Chocolate Cake-Trader Joe's style

Chocolate Cake...the ultimate.A slice of good Chocolate Cake with a glass  of cold milk....where does that figure??
Up there with my favourites.And if the recipe is a long kept secret?Couldn't be any better.Now that I've discovered that we have traces of blue blood running through our veins-According to sweet child o'mine-"Thank god we are not from the Chandravanshi Clans".(He's hooked to the Mytho-thrillers "The Immortals of Meluha" and "The secrets of the Nagas"..eagerly awaiting the third part of the trilogy.)
I wish I could say that this recipe is a long kept secret from the culinary bedrock of our family tree...No I cannot.We do have  some secrets,but they are not to do with cakes.This cake is a secret...brought out from  deep down ...from the back of a Trader Joe's cocoa powder pack!

My god I feel so light ,now that the secret is finally out of the bag.
I can recall an episode of friends where Monica frantically searches for the  recipe of chocolate chip cookies that Phoebe's grandma used to make,which had been lost due to her death....and then they realised that it came from the back of a chocolate chip bag!
I don't take full claim to being the drama queen.

So that title is  up for grabs now...

To FROST or not to FROST...that's the question...

luckily I made two...rather divided the batter into two pans.
That was easy!
One frosted and one not frosted.
here goes....



for the
Chocolate Cake-Trader Joe's style...
you need

5 eggs
12 oz or 340 mils oil or you can use butter
680 gms  or 3 cups sugar
175 gms cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
600 mils 0r 3 cups yogurt
3 1/2 cups or 425 gms flour
1 tsp vanilla essence

Before you begin this exercise in self restraint(sic),Switch on the oven at 180C or 350 F.

The eggs....look like butterflies...well the yolks broke...no harm in letting your imagination run wild.Almost like cloaks behind a "sunny" Count Dracula.
I could have used the beater,but I was following instructions-the recipe says mix every thing in one go.A piece of advice....beat the liquids first,its takes less effort to do the final mixing.

To this add the yogurt,3 cups full.If by chance you want to halve the recipe,reduce the yogurt by 2 tablespoons and add one egg.To this ratio now divide by 2.It is difficult to divide 5 eggs by 2 so this way you get a dividable recipe.

That's the sugar....

Now the flour ,to which the baking soda and salt has been added.It was all sifted on a sheet of news paper and the put into this bowl.So the moral of the story..SIFT.

Into this add the cocoa,my container of Trader Joe's Unsweetened Cocoa is long gone,so I used Cadbury's.Use whatever brand,just ensure that it is unsweetened.

To this add the 340 mils of vegetable oil and the vanilla.And now the dirty work.But some one's got to do it....The blending used a lot of muscle power.

These are the two tins,oiled and floured,waiting with their jaws wide open.BTW,if you've seen Peter Jacksons' KING KONG....how did the dinosaur die?When Kong pulled his jaws apart....logic???Picture this....

Now the thick and gluey batter ,evenly divided,and levelled.

The frosting getting ready....for the yummilicious frosting....click on http://baketitude.blogspot.com/2011/10/just-desserts-easy-chocolate-fudge.html
and get elevated.

The cake no.1 split in the middle,I poured a little milk to make it moist"er"...totally not needed.....

Centre slathered with the frosting.
Also at http://baketitude.blogspot.com/2011/10/just-desserts-easy-chocolate-fudge.html

That was cake no.2...I thought I'll make some pattern ,but sweet child o'mine came and cut slices out of it before I could say BOO!.

See the texture....and like fine wine this cake improves with age.Don't put it in a time capsule...your descendents wont thank you for it.

So that was plain Chocolate Cake-Trader Joe's style...best had with a glass of cold milk.Manna from heaven.

Yup,the flowers were pretty...so I thought I'd share them with you also.
I'm probably the only idiot who bakes a cake for her own birthday...Hubby dear couldn't have gone into all that trouble of buying a cake,so I had to cut a Huge bar of chocolate with a tea light balanced on it.
And the chocolate was divided into ...you guessed it TWO!One for each of the boys...trying to lighten my exercise schedule.
Men!
And then they ask why??

Well I'll change the question...


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JUST DESSERTS-Easy Chocolate Fudge Sauce

Heavenly .....

A bit of frosting or sauce can elevate a dish to another level.

This is one sauce just made for that feeling of elation...almost as if you are standing at the pearly gates of heaven.

And I made it quite by accident when I was all of 13,young and ready to  try anything crazy in the kitchen-provided mum was not looking.Well the confession....even if my mum had blinders ,God certainly didn't.He watched and took note of all the shenanigans I got myself into...

I see a repeat performance daily....Every day....all redone by sweet child o'mine...though I wonder about the nomenclature,and how many days should it stay with him.

This is also called JUST DESSERTS.

The frosting on the cake...

Finger licking good!

In India ,they say ,that when you lick food off the pan or bowl or whatever container it was made in,it will surely rain on your wedding day.

I got married in May,hot ,hot ,hot and hot.

But it rained the night before my wedding....cats and dogs!

Thank god we were spared on the wedding day...God must have got the dates wrong.

BTW,I got a couple of mails asking me to be a bit Amrikan err American with the measurements.I am trying with the oz and all that.....kindly bear with me,any corrections ,do let me know.

Enough said,lets make this ...

JUST DESSERTS...

with JUST

50 gms or a wee bit less than 2 oz butter( salted or unsalted)

40 gms or 2 1/2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

100 gms cooking chocolate

1 tsp cornstarch

240 mils or 8 oz boiling water

50 gms or 3 tbsp sugar

Start with a pan on the stove and add the butter to melt it.

Before it burns,add in the cocoa and stir QUICKLY.

That's the cocoa basking in the warmth of the butter.
Don't let it burn ,or you'll get a bitter aftertaste.

Into this add the boiling water and stir,Vigorously.You'll end up with lumps in the sauce.
The Cooking Chocolate was 100 gms but somewhere between the fridge and the kitchen stove ,the chocolate fairies ate up a bit.No Loss to the sauce .....

When you drop it into the sauce it will melt and mingle with the sauce.

see,melting!

Now ,add in the sugar,and stir to mix.Taste at this point and adjust the flavour...as in add more sugar if you need to.
That's the cornstarch.Make slurry by adding some water,If you like decadence,skip the starch and add cream.But at the end of the day you WILL ask yourself...Was IT worth it?

Add the slurry and stir continuously to get a glossy sauce.

You don't need to do much ....that's the sauce,use it as you will.

I spread it on my chocolate cake.

After a while....this is what happened to it.

Accidents are fun at times,no wonder surf excel says Daag Acche Hain.....because when your kids make this  or eat this you will need the surf.
Lever Bosses,you listening???


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Pumpkin Pie Spice Bread

Too much pumpkin???Already??

Never!!

Think of the fibre and the beta carotene and the fact that it is almost 90% water.....I can go on and on about the much maligned Pumpkin.

The much maligned pumpkin is actually comfort food for many,warm and satisfying and filling.The knowledge that you have fed yourself something yummy which is actually so good for you is also amazing.
Personally,my favourite comfort food is Dal  Ambal.Dal as in Chana dal tempered with aniseed or saunf and Pumpkin cooked with tamarind and sugar or jaggery,served with plain boiled rice.
Yum,Absolutely heavenly.
A google search for the Dal Ambal let me to reveal some bits of history....the fact that is representative of Dogri Cuisine.Hitherto relatively unknown,but now I will try my best to bring out the hidden gems of the rich culture that is ours.
The most Interesting thing that hubby dear and I learnt was that all Dogras are descendants of the IKSHWAKU clan or the descendents of the SURYAVANSHI Rajputs of the House of  LORD RAMA .WOW!Could it get any better?
Alright ,now back to the pumpkin bread...though it feels really good to have the holy BLUE blood running through my veins.

That's the Pumpkin Bread...in all its full LOW FAT glory.A full loaf cake with only 30 mils of oil or butter.
Cake or Bread ,you decide.Nice and warm and filling as it is ,or lightly toasted with butter if you are missing the fat content.

For the
Pumpkin Pie Spice Bread...

you need

190 gms flour
240 gms pumpkin puree(for those of you who missed it....Pumpkin mash was used in http://baketitude.blogspot.com/search/label/navratri%20special,I froze batches to thaw and use at my convenience.)
200 gms sugar
1 egg
120 mils butter milk(I used sour Yogurt)
30 mils Butter or oil(Butter seemed a little difficult to blend in so I used oil)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Pumpkin pie spice(if you don't have any,make some from http://baketitude.blogspot.com/2011/10/pumpkin-pie-spice-mix.html)

First thing first,let the pumpkin thaw and then blend to get a smooth puree,you may need to add a few teaspoons  of water to get a velvety puree.Then switch on your oven at 180 C or 350 F to pre -heat.

Bring the puree out into a bowl and then in the same jar or the mixer blend the oil,egg and the buttermilk and pour into the pumpkin puree.

These are sthe three liquids about to be buzzed.

Add the sugar to the liquid mix.Mix in the flour and the baking soda and the pumpkin pie spice.

Just fold in all the flour and put into a greased and lined loaf tin.

Smooth the top and pop it into the oven.

This bread/cake will take at least 65-75 minutes.If you place your bread too close to the top of your oven the crust will  form well but the insides will be gooey,moist and undercooked.So  Place the tin on the bottom shelf  of your oven.
Leave the bread/cake in the tin 20-30 minutes and then remove and have for breakfast or just a simple snack.Revel in the fact that this snack is full of goodness and is LOW FAT.

Enjoy this with your children,or just with a dab of butter...I'm sure there are no Hansel's or Gretel's around.

Whats the point of having kids if you cant have any fun at their expense???Food for thought??

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Princess Diaries Barbie Doll Cake....

कभी किसी को मुक्कमल जहाँ नहीं मिलता ,कहीं ज़मीन तो कहीं आसमान नहीं मिलता.....

This is not about poetry or me being hit in the head by something hard....no,once in a while I just realise what I'm missing because I don't have a daughter.I am not complaining,I love my mad hatter for a son,and am really happy that he is all that he is....but that thought does rear itself once in a while.......almost like a Naag or Naagin.
I wish....my son had a sister.

Cant help the melodrama,but that's what I am....

Glad that Sanskriti Sawhney will soon be around,For all those who do not know-she is my new niece......waiting for her to come back to India.

This was a practice session.

Glad to have a neighbour in the meanwhile,Mahika Bhartari...so I decided to make the princess cake for her.

The doll was store made ,and BTW,Mahika is also called Piya....

I used three cakes,all round.

One 2 pound and two 1 pound cakes.

In easy language,the two pound cake is made of 8 eggs and the one pound cake is made of 4 eggs.Plenty of eggs here.....almost enough to start a poultry farm.

For the 

Princess Cake... 

you need 

One Barbie Doll

One 2 pound Vanilla Sponge Cake

Two 1 pound Vanilla Sponge Cakes

250 gms Mixed fruit jam-I used Kissan---enriched with calcium you see,You can use any flavour you want.It is needed ,so don't skip the calories from the jam or fruit preserve.

200 mils cold milk

1 kg fresh cream 

200 gms icing sugar...(Icing made with butter is easier to work with though)

Food colour

Colourful sprinkles

An Immense amount of patience(As if it is available in the market...I know people who would kill for it)

A couple of shelves in the fridge!

Lets get started.

First whip the cream with the icing sugar till it is thick.

That's the first sponge,in which I made a hole using a glass ,a cookie cutter is never so deep.Kept the cup cake like thing for that only -the cup cake.

Sliced in the centre.

The jam in a bowl,ready to be whipped smooth.

Now it is,dont leave any lumps....bad Karma..

Sprinkle about 30-40 mils of milk on the cake and then wait a minute for the sponge to soak it up.Now spread the jam on the cake.

And now spread the  cream over this layer.

Now that you've done that ...

Place the second half over this carefully.

Again the milk and jam,but not totally the second layer cake is smaller.Too much cream makes the cakes shaky,the jam is glue enough...

Same process ,the milk and the jam and the cream....

Three layers remember???

Now ,sine the doll was really tall...we needed a feat of engineering.....some cutting and pasting at the top....narrow the waist.

And now the carving.....to cut off the sides so this looks like a skirt.Whatever I cut off I pasted ...used the cake crumbs to shape the skirt.

Don't fret,we will make it pretty.

Now the crumb coat,a thin layer of cream just to seal the crumbs.

Now the skirt needs to chill to set the cream.In the meanwhile wrap the doll in cling film,you don't want cream in places that are difficult to clean.Bring put the cakes after half an hour,and smooth over loads of cream in the skirt.Once you are happy with the cream then insert the doll in the center and again chill.

I dropped some colourful sprinkles on the cake,polka dotted skirt.

Note the arms?Pick me up..

Colour the rest of the cream...I did not want pink,so I chose blue.Rosette on your piping bag,first the dress...

The waist is blended in...

Now a design on the dress.

Woefully inadequate knowledge of girly stuff,had to borrow the clip from the birthday girl.

And further...

The name was iced on and then the leftover cup cake was slathered with icing...

The reaction on the little girls face was worth the effort.

Happy Birthday Mahika ,God bless you...

A cake made for someone really special...

happy birthday Sanskriti...Barbie Revisited

So what are you baking today???

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