Eggless Chocolate Truffle Cake

Dear All,

Hope you all had a great and relaxing weekend. It had been a long time since I made a chocolate cake so thought of making my most favorite cake ever Chocolate Truffle Cake! Doubled the recipe of Eggless Chocolate Cake filled and frosted with homemade chocolate ganache!

The cake turned out to be fantastic! Chocolate ganache filling was simply perfect, not too sweet and not too bitter! I personally love to warm up the cake for few seconds in microwave and have with a BIG scoop of vanilla ice cream!! YUMMMM!!!


Want a slice?

For the recipe, follow my eggless chocolate cake recipe just double all the ingredients to get 8 inch cake

For Chocolate Ganache I followed the recipe from here, the recipe adds flavored liquor but I have not added any.

Once ganache is ready put it in fridge overnight for setting before using it on the cake. Refrigeration will cause ganache to become quite thick and makes it easy for spreading on the cake and piping.

Once filled and frosted the cake with ganache again pop the cake into fridge for atleast couple of hours for setting, remove the cake half an hour before serving.

Hope you guys liked the cake and if in case of any doubts or queries do post below.
Until next time, tc!

Love,

A Dream Come True With CAKE WALK

Hi All,

I have some BIG news to share with you all but before that lets start at the beginning. I have been passionate about baking since as long as I can remember. It all started about 8 to 9 yrs back when we first got internet @ home! Internet opened this entirely new world of creativity for me! Looking at those gorgeous tiered wedding cakes I was dumbstruck! Thereafter I started my real journey with baking!

I started this blog initially to mainly have a dairy of my recipes online but today it has changed my world! I have tried to share my experience with baking through my blog and I love when people come back to me with queries or some doubts or even just to tell me that they tried one of my recipes and it was success! This just makes my day. This is the journey which we have traveled together and I would like to thank you all for your constant support & encouragement!

The news I sharing with you all has been my dream since the time I started baking!
And finally the dream has come true. I present to you all "CAKE WALK" - A sweet little venture of mine!

Even though I used to take orders for cakes on & off whenever I had free time during college or office this is something special! I have started taking orders full time! Yes! I have created a special page for Cake Walk right on the top menu with flavor list and small description of each cake! I'll be updating this page from time to time so do check back!

Also I'll be taking classes on baking very soon! This is request I keep on getting a lot of time and finally I have decided to go ahead with it but currently I am still under process on developing the curriculum for the class etc so it'll take few months but keep in touch for new happenings & dates for the classes!

This does not mean I am done with my blogging! This journey will continue and I'll continue to share my experiences in cooking n baking.

Leaving you with some of my creations during past few years :)

For any orders or queries get in touch with me @8055760713 or email me - paritasworld@gmail.com

Moist Butter Cake

Hi All,

I was craving for some home made butter cake from a long time! Even though I bake cream cakes a lot these days for orders pouring in but the aroma of freshly baked butter cake is out of this world! This recipe is definitely a keeper! The cake turned out so moist and buttery! Its not too oily or heavy at all. The added vanilla takes this cake to another level! 

Its a perfect cake to be enjoyed lazy sunday afternoon with some hot coffee and a book! It perfect cake to be served as snacks for kids or even pack it in tiffin for mid day meal.

I have adapted the recipe from The Little Teochew
Serves 6 to 8
Moist Butter Cake
Ingredients:-
- 195g all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 170g unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar, 200 gms
- 2 medium eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla essence
- 12 tbsp whole milk


Procedure:-
- Preheat the oven to 175 degress C
- Sieve flour, salt and baking powder.
- Beat sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 mins
- Beat in one egg at a time in the sugar and butter mixture until well mixed
- Add in vanilla and mix well
- On low speed add the flour alternating between milk in the egg mixture. Make sure no lumps are there.
- Pour the mixture into greased and floured cake pan.
- Bake for about 40 to 45 mins until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
- Cool completely before cutting the cake or else you'll end up with lots of crumbs.
- Always use a serrated knife to cut the cake.
- Serve with coffee or tea as snack or add a dollop of cream fresh and some fruits to serve it as dessert!
- All in all a perfect butter cake!

Just look at those fine cake crumb! Isn't it gorgeous? You can omit vanilla and add in any flavor you like - lemon, butterscotch, orange, cardamon etc or throw in some chocolate chips!. It's very versatile recipe so do try it out and let me know how it turned out!

Until next time take care!

Love,

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

Dear all,

This cake was on my to do list since a long time! Who doesn't like gooey chocolaty chocolate cake which is easy to prepare and is ready in less than 30 mins!! I think the first time I tasted this cake was from Dominos and to be honest never liked it a bit! It leaves weird oily taste behind..yuk!!! I have seen this cake floating around a lot in blogosphere and finally made it this weekend! It's a fool proof recipe though I would like to reduce the sugar a bit as don't really have a sweet tooth but of course you can use the same quantity of ingredients :)

I have adapted this recipe from ShowMeTheCurry.com. I really like those two gujju gals blame me for being biased :P and also most of the recipes tried from their blog has always given me great results! Both Hetal and Tanuja are quite sweet and explain the recipes really well.

Recipe adapted from ShowMeTheCurry.com
Molten Chocolate Lava Cake
Ingredients:-
Bittersweet chocolate - 113gms
Butter - 113 gms (I used amul)
2 eggs
1/4 cup all purpose flour - 35 gms
1/3 cup sugar - 70 gms

Procedure:-

• Grease 6 ramekins with butter and keep them aside.
• On a double boiler or microwave melt the chocolate.
• Once completely melted remove from heat and add in the butter and mix well until butter is completely melted.
• In a separate clean bowl beat together sugar and eggs until light and fluffy for about 3 to 4 mins.
• Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and mix well.
• Now gently fold in the flour until its well incorporated.
• Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C, fill in 6 ramekins till 2/3 or max 3/4 cup and bake these for exactly 10 to 13 mins! If you bake any longer the gooey center might become hard. Adjust the time according to your preference shorter for gooey and longer for hard center.
• Immediately serve these with fresh cream or sprinkled some strawberries and icing sugar!
• Best serve them with vanilla ice cream!

This is gonna be permanent in my house and will be making every week I suppose! Nothing wrong to pamper yourself every once in a while :)

Hope you guys enjoyed the post, incase of any questions or doubts pls post in comments section and I'll get back to you asap!

Thank you and until next time, tc!

Love,

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins For A Sweet Beginning

Dear all,

I know I know I have been away for quite a while and to be honest I really needed this break. Initially it was pure laziness and my hectic work schedule which kept me away from blogging but the good news is I missed blogging so much that now I have finally decided that enough is enough and from now on I'll be regularly posting and updating my blog. 

I am gonna update few things on my blog so you may see quite a lot of changes in the coming few weeks so please bear with me for a while :) Also the Recipe Index is almost done!! Please do have a look and let me know if you have any suggestions :) I have marked recipes which are kids friendly or a cuisine specialty along with some of my most recommended recipes! So do check it out!

Eggless Black Forest Cake - Step by step Pictorial

Dear All,

Today I am going share a tutorial with you for baking an eggless black forest cake with step by step instructions. Hope this is helpful to all who are scared of baking cakes and will find courage and encouragement from this post to bake one successfully! I bakes this cake for my dad's 60th birthday for which we gave him a surprise birthday party :) The cake came out beautiful and was loved by everyone! It was moist and delicious!

Eggless Tiramisu Cake

Dear All,

I am back with another mouth watering treat and one of my most favorite dessert of all time TIRAMISU!!!!

I was first introduced to this heavenly dish when I was in Switzerland, we used to have Tiramisu every thursday for after lunch dessert in our canteen. One bite and it just blew my mind away! There have been times when I have had only this as my lunch! Yes I love to bits! Though tiramisu is basically made up of eggs and mascarpone cheese but I have used my basic eggless cake recipe and homemade mascarpone cheese to make this divine dessert into a cake!

Chocolate Kisses (Eggless Vanilla Chocolate Cookies)

Dear all,

On my last trip to US I had bought a big bag of Hershey's Kisses on request from my baby sister. Though I am not very fond of these but she adores them and hence I ended up buying a big bag of these! On the other hand I truly love their packing, its so very attractive and cute :) As I had lots of these I planned to use them in my baking experiments and I must say I am glad because these were delicious...light, crispy, buttery with a tinge of vanilla! Oh boy these were perfect for a lazy evening snack :)

Mango Pound Cake - Step by step pictures

Hi All,

A life without love is like a year without summer
~ Swedish Proverb

Summers always brings back memorable memories of school days when we used to wait desperately for our summer vacations!! I always used to accompany mom to buy green mangoes for making various sweet and spicy mango pickles. We used to make around 10kg's of mango pickle every year. Most of which we would share with our aunt's and uncle's families nevertheless it was fun to watch my ma and grandma making those yummy pickles. It was like a ritual which we used to follow every single year!

Oreo Cookies Chocolate Cream Cake

Dear All,

Cookies are made of butter and love.  ~Norwegian Proverb

 

Who can say no to an Oreo Cookie? I am still yet to meet someone who dislikes Oreo's. These are very popular amongst kids as well as older generations. During my visit to US last year I understood the true craze of these cookies! Probably every trolly in the supermarket had big packs of Oreo's. Its packing also states "America's Favorite Cookie"! Oreo cookies are probably one of the oldest cookies available since 1920's. I have seen them being used in ice creams, milkshakes, cakes, puddings, fudges etc. I too enjoy these cookies especially with a cold glass of milk. Oreo's are so famous that it even has Oreo Cookie Day which is celebrated on March 6th.

Eggless Vanilla Cake and Happy Holi to everyone!!

Dear All,

Wishing you all a very Happy Holi!  May god gift you all colors of life, colors of joy, colors of happiness, colors of love, colors of friendship and all other colors you want to paint in your life!

I know I have been away from the blogging world from quite sometime, I do appreciate all your emails and FB messages concerning my disappearance and I sincerely want to thank you all for remembering me.

Today's cake was a special request from one of my closest friend and my roommate S for her sister. It was around 6.30 pm on Thursday and I was in office eagerly waiting to go home and I got a call from S, the conversation went something like this.....

Me: Hello S...
S: Hey are you busy right now?
Me: Nah...tell me what happened?
(Just then there is lots of disturbance in the line..it happens all the time)
S: Hello...Hello...can you hear me?
Me: Ha ha... bolo na....
S: Hello...heelllooooo?
Me: S throw your mobile away...grrr...
S: Hello..yes now I can hear you...actually I wanted a favor from you?
Me: Sure..?
(Again disturbance in the line)
S: Actually I wanted to know if you can make a caaalle...
(and the line went dead, I literally jumped from my seat as I am sure she meant CAKE)
Again S called up and this time from her office phone
S: Hello Parita...
Me: Kaunsa cake banana hai??
S: Eggless vanilla banaate hai na..my sister has specially requested
Me: Neki aur puch puch... DONE!!!

Unfortunately I reached home pretty late that day, it was almost 11 pm when we finished our dinner so we decided to get up early the next morning and make the cake. We got up 5am in the morning to bake this cake....yeah i am one crazy baker..and it was well worth the effort! I have used this recipe as my base and tweaked a bit to suit my needs. As you can see in the picture the cake turned out beautiful....perfect crumbs. It was soft, moist and spongy..didn't miss the eggs at all! This is going to be my keeper recipe for eggless cakes! Of course you can tweak this recipe as per needs ..replace vanilla with almond or lemon or orange..anything would work! Do give it a try!

Eggless Vanilla Cake
Original Recipe here
Ingredients:-
2 cups all purpose flour (Maida)
1 can sweetened condensed milk, about 400 gms
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1 cup aerated soda water
1 vanilla bean, split and scrapped or 1 tbsp vanilla essence

Procedure:-

• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C.
• Grease and flour a pound cake tin or any other cake tin that suites your needs.
• Sieve together flour, baking powder and baking soda.
• Mix melted butter and condensed milk together, just until both are well incorporated.
• Now add in vanilla beans or vanilla essence and mix well.
• Now add in flour mixture along with soda water and mix well after each addition.
• Pour the mixture in the greased tin and bake for 40 to 45 mins until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
• Once baked, remove the cake pan from the oven and let it cool completely before removing and slicing the cake.

Feeling Blue!!

Dear All,

I know I owe you all an explanation to my unexpected disappearance. I havent updated my blog in last one month and there is a reason behind it. Lots of things have changed in last one month at work front and in personal life. Let me ask you all a question..have you ever felt so alone in life as if you were living on a different planet with no one to talk to and share your feelings with? with no friends and family? Do you question yourself upon the decisions you make and when those decisions go wrong and makes you feel miserable and guilty? When someone you love breaks your trust and you cannot forget and let go?  It hurts so bad that you want to scream your heart out? Honestly I feel like I am going through that phase in life. I feel sad, disappointed, betrayed and probably lots more!!

I think I am going through some kind of identify crisis. Its like you think you know what you are doing and you know what you want in life but suddenly life takes you down to a path which you never thought you would walk on. It makes you question yourself and the worst part is you dont have an answer for that! Its when you feel even after doing all things right still everything goes wrong. It makes you question your beliefs and your moral values. I always knew life's tough and the world is cruel but a part of me always believed that there are good people out there who would feel the same way as I do. I always thought that if you didnt do anything wrong to anyone else nothing can go wrong with you but now I am not so sure about it. I always thought that whatever happens..happens for good, I wish I knew what good its gonna bring out to me. I wish we knew answers to all our questions...life would be so much better..isnt it?

So what do you do in such situation? Of course apart of getting all emotional and giving a big lecture just like I did above :) For me CHOCOLATE is probably the best way of making myself feel better..ah forget the extra pounds for a while! Some chocolate brownies with creamy vanilla ice cream on top! Yup thats what I am having right now while writing this post :) And what better way than sharing a delicious chocolate cake recipe with you all especially if it has lots of sour cherries in it...hummm and some chocolate chips as well! Chocolate+Cherry is one of my favorite combo and I always wanted to bake with sour cherries. So when my dear roomy got some sour dried cherries from US I baked this gorgeous cake for my colleagues who never disappoint me in finishing any of my baked treat in record time :) 

Chocolate Cherry Cake to make you feel better!
Ingredients:-
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3 tbsp of rich cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup milk
90 ml vegetable oil
1 cup chopped dried sour cherries
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 tsp vanilla essence or seeds of one vanilla bean scrapped

Procedure:-

• Grease amd flour a pound cake pan, preheat the oven to 180 degress C.
• Sieve all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
• Dump together the above dyr ingredients with sugar, cherries and 1/4 cup chocolate chips.
• Now in a measuring cup mix together 1 cup of milk, 90 ml oil, vanilla seeds/essence and 2 eggs.
• Thoroughly mix the wet ingredients well until fully incoporated.
• Now pour the wet ingredients in the dry ingredients while mixing well with a spatula in between the additions. Donot use a beater, a spatula or a wooden spoon is more than sufficient. 
• Be careful to not to over mix the batter.
• Pour the batter into the cake pan and sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cups chocolate chips.
• Bake the cake for 45 mins or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
• Remove the cake from oven and let it cool completely.
• Slice and serve with some warm milk or even with a dollop of vanilla ice cream!

The cake was deliciously moist and everyone in office enjoyed it! Will definately be making this cake more often as I am sure my little sister R would love it! So now you know what to make in case you  are feeling blue or even just want to pamper yourself :)

Love,

Cardamon and Rose Flavored Ricotta Pound Cake (Paneer Cake)

Dear All,

Today's post is a very special and close to my heart. This post is dedicated to two very special individuals in my life...my mom and my dear roomy V. Today is my mom's birthday and I just wanna wish her.."Happy Birthday Ma", I know I may not express it enough but I love you very much and today whatever  I am is because of the culture and integrity that you built in me! Cant thank you enough mumma!!

  V and A, made for each other :-)

Now its V's turn, she is one of my closest and sweetest friend, though we both are roommates but I feel more like sisters and of course I being the eldest :P She is a sweetheart and I adore her! Very emotional and sensitive but at the same time rock solid and steady, now thats an awesome combo wouldnt you say? No wonder A has fallen hard for her and now they both are ready to tie a knot very soon! Congratulations guys! A calls me mother-in-law in context that V is my daughter :-) Now being a mother-in-law I have certain responsibilities towards my daughter's future which I do take very seriously :P Usually I need to bear with the dowry requests coming in from A where he demands for cakes and in return I make him cook food..lol. A is a hardcore punjabi and a fantastic cook himself! On this special occasion I wanted to make something festive  like halwa or some bengali sweet but the baker in me immediately took charge and I ended up baking this gorgeous melt in mouth Cardamon and Rose flavored Ricotta Pound Cake!

I had bookmarked Ricotta Pound Cake from Aparna's blog the moment I saw it and this was the perfect occasion to make one, as usual made some changes, added powdered cardamons and some rose water and it came out fantastic! Got 2 thumbs up from A and V both! Ricotta is not available in India and Paneer  (Indian Cottage Cheese) can be easily substituted for this. For cakes always use freshly homemade paneer and not the ready made ones, trust me this makes a lot of difference to the texture of cake. I know its a little extra effort but its well worth it! How to make paneer at home is here.

                                                          Myself and V, don't we look cute?

Cardamon and Rose flavored Ricotta Pound Cake
Adapted from Aparna's blog, original recipe here
Ingredients:-
3/4 cup fresh paneer or ricotta, its about 180gms (I used entire paneer from 1litre full fat milk)
3/4 cup all purpose flour, 110 gms
1 tbsp cornflour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg at room temperature
1/3 cup unsalted butter (75 gms)
3/4 cup sugar, 150 gms
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp freshly crushed cardamon seeds
2 tbsp rose water or 1 tsp rose essence
handful of raisins, soaked in water/rum for minimum 2hours, drained
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds removed or 1 tsp vanilla essence (optional but preferred)

Procedure:-

• Grease and flour a 6'inch round cake pan . Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
• Sieve flour, cornflour and baking powder. Keep it aside.
• In a blender/mixer add freshly made paneer with 2 tbsp of rose water and make a smooth paste.
• Put this paneer in a bowl, add in butter and beat it well. Use a beater for this but I did it using hand and didnt face any problems, its just that it takes a little more effort and plus its a very good exercise for hands :)
• Add in sugar and beat till light and fluffy.
• Now add in vanilla seeds, eggs and powdered cardamon and beat well.
• Add in flour mixture in 3 turns and beat gently.
• Finally add in drained raisins and give it a quick stir, donot beat.
• Fold the batter in the greased and floured pan and bake at 180 degress for 35 to 40 mins or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean!
• Remove from oven and let it cool for 10 mins.
• Once cooled completely, remove from tin and serve it plain and simple or with some whipped cream and fruits!

Verdict? I am planning to prepare a chocolate version of this cake very soon..yeah you guessed it right! The cake is a winner with melt in mouth texture and so soft and moist! Infact truly said its the softest cake I have ever made! It cuts extremely well and the recipe is very versatile.

Until next time take care and have fun!

Love,

Eggless Fruit and Nut Cake

Dear All,

Finally I am back to blogging after a short break which felt like long and which was unplanned. This month has been too hectic for me, with heavy workload and health not supporting I couldnt do a lot of blog hopping but I am hoping that things will go back to normal soon. This whole month I have been neglecting my oven though I really wanted to bake few things but never came around but when my dad's birthday was around the corner I just had to bake a cake for him. Though my dad loves sweets but due to his health he is now refrained from having sweets so I am always on lookout for recipes which are low in sugar and fats especially for my parents. Fruit and Nut cake seemed perfect to celebrate his birthday, this cake studded with rich dry fruits, spices and caramel was enjoyed by everyone in the family. My dad even commented that he would love to have this cake with some wine but one look from my mom and poor dad swallowed his feeling :-) Looking at this scene I remembered something "Even though the man is said to be the head of the house but wife is the neck who can turn the head any direction she wants", so true isnt it? :D

Recipe adapted from Aayi's Recipe
Ingredients for Caramel:-
1/2 cup sugar (100 gms)
1/4 cup boiling water (60 ml)

Ingredients for Cake:-
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (175 gms)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter melted (100 gms), I used Amul
1/2 cup cranberry juice (125 ml)
1 whole cinnamon stick
2 cloves
2 whole cardamon pods seeds
1 cup tuttu frutti (100 gms)
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds (50 gms)
1/2 cup finely chopped cashews (50 gms)
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts (50 gms)
1/2 cup raisins

Procedure:-

• One day before making the cake, soap the dry fruits in cranberry juice along with whole spices.
• On the day of making the cake, first prepare the caramel. In heavy bottom pan heat the sugar on low heat.The sugar will start to melt, stir the melted sugar until all the sugar is melted and caramel is started to form. Slowly the melted sugar will become dark brown in color, make sugar that you donot burn the caramel or else it will spoil the taste of the cake, once whole sugar is metled and the mixture turns dark amber in color, remove from gas and put the vessel in sink. Now add in hot boiling water, about 1/4 cup, be extra careful here as the this will splutter a lot. Make sure you donot have children anywhere near you when you are doing this.
• Cool this mixture completely before using in the cake.
• Grease and flour a 6 or 7 inch cake pan. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C.
• Sieve the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
• Remove the whole spices from the soaked dry fruits (You can also soak the whole spices alone in the juice initially for a day and then use this spiced juice to soak your dry fruits). Add in melted butter and 1/3 cup sugar and earlier prepared caramel syrup. Mix well.
• Now fold in the flour mixture in the dry fruits batter.
• Pour the batter in the cake pan and bake for 45 to 50 mins, until the cake is well browned and a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
• Once done, remove the cake from oven and cool completely. Once cooled, wrap the cake in foil and store it in fridge overnight, this helps to intensify the flavors in the cake.
• Remove the cake from fridge before 1 hour of serving.

Verdict: This cake is perfect for celebrating any occasion, its moist and flavorful with rich dry fruits. Every bite has crunch of walnuts and almonds with flavors of cinnamon, cloves and cardamons. Have this cake with some wine after dinner or as a tea time cake, however you have it I am sure you will love it and want more.