Baking with Merry

Its been a month since I have updated anything on the blog......Exams and holidays kept me away from this space!! Yep..you heard me right when I said "exams"; not that I am studying anything new but repeating Std 1 again with my son *winks*......phew!!! It was me who really enjoyed the one week break and I don't remember relaxing so much after finishing my own school exams back then!! Stories apart.... To start off, here is a simple cake loaded with lots of dried fruits. I would say this cake to be another version of the Christmas Plum Cake , except the entire process is a bit less complicated compared to the plum cakes .  This month being a happening month with festivals and causes, I am planning for some specials throughout this month.."smiles" Ingredients: Recipe Source: Coffee by Parragon Books Mixed dried fruit - 300 gm Brown sugar - 150 gm Butter - 150 gm, plus extra for greasing Strong black coffee - 200 ml Self-rais...

Ok my lovely readers...... This is my last post of 2013..... Before this year ends, I am posting the cake I had baked for Christmas..... For a change, I have baked Omana Paul's Kerala Plum Cake this year. And I got the recipe from Nagalakshmi's  Edible Garden ... However, I made a few changes here and there. For instance, the original recipe doesn't require soaking fruits in alcohol, but I used soaked fruits (from last year's)...... Also, the cake is alcohol free. However, I like my Christmas cake to be alcohol-rich, so drenched my cake in brandy after it was baked. Ingredients: Recipe Adapted from: Edible Garden Plain flour - 1 cup Soaked fruits and nuts - 1 cup Sugar - 1 cup and 1/2 cup Butter - 2/3 cup Eggs -3 Nutmeg, powdered - 1/4 tsp Cinnamon, powdered - 1/4 tsp Cloves, powdered - 1/4 tsp Cardamom, powdered - 1/4 tsp Baking powder - 1 tsp Vanilla extract - 1 tsp Salt - a pinch Method: First and foremost, caramelize the sugar. I...