Baking with Merry

It's been sometime since I have baked a cake. After the birthday cake fuss, I haven't had the motivation to bake anything!! I was going through my recipe book the other day and found few pending cake recipes. One among them was the Williamsburg Orange Cake. This recipe was jotted down from the newspaper along with the Applesauce spice squares  last month; but it had to wait for so long to see the limelight.... I have baked cakes out of mangoes , apples , strawberries and so on but this is the first try with oranges and believe me it was the best among the others!! The cake was so flavorsome and tastes better as it ages, though sadly in my house cakes normally don't last for more than two days!! I have made few changes in the original recipe. The original recipe uses 1 cup golden raisins and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. However, I didn't add those as we like a plain cake. Ingredients: Recipe Source: The Hindu All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cups Sugar -

Hope the photos below speak more than the words! Ingredients & Equipments: Recipe Source: everyday smoothies and juices by Parragon Books Ripe Pineapple - 1 Oranges - 4, halved Ice cubes Juicer, Cocktail Shaker and Squeezer (not included in the picture above) Method: Slice the bottom of the pineapple and stand the pineapple upright on a board. Remove the spiky skin then cut into six long pieces. Puree the pineapple in a juicer. Squeeze the oranges with a squeezer.  Pour the juices in a cocktail shaker and add some ice cubes. Shake well. Pour into a glass and serve. The juice all ready to be poured into the glasses. And here it is the "Sunrise Crush", to kick-start your day or to un-wind after a long tiring day!  

Normally, I don't like pumpkins, especially the ripe ones. So, if they are used in sambhar or avial or made as erissery , I am fussy! But that's not the case with the raw ones.... I love raw pumpkins and papaya...Raw pumpkins are good for salads  (especially their skin)  and juices; and raw papayas make a good thoran . It was my papa who introduced me to these juices made out of raw pumpkins and they tasted yummy.... . He used whatever fruits and veggies that were available in his garden for the juices... . The main ingredients, however were pumpkins, carrots and apples, with a few additions or subtractions in the ingredients. I always prefer to stick with pumpkins, carrots and apples without any sugar and we, including my little fussy-eaters love it. Ingredients: Recipe Source: My own Raw Pumpkin - 1/2, peeled and cubed Apple - 2, cored and chopped Carrot - 1, peeled and chopped Method: Place the chopped pumpkin, apple and carrot in a food processor o

The summers are becoming unbearable; the sun is shining down in its full glory. I have started skipping my evening tea or coffee with something cool. I normally go in for cold water or some cold fresh juices. My kids too have started skipping their hot milk for milkshakes or cold milk. Though I have had smoothies from cafes or restaurants, I am not a great lover of those as they are calorie-laden drinks. But, I wanted to try out smoothies for my kids. I searched for a healthy smoothie recipe for kids and found out many on Food Viva . Since I had few apples in hand, I tried out the Apple Smoothie, to begin with..... Ingredients: Recipe Adapted from: Food Viva Fresh Apples - 2, cored and chopped Milk - 1 cup Curd - 1/2 cup Honey - 2 tbsps Ground cardamom - a pinch Golden raisins - few, to garnish Method: Put the chopped apples, curd, ground cardamom and honey in a blender and blend until smooth. Add milk and blend it again for a few seconds. Pour prepared sm

Remember the crumbled cake about which I had mentioned in the earlier post ! With the pieces of crumbled cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of each piece, I made a delicious dessert and had it after our dinner....*smiles*.....Well, I was able to cut two decent triangular pieces out of the crumbled pieces for the photo sessions...*winks*... Flourless Chocolate Rum Cake Ingredients: Recipe Source: Pastry Affair Dark or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped - 1 cup (6oz) Butter, cubed - 1/2 cup Sugar  - 1/2 cup Eggs, large - 4 Vanilla extract - 1 1/2 tsp Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup Rum or Water - 1/3 cup Method: Preheat oven to 190 C. Grease an 8" tin and keep aside. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt together the chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and transfer to a mixing bowl and mix in the sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until smooth between each additions. Stir in the vanilla extra

Yes, it's that day of the year which is exclusively for me!!! I grew a year older, which also means a year lesser to the graves....*smiles*.....This year too I received my quota of presents and wishes...And had a great cake cutting ceremony early in the morning...... *smiles*... (Little joys of life) So, what is a birthday without a cake!!......Remember my last year's  b'day cake !! This year too I decided to bake my own birthday cake. But this time, it was a quite a disappointment for me!!! Actually, I had pinned down on Deeba's (of PAB ) Coffee and Vanilla Bean Layered Cake months back....But unfortunately, had to change it at the last moment as my little one was not keeping well.....JJ insisted on buying a cake but I was so adamant on baking my own birthday cake....Moreover, these days, I don't like the bakery baked cakes as they are very sweet and full of flavors! So, I searched for a recipe which required less preparation time as I had to cater to a si

Before I begin this post I would like to wish all the readers of Cakes and Tales a belated "Happy Easter" ....Hope you had a scrumptious feast.....I had plans of making some desserts for the Easter but nothing happened, as usual!! It's mango season once again and I love this season coz mangoes are my favorite, be it ripe or raw....Last year, I had tried out few recipes with mangoes like the Mango Loaf Cake  and the Mango Vanilla Verrines .... I was going through the recipe index of Cakes and Tales, when I found out that I haven't posted a Mango Milkshake though I had made it many times..... Ingredients: Recipe Source: My Own Mango - 1, big Milk - 2 cups, chilled Sugar - 2 tsps (optional, depending on the sweetness of the mango) Method: Peel the mango and cut them into small cubes. Put the mango cubes, chilled milk and sugar in a blender and blend them until smooth. Transfer it to a serving glass and serve immediately. A