Eppa Sangria Cranberry Preserve with Easy Yogurt Pannacotta

There is a tangible sense of excitement and expectation in December. I always feel like something amazing is going to happen, a feeling echoed perhaps from thousands of years ago at that very first Christmas... December has since always been a month of hope, and is definitely the happiest month of the year. In my life December has always been the month of new beginnings-T and I were married in December four fleeting years ago, we came to this country on the last day of the month to bein our new life together here, and it is also the month that I began another beautiful new journey as a mom to my little monkey. I am always excited to see what December brings! 

One of the things I enjoy the most about this time of the year is getting together with friends and family. Everyone takes the time out and makes the extra effort to get together, sit at one table, share stories, laughter and create memories. Food is festive, rich and plentiful and wine always seems to flow more freely.
Living close to Napa Valley I always like discovering new wines to try and I was only happy to accept when the people of Eppa Sangria asked me if I would like to review their wine.

On a whim I also used it to make a cranberry preserve or dessert topping for a creamy panna cotta that I made lighter replacing half greek yogurt in place of cream. I think I came up with the perfect Christmas time dessert- it is a light refreshing end to a heavy meal, is super easy and takes only a few minutes, a saucepan and a spoon to put together, you can make it ahead to set and chill in your fridge and it doesn't take up oven space. With a seasonally apt red cranberry topping infused with spices and wine how much more perfect can it get?

I made the dessert for some friends who came home for dinner and I also served them the wine which I was not so surprised to note was preferred more by us women because of its sweet taste and fruitiness. I think Sangria just looks so pretty too, with the bobbing bits of fruit that infuse the wine with their bright fresh flavors.

Eppa Sangria is a combination of Cabernet and Syrah from beautiful Mendocino County, blended with fruit juces from antioxidant-rich fruits, including pomegranate, blueberry, Mediterranean blood orange and acai. I was pleased to learn that this makes it nearly twice as antioxidant rich as a glass of red wine and it is also certified organic- something that is not very easy to find. You can buy it in Whole Foods or other stores mentioned on their website and you can also have it shipped to most states. It came to me well packed in thermocole bottle savers and could be a good gift idea to send friends and family who don't live close by.

I made the cranberry preserve by simmering the red berries until they burst with spices and citrus zest and it is even more delicious than it looks, especially when paired with the refreshingly light and so easy to make pannacotta. I'm sure it would taste great with crackers or cookies, plain yogurt, or even with cheese. I would probably spoon it over ice cream especially this one.

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Orange Layer Cake with Orange Bavarian Cream for Diwali

Diwali fireworks are bursting around us as I type. We have all been sitting in the balcony with the little one who is enjoying the pretty starbursts with his great-grandmother, my Ammama. Although he does not like the noise too much and is now sitting on her lap with his fingers in his ears, staring at the sky! Ammama looks so happy, she has come to my parents home here in Coimbatore all the way from her beloved farm in Kerala, just to be with our little monkey. This moment is such a blessing.
  

Hope my Indian friends are having a wonderful Diwali filled with love and laughter and great food of course! 

Diwali is a Hindu religious festival celebrating the return of Rama and Sita after years of exile and is spread over five days. It is great that I was able to be in India during this time.You just cannot help getting caught up in the excitement. I enjoy the fireworks, beautifully bedecked women in their finest saris, jewelry and with jasmine in their hair, but most of all - sweets! It just would not be Diwali without the mandatory boxes of ghee and cardamom scented sweets that would arrive from friends. 

Cake is not typical to Diwali but I was inspired to make this cake yesterday- layers of soft, airy sponge with a touch of citrus zest and just sweet enough orange Bavarian cream with segments of fresh orange that burst as you bite them-citrus fireworks in your mouth!

The sponge cake is made with a lot of eggs but no butter. It is quite dry and slightly eggy-smelling on its own. But it absorbed the simple syrup I made with orange juice and sugar like a...well, like a sponge and becomes moist and tender with a filling and frosting. So for a layer cake, do not look past this simple sponge cake which is also quite easy to make and very easy to remember. If you are looking for a plain tea cake to eat on it's own, check out these instead. I was itching to add a dash of cardamom powder which  think would have been perfect with the orange but my kid brother (no longer a kid really) does not like cardamom too much so I controlled myself. Besides Diwali brings about a cardamom overdose anyway!Which ever way you try it -with or without the cardamom and for whatever reason you find to bake it, you will love it! Even if your Bavarian Cream does not set like me -I don't know why :( and is a little runny, it still tastes really, really good! 

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Flourless Orange Cardamom Almond cake (Dairy-free, Gluten-free)

..a walk through a sunny orange orchard, breathing the zesty air!

It was a very special blessing to live so close to an orange orchard since I love all things citrus. The sight of all those bright sunny oranges never failed to cheer me up and truly California is sunnier with all those orange and lemon trees everywhere!

You would have seen many citrus desserts on this blog, but nothing quite like this cake, made with whole oranges, boiled in their thick orange skin and flour less and butter less to boot! Sounds pretty crazy right? I thought so too!

I was introduced to these at that bakesale we had taken part in. There was a sea of colorful baked goodies- iced sugar cookies in all shapes, gorgeous layer cakes under glass domes, cupcakes piled high with frosting.....but what caught my eye were these tiny clementine mini muffins with a very intriguing ingredient list: Whole clementines, eggs, almonds, sugar, baking powder. No flour? No butter?! Curious, I bought a bunch to share with friends and wow! was I rewarded! 

Each little bite was  incredibly tender and moist, more like pudding than cake, with a heady citrussy flavor and fragrance. I loved them so much I had to have the recipe which the lovely Andrea who baked for the sale, mailed to me. They are made in the food processor or mixie and are quite easy to make too. 

They are perfect to nibble on with a cup of tea or strong coffee ( in my case) and simply perfect for the Mad Tea Party today. What could be madder than a flour less, butter less cake I say ?!

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Orange Cupcakes from Vegancupcakes take over the world

I have been obsessed with vegan baking as you can tell and "Vegan cupcakes take over the world" in particular. Here is another recipe adapted from this wonderful book for wonderful tasting, dairy and egg-free cupcakes that are also good to our animal friends, and again it is in my current favourite flavour- Orange :)

Orange Cupcakes
Recipe source: These cupcakes are adapted from Vegan Cupcakes take over the world and are from here

Wet Ingredients

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup plain soy milk/rice milk
• 1/2 cup orange juice (I used minute maid though freshly squeezed would be best)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp orange zest grated finely ( I don't like biting into pieces of orange skin so I grated very finely)

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 350 F
• Take the wet ingredients including the sugar, plus 1tbsp of flour in a bowl and mix until well combined. You could use a blender for this.
• In separate bowl sift remaining flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in three batches, mixing well after each addition, until the batter is smooth
• Fold in the orange zest and mix well to distribute it throughout the batter.
• Fill greased cupcake tins/cupcake liner 2/3 of the way. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. The tops should feel spring y when touched.
• Cool completely before frosting else the frosting may get runny

Orange frosting (I haven't tried this)

• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup margarine, softened
• 2 cup confectioner's sugar
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
• 1 tbsp finely grated orange zest (recipe suggests lemon zest)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream shortening and margarine until well combined.
Add confectioner's sugar in 1/2 cup additions.
After each addition of sugar, add a little orange juice and beat well with a handheld mixer on medium speed.
Add vanilla and beat for another 3-5 minutes until smooth, creamy and fluffy. Add zest at end and fold in.

Unfortunately I didn't have shortening and only had some butter which I wanted to use up as well since we can't have any due to my son's dairy allergy, so I used the following recipe instead:

Ingredients

• 1 stick butter
• 4 tsb powdered sugar (Just put regular sugar in a blender and blend until fine and powdery)
• 3 tbs orange juice
• 1 tsp orange zest
• Beat the above with a hand held mixer until creamy.If it seems too runny or liquidy, add more sugar and beat again.

Verdict

The cupcakes were sent to my friend who recently went back to work after delivering a cutie pie baby only a few weeks before jellybean's arrival. She is an awesome baker so I was a little nervous especially since I was using a vegan recipe here, but she really liked them! She also said they were really moist which is probably because these are made with canola oil instead of butter and I've noticed oil based cakes have a wonderful texture.
I cut the top off a cereal box and covered it with pastel paper to put the cupcakes in. I put the frosting in a zip lock bag so that baby T's mom could just snip the end and pipe the frosting as needed. Next time I gift pack I will be more sophisticated but on short notice this was the only way I could think of to transport it without a mess.

Oh and if you're thinking why so many citrus recipes? Well, for one I love the flavour of citrus in baked goods and the other reason I must confess was to use up a huge box of clementines that I had bought a while back and which remind me to do something with them every time I open my fridge! Thankfully they are almost over but then I made a trip to Costco recently and on an impulse bought a huge bag of frozen berries. Prepare to see what I do with them soon!
These cupcakes are going to be sent off as an entry to the blogger bites challenge on One hot stove hosted by the one hot Nupur :)

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Orange Cuptail Cupcakes- Easy & Vegan ( Dairy-free, Eggless)

Summer's here and so is the glue that bonds girls from New York to New Delhi- Sex and the City 2!!! So when you get together with your best gal pals to watch back-to-back episodes in preparation, why not bake up some of these delightful & summery Orange cocktail-in-a-cupcake or “Cup-tails”.

These cuties have got to be my favourite summer treats. Why? Because

1) What is better than cocktails and cupcakes ? cocktails in a cupcake :)

2) Because which fruit reminds you more of the blazing summer sun than the orange? I for one can’t think of any. I live next door to an orange orchard and love to walk by and see the trees full of fruit every February, signalling the end of winter and the promise of sunny days ahead. “Spring is almost here, Summer will soon follow!” each plump orange seems to say.

The fresh citrusy taste of this juicy fruit is totally captured in this vegan orange cupcake made mostly from orange juice and zest.

No eggs, no milk, nothing to weaken the bold, orangey awesomeness. So it’s tasty and healthy and cruelty-free too. I'm not a vegan but have amazing respect for those who are, especially the wonderful vegan food bloggers who have helped me see that vegan baked goods are yummalicious, often easier to make and call for less ingredients. Vegan baking is also great for those with allergies to dairy and eggs.

I like these orange cupcakes best after chilling a while in the fridge, so that it’s like biting into a tall glass of orange juice, especially after a hot, lazy day at the beach or swim in the pool.

Add some orange liqueur, vodka or grand mariner, some orange butter-cream frosting if you want, and there you have it, the Orange Cup-tail!

This recipe is from the brilliant Vaishali of earthvegan and I only made a few changes to it because it was already so good.

I didn't have orange liqueur so I used Grand Mariner instead and it was awesome, although it would be awesomer with the orange liqueur or maybe even some orange extract. Want to try it with vodka soon since vodka-orange is my favourite cocktail combination!

Orange Cuptail Cupcakes

Recipe Source: Vaishali of earthvegan from here

Dry Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• finely grated zest from one orange ( Organic oranges would be best. You could omit this although I like it better with the zest. It tastes well, zestier :)

Sift all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix in the zest.

In another bowl, beat together until well-mixed:

• 1 cup orange juice ( I used store bought minute maid but fresh would be best)
• 2 tbsp orange liqueur like Cointreau or Triple Sec (I used grand mariner)
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

Method

• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk just until you have a smooth batter. Do not overmix or overbeat.
• Pour the batter into greased silicone cupcake molds or muffin tins. Or you could use an ice cream scoop to pour out the batter with less fuss
• Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven about 30-32 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Orange-flavored Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 8 tbsp (1 stick) vegan butter like Earth Balance
• 4 tbsp vegetable shortening
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 tbsp orange liqueur
• 1 tbsp orange zest (optional)
• 2 to 3 cups confectioners' sugar (use more or less depending on how thick you want your frosting, and how sweet).
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream together the butter and shortening until they are fluffy, about 1 minute.

Now add the orange juice, zest, liqueur and vanilla and half the sugar. Beat until mixed, then add the remaining sugar and beat until mixed for about 2 mins.

Frost the cupcakes after they've cooled completely otherwise the frosting may melt and get runny.

Verdict

To tell the truth, I

wasn't expecting too much from a cupcake made mostly out of orange juice and not much else. But the cupcakes have turned out soft and fluffy and absolutely lovely!

Warning: I also tried to bake a cake using lemon juice instead of orange, but didn't like it as much. Might want to use another recipe for vegan lemon cakes (will post one soon)

I also love my silicone cupcake molds which are so easy to unmold and they are so cute I don't even need separate cupcake liners, I can simply bake, and serve in them! Have put a link below if you want to check them out. I think they would make great gifts for the bakers in your family. Just be a little careful while peeling them off though. I was very rash and tore one :(

Oh and if you like this recipe you should totally check out Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World

, which has 75 different cupcake recipes including a margarita cupcake! And they are all dairy and egg-free and most recipes use ingredients you probably already have lying around in your kitchen. This is an awesome cook book and even non vegans (like me) will agree!

I am sending these cup-tails off to What's for lunch honey?'s monthly mingle "Special Sweet Treats" hosted at theapartmentkitchen.net

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Coconut Orange Bundt Cake

I have been really excited about trying my new silicone bundt pan and I've been reading some awesome vegan food blogs and wanting to try out tonnes of recipes.

So I chose this recipe from Veganyumyum where she made it with the pinkish blood orange juice in mini bundt cake tins. I made it with regular store bought minute maid orange juice in my new silicone bundt pan and the cake came out beautifully-don't you think?

Unfortunately in my excitement I took the pan straight out of the dishwasher and the cake ended up tasting of soap :(

Coconut Orange Bundt Cakes

Makes 1 small bundt cake, six mini (1 Cup) bundt cakes, or 12 cupcakes

Recipe Source: Slightly adapted from Veganyumyum here

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups Flour ( I used all purpose flour)
• 3/4 Cups Sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/3 Cup Coconut Cream (refrigerate a can of coconut milk until the cream floats to the top and solidifies)
• 2 Tbs Blood Orange Juice (I used regular store bought minute maid orange juice though fresh squeezed would definitely taste better. But hey when there's a short cut I will take it!)
• 3/4 Cup Soy Milk ( Next time I would like to use rice or almond milk for a fluffier texture)
• 2 Tbs Water
• 1-2 tsp Vanilla Extract ( Next time I will use orange extract instead)
• Zest from one Orange ( Although the recipe didn't call for this I would highly recommend it)

Method

• Preheat oven to 400º F.
• Grease a regular bundt pan, mini bundt cake pan or cupcake molds.
• Whisk dry ingredients together.
• Beat wet ingredients together in a separate bowl until well combined.
• Add the orange zest.
• Gently fold wet ingredients into dry until just combined, don't overbeat.
• Fill your pan but not all the way, leave some room for the cake to rise.
• Bake a regular bundt for about 40 minutes, a mini bundt for 25-30 minutes, or cupcakes for about 20- 25 mins or until lightly browned on top and a skewer inserted in the top comes out clean without any batter sticking to it.
• Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan. Veganyumyum suggests cooling under plastic wrap to keep the outsides nice and soft.

Meanwhile prepare the orange syrup.

(Makes about 1 Cup)

• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1/4 Cup Blood Orange Juice, strained ( I used regular minute maid orange juice though fresh squeezed would definitely taste better)

Combine sugar and water boil until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in juice. To make a thicker syrup, boil again until the sugar begins to expand greatly in volume (230º F, thread stage) then remove from heat.

Soak the cakes in the thin version of the syrup for a moister cake. As soon as the cakes come out of the oven, poke them with a fork and pour 1/2 of the syrup evenly over the tops. Let sit for at least 10 minutes before unmolding. Then thicken the leftover syrup for decoration.

Verdict:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the silicone pan. It is a dream to use and the cake was beyond easy to unmold. I just pulled the flexible sides a little and then placed a plate over the top, held the plate and pan together and turned them over to unmold.The cake was a beaut even if I say so myself :)

However, since this cake uses no oil or eggs it was a little harder and less moist than regular cakes. I was also a little disappointed that the taste of the coconut didn't come through at all. I would definitely soak the cakes in the syrup next time I try this. And yes, definitely, definitely rinse off my pan next time too!

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Orange Cream Tart

Growing up, my mom made this tangy, citrus y, creamy and sweet dessert on all those special occasions, dinners and pot lucks. It was served at my parents wedding and the recipe came from my grand aunt Mercyelema who is an awesome baker and cook. This dessert was the first one I asked my mom to teach me to make (after years of being the official biscuit crusher) and is also one of the first things I made for my husband T and hence fittingly, my first post here.
I remember at a pot luck dinner a friend didn't try my mom's pudding because she thought that the sunny orange top layer was made entirely of egg yolk! I insisted she try a slice and of course she was hooked! I overheard her saying that my mom's dessert was the yummiest!

Ingredients

• 10 Marie Biscuits / graham crackers
• Butter (salted or unsalted) 100 gms 
• 1 Cup Milk
• Sugar ( 3 ounces or 3 heaped tablespoons) 
• Corn Flour 2 tbsp
• Custard Powder 1 tbsp
• 1 cup Orange Juice/Mango Juice- Tropicana or other store bought 100% juice  with or without pulp works fine

Appliances: Stove & Microwave/oven

Method:

Layer 1: Biscuit Layer

1. Crush the biscuits using a rolling pin until powdered. Put it in a glass microwaveable dish/ baking dish.
2. Mix well with 4 tablespoons of butter and 4 tablespoons milk until it becomes of mould able consistency.Spread &
3. Pat well into a thin layer at the bottom of the pan
4. Microwave on high power and heating & baking combination or bake in oven on a slow flame for 5-10 minutes.

Layer 2: Custard Layer

1. Heat 1 cup milk in a sauce pan.
2. Mix 1 heaped tablespoon custard powder & 1 heaped tablespoon cornflour with 1/4 cup water till smooth.
3. Add this to the hot milk stirring continuously over slow flame until it thickens.
4. Add 3 Ounces ( 3 heaped tablespoons) of sugar
5. Add 2 Ounces of butter
6. Mix well until butter & sugar has melted into the thickened milk.
7. Allow to cool, then spread over the biscuit layer and chill in refrigerator until it sets

Layer 3: Orange/Mango Filling

1. Mix 1 tablespoon custard powder & 1 tablespoon cornflour well to 1 Cup Orange/Mango Juice.
   
2. Bring to a boil stirring continuously. Add 1 ounce butter.
   
3. Cool and spread over custard layer once it has set.

Let the pudding set in the fridge for about an hour and serve chilled. This can also be made in ramekins or shot glasses and served individually. 

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