FruitCake – The Secret Ingredient

Air Fryer Recipes

Mosambi Cake | Citrusy Sweet Lime Cake

By anshu August 17, 2017

When you see a new seasonal fruit in the market you get excited because you want to bake with it. eh? Does that happen to you or am I too peculiar? I have used Apricots, Cherries, Mangoes, Peaches, Plums, Apples, Papaya, Strawberries, Blueberries, Bananas, Bay berries, Kiwis, Black Grapes, Pomegranate, Orange, Melon, Lychee, Coconut, Chestnut, Persimmon , Watermelon in some recipe or the other. Anyways! I saw mosambi or Sweet Lime in the market and I jumped with anticipation. I had been eyeing this sweet lime cake for a while now. And when the results cake out I knew it was worth all that wait and craving.

It was similar to my Lemon Pound Cake just that it was a little lighter because it used yogurt instead of cream. The zest of Sweet lime added that magic potion which made it from an average to a magnificent cake recipe. The lingering flavour of sweet lime was a bliss. I would love to make this again for my family and friends. What are you thinking?

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degree Celsius (Learn more about Oven temperatures and Conversions) and grease a large 9 inch cake pan with oil and dust with flour and set aside.

2. In a bowl add caster sugar and add zest of sweet lime. Mix it together and let the sugar get enriched with the sweet lime oils and become fragrant. Leave it for 5 minutes. You can juice the zested sweet limes and keep aside.

3. Then add butter at room temperature to the sugar and whisk everything till its all creamy and sugar has dissolved.

4. Add eggs and whisk again for good 7-8 minutes till everything has become creamy and airy.

5. Add unsweetened yogurt or curd, vanilla essence, fresh sweet lime juice and whisk again.

6. After whisking you will come across a airy cake mixture. Set aside.

7. In another bowl add the All purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda. Combine everything well.

8. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients little by little and keep whisking till everything is moistened. Do not over mix as it will result in a bread like cake which you don’t want.

9. Pour the cake batter in the greased pan and smoothen the top with a spatula. Give it a couple of taps . This will remove any trapped air bubbles. Bake it in the oven for 50-60 minutes on 180 degree Celsius or until the tooth pick comes out clean. If any time you feel the cake is getting over browned you can tent it with an aluminium foil.

10. In the meanwhile make the syrup for the topping. In a bowl add some icing sugar and add sweet lime juice.

11. When the cake has baked remove it out of the mould after 10 minutes of removing it from the oven. Then let it rest on the wire rack till it comes to room temperature. Pole holes i n the cake with the help of a toothpick.

12. Pour the syrup with the help of a spoon all over the cake surface. It will seep down and will be absorbed by the cake. Sprinkle more icing sugar and zest of sweet lime if you fancy.

13. Slice and serve with your favourite cup of chai or coffee. You will be in dessert heaven.

If you are looking for other Cakes and desserts with fresh fruits you can try: Peach Upside Down Cake. Fresh Apricot and Almond Cake, Apple Crisp, Mango Vanilla Cake, Festive Orange Blueberry Pound Cake, Sorghum and Wheat Flour Persimmon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Vanilla & Pomegranate Cake, Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake, Mascarpone Cherry Compote Cheesecake Glasses, Eggless Orange Cake with Candied Orange Peel Filling, Persimmon Rum Cake, Mango Tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream .

[whohit]SweetLimeCake[/whohit]

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Baking

Peach Upside Down Cake | Eggless Part Wheat Peach Cake

By anshu June 14, 2017

I woke up one morning to find a mail in my mailbox saying that my blog has been listed under top 100 Indian Food Blogs by Feedspot. First I dint take it seriously because the link said I shared the space with Masterchefs like Sanjeev Kapoor and knwon faces like Nishamadhulika and Manjula’s Kitchen. But then by evening the word spread to Facebook and my friends started tagging me that my blog name is actually in top 100 Indian Blog list. I was numb for a moment but then I was jumping with joy. I want to thank you my readers , my family and my friends who have encouraged me and supported me in this food journey. What would I do without your love!

My family wanted a cake to celebrate the occasion and I though of baking this Peach upside down cake. This cake was baked in a cast iron skillet and uses no refined flour or sugar! It was moist and held the peaches so well. The flavour of jaggery gave it that earthy feel. What a healthy way to celebrate the occasion.

Directions:

1. Thoroughly wash ripe peaches and slice them into wedges and discard the stones.

2. Place a 8-9 inches cast iron skillet* on stove and add butter. You can buy a 6 inches Cast iron skillet from our online store The Gourmet Shop . Let the butter melt and spread crumbled jaggery all over the surface. Instead of jaggery you can also add brown sugar. Let the jaggery melt and form a caramel like syrup. Turn the flame off.

3. Place peach wedges all over the skillet. Set aside. In the meanwhile preheat the oven for 10 minutes on 180 degree Celsius (Learn more about Oven temperatures and conversions)

4. In a vessel add milk and Apple Cider Vinegar**.

5. Stir to mix and also add oil. Heat the milk oil mix in a microwave for 2 minutes.

6. Add brown sugar or jaggery powder, salt and vanilla extract.

7. Also add cinnamon powder and nutmeg powder to the wet ingredients.

8. Give everything a good mix and set aside.

9. In another bowl add whole wheat flour and All purpose flour.

7. Also add baking powder and baking soda. Combine all the dry ingredients.

11. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix everything till everything is moistened. Do not over mix for you do not want a tough cake.

12. Pour this batter over the peaches in the skillet. Level up with a spatula and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes or till the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

13. Bring the skillet outside the oven and let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes and only after that invert it on a serving plate carefully. If you do it before ten minutes the cake will spread everywhere and if you wait too long the caramelized peaches will stick to the skillet and will refuse to move. Therefore, invert the plate right after 10 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

Other recipes with fresh peach you can try are: Peach Lemonade and Eggless Fresh Peach Cobbler.

If you are looking for other Cakes and desserts with fresh fruits you can try: Fresh Apricot and Almond Cake, Apple Crisp, Mango Vanilla Cake, Festive Orange Blueberry Pound Cake, Sorghum and Wheat Flour Persimmon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Vanilla & Pomegranate Cake, Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake, Mascarpone Cherry Compote Cheesecake Glasses, Eggless Orange Cake with Candied Orange Peel Filling, Persimmon Rum Cake, Mango Tart with Vanilla Pastry Cream

[whohit]PeachUpsideDownCake[/whohit]

[yumprint-recipe id=’282′]

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Baking

Mango Vanilla Cake | Fresh Mango Cake with Vanilla and Chocolate Collar

By anshu May 5, 2017

Yesterday Morning I woke up to a call from a friend who also is a client. I had 5 of her missed calls. It turns out she wanted to order a cake which needs to be ready in 3-4 hours. As you all know I dont do cakes on a regular basis and I live in a place where ingredients aren’t readily available. So i was in a dilemma but then I took this challenge. She left me to decide whatever I wanted to make.

I had to quickly make a decision as to what can be made in jiffy and still looked pretty. You know when such cakes are ordered specially for wedding Anniversaries they need to have a wow factor not just in taste but also the way they look. For a second all the good looking cakes I had done in the past zapped right in front of my eyes and I had to choose one. Because this wasn’t a time for experimentation. I had made a Mango Tart a while back and it had turned out pretty and then I also had made a Vanilla Cake with pomegranate Sauce which was yummy. So I decided to fuse the two.

And the result was this gorgeous little Mango Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Collar! Aahh I feel soo happy after looking at it. The real icing on the cake was that the Client loved it I cant explain the social network has been going gaga over this. It was 1.4k likes on a single Facebook group and other 1k in other. Everywhere I post this its being appreciated. I am a novice cake baker but sometimes things happen like magic happens 🙂 I am Thankful to Almighty and you all for this love.

Directions:

1.In a bowl add Butter and castor Sugar. Cream them together. You can use hand held whisk or electric whisk.

2. Add eggs and combine till creamy and light.

3. Add Vanilla Extract.

4. In a bowl add All Purpose Flour, salt and Baking Powder.

5. Slowly add this to the wet ingredients and combine until moistened.

6. Pour this batter in a springform pan and smoothen the top with a spatula. You can buy the Springform pan with our online store, The Gourmet Shop. We ship pan India.

7. Bake in the preheated oven on 160 degree for 50 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let it cool down completely before removing it from the pan.

8. When the cake has cooled completely slice it horizontally into half using a sharp serrated knife. The motion of knife should be like a saw. Refrigerate for half an hour. I couldn’t because I had to finish the cake in 3 hours.

9. Add some whipped cream in a chilled bowl and whip it with an electric whisk till stiff peaks are formed.

9. Place a cake board on a rotatable Icing table and spread a little whipped cream on the board and place one slice of cake on it. This will ensure the cake doesn’t slip from the board.

10. Chop a fresh mango into small chunks and spread it on the surface of cake.

11. Spread a layer of whipped cream on top of mangoes and make it even using a palette knife. you can even use a spatula if you dont have a palette knife.

12. Place the other part of the cake on top of the whipped cream and mango mix.

13. Take some whipped cream and smear it on the sides all along its circumference and top. It has to be thin layer, doesn’t matter if its smooth or not. I am not good with smooth finish so I made this cake to hide my inadequacies 🙂 How I forgot to take picture of this step! 🙁

14. Now for the top mango garnish, take firm mangoes, peel the skin and cut it into half, removing the seed. Then further cut halves into thin slices. Set aside.

15. Once the cake has been iced from all sides. start from the top centre. Arrange the mango slices on top, starting in the centre and then taking it outwards to mimic flower petals. Don’t place the slices deep into the cream. The more they remain on top the neater will be the look.

16. Now the question was how to hide the sides and pretty pie it. I thought of a chocolate collar and found a tutorial which was quick and seemed easy but I had never done it before. But I had little choice. So I went ahead. You need is a bar of chocolate or chocolate chips. Place them in a microwaveable bowl and heat it till it melts. You need to stir it every 30 seconds so that it doesn’t burn. You can also use a double boiler to melt, whichever you think is faster.

17. Pour the melted chocolate in a pipping bag or ziploc without any nozzle and tighten the keep.

18. Now you have to measure the height of the cake, I used a ruler. It was 4 inches for my cake. Tear a sheet of parchment paper which covers the cake around completely and further trim its height matching to the height of your cake or a little taller, it was 4.5 inches in case of my cake. Oh look you have the view to my not so clean icing on the sides of the cake. yippy!

19. See it fits around the cake perfectly and also has the height i wanted.

20. Remove this parchment paper and place it on a smooth surface. You pipping bag with melted chocolate is ready, snip the end with scissors and make a small hole. Now spread the chocolate in circular motion, starting from one end and finishing the other, say left to right. Now repeat the same from right to left . You can make it as intricate as you want. The more layers you give it the more sturdy will be your chocolate collar.

21. Let it be like that for a few seconds till the chocolate sets partially. Now remove the strip of parchment paper carefully with both your hands. If you leave it for a longer time and it sets fully you will not be able to mould it around the circular cake. So eyeball the timing.

22. Place it around the cake with chocolate side inside, pushing it inside the cake carefully.

23. Once the chocolate collar has been placed around the cake, remove the parchment paper slowly without damaging the lace and breaking it.

24. Guess what the cake is ready. You can add anything more to prettify it. I think I was happy with the results and gladly my client also liked it.

Other Cake recipes you can try are: Eggless Black Grapes Cake, Chocolate Vanilla Marble Cake , Eggless Almond Vanilla Cake, Eggless Orange Cake with Candied Orange Peel Filling, Lemon Cake with Lemon Glaze, Persimmon Rum Cake, Pumpkin Cake Rolls, Surprise Heart Inside Cake, Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake, Vanilla & Pomegranate Cake, Wacky Vegan Chocolate Cake, Festive Orange Blueberry Pound Cake, Mediterranean Eggless Semolina Cake

[whohit]MangoVanillaCake[/whohit]

[yumprint-recipe id=’273′]

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American Cuisine

Festive Orange Blueberry Pound Cake

By anshu December 20, 2016

orangeblueberrycake_featured1

Its almost Christmas and time for us to move our base from the hills to the plains till the winter break is over. This is the time of the year when our school shuts down for almost two months and we get a good time to spend with our family and loved ones. My bags are packed and I am about to empty my pantry. Last few days I am baking with whatever fruit is left in the fridge. Therefore, the productivity of Oven is at its peak. When I saw oranges and blueberry in my freezer compartment I knew I have make this cake which has been on my to do list for such a long time. I wanted a simple Orange Pound cake which makes everything just right.

orangeblueberrycake_featured4

And when the cake came out of the oven it was simply to die for. So moist, flavourful with orange zest and the cake was screaming eat me up! So that’s what I did 😉 If you are planning to do something for this holiday season its highly recommended that you include this in your bake list. You will surely thank me 🙂 Until next time…

Directions:

1. In a bowl add All purpose Flour, salt and Baking Powder and combine. Set aside.

2. Take zest of two oranges and juice them. Set aside the zest and fresh orange juice aside.

3. In another bowl add add butter at room temperature. Also add sugar and whisk it till everything is creamy.

4. Add eggs and continue to whisk till everything is light and fluffy.

5. Add Orange Zest and combine.

6. Now add dry ingredients to the wet and also add orange juice. Combine everything.

7. Add blueberries and fold inside the batter.

8. Grease a bundt pan or any pan you fancy. Dust it with dry flour. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius for ten minutes.

9. Pour the batter in the baking pan, remember to fill only 3/4th of it. Because you need to give it room to rise. Bake in the oven for 45- 50 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. If the cake is getting brown too fast tent it with aluminium foil and continue to bake at the same temperature.

10. While its baking in the oven you can prepare a glaze to pour. Add whipping cream in the bowl lightly whisk it add icing sugar, if its not sweet already and add some orange zest. Combine together.

11. Add the glaze in a piping bag and make a very small cut in the tip. You dont need a nozzle for this.

12. When the cake has baked take it out of the oven and let it cool down completely before taking it out of the pan. When it’s at room temperature drizzle some glaze on top and serve.

Other festive things you can try: Gingerbread Man Cookies, Greek Traditional Christmas Cookies , Chocolate Vanilla Marble Cake, Persimmon Rum Cake, Sorghum and Wheat Flour Persimmon Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.

orangeblueberrycake_featured2
[whohit]OrangeBluebberyCake[/whohit]

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Baking

Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake | Eggless Chocolate Banana Cake with Flax Seeds

By anshu August 20, 2015

Who doesn’t like chocolate. And when this incredible flavour is infused with banana it becomes a divine combination. It doesn’t just end here..what if this combination is guilt free and vegan? Here’s new newest recipe of Chocolate Banana Cake which is eggless, butterless and also dairy free. I have used Flax seeds to make it rise and become fluffy. I had done another Eggless Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Melon Seeds earlier. But this recipe takes this bread to a new level of craziness.

Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake

The most enticing part of this bread was its texture. It was soft and gooey and almost melted in my mouth in its very first bite. The ripe unforgotten bananas were put to right use. My little one who is a picky eater devoured this greedily and barely allowed me to take photographs 🙂

Directions:

1. Soak Flax seed Powder in water and set aside (Learn here how to make Flax seed powder). The mixture should become like a gel in some time.

2. Grease a baking pan and set aside. I am using a medium size bundt pan for this. Preheat the oven on 180 degree Celcius for 10 minutes.

3. In another bowl sift All Purpose Flour, Baking Powder and Baking Soda. Do you see the lumps in the baking powder? That is why we are sifting everything for a lump free airy flour.

4. This is how it looks after sieving.

5. Also sieve and add cocoa powder to the flour and gently combine. Set aside.

6. Mash overripe bananas with a fork and place in a mixing bowl. Add vegetable oil and combine.

7. Add the flax powder gel to the bananas.

8. Add brown sugar or jaggery powder and vanilla extract. Give everything a good mix.

9. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently mix with the spatula. Do not over mix simple moisten the flour.

10. Pour this in the greased pan and bake on a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes on 180 degree celcius (Learn more about Oven temperatures and Conversions). The test of doneness is that the toothpick inserted will come out clean.

11. Let the cake cool down a little before taking it out of the pan. Invert the pan on a serving plate and gently tap to remove the cake. Slice and serve with your favourite cup of coffee or tea.

Other cake and bread recipes you can try here : Apple Raisin Streusel Bread, Persimmon Rum Cake, Surprise Heart Inside Cake, Pumpkin Cake Rolls, Lemon Cake with Lemon Glaze, Eggless Orange cake with candied Orange Peel Filling, Wacky Vegan Chocolate Cake, Eggless Almond Vanilla Cake, Chocolate Vanilla Marble Cakecak.

Vegan Chocolate Banana Cake

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Baking

Persimmon Rum Cake

By anshu January 11, 2015

persimmonrumcake_featured1
Some days back the food groups on facebook were infested with posts to guess this new kind of fruit ultimately revealed as Ram Phal, Japani Phal and in English Persimmon. I couldn’t restraint myself when I saw these babies in the market. They were at a throw away price so I bought them a kilo. Now after eating a few I was thinking where else can I utilise them. I found this incredible recipe to make a spiced cake with persimmon, just perfect for the cold weather.

persimmonrumcake_featured2

The persimmons were sitting on my shelf for a few days now so they had become super ripe just the way they are needed for this cake. The cake came out so moist and delicious that my husband declared it the best cake baked by me so far.

Directions:

1. Wash and Cut the persimmons into half.

2. Scoop out the pulp with the help of a spoon and throw away the peels.

3. Put the pulp in a blender and make a smooth puree. Set aside.

4. In a small saucepan pour some rum and raisins and bring them to a boil on medium low heat. Remove from heat and cover. Let them come to a room temperature.

5. In a bowl add All purpose Flour, Cinnamon powder, Baking Soda and salt.

6 . Also add nutmeg powder for that extra spice.

7. In the same bowl add castor sugar and mix everything. Set aside.

8. In a different bowl crack eggs and add the persimmon puree and also add rum soaked raisins.

9. Also add to this vanilla extract. Combine everything making sure everything mixes evenly.

10. Grease a ten cup pan spring pan or bundt pan. Also preheat your oven to 175 degree Celsius.

11. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the wet ingredients into it.

12. Also add melted butter. Also add toasted walnuts or pecans.

13. Combine everything using a spatula till everything is moistened. But do not overmix.

14. Transfer it to a greased pan and even out from the top by tapping the pan.

15. Bake in preheated oven between 40 minutes to 1 hour or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from Oven and let it cool completely. Invert the cake into a serving plate.

Slice it like that only or you can top it with Cream Cheese Icing.

You can even try Persimmon Sorghum Cup Cakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Pumpkin Cake Rolls and Spiced Raisin Cake.

[whohit]PersimmonCake[/whohit]

persimmonrumcake_featured3

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