Baking with Merry

                              Happy Valentine's Day I had two cakes in my mind for baking on Valentine's Day - a Tiramisu Cake and a Strawberry Vanilla Cake. When I asked my Valentine, he preferred former. Unfortunately, I didnt have the mascarpone cheese. So decided to bake the latter....*smiles*...Afterall, it should be all red on Valentine rt?? Ingredients: Recipe Adapted from: Parita's World and Spicy Tasty For the Cake All purpose flour - 225gms Condensed milk - 400 gms (1 tin) Vanilla essence - 1 tsp White unsalted butter - 125 gms Baking powder - 1 tsp Baking Soda - 1 tsp Plain Soda - 200 ml For Decoration Heavy Whipping Cream - 400ml Icing sugar - 1/2 cup Pure vanilla essence - 1 tbsp Gelatin - 2 tsp Cold water - 8 tsp For Sugar Syrup Water - 1/2 cup Sugar - 4 tbsps Strawberry essence - 1 tsp Me...

This month is a month of disasters for me when it comes to baking...*sigh*......two burnt brownies (smoky oven,narrowly escaped from putting it on fire..phew!); a failed caramel custard (burned my fingers in the process).....Too much of wastes--waste of products, my time and my efforts!!!But you learn through your mistakes....rt??So, all these failures were a kind of lessons to me....*sigh* Luckily I was able to prepare a Tiramisu without much fuss....*smiles*.......I had read about this dessert in many of the blogs I follow, but hadn't given it a try, eventhough the pictures were tempting. Then a few months back, I got to taste it, when dining in an Italian restaurant. It was soo delicious and creamilicious!!! So presenting this sweet Italian dessert to all Tiramisu lovers (and to myself, as an encouragement for all the failures *winks*)....And ya, this is my 25th post.....So Enjoy!!! Ingredients: Recipe Source: Good Housekeeping Hot Water - 2/3 cup Brandy/Rum...

For a change, this time I haven't referred any blogs or books; rather this is my own recipe....*smile*....A recipe, which I am soo used to since my chidhood....my mom and even my aunty used the same method for preparing it. I wonder if there is any other method for preparing a fruit salad!!! Ingredients: Recipe Source: My Own Milk - 500ml Sugar - 2 tbsps Custard Powder - 1tbsp Fruits - your choice (I used apple, banana, pomegranate, pineapple and grapes) Method: Prepare custard as per the instructions on the box of the custard powder. Peel and cut all the fruits (except banana and apple) into small pieces and chill for an hour. Once the custard is cool, line a bowl with the chilled fruits and pour the custard over it. Chill before serving the salad. Enjoi!!! If you guys know any other method for preparing a fruit salad, kindly share..... Now, who wouldn't love a fruit salad for dessert after lunch/dinner???  

I was browsing through my bookmarked cooking blogs, when I saw this particular dessert known as Banoffee Pie in Swapna's Cuisine. Frankly, I haven't heard about it earlier, but it looked quite interesting....Moreover, it required very little ingredients and there was no baking involved!!! I googled to know more about the dessert. According to Wikipedia, "Banoffee Pie is an English pastry-based dessert made from bananas, cream, toffee from boiled condensed milk (or dulce de leche), either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter." The images of this dessert on many blogs/sites were quite tempting and a treat to the eyes, which is why I decided to make it. The below method is what I followed when making the Banoffee Pie. Ingredients: Recipe Adapted from: Swapna's Cuisine Condensed Milk - 1 can (400 gms) Bananas - 3, large Whipped cream - 200ml Digestive/Marie biscuits - 200gms Butter - 100 gms Cocoa powder - to decorate Icing Sugar - 1 tbsp...

I always wanted to bake cookies, but never had the cookie cutters for cutting out the cookies in shape. Finally, last week when shopping at Niligiris, I came across a small box of 6 cookie cutters......no second thoughts; in goes the box into my trolley...*smiles*...... Now comes the next problem - a simple recipe!!!I browsed through many books, blogs and magazines and found a lot of recipes but I needed a simple one as this was an experiment!!!*winks*.....Lastly, when I browsed through my recipe book, I found this extremely simple and easy recipe, which I had jotted down long ago and forgotten!!! Ingredients: Recipe Source: Good Housekeeping (I think so) Butter - 1 cup Sugar - 1/2 cup Vanilla essence - 1 tsp (or 1 vanilla bean) Maida - 2 3/4 cups Method: Cream the butter and sugar together till fluffy and light. Scrape and put in the vanilla bean pods or essence into the butter and sugar. Add the maida to the mixture and knead it till it forms a soft dough. Cover ...

Happy New Year 2012 Hi dears....I know it's late, but "Better late then never" *smiles*....So how was your Christmas and New Year???Hope you guys had fun!!!What are your new resolutions for this year??As for me, I had spent my X'mas n New Year back at home with my parents silently....no resolutions (since I don't stick to any!); just prayers that this year is gonna be a good one too....*smiles* I was wondering what I would bake first in the New Year.....went through many recipes and finally spotted this particular recipe of a simple and delicious dessert by Ria Jobin.....I got this recipe of hers from Vanitha.... You could also find this in her blog . But unfortunately, the pictures didn't come out quite well...it was a total disaster!!Will surely re-post with better pictures asap.... Ingredients: Recipe source: Ria's collection 1. Mascarpone cheese - 100gm 2. Amul cream - 150gm 3. Instant coffee (strong) - 1/4 cup     Sugar - 2-3 t...

Merry Christmas I was in a full baking mode this Christmas...*smiles*...I managed to bake 2 cakes....And I still don't know why I baked two!!! Even though it was Advent, I couldn't resist myself from licking the batter of this cake because it was sooo tasty and when it was being baked in the oven, my home was filled with the smell of the spices and the dry fruits.....This is why I love baking...*smiles*....your two senses (taste and smell) are been stimulated before, during and after baking!!! *winks*.... Here is the recipe of my second cake: Ingredients Recipe Source: Swapna's Cuisine 1. Butter - 100 gms     Ghee - 125 gms 2. Powdered Sugar - 300 gms     Egg yolks - 4     Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp     Ground Orange peel - 1/4 tsp     Sugar - 4 tbsps (to carmalize) 3. Mixed dry fruits - 600gms     Cashewnuts - 100 gms     Brandy/Rum - 1/2 cup 4. Flour/Maida - 250gms  ...