Category: Cakes and Bakes

Slutty Brownie cake

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BM # 82: Week 2, Day 3
Theme : USA
Recipe: Brownie cake

Brownies and cakes are part of USA food and sometimes they come together as a single treat. Brownie cakes are actually brownies that are then decorated as cakes, that’s not the case here. While browsing I came across something called ‘Slutty brownies‘ which is a decadent treat. It has three layers – a cookie layer, oreo layer and then a final brownie layer. When made with ready made cookie dough, crushed oreos and a box mix for brownies, its an easy to make treat and every bit decadent as you can imagine.

The recipe here is a cake version of the same. It is a layer cake with three 9″ layers – each corresponding to the slutty brownie layer. So a base cake batter is prepared and divided into three portions – one each for the cookie layer, brownie layer and oreo layer. This is a delicious treat by itself, it is definitely a cake recipe and no means resembles brownies or cookies in any way. I followed the recipe from What’s Gabby Cooking without any change.

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The best part of this recipe for me was it gave a single recipe for a three 9″ layer cake. Else I was using a double batch of a two layer cake which would always leave me with an addition fourth (and unnecessary) cake. I have tried the same base recipe and made a Neapolitan cake instead of brownie layers.

I have to start making videos to explain the cake assembling better, but until I figure that out, you guys can scroll down and read the recipe.

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Recipe source: Whats Gabby Cooking

Ingredients:

Base cake:

  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour*
  • 1/2 cup corn flour*
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups buttermilk

*Use 4 cups cake flour instead of a mix of flour and corn flour

Oreo Cookie layer:

  • 10 oreos crumbled

Cookie dough layer:

  • 1 tablespoon molasses (didn’t have any)
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Brownie layer:

  • 1/3 cup cocoa powder

Filling, frosting and toppings:

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and line three 9″ pans with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, corn flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a stand mixer, beat the butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and continue beating at medium speed. Once the four eggs are combined well, add the vanilla essence and beat it in.
  4. We have to add the flour in three batches, alternating it with the buttermilk. That means, we have to first add 1/3rd of the flour mix into the butter mix. Beat at a lower speed to avoid spilling of the flour all over. Once the flour is mixed in without streaks, add one cup of buttermilk and continue beating. Now add half of the leftover flour mix. Once that’s mixed well, add in the rest of buttermilk. Once that’s combined well, add the remaining flour. At any point, you can stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to help combine the batter better.
  5. Divide the batter into three bowls. Add 1/3 cup cocoa powder into one batch, crushed oreo cookies into another and 1 tablespoons of molasses and chocolate chips to the last batch.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for about 35-45 minutes until a skewer comes free of cake crumbs when inserted into the middle of the cake.
  7. Take off the oven, let it cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Then take off the pan, cling wrap it two times and return to the same pan until its time to decorate.
  8. For decorating, prepare the butter cream. Fill and frost the cake only after its completely cool. Prepare a glaze and top with assorted chocolates.

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Coconut Oatmeal Raisin cookies

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I was planning on a complete different set of recipes for this week’s theme of US based recipes. But one look at my drafts folder convinced me that I was done with the theme before I even started. A well stocked drafts folder (magic folder) is definitely helpful ;-). 

Cookies are a big part of US food scene. My son loves chocolate chip cookies but my favorite is the oatmeal raisin cookies. Last year one of our friends gifted us a batch of her oatmeal cookies. It was made with whole wheat and it had coconut in them. Oatmeal with coconut was an unexpected but delicious combination. 

I got the recipe from her and promptly lost it when I switched phones. Finally I ended up looking online for an alternative recipe and that’s when I came across the one at Allrecipes.com. I replaced the chocolate chip in the recipe with raisins  and reduced the sugar a tiny bit but didn’t make any other changes. This is not a whole wheat recipe either but I prefer plain flour for treats and desserts anyway. 

 Read on for the recipe and enjoy the treat. 


Makes 2.5 dozen cookies, depending on the size 

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter (226 grams)
  • 1 cup light brown sugar 
  • 1/2 cup white granulated sugar 
  • 2 Tablespoon milk
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour 
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 cups rolled oats 
  • 1 cup desiccated coconut 
  • 1-2 cup raisins
  • 1 cup chopped nuts

Method:

  1. Bring the butter to room temperature. Beat it in a stand mixer with the two sugars until it’s soft and light. Add eggs one at a time and keep beating until well combined. Add in the vanilla extract, milk, baking soda and beat it in. 
  2. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add the flour in batches. Follow it up with the oats and coconut in batches. The crushed nuts and raisins go in after that until everything is uniformly distributed. 
  3. Drop Tablespoon full of dough in a parchement lined baking tray leaving space between cookies to expand. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes. Take off the oven and let it cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before moving to a cooling rack. Store in airtight containers once completely cool. 


BM # 82: Week 2, Day 2
Theme : USA
Recipe: oatmeal raisin cookies with coconut

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Baked Alaska

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BM # 82: Week 2, Day 1
Theme : USA
Recipe: Baked Alaska

I have been away for a while, but I am making a reappearance with a wonderful dessert on my side. Baked Alaska. The story goes that the cake was apparently invented to celebrate the US acquisition of the state of Alaska from Russia. It’s a wonderful dessert – you don’t get just a cake,  you get  multiple layers of ice cream as well not to mention the meringue on top. The meringue layer secures the ice cream from melting even when the cake goes into the oven for a few minutes or stays under a blow torch to get that brown toasted look.

Baked Alaska looks extremely complicated but in reality it’s very easy to put together. There is a lot of wait time for the layers to freeze but  the cake itself is very easy to prepare.  The flavor options are endless especially if you are using readymade ice cream. I have used two flavors but you needn’t stop at two. I love brownies with ice cream, so I prepared mine with brownies instead of a cake.

I have followed the recipe from Smitten kitchen for most part. The recipe for meringue is from emerils. Read on for the recipe.

Prepare thebrownies in a 9″ pan. Set aside to cool.

Take a bowl that has the same diameter as your cake base(9″ here) and cover it with cling wrap. Add your first layer of ice cream. Smoothen it out and add your second layer. I would have roughly used about 8 cups of ice cream in total.

Top it with your cake layer. Cover the top also with cling wrap and freeze until it’s set firm, at least 3 hours. The ice cream should be frozen solid before adding the meringue.

Beat 4 egg whites in a stand mixer until it forms soft peaks . Turn off the mixer. Combine 1 cup sugar with 1/3 cup water in a thick bottomed pan and bring it to a boil at medium heat until it registers 240F in a candy thermometer. We are looking at softball stage. Take off the heat.

Begin beating the eggs again and slowly drizzle all the hot sugar syrup down the side of the bowl. Make sure it doesn’t fall directly on the beater so that it doesn’t splatter all around. Keep beating the eggwhites.

Beat the eggwhites until it’s glossy and stiff and the bowl is cool to touch. About 5 minutes or so. Take out the cake from the freezer.

Cover the cake completely with meringue leaving no gaps in between. I made rosettes all over. Freeze the cake back again until it’s time to serve. At the time of serving you can use a blow torch to brown the meringue a bit or keep it under the broiler for a couple of minutes until the meringue turns brown.

Potato Kibbeh

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For the month of February, one of the Blogging Marathon theme was ingredient swap. One of the ingredients I got was bulgur wheat from Pavani . I had prepared lentil kofte (or a version of it since I was short of all the supplies except bulgur :D), but I still had enough to try some other recipe.

A generic search for vegetarian bulgur recipes landed me on this page and I was absolutely taken in by their baked version of potato kibbeh.  With pictures as good as theirs and clear step wise instructions, it was almost a crime not to prepare it :-)). Though I made it long before, it has been staying in the drafts section for way too long. Since this month’s theme is protein rich foods and this recipe has bulgur, chickpea and spinach as sources, it time for this recipe to join the virtual world.

Kibbeh is a Middle Eastern dish prepared with bulgur and mostly meats. There are many variations to the dish right from shaping it to the method of cooking. It can be deep fried, baked or served raw and is shaped as a ball, patty or scored into diamond shapes. You can read more about this dish here.

Read on for the recipe and pictorial.

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Ingredients:

  • 1 kg (2.5 lbs) potatoes, cooked
  • 1 1/4 cups fine bulgur wheat
  • 1 big onion, sliced
  • 1 small grated onion
  • 1 teaspoon allspice
  • a pinch of cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup chopped parsley
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

For the filling:

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 orange bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 cups spinach
  • 1 cup cooked chickpeas
  • salt and pepper to taste

Soak the bulgur in lukewarm water for 20 minutes. Drain and set aside. Cook the potatoes separately. Once its cooked, add to a bowl and mash well so that no lumps remain. Add the grated onion, salt, pepper, allspice, cinnamon, parsley and drained bulgur. Mix well using your hands until everything is uniformly spread. It will come to the consistency of a dough finally.

For the filling, heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan. Saute one big chopped onion and one each red and orange bell pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste. Now add one cup of cooked chickpeas and 2 cups of spinach. I have used a small pack of frozen spinach here.

Add the bulgur to the potato mix and mix everything well. Divide this bulgur potato ‘dough’ into two parts. In a baking pan, spread one tablespoon of oil. Spread a layer of thinly sliced onions from one large onion.

Spread one half of the bulgur potato mix on top of the sliced onions. Spread all of the filling evenly on top of the bulgur mix.

Once you have covered the entire surface with the filling, add the rest of the bulgur dough evenly on top of the filling. Cover it completely.

Using a knife, score whatever patterns you want into the dough. The knife scoring go all the way down to the bottom of the dish. I cut it into wedges and then made not so deep circular patterns on top. Spread 1/4 cup of olive oil on top evenly and bake in a preheated oven for 40 -50 minutes at 400F. If the top is not browned at the end of that time, keep under broiler for a couple of minutes. Take off the oven and cut into slices once its cool enough to touch.

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