Happy Birthday Muskaan Fondant Doraemon Cake

 Happy Birthday!                            
 May you live all the days of your life.- Jonathan Swift


Birthdays are the most special days of a little girls life.
New dresses,of course PINK!
New toys and many many gifts..
This cake was one of them.
Doraemon!

What the cause of the fascination for this cat/robot /whatever is I know not. We, here in India get to this Japanese anime ,dubbed , in Hindi...with the owner Nobita crying crocodile tears through half tehs how. Yup...being prompted and given scathing looks by sweet child!
This past week has been extremely social...second birthday ...even though teh presents for both the girls were ..of course pink little shooulder bags.....the cakes could not have been the same.

I thought all the kids would be happy. Aww...I was so wrong...there was pandemonium, that let me to ponder that I would have been better off mass producing these fondant Doraemons.
The birthday girl...in all her pink glory was happy, but the envy of  all the kids...they all wanted Doraemon-not in parts mind you they wanted the whole Doraemon. So before there was a riot of tears and tantrums ,Doraemon was kidnapped and hidden!
And Declared un-edible...could'nt have been more untrue!
Every little bit of this Doraemon was EDIBLE!
But what could poor mums have done!

It all started with the vanilla egg less Sponge cake.The same one I made for Purse Cake for Vanisha. Double the Quantity of the recipe in the same size tins. So one was a regular 9inch cake weighing about 2 pounds and the second one is a thin cake of the same size.
Stacked together and layerded with butter cream frosting...
Find the recipe for the eggless sponge here.

The first layer,slightly moistened with warm milk.

Layer of buttercream frosting.

Layer two, frosted and then a bit of shock...red ...Strawberry sauce straight from the Hershey's bottle.

Layer number three...three pounds in all...not counting the weight of the buttercream!

Now, covered on all sides...SMOOTH.

Covered with fondant.And piped with the left over frosting...and the piece de resistance!DORAEMON!

Aha...the moment of truth!The other two girls had their eyes on the Doraemon!

And that is me...

I find that the more time we spend together...the more the friendships grow!

Birthdays are just excuses...

Happy Birthday Muskaan...
I hope you loved the cake ....
God Bless you!


So what are you baking today???

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How to make a Fondant Doraemon

Helloooo Doraemon...

I've got a new avatar ...I've become the cake lady!

Cant help it...I just love doing all this.

Sadly ,I have only one child...some where, I have to compensate...

So I bake...
Now this stuff is even more interesting!
Even better than the cake...at the end of the day the flavor of the cake does not matter...its all in the looks,baby!
And don't miss the smile!

All starts with small balls of blue and white fondant.....and two tic tacs.
The pictures are instruction enough....so I'll refrain from my banter!
And a few tooth picks and black and red food colour.
I don't have fondant glue...so water had to do.

The tummy...shaped with my fingers and stuck with water.

Like so...

Small white balls ..

For the feet.Again stuck with water...

The pick through the centre...to ensure that the head does not topple over.The hands...and the bell...It looked like a strap on dress for now...rectified it soon though...

I wanted a round for the face...so mini cookie cutter

Flattened out and stuck with water.

Tic tacs for eyes...

That's the black food colour...brushes wont do here...

So whiskers and tummy and eyes were dabbed on with a toothpick.

Its never complete without a smile...food colour to the rescue again!Red Fondant would have been apt...but I did not have red...so this is orange red food colour.

From strapless dress to a ribbon...so appropriate for a bell and a cat...Is Doraemon a cat or what?

Sweet Child was Thrilled...he only let this be a cake topper with the promise that I make it again...and right ...with red and gloved hands!
For you babe...will do,any time!
This cake was for ova avoiding friend Ritu Sharma's daughter Muskaan... BTW her name means Smile.
There were many of those when she saw the cake.

Wow,Mission Accomplished!
To follow...the next post will be ... the steps on how to make the cake!

Till then,Spread the joy!

So what are you baking today???

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Daring Bakers Challenge -April Armenian Nutmeg Cake

I did it, I did it...I finally did it.

The daring bakers Challenge for April was an different looking and new cake....I had checked the recipe and downloaded it, just didn't get around to making it...till the last minute.

Well ,the day before the blog post was due.

And I'm happy I made the effort.

Actually ,it was hardly an effort at all.

Armenian Nutmeg Cake....In all my cookbooks and cake books, there is no mention of a technique like this.

I was super sceptical,but I am glad I tried it.

The flavour is awesome...nutmeg and butter make for an interesting combination!

Somewhere the crust merged with the cake...almost like water colours....you don't know where one ends and where the other begins.

yum yum yum!

The pictures don't do justice to the cake....my only excuse,I'm pressed for time.... and how.Today, right now ,as I post, I've got a fancy schmancy lunch of Aloo Tikkis and Papri Chaat on the menu...by demand of hubby dear and sweet child ,who are sick of eating normal lunches...a birthday cake to frost and this blog post to type.So today we recreate this and add the papri chaat.

Crazy huh??

You don't know crazy till you've spent some time in my house.

Sometimes the kitchen seems to be my sanctuary.

Tell me ,do you face such dilemmas too??

Without further ado lets get on with the daring bakers challenge for April.

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.

for the

Daring Bakers Challenge -April The Armenian Nutmeg Cake....

you need

1 cup cold milk

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 cups brown sugar(I used jaggery-gur )

3/4 cup/170 gm butter cut into cubes

1/2 cup walnuts(never to be found in my house...substituted with almonds)

1 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg...fresh

1 large egg

All this sugar has been making me akin to the pimply monster,so I decided to half this cake and make it a small cake. Sceptical remember? Didn't know how sweet child et al would react to the flavour of nutmeg.

Everything was half, I only used the tiniest egg -laid by a hen...relax I could find, Its surprisingly easy to get small eggs if you pay the same amount of money!

And finally,I used the smallest of the springform tins...

A word of advice...Grease and flour the tin.

I did not,, and the cake was a little tricky to remove.

Lets start...Oven on at 180C/350F.

To the milk,add the bicarbonate of soda and set aside.

In another bowl, take the brown sugar-in my case the grated jaggery-gur...which was a little less than 1 cup(...to which I added 2 tsp granulated sugar),sift in the flour and baking powder and add the butter cubes.

With a pastry cutter- in my case my own two hands..blend this all together to resemble bread crumbs. At this time sweet child entered and sampled my wares....he was intrigued. New flavour profile here mum...he stated!

Divide this in half and press one half into the bottom of the tin with the help of your hands.

Now for the nutmeg...fresh from Kerala,which hubby dear bought for me...with a ton of other organic spices..as a gift....believe it!Broken out of its shell!

In a bowl ,mix the tiny egg and the grated nutmeg.

And when whisked well add the milk mix.

Add to this the leftover crumb mix and whisk till most of the stuff dissolves. the batter will be thin. So no worries...Poured over .

Now we sprinkle the nuts...walnuts would have been great...but here ,almonds rule!

Into the oven for about 45-55 minutes

It could have done with 5 minutes less, but the flavour was richer and toastier...so no regrets.

The only thing we knew about Armenia was Mother Teresa...See baking improves your education!

Moist ,delicate and sublime...the dominant flavour of the jaggery/gur was lost...what emerged was AMAZING!Thank you Jason from Daily Candor for this new flavor Profile ...in the wise words of sweet child!

Worth trying out!

Now to get back to lunch!

So what are you baking today???

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Purse Cake -Happy Birthday Vanisha

Birthdays for little girls are such fun...

All pink and only pink if you please...

So much fuss...my dress is better or pinker...I just don't understand the fascination with the colour pink!

Sweet Child was never fascinated with colours ...only characters.

We lived through the Spider man obsession...there was Ben 10 once and Harry Potter too...

Now we know not what it is called!

So we look for substitutions!
This little lady is Vanisha...the one with the smug smile and pink collar.
She chatters nineteen to the dozen and is a HAPPY child.Friend Rashi Thapa's wonderfully vivacious and vibrant daughter.
All Sunshine!

The Birthday gift was a pink purse, full of white hearts...So the purse.
Yellow...well because she is a happy , truly sunny girl.
ERGO!

Me, I've been busy...hubby dear being at home is fun...but enough to drive a sane person crazy..
Suddenly I realise,why men never grow old.They transfer their love and affections to the new woman in their lives....
The wife becomes the new mom!
Driven, I've been!
This cake was frosted ,fondant"ed" and decorated in less than an hour.

May not be too neat , but the love was all there.
The frosting under the fondant was butter cream,and because Ranchi is already sweltering, it looks a lot liquid than it was. The piping did not set ...I was rushed for time and Vanisha and her friends waited.
You don't need fondant to make this cake...
It can be made without.

for the

Purse Cake -Happy Birthday Vanisha...

you need

2 egg less sponge cakes
2 cups butter cream icing
Fondant
cutters and piping bags



The cake was egg less, the recipe of the cake for the Egg less Tiramisu made here.  Only since I wanted to shape the cakes, I doubled the recipe and baked them in a 9 inch round tin and a 5 inch round tin. In local parlance...a 2 pound tin and a 1 pound tin.
The two sponges...

The big one, split and filled with the butter cream frosting...
Butter cream frosting...whip together
1 cup butter
4 cups icing sugar
2 tsp milk/orange juice
Gives about 3 cups. I made half this recipe for this cake.

The second one...smaller one I cut in half and set to make a semicircle bag ,the grooves on the cakes are from the wire racks...on which I left the cakes to cool.

Sliced through the centre.

Only to be filled with butter cream and joined .

That was the handle of the bag,the picks are to insert into the cake because the handle will not stand without support.This was left to dry ...oh two hours...It needed more though!

Frosted with the butter cream and chilled, then covered with fondant. The clasp and cut outs of the heart were to make this cake look like her actual gift.

The two pound cake, frosted and covered with yellow fondant. Margarette Daisy cut outs,topped with pink butter cream.

The handle of the bag,propped up with picks.

Happiness....

Lets all pitch in!

Yup ,sweet child...
The kids all had a gala time...but the adults needed a couple of Asprin...how much the kids can scream...you'll know when you live through that!

Some kids missing here...but by now the Li'l ones were sick of each other.
These are all times to celebrate...children and friendships.

So what are you baking today???

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