Vanilla bean cake

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This january, I went on holiday to Kerela, where I behaved like a child at a playground in the plantations. All my favourite ingredients (cacao bean, cinnamon, vanilla, peppermint!!!!) growing in touching distance, can you blame me! I bought a bunch of vanilla bean from their local store and it. is. GREAT ! It’s fresh and fragrant and full of flavour.

Which brings me to… 

Why do people say ‘You’re so vanilla’ like it’s a bad thing? It really bothers me! Vanilla is one of the most profound and versatile ingredients, and if i had to list ingredients in a thank you speech, Vanilla would be the first one I’d acknowledge. Sure, it may not always be the star of the show, but everything would be incomplete without it. It’s subtlety balances its ubiquity as it silently adds flavour to classic desserts that huge bakery windows boast of.  The under-glorified star of the show. And I mean under

glorified. 

Definitely not undervalued, certainly not underrated. But just not getting as much of the spotlight as it deserves. (Ahem, chocolate, attention hog, cough cough)

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There’s so many varieties of Vanilla, that it’s totally incredible. The most predominant ones are Madagascar, Mexican (the star of any great mexican hot chocolate) and Tahitian (the most fruity and fragrant kind). If anyone gets there hands on Tahitian Vanilla - let me know!

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So i finally got around to using another vanilla pod from my Kerela stock.

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I made this delicious Vanilla butter cake last weekend, and I’m in love. It was so good, I made it again the next day, exactly the same way. It is moist and soft and so addictive. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this cake has changed my life a tiny bit because I don’t think any other plain cake will ever be as good. It doesn’t need any frosting at all - you can eat it with a dollop of cream, it melts in your mouth!

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Hope you enjoy it as much as I did !

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Recipe

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140 g all purpose flour + 2 tbsp cornflour

150 g sugar

150 g butter (softened, not melted)

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

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Preheat oven to 180 ˚ C

Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment, and brush with butter and flour.

 Heat the 1/2 cup cream in a saucepan with the vanilla bean.

When it is boiling, remove from heat. Cut a slit through the vanilla pod and scrape out the seed into the cream and mix.

Now remove the pot and keep aside.

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In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine dry ingredients (flour, cornflour, baking powder, salt, sugar).

Add butter and beat for about a minute

In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients (vanilla essence, egg yolks and cream)

Add the mixture to the flour-butter mix in 3 turns, scraping down the sides of the bowl, after each.

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Pour batter into a 9-inch cake pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let it cool before inverting. Slice and serve at room temperature with a spoonful of whipped cream.

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Notes:

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• If you don’t have vanilla bean at home, I recommend buying some. It is a tad more expensive than you might think (100 bucks for 1 pod) but it is totally worth it. You’ll probably find it easily at any gourmet cooking store like Modern Bazaar or Nature’s Basket.
• Don’t throw away your used vanilla pod. It still has tons of flavour. Rinse it with water, dry, and store it in a container of sugar.

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red velvet cake

Hi guys ! Hows everyone’s weekend going ? If you’re having a typical Saturday, battling a hangover like I am, I feel you.

What is your hangover dealing routine ? Is it a shower, a workout, a giant cup of coffee ?

My standard go-to hangover routine is French fries and coffee, arguably a strange combination but somehow it does the trick. Anyway, today I swapped the French fry ritual with a giant slice of red velvet cake, and it was like comfort on a plate. If comfort was red and slathered with cream cheese.

I’ve been making red velvet cake for a while now, way before I started really baking and thought there was something cool about it. But the truth about red velvet is that its just a light cocoa sponge with red food colouring. But but but, sandwich some cream cheese frosting between the layers and you have yourself a pretty delicious cake!

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Also, I recommend a layer of frosting for every half inch layer of cake. In this particular cake, frosting is everything, and for it to be the really delicious creamy, soft spongy cake that you imagine it to be, the frosting to cake ratio needs to be perfect. So I make 2 layers in 2 separate cake pans and then slice each layer into half, making it a 4 layer cake. So that increases the surface area for the frosting so it can be really generously put into the cake.

Okay im done being scientific/mathematical about things, I had a moment of nerdiness and its over now.

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Here’s how to make a kickass red velvet cake (adapted from Joy of Baking, Ritu Dalmia's cookbook and the Epicurious - experts on experts on experts)

CAKE:

250 grams sifted flour + baking powder + baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

20 grams cocoa powder

115 gm unsalted butter softened

300 gm granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

240 ml buttermilk

3 tablespoons liquid red food coloring*

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

FROSTING:

1 ½ Pkt Philadelphia cream cheese

60gm butter

120 gm icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180˚ C. Butter two 8 inch round cake pans and line the with parchment paper (Very important!) . Set aside.

In a bowl sift the flour, salt, and cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes), using an electric mixer. The mix should now look pale yellow, almost white.

Add the eggs, one at a time and beat. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides with a spatula.

In a cup, whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring

*(amount of food colouring varies a little, depending on the brand you use. You want to add enough so that the buttermilk mixture is a strong red.)

Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the mixture, folding continuously. (basically add the flour mix, then buttermilk, then flour mix again, then all the rest of the buttermilk, then flour mix again until all of it is combined)

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. It will fizz a little. Add to the cake mixture and immediately fold.

Divide the batter evenly between the two cake tins. Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool at room temperature and then wrap in cling plastic and refrigerate the layers for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, get on the frosting.

Cut the Philadelphia Cream Cheese and butter into cubes and whisk using an electric mixer. Add the icing sugar spoon by spoon, whisking throughout.

To assemble:

Slice each cake layer in half, down the middle, using a serrated knife, so you now have 4 equal layers.

Generously frost the first layer with the cream cheese frosting and neatly place the next layer on top. Repeat.

When all layers are frosted, frost the top and sides with a thin layer of icing. Then refrigerate the cake for about 15 minutes.

Lastly, take out the cake from the fridge, and use all the leftover frosting to frost the rest of the cake.Dust with red cake crumbs.

EAT !

Classic Hot Chocolate (with video!)

It’s snuggle season guys – I don’t know about you but Delhi winter is my favourite time of the year. (I have been talking about the weather an awful lot haven’t i). The city is heavy with festivity, string lights, music and basically just good cheer and while whether that compensates for the traffic and smog is debatable, let’s at least acknowledge that festive season means we are officially allowed to eat as much comfort food as we want , GUILT NO BAR! Seriously – they even have a term for it – Holiday Weight. It is totally one hundred per cent legit, so toss your guilt in a box with your flip flops and shorts and label it ‘things I don’t have to deal with until summer’. ‘Nuff said. Anyway, nothing says COMFORT FOOD like hot chocolate in the winter amirite? Besides which, I am a strong proponent of the idea that chocolate really deserves as much attention, research and experimentation as is possible

Alice Medrich says that hot chocolate need not necessarily be the richest, thickest and creamiest because that steals attention from the flavour of chocolate – she recommends chocolate with milk and water (water!!) , but didn’t we grow up on a cup of creamy and milky hot chocolate loaded with thick whipped cream, and marshmallows and chocolate sauce ? So the dilemma is - what’s the real hot chocolate ?

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Search #ProjectXHotChocolate on the blog and on Instagram (for sneak peaks) this whole winter to follow my experiments with hot chocolate, more theories (LOL), snuggly winter stories and some kickass recipes.

BUT FIRST – here’s my recipe of Classic Hot Chocolate – I swear by it.

1. Melt 25 gm of dark chocolate pieces (I use Ghiradelli 60 % cocoa) in saucepan, with 1 ½ tbsp. cocoa powder and ½ cup of milk. Stir over low heat until completely mixed and smooth.

1. Now remove from heat and add another ½ cup hot milk, 1 ½ tbsp sugar and 1/8th tsp salt.

1. Stir for about 2 -3 minutes until fully combined and frothy.

1. Whisk together some heavy cream and sugar to make your own whipped cream and dollop a spoonful on top.

1. Add a light sprinkle of dark chocolate shavings.

And TA-DAAAA!! The perfect hot chocolate.

More soon xxxx