Banana Cake with Chocolate Icing

Banana cake with truffle cake design

Cake with dripping chocolate icing

Here I've used the truffle design on banana cake. After sharing this post on my Facebook, I was surprised with the likes and comments that followed. Sometimes, we get appreciation when we hardly expect, and at times people ignore when we are longing for a nod. Life is like that, it throws up unexpected surprises and leads.

So, keep doing, keep experimenting, for we never know which will lead to more likes. 

Date and Cinnamon Cake

Cinnamon Cake with Icing

Chocolate Icing on Date Cake

Slice of Date Cake

Thanks to the WWW, I'm able to browse different cake galleries and pick anyone to experiment for my cake project. Recently I've started using Pinterest to browse different cake collections and pin my delights to the board. For those who are new to Pinterest, click here's for a small explanation on it. 

Based on one such cake design, I made this date and cinamon cake. Like the name says, I've used the date and cinamon. Thanks again to the wonderful icing tips from baking divas out there, I'm able to advance my icing skills to the next level.

As Robin Sharma puts in his 'The 50 New Rules of Work', Be a Master of Your Craft. And practice + practice + practice.

Love,

Marina

Cherry Blossom Cake

These flowers refer to sakura (Japanese cherry blossoms), which signify that spring has come. This season begins around late March.

This is a cherry cola cake with fondant and chocolate icing .

Chocolate Cupcake with Fondant Flowers

Triangle Cake

Triangle Cake

Cakes usually comes in square and in circle shape. So, for a change I tried out triangle cake. But it didn't come out the way I had expected. There're few minor mistakes in its finish and icing. As always there's room for improvement.

Next time I'll will make new mistakes. As of now I decked the cake two fresh flowers and green leaf from my garden :-)

Hazel's Gift

Bouquet from Hazel 

Nothing is as delightful as a gift in flowers. This beautiful Sunday was made memorable when Hazel dropped home with Prasanth. We had a lovely time catching up with the old stories, updates and most of all just talking to this wonderful couple.

Tips for Cake Baking and Cake Decoration

I love cake baking and decorating. I'm just a newbie in this arena trying the tricks of the trade. There're many souls like me trying out new design and sometimes I'm overwhelmed by the design choices made by cake veterans. It's a great world out there with endless design possibilities, flavor combinations, vibrant colors, enough to enthrall sweet teeth cake eaters.

If you are just starting out, you may want to find out about getting the tools and ingredients you need for the job.

Here are few tips and pointers which I would like to share it with you every week.

Unfortunately, cakes don't always turn out like the pictures we see but if we plan well we can get a real nice looking cake, always use good baking powder and stick to the recipe measurements

Always use measuring cups and spoons for measuring your ingredients. Don't measure ingredients using your tea cups or spoons, you are going to get it wrong.

See that the egg and butter is in room temperature, take it out from the fridge well in advance so that you can get it to room temperature.

Buy stainless steel or nickel-plated cooking racks so that you don't have to contend with rust.

A pastry brush should be preferably one with silicone bristles, is a great tool for sweeping the crumbs from your just-baked cake. Getting the crumbs off your cake surface and sides makes your crumb coat more effective.

Rubber Spatula- No kitchen utensil works quite as effectively for scraping every last drop of cake batter or frosting out of a mixing bowl as a flexible rubber spatula. Rubber spatulas also are perfect for gently folding whipped egg whites or whipped cream into a recipe, stock up on different shapes and sizes.

Hope the above tips are useful to you, catch you again with more tips. If you've more tips, please do share in the comments box.

Happy Baking
Marina

Sunflower Delight - Rich Chocolate Cake

Sunflower cupcakes

Sunflower Cake and Cupcakes

These days I'm trying out any new cake design I come across the net. Some work well, some fail to meet the expectations. In today's experiment, I tried out sunflower design on cupcakes and on the cake. The first part came of my baking experiment came out well on cupcakes. The sunflower design on the cake failed to impress the critics in my house.

So, what's the lesson here. You win and you will loose some. Finally, it's not just about winning or loosing, but it's about trying out new paths to take you to a higher ground. 

Strawberry cake with rosette icing

Rosette icing

Slice of Cake with Rosette icing

Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."


Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)


Like the wording in sonnets from the lyrical tale of "star-cross'd" lovers, this rose look alike swirls (rosette icing) is made by holding the icing bag in 90 degree angle and letting the icing in one continuous rotation. Rosette icing looks very similar to a rose as it is wrapped in layers of petals.

Now it's your turn to make every more delightful designs with rosette icing. Pls post your rosette icing pics in the comments box.

In case you need any technical advice, pls feel free to contact me.

Your in Rosette,

Marina

Chole Bhature

Chole Bhature

After a spate of experiments with cakes, and icing, my sweet teeth is longing for something spicy, something truly Indian.

So, this time I'm trying out Chole bhature the typical Punjabi dabha kind of food synonymous to north Indian cuisine.

To start with I soaked chole (chickpeaks/garbanzo beans) overnight to make it tender. Then after a lot of kneading, chopping, sauteing, frying, I made what I had yearned. Yes, in dhaba style we enjoyed the  Chole bhature, listening to old classic Hindi Filim songs from my radio.


To learn Chole bhature you can get many tried and tested recipes in the net. If you require one-on-one Indian cooking lessons in Bangalore, contact me either by phone or email for class schedule.

Strawberry Torte

Tandoori Roti and Aloo Gobi

Tandoori Roti  and Aloo Gobi

Cake Baking class at Trivandrum

 Butter cream icing and cake decoration classes held at Trivandrum on 18th and 19th Feb 2012

Black forest Cake baking classes at Trivandrum

Molten Chocolate Cake in Ramekin Bowl

Cake in Ramekin Bowl

Molten Chocolate Cake

Cake in ramekins bowl with Strawberry crush topping
Got the inspiration to make molten chocolate cake after buying Ramekin bowl from Adams store, Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore. I desperately searching for Ramekin bowl in many stores like Jamals M.G Road, Arihant Plaza at Commercial Street and few other shops in B'lore. Finally got the Remekin bowl at Adams, Bangalore. Adams has a treasure trove of baking goodies and items for anyone who is looking for baking related stuff. I feel the choice is great, thought prices are higher compared to IBCA, Mission Road, Bangalore.

From here I picked a lot of baking stuffs for my next class in Trivandrum. Check out this post for baking supplies in Bangalore. Also check out these blog post by Sumarowjee, Mekala Ashokkumar for detailed list of shops selling Baking products / supplies in Bangalore.

New Adventure with Molten Chocolate Cake
As the popular quote goes, 'There's always a first time for everything', so here's my first cake in Ramekin bowl.

Molten Chocolate Cakes Recipe

(Adapted from Joy of baking)

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 170 grams semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1/3 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.Butter ramekins or custard cups and dust the insides with granulated white sugar.
2. Double boil the chocolate and add butter and and set aside.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the egg yolks and 1/3 cup sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) Beat in the vanilla extract and then fold in the melted chocolate mixture.
4. In another clean bowl whip the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and continue to whip until soft peaks form. Gradually add the 1 tablespoon of granulated white sugar and whip just until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula or wire whisk gently fold the beaten whites into the chocolate mixture, just until incorporated. Do not over mix or the batter will deflate. Divide the batter between the prepared molds. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the outside edges of the cakes are set but the middle still looks a little wet and wobbly. You may have cracks on the top surface of the cakes.
5. Immediately remove from oven and let them rest for a minute or two. You can serve the cakes in their molds or you can run a palette or sharp knife around the edge of each cake and then invert onto the center of each serving plate. Carefully remove the mold. Place a dollop of  vanilla ice cream on top of each warm cake with Strawberry crush topping.

Enjoy the Valentines day!!!

Black Forest Gateau

The ever loved Black Forest Gauteau.

Strawberry Cupcakes

Nutmeg Cake with Chocolate Icing

Red Velvet Cake

Thanks to Rosalyn Jose for the red velvet cake recipe. I made a slight change in the recipe, used beetroot juice instead of  red color. It came out very soft, no wonder why this is named as velvet cake.

Valentine Cupcake

Gift your valentine an edible rose, instead of the traditional version.

This is a simple cupcake with a whipping cream rose and leaves. The rose is piped directly onto the cupcake using a rose tip and the leaves by using the leaf tip.

Enjoy the valentine season

Chocolate Valentine Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Valentine Cake

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. #Quote

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Make the Life Change Experiment|Here I'm with another cake experiment, bringing to life this pretty heart-shaped cake. I topped this cake with milk chocolate ganache, along with little hearts and silver balls. Finally this quintessential valentine cake came out sweet, wonderful, and delicious.

Here's to your valentine,

Marina

Portion of Truffle Cake

Slice of Truffle Cake

Do you ever wonder what's a truffle cake? If yes, here's how a piece of it looks in dim lighting. I've better picture of truffle cake which you can see in this blog post. If you're looking for Truffle cake recipe you can pick it up from this post. If you've any comments or suggestions to add abt this cake, pls do it in the comment box below.

Valentine Cake with Fudge Icing

Tea Cake 

This cake is decked with fudge icing ( combination of coco, icing sugar, rum and coffee ) for Valentine's Day .  I made this cake during my baking class in Bangalore and gave it to my students. You can make it look different with icing, designs or use sprinklers to give your design look.

Love is in the air - Valentine special cake

Valentine Cake 

Cherry Dripping Cake

Slice of Love Cake 

'Tis the season of hope, love, and be jolly. Valentine month brings in another reason to gift your love with something memorable. So, here's my share of gift to you. I used heart shaped cake baking tray to bake this loveable cake. The seedless cherries from American Garden added more delight to the cake.

So what plans for this Valentine's day? Do you plans to buy a valentine cake for your love? Why don't you bake or make something special of our own, instead of buying it from a shop?

In case you have plans to bake a cake, you can make your dreams come true with a little help from this baking instructor.

Love,

Marina

Strawberry Delight

Basket weave on the side of the cake

Full view of basket weave pattern cake

Basket cake picture

From the tutorials in Wilton's Cake Decoration book I made this basket weave on butter cream icing. I used Wilton Tip 47 to weave the intricate design. First I started with long vertical stripes and then used short horizontal stripes to create the basket weave effect.