Category: Sweets and Desserts

Sfuff/ Sfouf- Turmeric cake

2 Comments

BM #110 : Week 2, Day 3
Theme : Middle Eastern recipes

I was looking for Middle Eastern cookery books at the library and I came across Tahini and Turmeric , a vegan take on Middle Eastern classics. I was happy as vegetarian options in that cuisine are far lesser than non vegetarian ones. So for the third day here, the turmeric cake recipe is adapted from the book.

I used regular milk for this recipe so it’s not vegan, but any non dairy milk will make it vegan. I added a 1/4 cup extra sugar to make it a little more sweeter.

Straight out of the oven, the turmeric flavor in the cake was too prominent but by the next day, the flavor had settled down and it was a lot less mild. I liked that version better. So it’s a good idea to bake this cake a day ahead for the flavors to mingle.

The book mentions that self rising flour is better to use than a combination of plain flour and baking powder. Sometimes baking powder and turmeric together produces red color spots than an all yellow cake. But I didn’t run into that problem, the color turned out good without any reddish patches.

Read on for the recipe.

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon tahini or oil for greasing the pan
  • 1.5 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
  • Pinch of salt
  • 3/4 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup neutral oil (I used canola)
  • Some shelled pistachios or almonds for garnishing

Method:

  1. Heat the oven to 350 F.
  2. Grease an 8” square pan with a thin layer of tahini paste or a neutral oil.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, shredded coconut, sugar, turmeric and salt.
  4. In a medium bowl, whisk the milk, oil and add it to the dry ingredients. Mix well using a silicon spatula until you get a homogeneous mixture. The batter will be thick and lumpy because of the coconut.
  5. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and top with the nuts. Bake for about 25-30 minutes until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes free of crumbs.
  6. Take out of the oven and once the cake is cooled down, cut into squares and serve.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this Week.

Chocolate Streusel Bars

6 Comments

BM #106 : Week 3, Day 3
Theme : Baked Dishes

This is yet another recipe from the Hershey’s Recipe collection book. I make brownies every now and then, but have stayed away from layered bars. I always assumed those were more time consuming. So two weeks back, when I was making sweets to celebrate my nephew’s birth, I decided to try a new recipe and I am glad I did.

The recipe involves making crust by cutting in butter. A portion of this mix is reserved for the streusel top by adding some chopped nuts and chocolate chips. The middle layer is condensed milk microwaved with chocolate chips until its a smooth mixture. Its not a time consuming recipe. I am planning to try more of layered bar recipes in the future.

Read on for the recipe.

Recipe source: Hershey’s Recipe Collection

Makes 3 dozen bars

Ingredients:

  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup/ 1 stick /113 gms cold butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 can condensed milk
  • 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips, divided
  • 1 cup roughly chopped mixed nuts

Method:

  1. Heat oven to 350 F/180 C. Grease a 13′ X 9″ baking pan. Set aside
  2. In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and cocoa. Add the sugar. Cut in the butter and rub it into the flour mix with your hands until it resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of this mixture.
  3. Press the rest of the mix onto the prepared pan. It will be a thin layer. Bake for ten minutes.
  4. When the crust is baking, add the condensed milk and 1 cup of chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave at 50% Power for a minute or so, until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour this over the crust when its done baking.
  5. Add the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips and mixed nuts to the reserved crumb mixture. Sprinkle this over the condensed milk layer.
  6. Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until the center is almost set. Cool completely in pan. Cut into bars using a sharp knife.

Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” chocolate chip cookies

6 Comments

BM #106 : Week 3, Day 2
Theme : Baked Dishes

I am a big fan of Hershey’s cookbooks. Those come with recipes that you can try without fear of failure. The Hershey’s best brownies and “Perfectly chocolate” chocolate cakes have been my go-to recipes for many years now. I am surprised that I missed their recipe for cookies until now. This is again from one of their baking books. My son wanted cookies with white chocolate chips and that’s what we made. 

I had made this to celebrate the birth of my nephew who was born just before Diwali. Shreyas helped me a bit with baking, but mostly he was interested in trying out the cookies. As is my ‘tradition’, the first batch had quite a few burnt cookies. The first batch is always a trial batch for me to figure out the time needed to bake. But with chocolate cookies, its hard to tell when they are cooked because of their dark color. So there were some cookie casualities :D. But the rest were saved and distributed to our friends. 

Read on for the recipe.

Recipe source: Hershey’s Recipe Collection Book

Makes about 4 dozen, depending on the size

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter ( 2 sticks / ~220 gms)
  • 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/4 cups plain flour
  • 1/3 cup cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups white chocolate chips

Method:

  1. Heat oven to 375 F. 
  2. Beat softened butter with both the sugars and vanilla until light and creamy in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add eggs, one at a time and beat it in.
  3. In a smaller mixing bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. This helps in breaking lumps in cocoa. Add this dry mix to the butter mix in batches and beat in low speed until well incorporated.
  4. Turn off the mixer,  add the chocolate chips and mix it in with a spatula. 
  5. Take a rounded teaspoon of cookie dough. Place this into a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough, leaving enough space between it to allow the cookie to spread. 
  6. Bake 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool slightly in the sheet itself before moving to a wire rack. Cool completely and store in airtight containers. 

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this Week

Honey Pound cake with strawberry buttercream

9 Comments

BM #106 : Week 3, Day 1
Theme : Baked Dishes

Here is a cake from my drafts folder. This was one of the recipes from the book Erin Bakes cake where she had given a base recipe for pound cakes and variations with different liquid sweeteners. I chose to bake with honey, but you can use the same amount of molasses or maple syrup for a different flavor. Instead of a regular vanilla based buttercream, I also made a strawberry buttercream here. A cup of strawberry jam or preserves to the buttercream was all it took to get a nice pinkish strawberry buttercream.

The design pattern is from one of the books I borrowed from the library, but I don’t remember the name to give a link to it. It was one of the simplest designs I had done. The polka dots are made by dabbing black food coloring with the flat end of a skewer on the cake. I never thought it would be that simple! The flowers and leaves are fondant cut outs.

Read on for the recipe.

Recipe source: Erin Bakes Cake

Ingredients:

  • 5 sticks butter (20 ounces/560 gms)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 8 large eggs
  • 6 cups plain flour
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 12 ounces honey (1.5 cups)

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease and line three 8″ pans with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In a stand mixer bowl, add softened butter, sugar, baking powder, vanilla and salt for about 5 minutes until it’s light and creamy. Stop in between to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  3. With the mixer running at a low speed, Add honey and beat it in until combined. Add eggs, one at a time and beat it in. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
  4. Add the flour in three batches, alternating with whole milk. So add 1/3rd of the flour and let the mixer (at the lowest speed possible) incorporate it with the butter mixture. Then add half of the milk. Once the milk is combined well, add another batch of flour. Repeat this for one more round of milk and flour.
  5. Take the bowl off the mixer, combine everything with a silicone spatula to make sure that everything is incorporated well. Divide the batter between the prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes or so, until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes free of crumbs.
  6. Take off the oven and let it rest on the pan for 10-15 minutes. After that, remove it carefully from the pan, peel off the parchment paper. Cling wrap the cake two times and return it back to the pan. When it’s completely cooled down, fill and frost with buttercream and cover with fondant. Decorate as you like.

For the strawberry buttercream,

  • Beat 4 sticks (16oz/450gms) softened butter and a pinch of salt for about 5 minutes in a stand mixer bowl.
  • Turn off the mixer, Add 7 1/2 cups (2 lbs bag) powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 2-4 tablespoons milk. Mix it in with a spatula to prevent sugar flying all over the kitchen.
  • Switch the mixer ON at the lowest setting and beat it until it reaches a creamy consistency.
  • Add 1 cup of strawberry preserve for a strawberry flavored buttercream.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this Week