Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

I absolutely love this recipe for everyday cakes. I love the fact that I can use up any berries left over from not eating them fresh which happens almost always. And I must confess - I love my berries real sweet. So more often than not the berries are a bit sour for my taste and I end up making this cake for a weekend breakfast/snack. Since I seem to be making this way too often I decided to make it a bit more healthy and substantial; just so a piece of this cake, a cup of coffee and an egg scrambled makes for a scrumptious weekend breakfast.

Any type of berries will work and I have tried blueberries and raspberries and they both turn out yummy.  I doubled the recipe and have used a 50-50 mix of all-purpose and whole wheat flour. If using whole wheat pastry flour then you can use that for the entire 2 cups that is called for in this recipe. The one thing with using whole grain flour is that the texture tends to be dense and the cake turns out just a wee bit dry than when using all purpose flour. So to overcome that I make an orange (or any other flavored syrup) to glaze/soak the cake in. This results in a very fruity flavored moist cake which surely is a keeper.

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, softened
11/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated orange zest
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups fresh blueberry

Orange syrup
1/4 - 1/3 cup fresh orange juice (about 4 clementines)
1 tsp grand marnier
3 tbsp sugar (or more, adjust to taste)


Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9-inch cake pan and dust with flour.
2. In a bowl mix all the two flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer till it turns pale yellow and airy, about 3-4 min.
4. Add vanilla extract, the orange zest and eggs. Beat until well mixed.
5. Add the flour mixture in three batches and buttermilk alternately to the wet ingredients starting and finishing with the flour. Mix just until the flour is well incorporated.
6. Pour into the prepared 9-inch cake pan and evenly spread the batter. 
7. Scatter the blueberries evenly over the top. Bake for 40-45 min or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
8. Let it cool and then invert it on to a plate.  When the cake is cooling prepare the glaze/syrup. 
9. In a small pan mix all the orange juice and sugar. Heat it over a medium flame for 3-5 min until the sugar dissolves. Add grand marnier, let it boil on low for a minute or two more. Remove from heat.

Assembly - Poke a few holes on the cake with a toothpick or a fork. Spoon the glaze/syrup over the cake. Its ok even if it forms a puddle on the top. With time the syrup will seep into the cake. Let it rest for a few hours before serving.

Enjoy !!

Pecan Shortbread Cookies

Happy New year to all of you and hope 2012 bring much joy and prosperity to all. I wanted to start the new year with a sweet treat and also these cookies are so yummy that I wanted to share it with you all today instead of it waiting in the drafts folder. These pecan cookies remind me so much of the "Sandies" that I used to love a few years back, soft yet crunchy, buttery and all that lovely pecan flavor. Its pretty hard to stop with just one !!

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp confectioner's sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Method
In a mixing bowl, combine all-purpose flour, corn starch, pecans and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the creamed butter. Mix just until they are well mixed.
Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten the balls just a little bit. Place the balls at least a couple inches apart.
Bake at 350F for 10-15 min just until the edges are lightly brown.
Cool. Keeps fresh for a week when stored in an air-tight container.

Enjoy !!

Mango (quick) Bread

I cant wait for summer to be here. I have a love-hate relation with spring I must say. The first few days of spring, am very happy that winter is behind us but within a few days I get impatient waiting for summer that I start hating spring. Is that weird? I think not. I just love bright sunshine and the warmth and hence call myself a "summer girl". My husband finds this term pretty amusing :-) Maybe its because I am from Chennai or it may just be all the good memories associated with summer: summer vacation, meeting my cousins and of course the mangoes.

One of the delicious memories of summer/mango season is the mango pickle (avakkai) my grandma used to make. My mom and aunts used to gather in one household with my grandma leading the pickle making ceremony !! As a kid it was loads of fun just watching them make the pickle. And at the end of the day after the pickling was done and the cut mangoes had been divided into different jars, we used to get a taste of the fresh pickle in the form of avakkai rice (left over pickling sauce mixed with fresh rice and ghee). It was Oh so tasty, my mouth still waters just at the thought of it.


Another summer favorite of mine is the aamras my mom makes with fresh ripe mangoes. I think the most popular variety that we used to get in Chennai was the Banagenapalli variety - medium-sized round juicy mangoes. I loved the whole process of squeezing the pulp and mushing the whole thing with my hands, juices running all over. Yeh it was messy but I loved the feeling and the aroma. Aamras with fresh chapathi's is a combination that is so typical of my summer days. So anyway - all these nostalgic thoughts put me in the mood for tasting mangoes last week. But imho the mangoes available in the US market is nowhere close to the gorgeous ones we get in India. So whenever I feel a longing for mangoes, I reach for the mango pulp available in Indian stores.

I brought the mango pulp home and was thinking of best way to use it up. Aamras was my first option but we had guests over for the weekend and I wanted to a make some dessert. When browsing through my bookmarked recipes, I came across mango bread from Vaishali's Earth Vegan blog. So I adapted her recipe to a non-vegan version, added some pistachios and cardamom - both very Indian flavors. We all loved the final result - moist luscious mango bread.

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ts baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup pistachio
1 tsp cardamom powder

5 tbsp butter, softened
1 egg
2 cup mango pulp
1 cup sugar

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 deg. Grease a loaf pan. Set aside.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pistachio, cardamom powder) in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Mix until well mixed. Now add the eggs and mango pulp. Mix well.
4. Add the dry mixture to the mango mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon just until the dry ingredients are mixed evenly.
5. Pour this mixture into the greased loaf pan. Bake for 50 min or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.
6. Cool and then slice the bread.
7. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.

This post will be my entry to Nupur's "The Copycat Edition".

Enjoy !!

Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

A Sweet beginning.......

Now that I have graduated to a more relaxed post-grad-student life, I thought what better way to utilize the extra time than documenting a hobby that I like the most, cooking....

My first blog is on one of the most popular dessert of all times - "cupcakes". I made a double chocolate cupcake inspired by black forest cake recipe (with a few twists of my own). Authentic black forest cake is made of chocolate cake with layers of whipped cream and cherries. Kirsch (cherry brandy) is an essential ingredient in an authentic black forest cake. I do not normally stock cherries or kirsch and so I decided to use something that I had on hand. Strawberries are now in season and on sale :-) We could not resist buying those succulent red berries and ended up buying way more than usual. We ate some, made strawberry jam and still had some waiting to be used. So I decided to substitute cherries in the black forest cake with strawberry and used the strawberry jam as a filling in the cupcake.

Here it is, my double chocolate strawberry filled cupcakes. I have used part-whole wheat flour, some honey instead of sugar and vegetable oil instead of butter for healthier cupcakes!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
2 eggs
1/2 vegetable oil
1 cup brewed coffee
1 tsp vanilla flavor
1 cup strawberry jam (Warmed over stove top or microwave)
8 fresh strawberry (halved)
Whipped cream (optional)

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder in a bowl and set aside.
3. In another bowl beat the eggs, oil, brown sugar and honey until well mixed. Mix in coffee and vanilla.
4. Add the flour mixture into wet mixture and stir until flour is fully incorporated.
5. Line muffin tray with parchment cups and grease well.
6. Half fill the muffin cups with batter and add a layer of warm strawberry jam. Fill the rest with batter and top it with halved fresh strawberry.
7. Bake for 20 min or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Serve with whipped cream (optional). Yummmm..................