There's something to be said about comfort and familiarity. I've been with Wordpress ever since I moved out of Yahoo 360 and that's been like years ago. Moving to Blogger seemed a good thing to do considering the possibility of Analytics and everything. But I haven't been satisfied. So heading back to my old Wordpress blog for this Food Blog. It's at https://wellandtrulycooked.wordpress.com/.
Last time I'm changing this. Promise! Please come back!!
more often than not...
07 December 2011
24 November 2011
Caramel Cake - an old favourite
This one was a favourite during the days of my first pregnancy and I was bored and had too much time on hand. I can't imagine how jobless I used to be back then! I found the recipe at the back of a baking powder can (no internet back in those days) and I thought I could try it out. Making the caramel was always a tricky process back then and I would inevitably burn it but the cake was always appreciated because it had this warm stickiness that is always associated with home baked goods.
On impulse I decided to make it last night. Got Saboor to help me beat the butter. It was merely an excuse to make sure he wouldn't nod off to sleep before I made dinner and it worked. My leftie son gets awkward with handling these things but for once I was not a monster mom last night and encouraged him to beat it in one direction only. The recipe is very simple and we finished the batter in fifteen minutes, right in time for Masterchef Australia to start on TV.
As an aside, everyone at home watches Masterchef Australia, including my MIL and the kids. MIL thinks that one of the judges, George, constantly bounces on the balls of his feet enthusiastically and she's nicknamed him 'uchal-billa' in Urdu. Ha ha! It merely means someone who is fidgety and constantly jumping around in excitement. I think.
Anyways, without further delays, here's the recipe. Every time I think I should take a picture, I think I'll do it later and by then there's nothing left.
Ingredients
200 gms white butter
2 cups maida
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 and 1/4 cup sugar (granulated will do)
1/4 cup sugar for caramel
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup water
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Add the essence. Sieve maida with baking powder and fold into the mixture gently. To make caramel, melt sugar over medium heat until it's a shade darker than golden brown. Immediately pour in the water (it makes a big crackling noise) and swirl the pan quickly before caramel sets at the bottom and pour into the cake batter. Mix evenly and the batter acquires a beautiful toffee brown colour. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.
On impulse I decided to make it last night. Got Saboor to help me beat the butter. It was merely an excuse to make sure he wouldn't nod off to sleep before I made dinner and it worked. My leftie son gets awkward with handling these things but for once I was not a monster mom last night and encouraged him to beat it in one direction only. The recipe is very simple and we finished the batter in fifteen minutes, right in time for Masterchef Australia to start on TV.
As an aside, everyone at home watches Masterchef Australia, including my MIL and the kids. MIL thinks that one of the judges, George, constantly bounces on the balls of his feet enthusiastically and she's nicknamed him 'uchal-billa' in Urdu. Ha ha! It merely means someone who is fidgety and constantly jumping around in excitement. I think.
Anyways, without further delays, here's the recipe. Every time I think I should take a picture, I think I'll do it later and by then there's nothing left.
Ingredients
200 gms white butter
2 cups maida
3 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 and 1/4 cup sugar (granulated will do)
1/4 cup sugar for caramel
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup water
Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Add the essence. Sieve maida with baking powder and fold into the mixture gently. To make caramel, melt sugar over medium heat until it's a shade darker than golden brown. Immediately pour in the water (it makes a big crackling noise) and swirl the pan quickly before caramel sets at the bottom and pour into the cake batter. Mix evenly and the batter acquires a beautiful toffee brown colour. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.
23 November 2011
Millionaire's Shortbread Bars
It was very quiet in my house last Saturday night. The reason? Both boys were at my mother's and I had the house to myself to make my famed chocolate cake pops for my niece Zoha's birthday party the following day. Unfortunately I couldn't get hold of any cooking chocolate and so I had to nix that plan. I made something I had made on Azhaan's birthday last month - Millionaire's Shortbread Bars.
It's hard to describe these bars without going into raptures because they're so, so good! There's a crunchy shortbread base at the bottom, topped with a layer of dulce de leche (cooked condensed milk) and further topped with melted chocolate.
For small amounts of chocolate, I don't mind using Bourneville Dark Chocolate because it's pretty good and can be used as cooking chocolate as well. So armed with the ingredients, I set out to make these delicious squares which were a great hit the following day at the birthday.
I found the recipe at Joy of Baking and I followed it exactly. I did notice a couple of changes from the first time I made it though. For instance, the dulce de leche was creamier and more evident in this one. The picture in the Joy of Baking website shows the second layer to be almost caramel coloured but I couldn't achieve it.
For the dulce de leche, I cooked the condensed milk in the microwave at a very low power, around 50% for the first four minutes and then reduced to 40% for another 8 minutes. It's important to beat the dulce de leche when you remove it from the microwave so it becomes smooth and creamy. And yes, it's preferable if you cook the shortbread before this step so that the shortbread is cooling while the dulce de leche is cooking. Pour it on the shortbread and spread it immediately or it will begin to harden.
For the layer of chocolate, I simply melted two large bars of Bournville over a double boiler and poured it over the dulce de leche and left it to set for sometime in the fridge. When it was half set I marked lines on the chocolate and then put it back in the fridge. Later that night I removed the shortbread bars and realised I couldn't remove the first piece without causing cracks on the chocolate surface. So I made a narrow line on one of the edges and removed a piece from it so that I had leverage to remove the other squares. And the narrow edge belonged to moi! All the itsy bitsy pieces of chocolate and dulce de leche covered shortbread was MINE. And I ate it all as I cut out the rest and then when I went to sleep that night, I couldn't get any sleep because of a butter and chocolate overload in my system.
It's hard to describe these bars without going into raptures because they're so, so good! There's a crunchy shortbread base at the bottom, topped with a layer of dulce de leche (cooked condensed milk) and further topped with melted chocolate.
For small amounts of chocolate, I don't mind using Bourneville Dark Chocolate because it's pretty good and can be used as cooking chocolate as well. So armed with the ingredients, I set out to make these delicious squares which were a great hit the following day at the birthday.
I found the recipe at Joy of Baking and I followed it exactly. I did notice a couple of changes from the first time I made it though. For instance, the dulce de leche was creamier and more evident in this one. The picture in the Joy of Baking website shows the second layer to be almost caramel coloured but I couldn't achieve it.
For the dulce de leche, I cooked the condensed milk in the microwave at a very low power, around 50% for the first four minutes and then reduced to 40% for another 8 minutes. It's important to beat the dulce de leche when you remove it from the microwave so it becomes smooth and creamy. And yes, it's preferable if you cook the shortbread before this step so that the shortbread is cooling while the dulce de leche is cooking. Pour it on the shortbread and spread it immediately or it will begin to harden.
For the layer of chocolate, I simply melted two large bars of Bournville over a double boiler and poured it over the dulce de leche and left it to set for sometime in the fridge. When it was half set I marked lines on the chocolate and then put it back in the fridge. Later that night I removed the shortbread bars and realised I couldn't remove the first piece without causing cracks on the chocolate surface. So I made a narrow line on one of the edges and removed a piece from it so that I had leverage to remove the other squares. And the narrow edge belonged to moi! All the itsy bitsy pieces of chocolate and dulce de leche covered shortbread was MINE. And I ate it all as I cut out the rest and then when I went to sleep that night, I couldn't get any sleep because of a butter and chocolate overload in my system.
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