Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I haven't blogged in a month and I haven't baked anything too since Christmas. I had made these Carrot Cupcakes during Christmas for my husband's colleagues and have been procrastinating since then to blog about it. The cupcakes turned out delicious and the feedback was great. Since I got to taste only a bite of it, I think maybe I should bake them again till the fresh red carrots are in market. 
The cupcake recipe is from here and for the frosting  I have modified the recipe which I used for Red Velvet Cupcake , by excluding White Chocolate. It tastes equally good. I remember, I had to use white chocolate then,as the cream cheese tasted sour, so white chocolate balanced the taste. The brand was different and now I stick to Philadelphia Cream cheese, which doesn't have a sour taste.
Ingredients
Makes 24 cupcakes
For Cupcake
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger [ I didn't use it]
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups grated peeled carrots
1 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

For Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz cream cheese

2 1/2 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup icing sugar sifted

Preparation

For the Cupcake

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/177C. Line 24 cupcake molds with paper liners, or butter and flour them.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in medium bowl to blend.
3. Whisk sugar and oil in large bowl until well blended. 
4. Whisk in eggs 1 at a time. 
5. Add flour mixture and stir until blended. 
6. Stir in carrots, walnuts and raisins, if using them. 
7. Divide batter among cupcake molds, filling 3/4 of each.
8. Bake cupcakes 14 to 18 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. Let cool in pan for five minutes or so, then transfer cakes to a cooling rack.
9. Let cool completely before icing them.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

1. Beat Cream cheese and butter till light
2. Add vanilla extract
3. Add icing sugar and beat till smooth.

Chole Bhature

After a long time there is savory recipe on the blog and that too is not cooked by me, but by my dear husband.  And this time, It is my fault that I didn't put it up earlier, though it was made during Diwali. My husband mostly cooks non-vegetarian food and I am the one who cooks the vegetarian . This time, he decided to give me a full day break and I was not even allowed to enter the kitchen. It was a blessing, as I was already very tired making Diwali sweets. Though I have only put the Coconut Pistachio laddus on the blog, I had also prepared Churma Ladoo and Kalakand. I decided not to put these recipes on the blog, as Churma ladoo though very delicious, was very tiresome to make. And I don't want anyone to go through that ordeal : -D . And the Kalakand didn't turn as good as it is available in market. Maybe , I will try a different recipe for it and then post.

The Chole Bhature came out very delicious and everyone loved it. Usually the Bhature are very  heavy and oily and you can't eat more than one .These were one of the best Bhature I had, light and not oily at all.


Ingredients 

For the Chole :

250 Gm Chickpeas (Chole/Kabuli Chana)
1 teabag ( this is used to give the black color)
4-6 Big Black Cardamom (Badi Ilaichi)
Salt acording to taste
1 tsp Black Salt
3-4 Green Chilies  finely chopped
1 piece Ginger finely chopped
2-3 Tomatoes  finely chopped
2-3 tsp Coriander Leaves  finely chopped
1 Onion  finely chopped
1/2 tsp Mango powder (aamchur)
1 Tbsp Garam Masala
Red Chillies accoding to taste
2 tsp dry Coriander Powder (Dhania powder)
oil to cook
2  Bay Leaves
2 tsp Chole masala

For the Bhature:


2 cups All purpose flour (Maida)
1 cup curd/yogurt
Vegetable oil to fry
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda



Preparation

For the Chole:

1. Soak chickpeas overnight.
2. Add  Chickpeas along with salt and teabag in the cooker .Add enough water. Cook it in a pressure cooker till  3-4 whistles. Do not over cook. The tea bag gives it the black color.
3. Drain the  Chickpeas and do not throw the water. It will be used later.
4. Heat oil in the pan .Add bay leaves,Cardamom. 
5. When they crackle, add ginger,green chilies and onion. When onion is light brown, add tomato and  coriander powder,chilli powder garam masala.
6. Add  Chickpeas and mix well for 2-3 minutes, Then add chole masala, amchur and ginger and black salt.
7. Add the water in which Chickpeas was cooked and cook it for 10 minutes
8. Mash some chickpeas , it will make the gravy thicker.
9. Before Serving you can add some butter or ghee and  garnish with Coriander Leaves /Paneer Cubes

For the Bhature:

1. In a large bowl ,mix salt, baking soda and all purpose flour.Add 2 tsp oil and mix it well. 
2. Knead a soft dough using Curd/Yogurt.
3. Cover the dough with a wet cloth and let it ferment for around 7-8 hours.
4. Heat oil in  a deep pan. 
5. Divide dough into 12 equal parts. Roll it in a thick round or oval shape.
6. Deep fry till it is slightly brown .
7. Serve hot with Chole,onion rings salad, sliced lemon and some pickles/achaar :)

Recipe Source: Adapted from CookHealthy

A Special Cake for the Special Man - Tuxedo Cake

I  drool every time I look at this gorgeous cake  which I made last week, a special cake for the special man's birthday !! I get very few occasions to bake a celebration cake and usually I spend a lot of time searching and finalizing the cake to bake. I don't know how I came across this one, but one look and it was decided. With so little experience in baking cakes, I was not sure If I could replicate it exactly, But I am really proud the way it has turned out. Quite Close !!  I was working with the whipped cream too for the first time, so the fear was manifold. The whipping did give me lot of troubles, muscle aches, and the quantity went wrong and I had plenty of whipped cream left, but no complains after the way it looked and tasted :-)  Since the birthday was falling on a week day, I planned to make it over two days. The first day I made the cake, and the 2nd day I did the whipping and assembling.

By the way hidden besides all this whiteness is 4 layers of moist dark chocolate cake. And is called a Tuxedo Cake.

I am sharing the original recipe here though I made it by halving it. That gave me two 6" cakes, which I sliced into four , making it a 4 layered cake. As I mentioned above the quantity of whipped cream didn't work for me. I had halved the recipe for it too, but plenty was left, so I think 1/4th would have been enough . I also didn't have the corn syrup, so I made the ganache which I have earlier used in Bundt Cake.
I am also sharing the chocolate dipped strawberries recipe.

Ingredients:


For the cake:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups water
1 cup canola oil
4 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tbsp. vanilla extract

For the frosting:
4 cups chilled heavy whipping cream
1¼ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted


For the Chocolate Strawberries:
10 even sized strawberries, washed and pat dried
3 oz. dark chocolate, finely chopped
some white chocolate


For the chocolate glaze:
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup light corn syrup
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation


For the Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line three 9-inch round cake pans (or two 10-inch round cake pans) with parchment paper.  Butter and flour the inside edges of the pan, shaking out the excess flour.  
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, water and canola oil; heat until the butter is melted
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar, cocoa powder, and flour; whisk to blend.
4. Pour the melted butter mixture into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.
5. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then whisk in the buttermilk.  Add the baking soda, salt and vanilla to the bowl and whisk just until incorporated.
6.  Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
7. Let cool in the pans for 15 minutes.  Run a knife around the edge of each cake layer and invert onto a wire cooling rack.  Allow the cake layers to cool completely before frosting, at least 2 hours.

For the frosting

1.  Ensure that the bowl and the whisk of the electric mixer are chilled. This is for ensure the cream whips well.
2. Add the heavy cream to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.  Whip on medium-high speed until soft peaks form.  Add the powdered sugar and continue to whip until thoroughly combined and stiff peaks form.  Be careful not to over-beat!

Assembling the cake

1. Place one cake layer on a cake platter and spread a layer of the whipped cream frosting over the top.  Top with a second cake layer, more frosting (and the third cake layer, if using).  Frost the top and sides of the assembled cake.  Refrigerate until the frosting has stabilized, at least 1 hour.

For the Chocolate Strawberries:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 
2. Melt the dark chocolate and stir it smooth. 
3. Hold the strawberries by stem and twist and swirl it in the melted chocolate.Take it out ,swirl and let excess chocolate drip. Place it on the parchment paper and refrigerate for 10-15 minutes for the chocolate to set
4. When the chocolate strawberries is set, melt white chocolate in a bowl. Put it in a piping bag. Cut the tip and make patterns over the strawberries

For the chocolate glaze:

1. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl.
2. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit 1-2 minutes.
3. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and homogeneous.  Blend in the corn syrup and vanilla.  Pour the glaze into a pitcher or measuring cup and let cool for 10 minutes.  (Do not let the glaze cool longer or it may become difficult to pour over the cake.)  
4. Slowly pour the glaze over the cake, ensuring that the top is covered and the glaze drips over the sides.
5. Place the chocolate dipped strawberries on the glaze immediately
6. Refrigerate the cake until the glaze is set and the whipped cream frosting is firm, at least 1 hour.  
7. For Serving Slice with a long, sharp knife, wiping the blade clean between slices.  

The Recipe is from Pastry Queen and Annie Eats. The chocolate strawberries is from numerous resources available on the web.