Cappuccino Cake #FoodieExtravaganza

I was truly delighted when I heard the theme of April's Foodie Extravaganza event 'Coffee Cake' by Caroline of Caroline's Cooking. So delighted that I even skipped the description or skimmed over the description of the event. She really meant any cake that would be accompanied by tea or coffee. Well no regrets! Coffee happens to be my favourite hot beverage.

In fact this is ideal as there are rare times when I am in a dilemma as to whether to have coffee or tea and have even wondered if  I should mix the two (eeeeeeeeks! I know). But such is the case when I have the dual feeling. I never crave tea as such but there are times when I cannot have coffee owing to the meal I had prior which left a heartburn or acidity. In these cases I think the Cappuccino cake would compliment the cuppa tea. A cuppa tea with Cappuccino Cake! Hmm!

I got a Bundt spring cake tin from Dad's and Mom's place. Mom had last baked a Christmas cake and guess what I found some residual crumbs stuck to the bottom of the tin. Yes and as you may have imagined, I spent a few minutes reminiscing over Mum's cakes and how she inspired me to bake cakes. I almost didn't want to use the cake tin until I felt Mum's voice saying, "Oh just get on with it girl, there isn't time!" And so I  did!

My little girl has her summer vacations so I am busy keeping her happy with her activities, play time with friends, etc. Elizabeth, a good friend of recent and my excellent neighbour, who I recently spoke of in the Pain Au Chocolat blog post generously assisted me with my presentation as I scurried to get my pictures before dusk. And as I nervously used my brand new DSLR to click pictures of my Cappuccino Cake creation. Yes! I can almost hear the many friends, family and colleagues say 'Finally there she gets her DSLR'. I have to tell you though I am still such a novice at it despite going to tutorials of the same. I need to spend time with this new baby.

Thank you whole heaps Elizabeth and darling Joanne who let me know how moist this cake turned out. Children never lie and Joanne said she liked the cake and so did my sous chef and admirer Isabelle my darling daughter. Hubby I have left enough cake for you too. So no more grumbling! John, Elizabeth's husband and Joanne's Dad too liked the cake. I am glad it turned out to be a life saving buffer Elizabeth ;).

You can make the Cappuccino from scratch or if it is too much for you, you can even buy Cappuccino satchets and make it. I did two things, one I used 2 satchets of Cappuccino coffee and I also used an extra strong coffee. I only did this as I was lacking time to make the same. Next time, I will make Cappuccino from scratch just to see if there is a difference or not.

Today is the birthday of three lovely neighbours - Priya Thomas:May you have a wonderful year ahead, a handsome little boy Sujith and a darling little girl Jiya. Hope you both have a fun birthday celebration and blessed year ahead.

On with the recipe,

You need:

For the cake batter:

• 270 gms or 2.5 cups of flour
• 2 satchets of Cappuccino Coffee
• 250 gms of Dermerara or brown sugar
• 250 gms of butter
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 3 large eggs
• 200 ml of strong coffee, room temperature
• Some butter for greasing

For the icing:

• 300 ml of double cream or Amul cream, refrigerated overnight
• 2 tbsp of brown sugar or Dermerara sugar
• Coffee beans (optional)

The Make:

Preparation time: 10 minutes | Standing time: 10 minutes|  Cooling time: 30-45 minutes | Serves 6-8 

1.  In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar well. Next add in the eggs, Cappuccino powder and flour together and mix well with a large wooden ladle. 

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a cake tin of 25 cms with butter.

3. Add half of the strong coffee (once lukewarm) and beat with an electric beater until well combined. Allow to stand for 10 minutes.

4. Carefully place the bundt cake tin into the oven and allow to bake for 30-35 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, whisk the cream well. If you are using Amul cream, the fat percentage is less and in this case, separate the whey from the cream before whisking. Add sugar to the remaining coffee, set aside 4 tbsp of the coffee and pour the rest into the cream and whisk well. Freeze the whisked cream while the cake is being baked and while cooling off to room temperature.

6. Once the cake is baked and cooled off, drizzle the remaining 4 tbsp of coffee over the cake.

7. Remove the cream from the freezer and generously top your cake with it as desired. Sprinkle some roasted coffee beans on top as desired.

Hope you enjoy making this Cappuccino Cake!

Thank you Caroline for such a wonderful theme and for hosting the same!

It's Foodie Extravaganza Day and this month's theme is Coffee Cake with Caroline from Caroline's Cooking is hosting What is Foodie Extravaganza? It's when a group of bloggers get together and make a recipe using one main ingredient. Where do we get the ingredient? We look at The Nibble and pick something off of their list. Croissants are actually celebrated on January 30th, but it's in January, so it's fair game. You can check out our group Pinterest board for past recipes. If you're a blogger, you can join along with us by requesting to join on our Facebook page. Now, on to the goodness being shared this month:

• Almond Raspberry Cake by Food Lust People Love
• Blueberry vanilla coffee cake by Fearlessly Creative Mammas
• Cappuccino Cake by G'Gina's Kitchenette
• Caramel Coconut Coffee Cake by cookinandcraftin
• Classic Coffee Cake by Basic N Delicious
• Coffee Cake Cookies by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Coffee Cake in a Jiffy by Our Good Life
• Coffee Cake Muffins by I'm Hungry
• German Beer Coffee Cake by Wholistic Woman
• Gluten free hazelnut pear cake by Caroline's Cooking
• Kärleksmums (Swedish Coffee Cake) by Tara's Multicultural Table
• Lemon Thyme n Mint Loaf by Baking in Pyjamas
• Orange Coffee Cake with Pecan Streuse by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Polish Placek by Cooking With Carlee
• Simple Coffee Cake by Sneha's Recipe
• Strawberry Coffee Cake Muffins by Making Miracles

Chokolatty Chocolate Cupcakes

I made this batch of cupcakes for my darling muffin Izzy. She wanted to have cake and I had just got my superb cupcake tray so was rejoicing in the thrills of both being asked by her to have cake and the new cake tray.

This is a super simple recipe so you can make it in under an hour.I call this Chokolatty Chocolate Cupcakes as it is a celebration of chocolate. In case you are making 2 batches, then double the amount of ingredients and you can add a tbsp of expresso coffee powder or any instant coffee powder of your choice (add it with the dry ingredients)

You need:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/4 cup plain chocolate of your choice (It does not have to be cooking chocolate, you can even use Cadbury silk) 
• 1/3 cup full-fat cream
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract/essence
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup drinking water

The Make

Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 30 minutes | Makes 10 cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Lightly brush oil on the cupcake tray holders. You can also dust some flour and invert to remove any excess and set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl,  mix the butter and sugar until well-combined.

4. Next, melt the chocolate in a double boiler.Once the melted chocolate is cool enough to handle, add it to the butter/sugar mixture and fold until combined.

5. Whisk the eggs separately and add in the egg mixture bit by bit and mix well.

6. Next add in the oil, vanilla extract and cream and fold well.

7. Sift together all the dry-ingredients - flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder into a separate bowl.

8. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in batches, whisking well to avoid any lumps.

9. Next add the water and give it one good whisk. Stand the batter for 5 minutes.

10. Next fill the cupcake holders about 2/3 full and place carefully in the oven.

11. After 20 minutes, using a skewer, check to see if the center is cooked. The skewer should come clean otherwise return to the oven and check after another 5 minutes.

12. Remove cupcakes from the cupcake tin while still warm and place on a cooling rack or on the kitchen counter to cool to room temperature.

You could also make a butter cream icing to top your cupcakes or a plain chocolate(white/brown/dark) icing. You can also add some sprinkles, chopped nuts or berries/fruit.

Mama Mary's Birthday - Special Love Cheesecake

I have been offline for quite a few days as I mentioned in my recent post on Onam's Special Vermecilli Milk Pudding. Mama Mary's Birthday falls on September 8th. The Virgin Mother Mary as we affectionately call her Mama Mary is a proud celebration in our home everyday. Especially because my daughter Izzy inherited her baptismal name Mary from her Godma and ever since she was a baby we have noticed how she has been drawn to Mama Mary. She calls her fondly as Ammama (which is our native language means Mother of my mother). Rightly said by a little one! Mama Mary is definitely her patron saint! September 8th is celebrated as the Nativity of our Virgin Mother or the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. If you would like to learn more, please visit this link

Mama Mary's Birthday Love Cheesecake

We had been fasting for 7 days prior to the Nativity Feast and I wanted to do something special for her birthday. So I decided to bake her a cake full of love. I had posted a Cheesecake recipe of George Colambaris, one that I had made on A's birthday last July. Well this is a less complicated one and is more in line with the cheesecakes I have made since I was all of 18 yrs old. I think George made a reference to this type of 'cake base' in the MC Australia when he made his unforgettable Cheesecake.

For those of you in India, please do not be tempted to buy Amul's Cheddar Cheese as it turns out to be too salty and if you have no other option, then do add an additional cup of cream to the cheese mix. Try to get the uncanned variety of cheddar cheese that you could get from Godrej's Nature basket or Spar or some such other outlet that sells loose cheddar cheese. These varieties normally have less salt in the mix. You can also opt for the imported Kraft in case you are opting for the canned variety

You need:

• 300 gms of cheddar cheese (grated)
• 250 gms of Ricotta Cheese
• 400 gms of fresh full cream or whipping cream (if you are using one with less fat%, try not to add the loosened water that settles at the base of the pack. Also try to get gelatine and use as per package instructions if required)
• 500 gms of powdered sugar or castor sugar
• 1 packet of your choice of packaged jelly powder (I used raspberry, you can favour your choice of flavour)
• 1 large packet of Marie Biscuits (break each biscuit into quarters)
• 400 gms of butter (room temperature, cut into cubes)
• 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 8-10 blanched almonds - chopped finely (optional)

The make:

Preparation Time: 30 minutes| Cooking Time: 20 minutes| Serves 6-8 adults

• Powder the quartered biscuits. In case you have a food processor or a grinder, you can use this to powder the biscuits. Otherwise, just place some of the biscuit quarters in the middle of a newspaper and fold the newspaper. Run a rolling pin over the biscuits. Check to see if the biscuits are powdered well and no lumps are present. Repeat this until all the biscuits have been powdered and set aside in a large bowl.
• Add about 100 gms of the sugar to the biscuit mix and mix well (either by hand or with a spoon). Add the butter cubes bit by bit into the biscuit mix and mix well. You will wind up with a rough edges but well-oiled biscuit mix. If you think it is still very dry, add some more butter but do ensure it is not too oily or runny. Tip: Do not melt the butter over heat
• Choose a cake tray of a size that will ensure that the biscuit mix once pressed and set at the bottom of the cake tray, will provide at least 1/2" or 1" height. A 7.5" to 8" round cake tin should suffice. I used a heart-shaped tin of 8.5" as I did not have a smaller tin of the same shape. Grease the base (in case you are using a spring cake tin) or line first with foil only on the base (not sides) and then with double-sheets of parchment paper/butter paper so as to enable to pick it out of the tray easily once done. I would recommend with cheesecakes to invest in a spring cake tray (I need to get one for myself as well) as the edge gets uneven even if you use parchment paper.

Biscuit base on parchment paper

• Now place the biscuit mix on the base of the tin evenly and press down. I normally do not bake the base but you can bake it for at least 15 minutes if you want a golden brown crust at medium heat about 215°C (415°F). Once this is  done, leave it to cool to room temperature and turn it to the refrigerator at normal temperature. Ensure that your fridge is not set on high or your biscuit base would be too hard. 
• Next turn the grated cheddar cheese to a blender and add the ricotta, vanilla and cream. Blend for about 3-4 beats on medium setting. Do not over beat or you will end up with a runny mixture. Tip: please keep a packet of gelatine handy in case you end up with a runny mix. The cheese mix should be slightly less thick than a normal flour based cake mix. Gently fold in the remaining sugar bit by bit into the cheese mix. Taste the mix if it is too salty, add another cup of cream. It should only be a tad salty or it will overpower the cake and make it difficult to consume. After all a dessert should be more sweet or bitter than salty any day.

Layering the cheese on the biscuit base

• Take out the cake tray from the fridge and layer it with the cheese topping. Top with chopped almonds. Return it to the fridge to set on a higher setting(not highest).

• After about 20-30 minutes, when the cheese topping is firm, prepare the jelly mix and allow it to arrive at room temperature and add it on top of the cheese mix. Tip: Please be careful to ensure that the jelly mix is not hot or set otherwise you will end up with the cheese of the jelly's colour or a lumpy topping. Since I was making a heart shaped cake, I wanted a layered topping and hence I had placed the jelly in the fridge to set first and then I scooped it out with a flat spoon and layered it on top of the cake to give a more 3-D heart image.

Layered with almonds and jelly mix on the side

• Return it to the fridge on normal setting until ready to serve. Once ready to serve, slowly lift the parchment paper, taking care to ensure that it does not tear. You will need a cake spatula so as to remove parchment paper from the base and carefully place it on your serving tray/cake board. Tip: To avoid this please invest in a spring tray. 
• You can top the cake slices with whip cream while serving if you like.

Closeup of the cake

Layered Cheesecake

Special Love Cheesecake