Another Pie

Its been quite some time. Again I was procrastinating writing. So here's the latest...
I dont know why its called Boston Cream Pie, but its a very good cake err... pie. Whatever. Its delicious and creamy, courtesy the vanilla custard put in between the cakes.
Ingredients:
Pastry Cream/Custard:
1/4 cup sugar

3 large egg yolks

1/8 cup flour

3 tbsp corn flour
1 1/4 cups milk
1 tsp vanilla
25 gm butter
150 ml whipped cream
Sponge Cake:
5 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
140 gm flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp butter
Chocolate Glaze:
4 ounces (120 gms) semi sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream
1 tsp unsalted butter

Method:
Pastry Cream:

1. In a bowl mix together sugar and egg yolks. Sift the flour and corn flour together and add to the egg mixture and mix till you get a smooth paste. Set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, bring milk just to a boil. Pour the milk slowly into the egg mixture whisking constantly to avoid curdling.
3. Pour the egg mixture into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling whisking constantly. When it boils, continue to whisk till it becomes thick. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla extract.Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to keep crust from forming. Cool in the fridge.

Sponge Cake:

1. Butter and line 2 cake tins.
2. Separate 3 cold eggs. Add the remaining 2 eggs into the yolks.
3. Mix flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Warm milk and butter together till butter melts.
5. Beat the yolks with 6 tbsp sugar on high speed till thick, fluffy and light coloured. Then beat in vanilla.
6. Beat egg whites till foamy. Gradually add the remaining sugar and beat till soft peaks form. Fold into the egg batter.
7. Fold in the flour. Do not overmix.
8. Pour in the melted butter-milk mixture and mix gently.
9. Divide batter between 2 pans and bake for 18 to 20 mins or till light brown. Cool Completely.

Chocolate Glaze:

1. Place the chopped chocolate into a bowl. Bring cream and butter just to a boil in a sauce pan over medium heat.
2. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 mins.. Stir till smooth. Set aside until it has thickened to pouring consistency.
3. Assemble the cake.

The cake is very fluffy and soft so you have to be careful while transferring it from one surface to the other.
Enjoy!!

Red Velvet

I made these nice Red Velvet Cupcakes...I dont have a picture, but for those of you who have no idea what it is...Check out Red Velvet Cake. Its the same thing, but the recipie for cupcake's slightly different. Well, mine came out dark orange velvet cake, because the red food colour was not fully red. It was orange red.
Its good with a Cream Cheese frosting and some red sprinkles. Its actually a Valentine day's Cake.
Now this recipie is a bit too much, so I used only half the quantity of Ingredients.
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 sticks butter(1 cup)
5 large eggs
1 cup butter milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp red food colour

Method:
1. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Sift it 3 times to get the velvety texture.
2. Cream together butter and sugar till fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
3. Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk alternately, starting and ending with the flour.
4. Mix in vanilla and food colour. Fill cupcake pans half full of batter
5. Bake at 350F for 20 mins.
Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cup Cakes Marble Style!

Hi. Its been a few days...
So, today I tried a variation of the marble bread/cake . I made marble CUPCAKES!! Came out good. Nothing to it. Just make the batters for marble bread/cake and put small spoonfulls of batter in the cupcake cases, both chocolate and vanilla and swirl!! You got marble cupcakes! I know I know, not very original, but I was sorely lacking in creativity after the week I had. Husband not in town for a week, 24/7 company of the kids over the weekend... Anybody's brain would turn into mush!!

PS: Dont forget to swirl a knife through. I forgot!!

Enjoy!!

Something other than Baking.

So how many of you out there have heard of Harry Potter? What am i saying? Of course you've heard of him, but how many of you are fans of the Harry Potter series? I'm sure, ever since the last installment of the series came all of you've been disheartened that you wont be reading any more.. Yeah i know the feelling.
Anyways...Have you refreshed your Harry Potter knowledge recently? I thought I'd make a small quiz, just to entertain my readers. Just put down your answers as they come. NO peeking into the book. Right. Here goes...

1. Who was Harry disguised as at Bill and Fleur's wedding?
2. What spell reveals the presence of humans?
3. What is R.A.B?
4. What disease does the ghoul in Ron's house suffer from?

Ok. That's it for now. Remember, no peeking or consulting the book. 
Just for fun.

First Time Lucky? I think Not!!

I am not really an expert at baking but I do get by. Whenever I try out something for the first time, it comes out pretty well. So I always thought that I was "First time lucky". And then i decided to test it. I wanted to know whether I was really any good. And that's how I made the Classic American Apple pie twice!! It really put my mind to rest, because it came out absolutely delicious both times.

I'm a fan of Pies, and I tried to make them once long ago, but the crust wasnt good. It was hard and chewy. So I gave up for sometime, till I found this recipie. It is an absolute treasure. The crust is flaky and sweet and just perfect! I know that readymade pie crusts are available, but I'm one of those people who feel that making (baking) something from scratch is the best way to make(Bake) it!!

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tbsp granulated sugar

3/4 tsp salt

10 tbsp (140 gm) chilled butter cut into 1/2" pieces

6 tbsp (or more) ice water 

Filling:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp flour

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp grated lemon peel

1/8 tsp grated nutmeg or cinnamon

3 pounds apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

Method:

Crust:

1. Blend flour salt and sugar.
2. Add butter and cut in until it resembles coarse meal.
3. Add 6 tbsp of ice water and process until moist clumos form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if the dough is dry.
4. Gather into a ball, divide into 2 balls. Flatten to disc.
5. Wrap in plastic and chill for 2 hours.

Filling:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degree F/200 degree C.
2. Mix the first six ingredients in a large bowl.Add Apples and toss.
3. Roll out one dough disc on a floured surface to an 11" round. Transfer to a 9" Pie dish. Fold the edge under forming a high standing rim.
4. Add the apple filling, mounding it slightly in the center of the crust.
5. Roll out the 2nd disc to a 12" round. Carefully place the rolled dough on top and pinch the edges of the top and bottom crust, turning under all around to make a thick edge.
6. To decorate just press the edges with the back of a fork. With tips of scissors, snip 4 evenly spaced vent holes in the top crust. Brush with milk, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 25 minutes.
7. Reduce temp and bake till the juices bubble thickly and the crust is deep golden.
8. Serve with your choice of icecream.

The first time I made it, the crust didnt get to the golden brown stage, I was too afraid it might burn (as seen in the picture). But the second time..