Rainbow Cake-Eggless and Microwaved

Colour therapy in all its glory...

Colour therapy to its best!

One time when grown women got so excited and almost desperate to see the colour pattern inside the cake that they couldn't wait even 10 minutes to let it cool...

One time when a destroyed cake top didn't faze anyone...

One time when the taste was secondary...Totally!

That's what colours do to you...

Make you HAPPY!

I did not want to bake it in a convection oven…who heard of a brown tinged rainbow….I only heard of a pot of gold at the bottom of the rainbow. Not an ugly brownish line…so microwave it had to be!

There was sooo much excitement in the kitchen while we were preparing the batter for the cake…

There were so many great things about this recipe-no eggs, microwave, no condensed milk, and so many colours.

That’s why it’s so much fun baking-even the simplest of things causes your happiness quotient to sky rocket.

I sweet talked my friend Kanchan into baking with me, only because sweet child o'mine had been over loaded with the good food…

It was me, Kanchan, her daughter, her mother in law and the maid and the maid's baby…all getting super excited at the same time. (So many happy hearts in a small kitchen…wow!)

This is a recipe adapted from one of Nita Mehta’s recipes…..with lots of changes and experiments. The kitchen was almost like a chemistry lab, with fingers crossed ,praying that the changes let the cake rise and not make me fall flat on my face.

Without further ado-

For the

Rainbow Cake-Eggless and Microwaved…

You need

2 ½ cups/400 Gms plain flour

1 ¼ cups/200 Gms caster sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda

6 tbsp sour yogurt (at room temperature)

¾ cup/150 Gms melted and cooled butter

1 ½ tsp vanilla essence

1 ½ cups/350 mils milk at room temperature

2 tsp vinegar

¼ tsp liquid food colour-6 colours

¼ tsp salt

Start with the flour, the salt, the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda-sift them twice and set aside.

Grease and flour a round baking dish suitable for a microwave.

Put the yogurt and sugar in a large bowl .We ground the sugar to a fine powder to make blending easier.

Now add the melted butter.Blend well with a hand held whisk. Add the vanilla.

Mix the flour mixture and the milk alternately till all is used up. Lastly add the vinegar.

Keep 5 bowls at the ready, and put the liquid food colour in the bowls. Be generous-whoever saw and loved a pale rainbow?

Now place almost 2-3 ladles full of batter in each bowl, the remaining batter can be coloured with the sixth colour.

I made violet by mixing blue and raspberry red.Ensure the colour is well blended.

One colour at a time, pour the batter into the center of the dish.

The next colour into the center of 6the batter previously poured in. The heat will deliver all the colours like a rainbow…

That’s the last…..

All the glory..the white you see is the buttered and floured dish.

Now 80% power in your microwave with a glass of water for company….

Go for 14-16 minutes. This was midway…you’ll know it’s done when the cake leaves the sides.

Out…and I wish we had had the patience…of the top tore off, showing us the colours in all their glory…

Spongy, like never before.

That’s a happy face-colour does that to you!

That was my pot of gold. Now if only sweet child o’mine expressed a fraction of happiness at the sight of all this colours…his only reaction…”it tasted good…I didn’t see the colour”

You’ll never try another rainbow cake after this.This I can promise you!So call it Rainbow - Cake from baketitude!

Make every one around you gasp in pleasure...go ahead get out the food colours-VIBGYOR! Go Rainbow!

So what are you baking today???

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Rainbow Coloured Sugar Crystals

Rainbows are ALL things pretty!
even if I am 1 colour short...

What am I going to use these for...
Don't Know yet...
Ever since sweet little sister o'mine has mentioned coloured sugar...I've been wanting to do this.
Whether I do this on cakes or on cookies or maybe I'll buy pretty jars and place them full of colours on my window sill.
Happiness and Joy!
Colour therapy Full on!

As I was taking the pictures ,Romeo the dog came to have a look.He was wondering what the fuss was all about....couldn't comprehend my gurgles of laughter.

What I did??
Just used zip lock pouches and some normal sugar that is available,added a few drops of colour and mixed it all well.Laid it out to dry in God's fresh air....not in direct sunlight and Voila!

So what are you baking today????
Coming up...
Rainbow Cake...only on POPULAR demand...

its EGG LESS!
Hey Jiya ,Ritu...
Listening???

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Red Velvet Cup Cakes-Microwaved

Finally!

The operating word seems to be ,Finally!

Nice Na??No frosting this time!

I had been instrumental in hosting a "do" for about 85 ladies,all very pretty,with pretty discerning palettes all.And all the food was from baketitude...

Save this last one....and after making 180 cup cakes....making another batch seemed to be a DAUNTING prospect.The "Mess Maker" was piling all sorts of emotional baggage on me...."You can do it for the ladies...but not for your only child!"

It had to be EASY,this time round,it had to be zap"pable"...wanted to be like Sabrina...The Teenage Witch-Not Hilda or Zelda....I'm not that old ,puhleese!!!!!!!

See the little bite sized red jewels...

Ruby Red...only thing missing is the setting in maybe platinum.

Yes...that's Buddha No.3!

BTW ,the guy who cleans and dusts all the brass and crystal I have outside ,calls Buddha ."Buddhi Baba-बुद्धि बाबा"...as if we need any more "Buddhi"or Intelligence to get us by!
Close up view!
Pretty!
Pretty Tempting too!
This is an adaptation of the Red Velvet Cup Cakes recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine.

for the
Red Velvet Cup Cakes-Microwaved...

you need

250 gms flour
175 gms caster sugar
2 tspns red food colouring
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp baking soda /bicarbonate of soda
1  1/4 tsp baking powder(skip if you use cake flour)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
115 gms of butter
2 eggs
1 cup 240 (mils) cold milk

Lets start with the milk.
In a glass,pour half the vinegar and then pour in the milk and the food colouring.Mix to get this pretty colour, and set aside.

That's the butter -softened ,add to this the sugar and then beat well.Cream,well and add the eggs one by one...

Beat in the eggs one at a time...egg in....one hand ,admit it,impressed aren't you??

Whip it all together.

Sift the flour the baking powder and the salt with the cocoa powder twice.Now alternately add the flour and the milk mix in three batches.

The batter should be a little more liquidy than the normal cake batter.Microwaves need a little more liquid.
Don't panic if the butter looks split.Here ,the heat will bring it all together.

Now for the fizz!
That was the remaining vinegar to which you need to add the bicarbonate of soda.......when it is fizzing add it to the batter.Make sure you leave no lumps of the soda.Gently stir it into the batter.Couldn't photograph and mix the batter at the same time.so....

The batter spooned into cups.Don't add more than half the cup...your batter will over flow"eth"...the love of the cup cake will make the cup soggy....my first batch was like that.So wiser in the second batch!Age does bring wisdom...never deny that.
One recipe will give you about 25 cup cakes and if you go mini...like sweet little sister of mine,,,,you'll get about 60.

OK,in the microwave,70% power. If you are blessed with good voltage...or do not know what high or low voltage means,be sure to keep a cup of water with your cup cakes.That will ensure that your cup cakes do not dry out.
7-8 minutes.You need to bring them out when a pick comes clean ,but the surface looks kind of wet.
As they cool they cook even more.You don't want dry hard discs of cake....so take care.

Peace offering!Chrysanthemums are in bloom here.

little hearts beating in sync with each other!....love ..what it does to you?

Well hello!Let your kids help...its worth it,even if they make a mess.My babe loves to lick the batter of the bowl...so its always one cake sushi for him!

So what are you baking today????

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Cauliflower Manchurian...Gobi Manchurian

Hello all

Back again…

Busy is hardly an excuse ,but I was so busy that I did not know what was going on in my kitchen, and in my absence sweet child of mine feasted on maggi noodles and more maggi noodles and then some more.

Now that the scene is calmer, he’s decided that it is really un-cool to miss the mother or express any sign of affection. After all, he is going to be twelve next month. Right now the book that is influencing him is “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, so the confusion of choosing between Roderick and Greg Hefley as role models.

Decisions, decisions!!

How difficult is life?

In this entire tussle, I realized that I miss my mommy too….and I miss the taste of home…..so therefore Inspirations….

Truth be told, I miss the home delivery to my parents home.        

There is this little joint, not in the wall, but in a Minivan. Yup, the engine is there, the insides have been removed to accommodate a kitchen and the service is done on the roadside through a ginormous window in the Minivan.

It’s called RAJA CHINESE BTW.

He makes this awesome Manchurian, loaded with msg (ajino moto) and road side dust and pollutants from the cars that ply the road.

But I guess that’s why its so addictive.

Gobi Manchurian (Gobi=Cauliflower) was what I was craving, so that was dinner last night.

Before we move on to the red velvet cookies…

For the

Cauliflower Manchurian...Gobi Manchurian...

You need

1 head cauliflower

1 big onion chopped

1 tsp each finely chopped ginger and garlic

2-3 green chilies chopped

½ tomato chopped

1 stalk lemon grass (optional)

Salt, red chili flakes and pepper to taste

½ cup each corn flour and plain flour

1/3 cup tomato ketchup

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp ajino moto /msg

2-3 tsp red chili sauce/green chili sauce (optional)

1 tsp vinegar

1 cup chopped fresh coriander

Oil to deep fry

Wash and cut the cauliflower into florets.

Put them in a bowl with a few teaspoons of water and cover with cling film. Zap in the microwave for 3 minutes.

Remove them from the bowl and drain on a kitchen towel.

In the meanwhile, place a pan on the heat, and add 1 tsp oil to it. When it is hot add the onions and the chopped ginger and garlic.

This lemon grass is from my garden,and hubby dear is not very enthusiastic about it.So I use only this.Let this cook and remove it before the family can see or taste it.

Fry till the onion is translucent,add the green chillies

Add the salt and the red chili flakes and pepper.

Now add the tomato and a third of the coriander.

Mix the sauces with the liquid left after cooking the cauliflower.

Add to the pan and stir well.Add the msg and the lemon grass stalk to let the flavour steep in.Check the seasoning now too. Keep aside and put the oil on to heat for the fritters.

Mix the corn flour and the plain flour, and season it with salt pepper and the red chili flakes.

 I have a bottle of Chinese seasoning powder that contains sesame seeds and celery powder, so I dunked a bit of that in too. Mix with water to a thinish batter.

Dip the florets into the batter and drop them into the hot oil.4- 5 florets at a time, you don’t want to cool the oil. Remember, you are not looking to cook the cauliflower, mushy will be bad….the crunch is what is needed.

Prefer to do all this when there is no one around, otherwise the fritters for the dish end up in tummies and not in the sauce…..the sauce is left JILTED…..at the altar of its life.

That's what remains of the batter.

Heat the sauce again and add a little of the batter. Little, you don’t want a gluggy mess. The sauce should be glossy as your Lipper….spicy kisses are good too. Good way to introduce flavors to your little ones too. LOLZ

To this add the fritters and mix well.

More of the coriander, mix, mix and pour into a bowl, and eat while it’s still warm.

This one takes offence at being reheated.I removed the lemon grass stalk.

Chopsticks…wow!

Only can’t use them well, these are just for tashan! Just for show!

Made for dinner, this was, only it didn’t last that long.

Ode to Raja Chinese. I’m sure you have one in your neighborhood that you are just addicted to….

So what are you baking today???

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