Friday, July 18, 2014

A butter free, oil free and care free Sponge Cake to begin with

Today afternoon I attended a baking class where we baked with summer fruits like plums, cherries and mangoes. We learnt how to make lemon curd and plum preserve apart from interesting desserts like Mango Trifle cake, Cherry Clafoutis, and also a scottish shortbread. What stuck with me was a simple Sponge cake that was made to make the Mango Trifle cake. It was delicious, soft and airy and completely oil/butter free. Till I saw and ate it (a huge portion), I couldn't believe that there could be a Sponge cake so delicate and delicious and that too, without butter. So, I thought why not begin this blog with this amazing find.

A butter free, oil free and care free Sponge Cake
6 Ingredients needed:
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 lemon’s juice
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degs. Grease and flour a 9” tin.  A baking parchment can also be used
Beat the eggs and sugar with a whipping tool till it is thick and pale
Add the lemon juice and vanilla essence
Sift the flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture
Gently stir it with a Spatula so that you don’t loose the air. Don’t whip the mixture.

Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25-35 minutes, till golden and cooked in the center



Monday, July 14, 2014

Introducing Chiclet and Poppin's Bakehouse!

I grew up eating Chiclets and Poppins. Chiclets was chewy with no possibility of popping like a bubble gum as much you tried, yet with distinct fruity flavor and taste. Poppins was rainbow in a roll. So beautiful to look at, translucent, round and the sweetest candy that one could have ever had. As I would pop either of them in my mouth and stroll inside the house, my feet would vehemently take me to the kitchen where my mother stood and cooked. As much as my mother would want me to help her out in the kitchen, I would make some excuse and wander around her. Not to mention a few taunts of how my future looks bleak when I get married or go to my inlaw's and her embarrassment when they come to know about my non-existing culinary skills. As for my mother, she could cook anything from a murg mussalam to a cheesy,baked vegetables in bechemel sauce to a tender, juicy bread crumbed fish fry and that too for an army load of guests and family members, invited and uninvited. She would cook and I (and my brother) would eat. All absolutely heavenly, incomparably delicious fare, each day.
Apparently, all the wandering with Chiclets and Poppins didn't go waste. Over the years (including my marriage to a carnivorous two legged specie) it seems that the wandering really helped. It definitely made me a cook! Apart from the aromas of each dish that my mother cooked, I absorbed their distinct tastes and their recipes unknowingly. My passion for cooking moved a level up and I started delving in baking. What triggered this was again Chiclets and Poppins. Not the candies, but my two gorgeous kids - a 3 year boy (Poppins) and a two month old girl (Chiclet)- who make everything around me sweet, colorful, distinct and fruity. So, this blog is for the Chiclet and Poppins in my life and all the baking that's done in their personal bakehouse.