Baking with Merry

This was the first cake I baked, a simple chocolate cake. To make it more attractive, I made a simple mocha icing. I got both these recipes from Good Housekeeping Magazine (don't remember which issue!!). The cake was quite a success at home, as it was finished within a day. Chocolate Cake Recipe Source: Good House Keeping Ingredients: Maida  - 1 1/4 cup Unsweetened cocoa powder - 6 tsp Baking powder - 2 tsp Salt - a pinch Sugar - 1 cup Vanilla essence - 3 tsp Milk/Water - 1/2 cup Oil - 1/2 cup Eggs - 2 nos. Method: Sift maida, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and sugar. Do this twice to avoid any lumps. In a bowl, combine milk/water, oil, vanilla essence and eggs. Pour into the maida mix. Blend everything together until smooth, using an electric beater at slow speed. Try to whisk in the same direction. If the batter becomes too runny, add a little more maida. Grease a cake tin with butter. Transfer the mixture to the cake tin and bake in a microwave oven for 25-30 mins

I have read about cookies in various books and blogs, but haven't tried though it was much easier to bake. Since it was my first cookie baking, I needed a simple and easy recipe. Found this recipe from one of the blogs-Thattukada. It tasted good except that some got burned since I added more sugar and honey than what is needed. So, when baking a cookie, never add more than what is given in the ingredients. Honey Drop Cookies Recipe Source: Thattukada Ingredients: Maida - 1/2 cup Baking powder - 1/2 tsp Egg - 1 Sugar - 1/3 cup Salted butter - 3 tbsps Honey - 2 tsp Vanilla Essence - 1/4 tsp Method: Sift the flour and baking powder together. Add a pinch of salt if you are using unsalted butter. In another bowl, whisk the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. To the butter, add the egg and beat well. Add in the essence and honey and mix well. Add the sifted flour and mix well. Pre-heat the oven at 300 F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and grease with butter. D

All the baking I had done was mainly with chocolate. So, for a change I decided to bake a vanilla cake. But to my dismay, it was a big flop :-( There was nothing wrong in the cake, it tasted like any vanilla cake. Like all kids, even my kiddos like chocolate cakes. So, eventually me and JJ had to finish it off! Never ever would I bake a vanilla cake!! Vanilla Cake Recipe Source: Good Housekeeping Ingredients: Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup (at room temp) Sugar - 1 1/4 cups Egg - 1 All purpose flour - 1 3/4 cups Custard powder - 1/2 cup Salt - 1 tsp Baking powder - 3 1/2 tsp Milk - 1 1/4 cups Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Method: Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Line and dust an 8" round cake tin. Whisk the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add in the egg and whisk till incorporated and fluffy Add in the remaining ingredients one by one and whisk together for 2 mins. Pour into the tin and bake for 55-60 mins or till done. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, remove and

On a weekend, when I was done with all my household chores and with the kids fast asleep, I decided to bake a cake. A cake which was quite simple and which didn't require any hardships. I was going through various blogs and found a very simple chocolate cake recipe on Maria's Menu. Simple Chocolate Cake Recipe Source: Maria's Menu Ingredients: 1. Plain flour - 1 1/2 cups     Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup     Powdered sugar - 1 1/2 cups     Soda bicarbonate - 1 1/2 tsp 2. Melted butter - 180 gms 3. Hot milk - 1 cup     Eggs - 2 4. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Method: Preheat the oven at 200 C for 10 mins. Butter a cake tin and sprinkle some flour on it. Make sure that the flour is equally distributed inside the tin. Keep it aside. Mix together the 1st ingredients and seive. Add melted butter and 1/2 cup of hot milk to the mixed ingredients and beat well for 2 mins. Add remaining milk, beaten eggs and vanilla essence. Beat well for another 2-3 mins. Pour the mix to t

Marble cake brings many nostalgic memories of my childhood. The "Best Bakers" a bakery in Kottayam bakes one of the best marble cakes. Did you know that marble cake tastes more delicious when dipped in coffee!!! I am not kidding, just try it out. So, I baked a marble cake for the Easter. Every time I bake a cake, something or the other goes wrong. Nevertheless to say, the same happened when preparing the marble cake. Everything was fine till the last mixing part,where you need to create the marble effect. When mixing, you need to do it slowly. I was a bit fast and overdid the mixing. Luckily it didn't turn out to be a chocolate cake. Marble Cake Recipe Source: Divya's Easycooking Ingredients: Butter - 2/3 cup Sugar - 1 cup Eggs - 2 Maida - 1 1/4 cup Baking soda - 1 tsp Baking powder - 1 tsp Cocoa powder - 4 tbsp Curds - 1 cup Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Method: Mix butter and sugar well until they are fluffy. Add eggs one by one and mix well. Mix v

One of my favorite cakes is the Black Forrest Cake. So decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, I did'nt get fresh whipped cream, so had to use simple fresh cream which wasn't sweet. So this was the flaw of this cake. But once I get hold of the whipping cream (a rare product), I would definitely try it once more. So, watch out for a better picture of the cake. Black Forrest Cake Ingredients: Maida - 225 gms Sweetened condensed milk - 400 gms Cocoa powder - 2-3 tbsps Baking powder - 1 tsp Cooking soda - 1 tsp Butter - 125 gms Aerated cola drink - 200 ml Salt - a pinch Dairy milk chocolate - 125 gms Fresh whipped cream - 250 gms Cherries - 10 Method: Melt the butter in a thick bottom pan on a very low flame. Remove and cool. Add condensed milk to it and mix well. Sift maida, cocoa powder, baking powder, cooking soda and salt together. Make sure there are no lumps. Grease a baking tray with butter and dust it with maida and keep aside. Take a pan with little butter and