Sweet lemon cake in festive spirits!!
When festivities are up the magic that unleashes is unique in every way. It feels like it’s been almost a decade since I last posted.The number of posts in the drafts section has piled up as always …the Christmas break is winding up in a few days time. This break I had come down to my parents home due to a family issue…hoping to have things sorted out soon. When I was packing up from Munnar I was in high hopes to finish reading up the books that have been on my shelves. I always get hooked up on one matter or other and then there’s no time to read…
By the end of October, I had the chance to represent my books at the Frankfurt world book fair for the third time at the Gourmet Gallery. The opportunity to present a live show kitchen on “Food from Kerala” was, in fact, the most awesome experience.It was in every way the proudest moment to have been able to showcase the regional diversity of Indian cuisine which was highly appreciated and welcomed.I truly had butterflies in my stomach before going on the podium …the similar kind of cramp that gets me before I start my show. Well, little did I know that there were more of things to happen. The worst part was when I popped in all the chopped pineapple into my shiny little red mini pressure cooker and explaining out to the viewers.I tried to turn on the induction …..and it wasn’t working.Well, there were a few lovely ladies who were there to help me and they jumped in to help me out with the knobs but unfortunately, my elegant induction based pressure cooker would just not work on the induction top I had at the show kitchen.I ended up cooking them up in a normal pot.50 minS was the time allotted for my show.I am happy that even though there were a few mishaps I could convey the message to the viewers. Heres a glimpse of the event below…
The most memorable and the greatest privilege was to have an invite to visit the “Le cordon bleu “culinary institute in Paris in October. Le cordon bleu is a world renowned network of educational institutions dedicated to providing the highest level of culinary and hospitality instructions through world-class programmes.Founded in Paris in 1895, it is considered today as the largest network of culinary schools in the world.
After all the stories now let’s move on to the recipe to pep up this festive spirit. Musambi or sweet lemon was pretty in season and I wanted to use them up for a recipe. That’s when I thought of using them up in making up a sweet lemon cake.
- 175 g cake flour
- 3 eggs
- 175 g sugar
- 175 g butter
- Juice of 2 sweet lemon /musambi
- Rind of 1 sweet lemon finely grated
- 1 tsp of vanilla essence
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1/2 cup of almonds
- 1/2 cup of milk
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees .Sieve the flour , baking powder and salt into a bowl.In an other bowl beat butter and sugar about 2 mins and slowly beat in the eggs on by one .Once the beaten mix is pretty smooth , stir in milk , musambi rind , its juice and vanilla essence .Slowly fold in the dry ingredients with almonds into the mix. Grease and line a cake tin with butter paper and pour in the cake batter .Level the top and bake the cake for about 30 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean .
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Nutty nutty ….Coconutty !!!!
A break from the busy bee schedule is something that I have been longing for the past months.With all the cooking at home I have been longing for my mom to cook for me.I guess theres no age bar to crave for your moms food…isnt it true ??Its funny how the days fly when you dont want to end your holidays so soon.The school reopens by the 16th and its back on wheels…
We Keralites are so very much into coconuts and when I came across this recipe with all the goodness of coconuts how could I stop myself from sharing. Baked with the coconuty goodness of everything coconut from scraped coconut to coconut milk…
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup of coconut milk
- 4tbsp of butter
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup scraped coconut
- Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius. Heat the coconut milk with butter so that it
- melts and turn off the flame.
- Sift baking powder, flour and salt together. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar for
- about 3 minutes till they go pale in colour or they double in size.
- Mix in the warm coconut milk and vanilla essence.
- Slowly beat the flour mix into this without any lumps.
- Mix in the scraped coconut.
- Grease a bundt pan and pour in the cake mix and bake the cake for about 60
- minutes or till done.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Made with love , for the celebration of love..velvety delight!!
The celebration of Valentine’s day gets popular with every passing day .A day dedicated to your loved ones..that’s how its been captioned ..so dedicating this post to my family and my dearest ones ..with loads of love 🙂
The best recipe to try out on Valentine’s day are the Red Velvet cupcakes. Red velvet cupcakes are super moist cupcakes which are mostly dark red, bright red or red-brown in color. The red color is often with adding beetroots or food color.
- 1 ½ cup flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup oil
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp vinegar
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- 1 tsp of red food colour
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 cup cream cheese
- ½ cup butter
- 2 ½ cup icing sugar, sifted
- 1 tsp of vanilla essence
- Preheat oven to 180 degree C.
- Line pans with cupcake liners.
- Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa and salt set aside.
- In a mixing bowl beat egg, oil, buttermilk , red food colour and vanilla essence.
- Fold in the flour mix without any lumps.
- In a small bowl mix baking soda and vinegar till the mix is bubbling, add it to batter
- and mix.
- Pour the batter into cupcake liners bake for 15 mins or till a skewer inserted comes
- out clean.
- Let it cool and top the cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a medium bowl add with electric mixer combine cream cheese and butter till
- creamy.
- Mix vanilla &powdered sugar.
- Mix till everything is combined.
- Use frosting to frost the cupcakes.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Basbousa -the Mediterranean delish!!
Born and brought up in Abudhabi ..I have always had my flair for the Mediterranean cuisine .I still remember how I craved for my Dads parcel of special packed food during the month of Ramadan during his night shifts.This time round when I went to a shopping mall in Cochin I pointed out to my husband the “Basbousa” telling him all stories of what it was.Back home and how could resist myself from baking it..these are some hardcore facts of being a foodie..
Basbousa is a very popular and tasty Mediterranean sweet cake. Cooked with semolina and soaked in simple sugar syrup this cake has different regional names ..in Arabic its Basbousa/Harisa , Turkey its Revani/Ravani, Lebanon its Nammoura , Armenian its Shemali … the roots or the origin of this cake is told to be Turkey .
- For the Syrup
- 1 ½ cup of sugar
- 1 ½ cup of water
- 1 tsp of rosewater
- Juice of ½ lemon
- For the cake batter
- 1 cup of semolina
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 tsp of baking powder
- 2 tsp of vanilla essence
- 1 cup of yoghurt
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup of scraped coconut
- ½ cup of oil
- Almonds for garnish
- In a saucepan boil the water to make the syrup, add in the sugar and stir till it
- dissolves completely.
- Mix in the lemon juice and rosewater and let it cool.
- Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius.
- In a bowl, beat egg and sugar.
- Add in the yoghurt, oil and sieve in the flour.
- Mix in baking powder, vanilla essence and coconut.
- Transfer to a greased baking dish and bake till the cake is done or for about 30
- minutes.
- Garnish with almonds.
- Pour the sugar syrup over the cake when the cake is still hot.
- Serve when cold.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Christmas bells n Scones!!!
There’s the end of another year….. 2014 is slowly winding up..and it’s time for new resolutions !!!! .The holidays for Christmas have started ….break till the 5th of Jan 2015 when the new term is going to start off at school .My elder one Surji is off enjoying his break with his cousins at his father’s house and Siva with me my nonstop blabbering companion. It’s better to hear that my health is catching up from last week’s review at the doc..but the craziest thing is when everyone who meet up with me after a few days have been asking me , ”Oh Nimi u seem to be enjoying your break from school ..You have put on weight!!!” Ha! And the actual truth I feel quite bloated up and tired …an effect from the medications. A worried me asks my doc once in a while ..if I would become my actual self ..She smiles and says ….”all will be well once the course is completed!!”Hmm ….Hope for the best ! So before I get too lazy and sleepy in writing this post ..let me hop on to the recipe of Scones…and thank u Sylvia….here’s picking out and trying recipes from your book 😉
Scone is a single serving cake or quick bread. They are often lightly sweetened and are occasionally glazed. These are different from the normal sweet buns which are normally made from yeast. There are different types of scones and the variants differ from the places .In some countries they also have the savory scones. Scones are normally served with tea or coffee.
- 200ml fresh cream
- 3 cups of flour
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 4 ½ tsp of baking powder
- 1 cup lemonade
- Flour for dusting
- For Lemonade
- 1 ½ cup of water
- 4-5 tbsp of sugar
- Juice of 3 lemons
- To make the lemonade first boil water, stir in sugar till it dissolves well and then
- remove from heat.
- Let the syrup cool and mix in the lemon juice and keep aside.
- Sift the flour, baking powder and salt twice into a bowl.
- Make a well in the center and pour in the lemonade and cream.
- Use wooden spoon and slightly fold in to make slightly sticky dough.
- Dust flour on your counter; roll the dough slightly mixing the dough to keep it from
- sticking.
- Pat out the dough about 4cm thick with your hands, sprinkling flour when kneaded.
- Use a scone cutter or a circle shaped cutter to cut out circles.
- Place these shapes on to a baking tray and leave them to rise for about 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 230 degree Celsius and bake these scones for about 15-20 minutes
- or until they are golden in colour.
- Eat them warm /cold topped with jam, butter or cheese.
So Wishing all a very Merry Christmas!!!
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Going all bananas…..Celebrating the day!
A few weeks back all you could hear was the bloom of the Neelakurinji flower(Strobilanthes kunthiana) a shrub that is told to bloom only once in twelve years in and around Munnar. The beauty was just breathtaking when you have a whole area all blue. It was as if you were in heaven a whole new world. Although I had plans to do a post all were just flushed out with my schedules. The past weeks were pretty out of my hands with my younger one having a fractured arm and guests in and out. A bit relieved that now his arm is ok .Its been quite some time or should I say a very loooooooooooooong time since I baked cakes…it was just now that I recollected that its been an year. Today it’s a very special day…..special in many ways….so back to baking a special cake!
My dad is the best man in my life, the first love of my life, the most perfect man ever….always there to support, to relive my dreams….No matter how old I get, no matter how often I stay out with friends, no matter how far I move away with my husband, no matter how many children I have, no matter how many grandchildren I will have….daddy, I will still be your little girl! I love you more than the world will ever know!!!!
There couldn’t have been a better father than you on this earth – happy birthday to the man who taught me my worth…Happy Birthday Acha! <3 <3 <3
Reliving all the magic that the third of November has here’s the recipe of the Banana cake that I baked .This super moist not too sweet cake was adapted from a cookbook gifted to me by one of my cooking class students, Sylvia Lewis who herself is a very talented cook , foodie and wonderful human being .The book is a collection of tried and tested recipes from different parts of the world. The recipe for the banana cake wad supplied by Daphne Read. This cake is also good with frosting, though I haven’t frosted it.
- ½ cup of butter
- ¾ cup of sugar
- 1 ½ cup of self-rising flour
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 5 very ripe small bananas, pureed
- 2 tbsp of fresh cream
- 1 pinch of salt
- ¼ cup of milk
- Preheat oven to 190 degree Celsius.
- Cream butter and sugar in a bowl until it turns a light colour.
- Gradually add eggs one at a time and beat. Sift flour and salt.
- Mix baking soda in a cup with the milk and cream.
- Add pureed banana into the creamed butter and sugar and mix until combined.
- Alternately add flour and milk mix until just incorporated.
- Pour mixture into a greased and lined baking pan and bake for about 45 minutes or
- until the cake springs from a touch in the middle.
- Cool cake on a wire rack.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Woohoo..with Whoopie pies for DB!
December has been an awesome month for me with a rocking news that actually blew out my mind.Its my passion for Cooking that drove me into writing my book Lip Smacking Dishes of Kerala .I have put my heart and soul in the making of the book…giving life to every single page. Im so happy to share the news that my book is the Winner of THE BEST LOCAL CUISINE BOOK IN INDIA for the GOURMAND WORLD COOKBOOK AWARDS 2013 to be held at Beijing in May 2014 and is eligible to compete for THE BEST LOCAL CUISINE BOOK IN THE WORLD. A big thanks to all my friends and family for your support ,blessings and prayers…………………..
This months challenge for the Daring Bakers was Whoopie pies.It was between a cake and cookie.It was fun baking as my assistant was actually my younger one.It was his choice that we bake Vanilla Whoopie pies.Heres the recipe……..
Whoopie Pies
2 ¾ cups(660 ml) (11-2/3 oz) (330 gm) flour
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda
¾ teaspoon (3¾ gm) baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) (4 oz) (115 gm) butter, softened
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) ( (10-2/3 oz) (300 gm) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla
1 large egg
2/3 cup (160 ml) buttermilk
Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter,
granulated sugar and vanilla with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy; beat in the egg. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk in 2 batches; beat until just combined.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop 16 mounds of batter onto the baking sheets, about 2 inches (50 mm) apart (about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) batter per cookie); gently form into rounds with damp fingers and smooth the tops. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6. Bake the cookies until they spring back when pressed, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely
Vanilla filling
Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) (8 oz) (225 gm) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) (1 oz) (30 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream (about 35%)
1 cup (2 sticks) (8 oz) (225 gm) unsalted butter, cool but not cold, cut into ½-inch (15 mm) cubes
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the sugar and flour together. Add the milk and cream and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil and has thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.
Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool, at least 7 minutes. (You can speed up the process by pressing bags of frozen berries or frozen corn against the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.) Reduce the speed to low and add the butter; mix until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. You can’t overbeat this mixture. Just let it go until it’s nice and smooth. Add the vanilla and continue mixing until combined. If the frosting is too soft, put the bowl in the refrigerator to chill slightly, then beat again until it is the proper consistency. If the frosting is too firm, set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and beat with a wooden spoon until it is the properconsistency.
My whoopies were quite big as my son was interested in scooping out..anyways he had his fun.Wishing all a wonderful baking ……
Wishing all a Happy & Prosperous 2014 ! 🙂
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Utterly Gheely Ghee cake:)
Since the start of 2013, its been jam packed with my work schedules, classes and work on my new book.I have all my posts that are to be posted, but nothing quite seems to work out:(
This recipe is specially dedicated to Reshma Kaloor who has a flair for baking.Well..I hope ur doubts with the Ghee cake get cleared with this post.This recipe wouldn’t have popped up on my blog if u hadn’t asked.This super soft South Indian pound cake recipe is one that I really treasure for its spongy texture and the aroma of ghee.The recipe has been for long penned out in my diary and the courtesy of the recipe goes to Mrs.K.M Mathew.
Ghee Cake
1 cup of All purpose flour
1 tsp of Baking Powder
1/4 tsp of baking soda
1 cup of ghee
4 eggs seperated
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 tsp of lemon juice
1/2 tsp of lemon rind grated
1/2 cup of milk
2 tbsp of granulated sugar
1 tsp of vanilla essence
Separate egg whites and egg yolks.Sieve the flour ,baking powder and baking soda together in to a bowl and keep aside.Beat the powdered sugar and ghee with a whisk / mixer till it becomes fluffy and light.Beat in the eggs one by one at low speed.Mix in the lemon juice, rind and milk.At very low speed mix in the flour. Take an other bowl and whisk egg whites till stiff,add in granulated sugar and vanilla essence and whisk again till stiff.Now slowly fold in the egg whites with the cake batter.Preheat oven at 180 degree and bake the cake about 40 -45 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean.
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Wishing all foodies a Lip Smacking New Year!
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
A scoop of vanilla with Chocolate nd Coffee..
Here in Munnar the winter is on its way with misty evenings and quite chill nights.So how have all of u been?Although 6 days late I really wanted to post in this months Sweet punch.If you love chocolate and coffee like me this recipe is a real knock out and to top all this you can have the tang of vanilla with ice cream.
So hop on to the recipe with a scoopy scoop..
Saucy Coffee and Chocolate Pudding
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cocoa
Pinch of salt
½ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted
½ cup milk
1 egg, beaten
50g almonds , chopped
For the topping
3 tbsp cocoa
1 cup strong black coffee
A homemaker who fell head over heels in love with food -an award-winning cookbook author, food blogger, award-winning culinary demonstrator
Hi! I am Nimi Sunilkumar…an award winning cookbook author /culinary demonstrator/freelance writer / food photographer/food blogger …spiced with the flavors of food..
