Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Icing

A year back,if someone told me that my parents would keep a pet[that too a dog] inside our house,I would have looked at them as though they were insane.Appa had real hardcore reasons for Why NOT to keep a pet at home.Amma ran miles away at the mere mention of pets.Me,well I could very well do without one.My brothers and hubby were all for it and they tried every trick in the book to make us see sense in their ideas.

Today,we are celebrating Pluto’s first birthday.Appa gives him* his daily dose of sweet,amma sings Happy Birthday and I am baking a birthday cake for him.

What brought about so much of a change in our attitude?I guess you will know it only if you live with it.The unconditional love of a pet dog will make the most hardest of hard rocks melt.My brother brought him home less than a year back,when he was a month old.He instantly became everyone’s darling.When amma called me up and said,he would be waiting for me next time I go there,I went eeesshh.But I too was spellbound at the way the love he shared with all of us.

Today,he’s the darling of the house.We call him our brother.A dear part of all of us.The little I could do is to bake a cake for him.He loves sweets and I am sure he’ll lick my hands off if I were to serve it to him. We couldn't keep our hands off it ourselves:)

Love you Pluto…Happy Birthday to you!!!

*We refuse to call him IT:)

Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

Maida – ½ cup
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Powdered sugar – ½ cup
Eggs – 2
Cocoa powder – 2 tsp
Granulated sugar – 2 tsp
Milk – ¼ cup
Oil – ½ cup
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Method

Preheat oven to 170*C.
Grease and line a square cake tin.
Sift together maida and baking powder.
Beat the eggs well - you can either use an electric beater or a hand mixer.
Add the powdered sugar and mix well to form a creamy mixture.
Add the cocoa powder and sugar to it and mix.
Now add the oil and milk and beat well.
Add the flour little by little.Make sure there are no lumps-the batter will be quite liquidy.
Pour into the greased pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool the cake in the tin for a while and then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the icing

Softened butter – ½ cup
Icing sugar – 1 ½ cups
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Cocoa powder – 1 tsp

Cream together butter and icing sugar till soft and creamy.

Add cocoa powder and vanilla essence to the butter-sugar mix and beat well.

Keep aside in the refrigerator or a few minutes.

Spread on the cool cake and serve!!

Recipe source - Vanitha Magazine

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Ambya Ambat ~ Mango cooked in Dal-Coconut Gravy

Is there something called too-much-mangoes?I don’t think so:).Last year we didn’t have much during the mango season but this year we are making the most of it.The-so-called best of the lot Alphonso mangoes have not been so good this time and we stick to the good ol’ Chennai special Banganapally mangoes always.

They are so good to eat by themselves and I don’t feel like using them up in our cooking.But our mango-shopping last time gave us a few not-so sweet mangoes which were perfect to use up in cooking.I decided to make the most of it by making some Aamras and Ambya ambat.Ambat is a sweet dish made using ripe fruits and combining them with a dal and coconut mix.I usually make ambat using bananas[nendrapazham].I wanted to make this one as it is one of my dad’s favourites.He celebrated his birthday few days back and this one’s for him:).

Ambya Ambat ~ Mangoes cooked in Dal-Coconut gravy

Ingredients

Ripe Mango – 1,chopped into cubes
Channa dal – 100 gms,about ½ a cup
Grated Jaggery – 4 tbsp
Grated coconut - 1 cup

Red chilly - 1

Haldi/turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Cashewnuts - a handful

For the seasoning

Oil/ghee(or a mix of both) - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - a sprig

Method

Cook the Channa dal and the cashewnuts in a pressure cooker till done.Channa dal should be just cooked enough,not mushy.

Add the chopped mangoes and cook till soft.

When the mangoes are soft add jaggery and salt and mix well till the jaggery melts and blends with the dal.

Make a smooth paste of coconut,haldi and red chilly.

Add this to the cooked channa dal-mango mix.

Mix well and let it boil.

Prepare seasoning in a pan with oil,splutter mustard seeds and add curry leaves.Add it to the boiling ambat.

Serve hot!!

Sending this across to Srivalli for her Mango Mela!!

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Veg Puffs and the Puff Pastry Saga:)

Scene One
Venue – Nuts N Spices – Spencer Plaza,Chennai

My first visit there,I was amused by the array of goodies they had.Had passed the shop many times before,but never thought they stacked anything other than nuts and spices:).Little did I know,they had almost everything I had thought was unavailable in Chennai.Baking ingredients,cooking chocolate,vanilla beans,chocolate-butterscotch chips,different types of sugars,all types of sauces,cake-mixes etc etc.I just had a teeny weeny hope that they might stock puff pastry too,seeing the overstacked freezer.I decided to ask the salesman.

Me – Ahem..excuse me..do you have puff pastry??
Him – Huh..what?
Me – Puff pastry?
Him – Illa ma,puff-um pastry-um ingey kidaikkathu[no,we don’t have Puffs(as in Veg-egg puffs) and pastries here]:)
Me – uh uh,not that.Puff pastry sheets..??
Him – Sheet ellam Landmark-ila thaan kidaikkum[You will get sheets(as in paper)in Landmark(another shop)-I tried not hard not to laugh but I could see hubby and my bro looking elsewhere and laughing uncontrollably]
Me – ok,fine!!

My co-sis brought them for me from abroad,during their last India trip.

Scene Two
Home

Hubby – Div,whats this huge stack of rolls inside the freezer?
Me – *Like I suddenly remembered something look*,Oh,those are Puff Pastry sheets.
Hubby – Are’nt these the ones you kept reminded Vanni[my co-sis] about??
Me – Hmm yeah..
Hubby – Then how come you haven’t done anything with it..??
Me – Yeah..soon!!

Yesterday,it was *soon* and I unpacked the puff pastry sheets,made a regular veggie filling and made Veg puffs.I am still amazed how easy it was and how quickly it got done.I envy all of you who have access to readymade puff pastry sheets.If I had to make those on my own,the idea of making puffs would be put off forever:).So here’s a very basic recipe for the filling.

Veg Puffs

Ingredients

Puff pastry sheet – 1 roll
Flour to dust

For the filling

Potato – 2,medium
Carrot – 1
Baby corn – 1
Green peas – ½ cup
Cauliflower florets – 3-4
Onions – 2,small

Oil – 1 tbsp
Jeera – ½ tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Haldi powder – ½ tsp
Cumin-Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala – 1 tsp
Chat masala – 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Method

Chop the vegetables finely.
Cook them till soft,but not mushy.
Drain them and keep aside.
In a kadai,add oil and splutter jeera.Add onions and ginger garlic paste and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
Add the masala powders – haldi,cumin-coriander,garam masala,chat masala and red chilly powders.
Saute till everything gets mixed.
Add the cooked vegetables and salt to taste.
Mix well and keep aside to cool.

Thaw the puff pastry sheets according to the instructions given.
Cut them into small squares/rectangles.
Dust some flour on your working surface and roll these squares/rectangles to slightly bigger sizes.
Keep the filling in the middle and seal the edges.
Bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes at 180*C.

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