Almond Cake with Coffee Butter cream Frosting & Almond Sweet Icing.

Yet again, a special day in our Family. Its Birthday time !!! We celebrated Kesav’s  Birthday yesterday with this Gorgeous Almond Cake. This time too I want to make a special cake for my hubby dear, something completely different from what I have done before. Really, baking a cake and icing it, is an experience in itself.  I wanted to tryout something unique this time..something of my own… so I tried this almond cake with home made almond icing and butter cream frosting. Well, the name icing and frosting is often used interchangbely, there is not much difference. Ok…If you wonder if this is  Operah Cake?. Though this one also has almond as a main ingredient, the method and frosting for an Operah Cake is different. I will try out the Operah cake some othertime.

I would like to call my customized Almond icing on top of cake as Indian flavored Marzipan. It has less stability in making intricate designs, but tastes so much better. The traditional Marzipan is made of Almond flour and raw Egg whites. It has very good stability in making figurines. But we liked the Indian style a bit better.

Ingredients:

For Almond Cake

1. Whole Almonds – 200gms
2. Milk – 2 cups
3. White Flour – 1 1/2 cup
4. Butter – 200gms
5. Sugar – 2 cups
6. Egg – 6
7. Baking Powder – 2 1/2 tsp
8. Vanilla Essence – few drops

Almond Sweet

The recipe for Almond Sweet is here .  Instead of Rose essence, I have added  powdered Cardamom 1/2 tsp to the almond dough.

Coffee Butter Cream Icing

1. Coffee – 2 Tbs
2. Sugar – 100gms
3. Butter – 50 gms

Method:

For Almond Cake

1. Blanch Almonds in hot water for 15 min and remove the skin.

2. Add the blanched almonds in milk in a blender and grind it to a smooth paste.( this yields 2 cups)

3. Add Butter and Sugar in a bowl and beat it with hand mixer.

4. Beat the egg in another bowl and the essence.  Now add the rest of the ingredients slowly one by one by beating it with hand mixer.

5. Preheat the oven to 180 C and bake it for 25 mins at 180 C.

For Butter Cream Icing

1. Add Butter in a bowl and cream it with mixer.

2. Add Sugar to it and mix it well.

3. Add 1 Tbs of hot water to instant coffee and  let it cool.

4. Add this with Sugar and Butter mixture.

Layering the Cake

1. Cut the cake horizontally in to two layers.

2. Fill Coffee butter cream icing in between the layer.

3. Roll the almond sweet dough in to a thin layer with Rolling pin and cover the cake. (Add your favorite colors as you like)

4. Add sugar decorative on top to be more attractive.

]]> http://jiboombaa.com/2011/11/almond-cake-with-almond-sweet-icing-happy-bday-my-dear-hubby/feed/ 3 http://jiboombaa.com/2011/09/sweet-september/ http://jiboombaa.com/2011/09/sweet-september/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:18:05 +0000 Sridevi http://jiboombaa.com/?p=1436

Sunflower from our garden. I was curious to capture a honey bee with the flower. To my surprise there was a bee which visits this flower every day.(not sure though was it a same bee)

September month hosts two important anniversaries in our family. One is our Wedding Anniversary and the next is Riya’s Birthday.  We decided to go to Paris to celebrate this occasion.  A busy capital city filled with full of history, tradition, modern,Fashion and what not. One place which we want to visit every time we are in Paris is the mangificient Eiffel Tower. We made it to the tower on our wedding anniversary. It was amazing to see the whole city view from top of Eiffel Tower.

A Chiffon cake with butter cream icing specially made for Riya and her KG friends.

On Riya’s Birthday, we visited Disneyland Paris. Not only for the children, even for parents it is a great place to spend a day or two. Some of the attractions Riya liked very much were Sleeping Beauty Castle, Big thunder Mountain, Little World and the Parade. The best part is whatever ride was interesting for us we did couple of times, though Riya insisted to go for more time. As the time was running,  we finished with the Parade. For children, how much fun it would be looking at their favorite cartoons dressed up beautifully and to see them in real. Mickey,Minimouse, Winnepooh and team, Disney princesses, Lion King, Mermaid and more. Riya was screaming looking at the characters and indeed was very exited to see them all. At the end of the day she doesnt want to go back home. Hope, it was a great Birthday gift  memorable for years to come.

The cake for feeding 60 people in Riya’s Bday party. Homemade sugar candy’s were turned in to garden and waiting for the final touches. Riya helped me in every layer of  cake.

This time she chose party theme as Tom & Jerry and it  is her recent most favorite Cartoon. The roses where made up of Almond sweets and Marzipan. The characters where made from Butter cream icing.

As usual, this time too Riya had celebrated  three Bdays. One with KG friends, next in Disneyland and the last one with all our friends. This September was a milestone as she turned 6 years old. she left KG and joined Primary school. In Germany it is a  tradition to send children to school with school cones, which is followed for long years. Parents has to fill up the cones with all the favorite things of  child. For Riya ,it was some chocolates,fruits, books, CD’s, toys(:-) it is a big cone). It was great to watch her and her friends carrying the school cones on the first day of school. It is already second week in school and good to see her enjoy this new world too.

Last but not least, the blog writer has been awarded a full time fun. I will very soon start to work in a popular German software company. Lot of good things in this September. Thanks to all your wishes.

I don’t know whether to call this a Fusion, a remake, a Czech recipe, or an experiment transforming into different yummy recipe…Today, I made Kartoffelbrei(Mashed potatoes)  for our dinner. My daughter’s one of the most favorite dish in German cuisine. But after tasting a bit, she said it is not the one she used to enjoy in her KG and refused to finish the remaining. Reason, I made the mashed potatoes in low calorie version using low fat milk without adding butter and cream.

Our recent visit to Czech Republic  inspired me to learn their cuisine. One of those is Potato flatcakes. This traditional dish is prepared with few ingredients like Potatoes, Flour, Salt and Oil and topped with cream, cheese, youghurt and or fruit sauce.

As basic ingredients are same for Mashesd potatoes and Potato Flatcakes, without any delay I started making this cute little patties. For the toppings, I used low fat yoghurt and Jam. Jam used in this recipe were homemade by our dear friends, who are so nice to share specialties made from their garden.  I would like to thank them for sharing the delicious Jam with us.

Over to Recipe…

Ingredients

1. Mashed Potatoes  - 1 cup
2. White flour – 3/4 cup approx
3. Oil for smearing on the flat cakes – few spoons
4. Yoghurt – few spoons for topping
5. Jam – few spoons for topping (Redcurrrant & Blackberry).

Method

1. Add the  mashed potatoes and white flour to make it like a smooth dough until it  is not very sticky.

2. Now roll the dough into small circles. you can also use a cookie cutter to cut in to your favorite shapes.

3. Heat the griddle and place these cakes and cook them on each side for 2 min. Smear few drops of oil on top of them while they are cooking.

4. Now arrange the done flat cakes on the plate and top it with your favorite Jam and yoghurt. Enjoy!!!

Tip: These potato flatcakes can be made little bigger and served with indian curries.

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CHARLES BRIDGE

One of the most famous attractions in Prague city of Czech Republic is Charles Bridge. The bridge tower  is a magnificent building which depicts the typical Gothic architecture. Speciality of this bridge, other than connecting the old city and Prague castle, is the alley of statues running through the bridge.  It was interesting to know that  people who touch  St. John of Nepomuk statue will get good luck and will return to Prague sometime in future. As every statue has a story behind it. You can find more information about each statue here in this links Southside Stautues & Northside Statues .

Tourists visiting Prague city should not miss Charles Bridge. Amazing  place to go for a walk and enjoy the art, music and little souveniour shops on the sides.

Some pictures from Charles Bridge……

Roasted Duck and Sour White & Red Cabbage in old Bohemian style.

Living in Southern Germany it is very easy to visit  neighbour countries with few hours of travel by car. Last Tuesday was my Birthday. Usually on my Birthday my hubby surprises me with presents. But this time it was a different surprise. Yes, he booked a surprise vacation at Prague. I heard of Prague as a beautiful city and I completely agree with what I have seen.

To have real feel of the city and to interact with people, we decided to use public transport to reach the city from our vacation home. Then we had a long walk around the old city. On our way we were amazed by beautiful ancient buildings all around the old city. Majestic Cathedrals, Charles Bridge with beautiful monuments and it is truely a place with lot of history.  Ok, definitely not the least we wanted to also try the traditional food.  We have ordered for Goulash and Bread Dumpling, Steaks.The food was nicely presented, and it was delicious as it looks.

On Tuesday we visited Prague Castle. I liked the Golden lane among all the attractions inside the castle. After a very nice historical site seeing it was lunch time already. We wanted to go for traditional food again. We found this restaurant 2kms away from the castle which was promising to serve typical food which we were looking for. Our menu was Roasted duck with sour white & red cabbage in old Bohemian Style, Dumplings and Goulash with Potato cakes. I have tried Goulash and sour cabbage several times here in Germany but the bread dumplings was interesting to know.  I also came to know from one of the traditional Czech recipe book that some  recipies are common in German and Czech Cuisine.

At the end of our trip we felt happy and nice. Perhaps two days was short time to know about Prague and decided to visit one more time later.

Some Fresh salad with Balsamic dressing.

Goulash, Bread Dumpling & Potato pancakes.

A delicious Beef Steak….

Goulash with Bread Dumpling.( Hubby dear like Goulash very much and we ordered next day too.)

Pancakes topped with sugar & sour cream, Raspberry sauce.

Walnut cake made with honey and topped with chocolate sauce.

Everyone enjoy celebrating Birthday’s. As Pet is also one among the family member, so why not the special day be different and enjoyable.  We celebrated MAX’s Birthday with our family yesterday. Though he can’t realize what it is like, hope he had a feeling that it is not yet another day. He was more pamphered, we wished him and he got  more attention than usual.  Ok!! What would one present to a Birthday baby? definitely the favourite of them. MAX’s most favourite in the world is food. He likes fruits, vegetables, meat, fish. Almost anything which is eatable. Easy for me to make his B’day food. I cooked plain Rice, lentils, and Minced meat curry. One of his favorite veggie is Carrot, so i took some shredded carrots, some scooby snacks and finally, food was arranged in a plate.

We sang Happy Birthday song for him in the evening and he enjoyed his yummy rice cake with meat and veggie.

Today when i was watching TV, I came across a link which was very interesting for those who have pets.  Toutou Bar in Brussels, is a Dog’s restaurant serving food with a excellent presentation accompanied by red dog Beer. What a fun filled luxury place for them to enjoy!!! 

This is the food, specially made for him on his birthday, yesterday.

Panacotta is an Italian “melt-in-mouth” Dessert. The ingredients are simple but the dessert is so rich and can be made in whatever flavors you like them. One of our favorite dessert these days. Last week my daughter asked to prepare for her again. But I wanted to do it and surprise her on Mother’s Day.

I know that Riya has been making presents for me over last week in her KG.  She wanted to keep everything as a surprise to me until today morning.  Additionally, Whenever she gets a paper in hand, she was drawing and coloring lot’s of heartin and gifting me. Today was wonderful for me . I felt like as if my B’day is celebrated one more time with lots of love, fun and hand made presents.

I am lucky to get all these presents from Riya. They are looking  lovely.

One more cup of Panacotta…

Ingredients:

1. Fresh Cream( Whipping cream) – 300 ml
2. Milk – 200 ml
3. Gelatin – 10 gm ( Powdered or Gelatin sheets)
4. Sugar – 80 gm
5. Flavors – few drops ( I have added Strawberry Essense, the color the flavor was together)
6. Color – favourite food color, little

Method:

1.  Add gelatin in a bowl and add little water to soak it. Leave it for 5 minutes.

2. Heat the fresh cream and milk  in another utensil and  add sugar. let it for 5 min in medium flame.

3. Now add the gelatin and mix it well . You can see the gelatin getting dissolved in the milk.

4. Add flavoring and color as per your wish  and switch of the stove. At this point this mixture can be separated in to portions for adding different colors and flavors.

5. Finally pour this mixture in a bowl and leave it the refridgerator overnight.

Note: After pouring the cream milk mixture in to the bowl, I have added few drops of essence and made like swirls which gave me a marble pattern effect . I drew other designs as well when the mixture is still liquid. After Refridgerating it , the outlines were drawn.

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Wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day.

March 19th 2011 was a historic and special day for few reasons. Holi festival, Supermoon and a cool mocktail. Holi is a religious Hindu festival celebrated on the last full moon day during feb and March. During this day people share their happiness by spraying different colors on friends,family and neighbours. For Riya, it was her first time in preparing mocktail all by herself. All decorations were her own ideas. This mocktail is a mix of apple juice and water. I was slicing some mango pieces for dinner, and then she asked me one for her to taste. But after few minutes, when she showed me the final product , it was really cool. I can already see that she started showing lot of interest in my area.

While this was going on, we were all excited to watch the Supermoon in sky. It was amazing to watch the beautiful bright moon.Supermoon is our own moon, but on this special day, it came closer to earth in its elliptical orbit. It is also called lunar perigee.  Though the moon was bigger, it was unable to differentiate with naked eye. Lasttime it happened 18 years ago.

Bright Supermoon.

A Closer view of  Supermoon…

Supermoon view from our city…

Ha ha!. One of my long awaited recipes in my list and finally, its time to be out during this Carnival Season. During February and March Carnival is celebrated in Europe. Berliner is the most popular theme food during Carnival Season. Neverthless, it has its unique place in every bakery and it is a common selling thing. Like Bretzel, Berliner is a favorite of  many children.  Berliner is a soft , puffy fried doughnut, filled with Jam or Jelly. It is also called Krapfen or Pfannkuchen (pancakes) and has different names in other parts of Germany.

 Until few months before, I was not aware that this is a fried bread because, it is so soft and spongy and one can not find any traces of oil in it . The most interesting part of the bread is the stuffed jam. Every time I tasted the Berliner, I liked the soft jelly jam in it. I was wondering what was the jam inside as it always reminded me of the “Kissan mixed fruit jam” from India. One fine day, I asked the baker near by, it was revealed to me that it is Himbeere Johannisbeer Gelee(Raspberry and Redcurrant Jelly). The next 5th minute, I got that from supermarket . The procedure is to make bread dough into small balls and allow them to rest till it gets double the size. Once it got that consistency, its fried in the oil on both sides. An important note is that the oil in pan should be just enough to fry only one half of the doughnut. This leaves an yellow ring in the middle, which looks nice. The doughnut floats on top of oil when it is being cooked. Also it doesnt need that much oil like poori or so.  Heat should be kept low as it turns dark when overheated.  After which small amount of jam or jelly is squirted inside the bread using a filler. Finally some powdered sugar is sifted on top of it. Though it is special in carnival season, it is available throughout the year in Bakery.

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour – 4 cups
2. Egg – 2
3. Butter – 50gms at room temparature
4. Sugar – 1/2 cup
5. Milk - 1 /2 cup , lukewarm
6. Yeast – 25 gms (dry yeast)
7. Powdered sugar for sifting on top of bread
8. Jelly or jam to stuff the bread
9. flour for dusting
10. Oil – 1/2 ltr

Method:

1.  Mix flour, eggs, butter, sugar, yeast and add the milk slowly and combine this mixture with the spatula in to smooth dough consistency and knead it.

2. Allow it to sit in a warm place until it raises its volume .

3. Now again knead the dough and make in to small balls of 12 to 15 numbers. Place the balls on well flour dusted kitchen towel or baking sheet or non stick plate.

4. Cover it with a kitchen towel and allow it to raise to double its size.

5. Bring the oil to heat and the oil should not go to high heat at any point.

6.Carefully lift the berliner balls using a flat spatulla and place it in oil. Allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes on both sides.

7. Remove from oil and place it in paper towel. Now carefully squirt about 2 tbs of  jelly on the side of the bread.

8. Finally sift the powdered sugar and enjoy.

I was surprised by the fact that 5 year old knows already about Valentines day. Riya say’s that it is a heartin day and everyone  should wish their loved ones with greeting card.  She did wish her Dad and me. She also made a greeting card already and sent to her dear friend. She is supposed to wear a pink or red dress to KG as a theme for celebration.

I am sure that so many hearts around the world is dreaming and waiting for this special day to wish their loved ones. Some may be waiting to express their first love. Red roses , Chocolates, greeting cards, customized presents are going to have a good sale. Great day for these Businesses.

Here goes the recipe of this Beautiful Choco Banana cake…

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour – 1 1/2 cup
2. Banana – 2(large ones or 1 1/2 cup mashed)
3. Sugar – 1 Cup
4. Cocoa – 2 Tbs
5. Oil – 1/2 cup ( Sunflower or Canola oil)
6. Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp
7. Baking Powder – 1 tsp
8. Egg – 1

Chocolate Ganache

1. Dark chocolate – 100 gms
2. Whipping Cream – 50 ml.

Method:

1.  Beat the egg, and add all the other ingredients one be by continue mixing it.

2. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and pour this mixture in the bake tin and bake for 30- 40 min at 170 deg C.

3. Allow the cake  to cool down completely.

4.  For Choco Ganache, bring the  whipping cream to a boil  and add the Chopped chocolate .

5. Continue stirring till the chocolate melts and switch off  the heat.

6. Let the Ganache cool down for 10 – 15 min. (Let it sit in the fridge for 5-10 min)

7.  Now spread ganache on cake and let it sit in the fridge for 15 minutes.

8. Later,decorate the cake  with chocolate shavings and pipe the left over Ganache on the plate.

I wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day.

                 The food in India has different colors too!!. In North India, people like to have wheat based main food. Whereas in south India,  Rice is their main food. Every state and city has unique food, it is because they use the ingredients which is available locally. Every religion has its own special food associated and every family will have their own variation in recipes.( But Indian cooking is not as complicated as it is looks or feels,  because of vast recipes)

Though the food in India is varied among the state, one food which everyone likes in common and popular all over India is DOSA.  Dosa is rich in Carbohydrates and protein. It is considered as easy to make comfort food  in South India. The natural fermentation makes it special and one has to wait atleast 15 hours to get the batter ready. But once it is ready it can be saved in refridgerator for a week or so. Vegetable Dosa is  a slight variation from the traditional Dosa. However different toppings can be added on top of Dosa.

The Recipe….

Ingredients:

1.  Parboiled rice – 2 cups ( Idli Rice)
2. Raw Rice – 2 cups
3. Urad dhal – 1 cup
4. Fenugreek seeds – 1 tbs
5. Oil – few spoons of oil
6. Vegetables- grated carrots and any vegetable finely chopped and sauted
7. Salt – as per taste

Method:

1. Soak rice together in water and let it soak for 2-3 hours.

2. Soak Urad dhal and Fenugreek for 2 hours.

3. Grind it separately in a grinder or a mixer.

4. Add salt and ferment it for overnight . It the room temp is low , let the batter sit in the warm oven till it gets fermented. Make sure that oven is switched off when the batter is inside. It lets the bacteria to ferment the batter.

5. Heat a Non stick pan and pour the batter and spread it in a circular motion. Add 1 spoon of oil over the edges . If Dosa is very thick turn it over and cook again.

6. Cook for 2-3 minutes on one side. Sprinkle some vegetables and it is ready to go with Chutneys and Sambhar.

Note: For making Dosa, particular type of parboiled rice is used. It is called as Idli Rice or Dosa Rice and it will be available in Indian grocery stores.