Baking with Merry

Torta de Cielo (Mexican Almond Sponge Cake) Every year, June 26 is a special day for me---The day when my parents got married and this year they celebrated their 32 years of togetherness...                                     "Happy Anniversary Pappa and Mummy" Though I couldn't be there at home to celebrate it with my parents, I thought of baking a cake back here at my abode....Now, which cake and what cake? I wanted to make something truly special, something which is not so common!! I had two cake recipes in my mind; the Tres Leche and the Torta de Cielo.....I planned of baking the Tres Leche but somehow at the last hour, I changed my decision!! And it was a good decision indeed as the cake was just delicious; tasted quite different too!!! No wonder it is called as "cake of heaven". Ingredients: Recipe Source: Baking...made simple by Parragon Books Unsalted Butter, at room temp - 1 cup Whole almonds, in their skins - 1 1/4 cups Sugar -

Another mango recipe....probably my last one too with mangoes!! Frankly, I love having mangoes as such, rather than in a cake or verrine....I had plans of making a Mango Cheesecake too, but I kinda dropped that plan....Maybe next mango season...Lets see! I found this recipe in Nag's  Edible Garden  while searching for vegan recipes. Any idea as to what is vegan??? (Kindly let me know, if u have any clue....) Ingredients: Recipe Source: Edible Garden All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups Baking powder - 2 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp* Mango puree - 1 1/2 cups Oil - 1/3 cup* Granulated sugar - 2/3 cup Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Method: Preheat oven to 180 C. In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom powder together. In another bowl, whisk the mango puree, oil, sugar and vanilla until well combined. Add this to the flour mixture and fold till no traces of flour is left. Use only a hand whisk or a rubber spatula. Transfer the batter to a

I had bookmarked two mango recipes long back when mangoes were not available in the market! First, the  Mango Yogurt Verrine from Swapna's Cuisine and the Mango and Vanilla Custard Verrines from Sharmi's Passion. Now, when the mangoes were available, the yogurt for the verrine was missing! And so, I  combined both the recipes; used vanilla custard instead of yogurt and the resulting product is the Mango Vanilla Verrine or Mango Custard Verrine!!! A simple, easy-to-make calorie-rich dessert; so dieters stay away *winks*.... Ingredients: Recipe Adapted from: Swapna's Cuisine & Sharmi's Passion Vanilla Custard - 3 cups Sugar - 3 tbsp (acc to your taste) Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp Mango puree - 2 or 3 cups (puree of 2 mangoes) Gelatin - 2 tsp Method: To Make the Custard:  Prepare the custard according to the instructions given on the packet. Allow it to cool completely. Sprinkle 1 tsp of gelatin over 1 tbsp of water and microwave for 10 sec.

Sausage Rolls, one of my childhood favorites ( I still love it! ). I decided to bake it at home by using the same recipe of whole wheat garlic pull-apart rolls. And the result is what you see in the below pics.. Though I used both atta and maida, you can use just the maida for the base..... Ingredients: Recipe Adapted from Easycooking Whole Wheat Flour/Atta - 1 cup All-purpose Flour/Maida - 1 cup Lukewarm water - 1 cup Dry yeast - 1 tsp Sugar - 2 tsp Salt - to taste Olive Oil - 2 tsp Method: Mix together warm water,sugar,salt and yeast and keep aside for 5-10 minutes to froth. In a bowl, add atta and maida. Pour in the yeast mixture along with olive oil, little at a time and knead the dough to form a smooth dough.  (You may not require the entire quantity so add as required) Knead the dough for 5-7 minutes or till the dough becomes smooth and elastic.  (Add flour a tsp or two if you feel the dough is too sticky) . Coat the bowl with some  olive  oil and plac

Finally, I baked the Whole Wheat garlic pull-apart rolls about which I mentioned in my last post. Since this was my first bake with yeast, I was quite anxious!! But at last, everything went fine - the yeast frothed at the right time, the dough doubled before and after applying the spread and the rolls got baked at the right time too...... except for the photo sessions (as usual) ... Ingredients: Recipe Source:  Easycooking Whole Wheat Flour/Atta - 1 cup All-purpose Flour/Maida - 1 cup Lukewarm water - 1 cup Dry yeast - 1 tsp Sugar - 2 tsp Salt - to taste Olive Oil - 2 tsp For Garlic spread Olive Oil - 2tbsp* Garlic cloves - 4-5 finely chopped Green chilly - 1 finely chopped Method: Mix together warm water,sugar,salt and yeast and keep aside for 5-10 minutes to froth. In a bowl, add atta and maida. Pour in the yeast mixture along with olive oil, little at a time and knead the dough to form a smooth dough. (You may not require the entire quantity so add