Vanilla cake with Chocolate Topping

In continuation to my previous post on hubby dear's birthday celebration plans I wanted to bake a cake.Tired of feeding him egg less, butter less, sugarless, whole wheat baked goodies for a change I wanted to bake with eggs,sugar and APF.Sanjeev wanted a simple Vanilla cake and I was craving for some chocolate hence merged both our desires and decided to bake Vanilla cake with chocolate topping.As mentioned earlier his birthday was on Good Friday and I was working that day,after making the Javvarasi payasam I was too tired to bake cake the same night hence decided to get up earlier than usual but had planned to cut the cake at mom's place as my dear bro and Sanjeev share the same birth date.I tried the below recipe by doubling the quantity and the cooking temperature but retaining the same cooking time.How Foolish was I..may be a tiring night ,early morning and a hectic planned work schedule waiting for the day makes one think so silly..When I removed the cake from the microwave oven it looked perfectly baked..Another mistake I tested it by inserting a knife closer to the center of the cake but more towards the edge..the knife came out clean and I thought it was perfect vanilla cake and started preparing the chocolate topping.Once I turned over the cake after it was cooled..BLOP fell the center totally unbaked just like the way it was before I placed it in the microwave..Was highly disappointed to feed my husband just the corners.Sanjeev is the best when it comes to cajoling me on such disasters in the kitchen..he uses the best of his people management skills to let me know that the intention is much more worth than the outcome..Well I know he hates to see me feeling low..but he also knows that I dont give up on accomplishing what I want  so easily.
He conveniently blamed the microwave oven for not being serviced ever since it was bought and made it a point to get it serviced over the weekend and motivated me to try baking the same cake again.
Kanishk my good old friend who is a wonderful cook helped me in identifying the areas where I could have gone wrong and Vinay another good friend and cook shared another simpler recipe.After all the encouragement of these 3 wonderful friends and with the cooperation of my little boyfriend my son , I tried the recipe again and it was a grand success.I got my bro and Sanjeev to cut the cake on Sunday when my parents had invited us for lunch.The cake was devoured by all in my family and the appreciation that I received was worth the attempt.I also shared it with my dear friends and colleagues at work who enjoyed it thoroughly and that really made my day..

Ingredients for Cake

1)Sugar - 1 cup
2)Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
3)Eggs - 2
4)Vanilla essence - 2 tsps
5)APF - 1 1/2 cup
6)Baking Powder - 1 3/4 cup
7)Milk - 1/2 cup
8)Salt - 1/4 tsp

Ingredients for Chocolate topping

1)Dark Chocolate - 2 bars (I used the bournville dark chocolate bars)
2)Icing Sugar - 2 tbps
3)Milk - 3 tbps

Procedure for cake

1)Preheat at 180 degree centigrade.
2)Sift flour , salt and baking powder about 3 times
3)Whisk egg white at high speed till foamy
4)Add sugar and beat until soft peaks are formed
5)Add yolk one at the time and beat at high speed till ribbon stage
6)Warm milk and oil
7)Blend flour in 3 batches into the egg mixture with minimum speed
8)Add warm milk + oil mixture and fold in using a spatula
9)Bake at 180 degree centigrade for 25-30min
10)Test it with a tooth pick or knife inserted in the centre of the cake
11)Cool it on a wire rack to apply the chocolate topping.

Procedure for Chocolate Topping
1)Melt the chocolate bars over boiling water.
2)Add milk and stir well
3)Add icing sugar 1 tbsp at a time and mix it well.
4)Cool it in the refrigerator for about 20 mins.
5)Spread a thin layer over the cooled cake.

 

Javvarasi Payasam

Birthdays are always fun..No matter how old you grow somewhere at the corner of your heart you still expect something special from your loved ones on this special day.With every passing year we run out of ideas to make this day even more special than the previous years.Books,gizmos,t-shirts,surprise party, etc etc were done in my list and this year I chose to please hubby dear's taste buds with his most favourite Javvarasi Payasam.Since his birthday was on weekday I decided to make it the previous night so that I could surprise him at 12.00am.Little did I know that Sanjeev's curiosity for my presence  in the kitchen for longer hours especially after a tiring day would be an easy guess to know what I was upto.As expected he landed up in the kitchen while I was trying hard to put my son to sleep and had his grub even before it was 12.00am.He loved it so much that he was all the more ready to have it again at midnight.While my son wondered what and why we ate at this odd hour he just hoped we dint feed him and he pretended to appear sleepy but never slept until we fell asleep..
Thanks to Navira for suggesting me to add Saffron and rose water to get that rich taste and wonderful smell..

Ingredients
1.Javvarasi - 1 cup
2.Milk - 1 litre
3.Sugar - 1/2 cup
4.Saffron - 3-4 strands
5.Rose Water - 2 Tbsp

Procedure
1.Wash the Javvarasi under running water and strain out the excess water.(Make sure that the Javvarasi is washed properly as my earlier attempts at this dish curdled the milk).
2.Soak the Saffron strands in rose water.
3.In a heavy bottom vessel boil milk and let it condense as you stir constantly till the quantity is reduced to 3/4.
4.Add the Javvarasi and stir it constantly till the milk reduces to 1/2 of its quantity.
5.Add sugar and continue to stir till sugar dissolves.
6.Let it cook for a while till the javvarasi is completely translucent.
7.Remove from Stove and add in the Rose water along with the saffron strands.
8.Stir it well and serve once it is cooled.

Oats Idli

We have rotis almost every night for dinner,on weekdays after a hectic workday my body just doesn't allow me to get innovative with the dinner menu and we resort to rotis.Though Sanjeev always encourages,appreciates and loves it when I experiment with food he is also highly obliging of the fact I cannot spare any energy to cook something new altogether for dinner on weekdays.Hence we reserve newer Menu options on dinner table for Weekends. I wanted to try Oats Idli  for quite sometime and after a series of blog hopping I finally managed to come up with the below very simple,easy and yet tasty recipe giving hubby dear and whole new flavour of Oats than the usual Oats porridge that we have for breakfast.The idlis turned out to be very tasty and light .Though it appears like rava idli they are very moist and tastes best when served hot.Sanjeev relished every bit of it and wanted me to try out other variations like Oats Dosa and Oats pongal too...

Ingredients
1)Oats - 1 cup ( I used Quaker Oats)
2)Wheat Rava - 1/2 cup
3)Curd - 1/2 cup
4)Water - 1/2 cup
5)Cooking Soda - 1 pinch
6)Finely chopped Vegetables (Carrot,capsicum,green peas) - 1 cup
7)Green chillies - 2
8)Finely chopped Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup
9)Grated Ginger - 2 Tbsp
10)Lemon juice - extracted from 1/2 lemon
11)Olive Oil - 1 Tbsp
12)Salt - to taste

Procedure
1)Dry roast the Oats until the raw smell has gone and powder it.
2)Heat Olive Oil and fry the finely chopped vegetables green chillies with needed amount of Salt.
3)Add Grated Ginger and continue to cook till the raw smell has evaporated from the vegetables.
4)Add wheat rava and combine it well with the vegetables.
5)Close the lid and let it cook for 1-2 mins.
6)Add the powdered oats and mix them well.
7)Remove the pan from the Stove and mix in curds and lemon juice.
8)Continue to stir with some water to ensure there are no lumps.
9)Add cooking soda just before making the idlis and mix it well.
10)Pour the batter on the greased idli plates and cook them on high flame in a regular pressure cooker or idli cooker for 10 - 12 mins.
11)Serve it hot with chutney powder or Sambhar.