thank you Vinee for the wonderful recipe and your time. Wish you all the very best and stay blessed always.
Dear friends/readers, hope you liked the post and recipe. We are looking forward to hearing from you and thank you for your time. 
See you soon with a new recipe. Till then…
Take care

Dulce de leche bundt cake with butterscotch sauce

| Rekha Vengalil

Dulce de leche means sweet caramelized milk. Traditionally this is made by simmering milk and sugar till it’s thick and caramelized. A homemade version is made by simmering the Sweetened condensed milk till thick and caramel colored. Here’s the link as how to make this on stove top, microwave and oven. There is also process of cooking an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a slow cooker. I followed the steps/recipe from here to make my dulce de leche.

 

Now over to the cake the recipe is adapted from here. I have halved the recipe and that served us perfect. A luscious cake that is sure going to leave you wanting for more.

 
You need –


For the cake

  • All-purpose flour – 1.5 cups 
  • Baking powder – 1 teaspoon
  • Baking soda – 1/4 teaspoon 
  • Salt – 1/4 teaspoon 
  • Unsalted butter – 1/2 cup, at room temperature
  • Dark brown sugar – 1/2 cup firmly packed 
  • Dulce de leche – 1/2 cup 
  • Eggs – 2, at room temperature
  • Vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon 
  • Buttermilk – 1/2 cup, at room temperature
 

For the butterscotch sauce

  • Butterscotch Flavored Morsels – 1 cup
  • whipping cream – 1/4 cup
  • Light corn syrup – 1 tablespoon 
  • salt – a pinch
  • Vanilla extract – 1/4 teaspoon
Butterscotch Flavored Morsels

How to –

 
Pre-heat the oven to 180c. Grease a 9 inch bundt pan.
 
In bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and set aside.
 
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar on a high speed. Add the dulce de leche and continue to beat till well combined. add the eggs one at a time; beating well after each addition.
 
Add the vanilla essence and continue to beat.
 
Reduce the speed to low  and  add the flour mixture little at a time and alternating with the buttermilk. Continue mixing till just combined. Please make sure not to over beat the mixture.
 
Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or till the toothpick comes out clean when inserted.
Cool the loaf for 10 minutes in the pan and then on a wire rack.
 
Butterscotch sauce
 
Microwave the morsels, cream, corn syrup and salt in medium, uncovered, microwave-safe bowl for 1 minute or till the morsels are just melted. Remove and stir well till everything is well combined.
 
Stir in vanilla extract and mix well. Once the cake is completely cooled pour the sauce over and serve.
 
 

Cranberry, raisin and walnut loaf

| Rekha Vengalil
Hope you had a wonderful Diwali with lots of fun and great food. Yes! We did too. 
 
Ah! Now it’s time for thanksgiving and Christmas. My little one is so excited and has already made her Christmas shopping list. This Christmas I have promised her that we will do lots of baking together. The two of us are so looking forward to it.  
I have started off with my baking for the season. And if it’s Christmas it must be cranberries. This soft loaf with the crunchy walnuts, tangy bits of cranberries, the sweetness of raisins is scrumptious and so ideal to get baking for the season.



Recipe source – Simply recipes

You need  –

  • All purpose flour -2 cups
  • Caster sugar – 3/4 cup 
  • baking powder – 1.5 teaspoons 
  • baking soda – 1/2 teaspoon 
  • salt 1/2 teaspoon 
  • walnuts – 3/4 cup, coarsely chopped 
  • dried cranberries – 3/4 cup, roughly chopped
  • Raisins – 1/4 cup
  • orange juice – 3/4 cup 
  • butter – 1/4 cup, melted
  • Egg – 1, beaten

How to –

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan.
 
In a bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the sugar and mix well. Add the walnuts, cranberries, raisins to flour mixture and mix well to coat. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, Add the melted butter, egg and orange juice. Beat will till well combined. Now slowly add the flour-cranberry mixtures to the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon till everything is just blend.
 
 
Spoon the batter into the greased loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or till the toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the loaf.
 
Cool the loaf for 10 minutes in pan and then on a wire rack. 
 

Storing – Wrap tightly and store in refrigerator once cooled completely.



Lemon glaze bundt cake

| Rekha Vengalil

 

I was quite excited about this cake, as it was my first time with the Bundt. The steps were followed religiously – batter done, poured into the cake pan, and finally placed in the oven; only to realize that I did not grease/buttered the pan before the batter went in.  Almost gave up to the thought that the cake wouldn’t come off clean. The choice was made – if it does not come off clean, the recipe is not going up here 🙂
 
Once done, with bated breath I inverted the tin. The cake did slide off well, albeit a bit messy (definitely not as bad as I thought it would be). Poured the glaze over and yes the final outcome was worth the effort – light and fluffy, with the nice zing from the lemon zest and glaze. 
 
Recipe courtesy: Taste of Home


You need

  • All purpose flour – 3 cups
  • Unsalted butter – 226 grams
  • Caster sugar – 2 cups
  • Low fat milk – 1 cup
  • Eggs – 4
  • Lemon essence – 1.5 teaspoons
  • Vanilla essence – 1.5 teaspoons
  • Baking powder – 2 teaspoons
  • Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Zest of 2 lemons or 1 tablespoon

For the lemon glaze

  • Lemon Juice – 2 tablespoons
  • Icing sugar – 1.5 cups

How to –

Pre-heat the over to 180 C. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
 
In a mixing bowl, cream together the sugar and butter till light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs one at a time. Beating well after each addition. Add the essence.
 
Now gradually add the flour and alternately with milk. Beat well after each addition. Finally stir the zest in.
 
Pour the batter into the greased and floured 10-inch  bundt cake tin and bake for 50-60 minutes or till the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool the cake on wire rack completely.
 
Lemon glaze
 
In mixing bowl, add the lemon juice and the icing sugar and mix with a wooden spoon till smooth. Spoon the glaze over the cooled cake and serve.
 
 

Oats and walnut muffins

| Rekha Vengalil
 
I have to say, I am not an oats fan (oh yes I like them in my breakfast smoothies); but when I baked my Apples slices with crumbled topping, I quite liked it. And so here’s another oats recipe.
 
These light and fluffy muffins are so easy and quick to whip up.  They are so perfect for your breakfast. Serve freshly baked while still warm and yes don’t forget to butter them.
 

You need –

  • Almond Milk – 1 cup (You can use fresh milk too)
  • Instant cooking oats – 1 cup
  • All-purpose flour – 1 cup
  • Caster Sugar – 1/4 cup
  • baking soda – 1 teaspoon
  • Egg – 1
  • Vegetable oil -1/4 cup 
  • Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Ground cinnamon – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Vanilla extract – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Chopped walnuts – 1/3 cup
 How to –

Preheat oven to 220°c. Grease the muffin tins or line 12 paper muffin liners . Sift the flour, cinnamon, sugar, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In a bowl, combine milk and oats. Let it soak for 10 minutes.

In a another bowl, beat together egg, vanilla essence and oil for a minute or till well combined. Add the oat-milk mixture and mix well. 

Stir flour mixture and chopped walnuts into wet ingredients and mix till everything is well combined. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups until cups are 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.

 

Apple slices with crispy and crumble topping

| Rekha Vengalil
A recipe from the cook book “cakes and desserts”. With baked apples and a crispy topping; is absolutely delicious. Team it up with a scoop of ice-cream too.
 

You need –

  • Sharp red apples – 4
  • Butter – 60 grams, cold and cut into cubes
  • Caster sugar – 3 tablespoons
  • Lemon juice – 2 teaspoons
  • All purpose flour – 1/2 cup
  • Brown sugar – 1/3 grams
  • Porridge oats  – 3 tablespoons
  • Ground cinnamon – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Salt – a pinch

How to –

Butter a 8 inch spring form cake pan.Set aside. Pre-heat the over to 180 C.
 
Peel and core the apples and cut into slices. In bowl combine the apples, lemon juice and sugar. Toss well and spread them over the cake pans.
In food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, salt and pulse. Add the butter cubes and pulse again till everything starts to form lumps.
 
Spread the crumble over the apples and bake for 30 minutes. Remove and cool completely before slicing and serving.
 
 

Spiced carrot cupcakes

| Rekha Vengalil
This is a recipe I am going to turn to more often. Perfectly spiced and so light; one of the best cakes I have had/baked in the recent times. I could eat a raw carrot but not when it is cooked/baked/grilled. I remember my mom always struggling to get me eating a curry or stir fry. I would conveniently fish all the carrots in the curry and put aside.
 
And a carrot cake is not something I liked either (had baked one, 2 years back and never tasted it). The other day a friend wanted me to make it for her and I made these cupcakes. I wanted to keep only two back(for the little one and hubby) and was going to pack most of it for her. A bite to taste changed my mind and only half of what I baked went to my friend. 

You need –

  • Grated carrots – 200 grams
  • Self rising flour – 225 grams
  • Soft brown sugar – 125 grams
  • Egg – 2, room temperature and beaten
  • Sunflower oil – 1/2 cup
  • Ground cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
  • Ground cardamom – 1/4 teaspoon
  • Ground nutmeg – a good pinch
  • Baking soda – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Baking powder – 1/2 teaspoon
  • Zest of one orange
  • Salt – a pinch
  • Paper cupcake/muffin liners – 12-14 nos
 
How to –
 
Pre-heat the oven to 180 c.
 
In mixing bowl, add the egg, sugar and oil. Beat till well combined and sugar has dissolved.
 
In separate bowl sift together the flour, spices, baking soda, baking powder, orange zest and salt. Fold this into the egg mixture. Add the grated carrots and fold gently till everything is well combined.
 
 
Divide the batter equally into  lined paper cupcake/muffin liners and bake for 20-25 minutes or when toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes for 10 minutes and then place the cupcakes on a cooling rack to cool completely.
 
 
Ice the cake as per your choice. I have used butter cream icing. For cream cheese frosting click here.