a mixed fruit cake that is the real tutti frutti cake, not with the candied and colored papaya bits...

I remember I used to like the tutti frutti (candied mixed fruits) cakes when I was a child. But then I got to know too soon that the tutti frutti bits were no fruits but just colored and candied papaya bits. And then I never had a tutti frutti cake even in my childhood after the grim discovery. I would pick and discard any colored bits that were put into foods afterwards, I remember some people used to add those candied bits into pulavs and custard trifles back then. There was an ice cream flavor by this name too. How I hated all of that. Tutti frutti in it's real form was never encountered till I made my own, that too by serendipity.

The mosaic pattern that those candied fruit brings was always fascinating. Somehow it stayed in my mind and when I started cooking on my own I found out a way to bring about that effect in my cakes.

I keep making small amounts of jams and apple or pear butter all the time. Mostly when I buy fruits in bulk and some of the leftovers get all wrinkly and sad and no one wants them as fresh fruits. Wrinkled apples and pears make nice sweet butter as their juices have already reduced. Likewise wrinkled plums also make good jam. But I am talking bout making jams, keeping them in small jars and refrigerating them till I find 3-4 or more jars pushed behind all the fresh produce. We don't eat much jam ourselves, some is gifted away and some leftovers are bottled and refrigerated as I make them with minimal sugar and no preservation. Most such jams get dehydrated while they are in the fridge and make a good chunk of fruit leather. See how chunky the apple butter gets and how I chop it and use in my cakes...

This way I have something really useful for the cakes that I bake in a hurry.

Oh I do bake cakes in hurry when someone is visiting or we have to visit someone on short notice. I just chop those jam turned fruit leathers in different flavors and colors and add it to the cake batter. Some fresh fruit is added for bringing a moist texture and the cakes are way better than that artificially colored tutti frutti.

Otherwise the cake is just a basic recipe. This time I used maida and whole wheat both in equal amounts, some fresh tart plums and a mix of these fruit leathers and preserves.

ingredients...

maida (all purpose flour) 1 cup
atta (whole wheat flour) 1 cup
chopped fresh fruit 1 cup (I used tart plums)
chopped mixed fruit leathers or jelly or dehydrated jam total 1 cup or more
eggs 4
olive oil or sunflower oil 1 scant cup
sugar 1 scant cup
buttermilk 1/4 cup or a little more
baking powder 1.5 tsp
baking soda 1/2 tsp
salt 2 pinches
I did not use any fruit or vanilla extract in this fruit as there was enough fruit to make the cake flavorful. Use good quality extracts if doing so.

procedure...

Mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and keep side.

Line a baking dish of 9" diameter with parchment paper. Keep aside.

Mix the oil, eggs and sugar together and whip to mix. Add the chopped fresh fruit and chopped bits of dehydrated fruits/jam and preserve. Mix well.

Add the flour mix to this wet mix and fold the batter nicely with a light hand. Add the buttermilk to make the batter loose, add more if required. The batter is a little thicker than ribbon consistency.

Pour into the baking pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 50-55 minutes on middle rack. Check once after 35 minutes and place on the lower rack if the crust is browning too much.

Check with a skewer if the cake is done in the middle.

Let it cool or cut wedges when the cake is still warm. Take care if it is too hot to handle.

The slices are dotted with the colors of fruit and fruit preserves used. The taste is awesome if you like fruits. All fruit preserves and fresh fruits added impart their own flavors that remain enclosed in those tiny pockets and you get a different fruit in each bite.

The little girl who was in a mood to have a chocolate cake that day, enjoyed the brownie cake better. This cake was enjoyed by everyone else including the teenage sister of the little girl.

I gave away a large portion of this cake but the smaller portion that I kept at home for Arvind thinking he would have it over the week, he finished it having it for breakfast over two consecutive days. Such cake lovers I have around me.

This cake feels light due to oil used int he recipe, butter makes it feel heavy and the fruits don't shine that well when butter is used for fresh fruit cakes. The tart plums in this case provided a nice kick to the sweet fruit preserves used. I used a nice peach preserve that was just slivers of peaches preserved in sugar. A tart plum and black raisins preserve that I had made last summer and an apple butter leather (picture above). All these flavors were there in those small pockets and gave a different taste in each bite.

No wonder I think of cakes when I have some extra fruit at home, when I have some extra fruit preserve or some sun dried fruit too. A jar of sun dried apricots is waiting for it's turn now. All this when I myself don't enjoy cakes much.

But you know well I love playing with ingredients. Simple recipes turn into show stoppers if you just combine the flavors well.

triple lemon cakes for a kid's birthday : the kind of cakes that spread sunshine...

Yes, a triple lemon cake with lemon glaze and another triple lemon cake with quark and cream filling and frosting. And the cake frosting was decided by the kid herself. She had told me her choice of lemon 2 weeks in advance. That's how a cake like this is born. I have been in love with lemons too, another lemon cake with zucchini has been a perennial favorite, a lemon pound cake with butterscotch sauce has been missed for long. But this one just beats everything else lemony. Even the lemon tarts that I used to bake using gondhoraj lebu long back.Yes, that good.

And why triple lemon? I used the fragrant grapefruit leaves, Indian lime zest and juice (common Indian nimbu is a lime not a lemon) and zest and juice of calamondin limes. The lemon flavor gets a really nice and refreshing depth and it's just not a tart flavor that hits your palate with a zing. The depth of lemony flavors is accentuated by quark cheese and cream frosting on one of the cakes and a lemon glaze in the second. This cake will let you know limes don't make tart cakes, they make fragrant refreshing cakes with the tingling flavors and just a hint of tartness that lifts up the sweetness of a cake.

ingredients...for the cake...
(this recipe made 2 medium sized cakes)

maida (all purpose flour/white flour) 2 cups
cold pressed sunflower oil or olive oil 1 cup
(I prefer using pure oil for citrus flavors as I feel the citrus flavors blossom nicely with oil, use butter if you wish)
sugar 1 cup scantly filled (say 1 cup - 2 tbsp)
3 large eggs (or 4 small)
baking powder 1.5 tsp
baking soda 1/2 tsp
grapefruit leaves 2
Indian lime juice 1 tbsp (or lemon juice 3 tbsp)
salt 1/2 tsp
freshly zested lime peel (from whole limes)1/3 tsp zest

ingredients for the lemon glaze
lime juice 2 tbsp
water seeped with finely chopped grapefruit leaves 3 tbsp (I microwaved the water and chopped leaves in MW)
powdered sugar 1 cup

ingredients for the quark and cream frosting

*quark cheese (homemade) 1 cup
amul fresh cream 200 ml
sugar 3 tbsp and lime juice 1 tbsp ( I used 3 tbsp of the lemon glaze)

preparation...

Start with sieving the flour along with salt, baking soda and baking powder.

Start to preheat the oven at 180 C. Line the baking pans of suitable size with butter paper, no need to grease. I used 2 pans, one 7" and another 6" diameter. Keep the lines pans aside.

Finely chop the kefir lime of grapefruit leaves (or any lemon leaves you can get) and mix it with the flour. Make sure the leaves are completely dry before you roll them up and chop them in chiffonade.

Break the eggs in a deep mixing bowl, add the sugar, lime juice and zest, calamondin juice and zest and the oil and whisk till homogeneous.

Add the flour mix and fold gently till homogeneous. Pour into the pans and place both the pans into preheated  oven. On the middle rack these two cakes take 45 minutes to bake. But be careful after 40 minutes as the baking time and browning depends on your individual oven as well.

Do the skewer test and take out the cakes when done.

 Cool the cakes a bit and then invert the pans to take out the cakes. Peel off the parchment or butter paper and let the cakes cool of wire racks. If you don't have wire racks, use the atta chhanni (the sieve used for atta in every Indian home), or the perforated plate used to cover milk pan, for cooling the cakes.

One of the cakes was sliced horizontally using a large bread knife when cool. The kido wanted a sandwiched filling. She loved watching the cake being made and I loved seeing them so curious.

Let the cut halves of the cake cool completely before smearing the quark and cream frosting. I drizzled the lemon glaze mix in the cut side of these cake slices to make them taste richer.

See I used some confetti as well over the lemon frosting. The kids tasted it and declared it tastes like atta. Wow I say. Real ingredients always win. Confetti is not real. Quark and cream frosting was loved so much more than any bakery frosted cake.

Mean while make the lemon glaze and the quark and cream frosting.

For the *quark and cream frosting, just whip them both together till firm and homogeneous. Add powdered sugar and lime juice or just the lemon glaze as I did. Taste and decide how much sugar and lime you want. Keep it minimal.

For lemon glaze just mix the lime juice with sugar and mix till it looks like a thick slurry that can be poured on to the cake. I used some water seeped with grapefruit leaves too, do so if you are using the leaves.

I used the large grapefruit leaves in the base for one of the cakes. Just a crafty idea that made the kids delightful, tiny young lime leaves were used on the quark and cream frosted cake as well.

Nothing complicated, just the frosting sandwiched between the two layers, then the cake covered all over with the same and a fork run around to make a ziggly pattern. Slapped on some more frosting as the kids were feeling happy by doing so. The leftover cream was licked right away. And then the cake was cut without delay. I hurried to take a picture..

See the luscious cake inside...

The cake with lemon glaze was cut at her home. I was reported the cake didn't last even 10 minutes between 4 adults and 2 kids. Such things make us contented like nothing else.

*To make the quark cheese you just have to mix 100 ml of amul fresh cream to half a liter of full cream milk (6%), warm it and add 1/4 cup buttermilk or homemade dahi to it, mix well and leave it overnight. It gets set the next day, you would see it splits and releases some water, just pour all the contents into a cheesecloth lined sieve (placed on a bowl to drain the whey) and refrigerate the whole apparatus. The quark with will ready within 5-6 hours. Thick and creamy. I have been making fresh cheeses since long just as experimentation but Deeba uses then spectacularly, see how she makes them..

These cakes are made from scratch at home, with no special equipment for frosting or piping. Although that is not rocket science either but simplicity can be beautiful and you can always whip up something with homely ingredients. Real ingredients I would say, the way we have been using traditionally.

apple and pumpkin spiced cake..

 I had never intended to share any baking on this blog of mine as the purpose of Banras Ka Khana is to revive all the desi traditional recipes . Time to time i am tempted to write about the odd cake or brownie the way i like them . There are millions of cake recipes on the internet and there are blogs and websites dedicated to baking . I always look up to these blogs and websites when i want to make the best chocolate cake or an angel cake . I don't wish to post those recipes here but whenever i make something unusual and am pleased by the results , i feel like sharing it here.

This cake was one such baking experiment i found worth sharing here. Just look at the different colors of fruity goodness in the slices...

ingredients...

maida ( APF ) 500 gm
eggs 6 nos.
vegetable oil 200 ml
sugar 150 gm
pumpkin grated 2 cups
apples grated or cut in small pieces 3 cups
apple sauce 1 cup
baking powder 3 tsp
baking soda 1/2 tsp
nutmeg powder 1 tsp
cinnamon powder 1tsp
dry ginger powder 2 tsp
salt 1/2 tsp


Procedure...

Mix the dry ingredients and keep aside after sieving them all together to aerate the mixture..

Pour oil a large mixing bowl , add sugar and then the eggs . Whip the mixture well till everything is homogenized . Add the applesauce and mix lightly . The applesauce i used was quite thick and i spooned it into the batter so some chunks of applesauce are there in the baked cake.

 Add the grated pumpkin and apple , mix well and then add the flour mixture and fold in lightly . Do not whip after mixing the flour mixture.

Pour the batter in greased and dusted tins and bake in preheated oven . 180 degree C for 45 minutes .

Check with the help of a skewer and cook a bit more if needed.



Cool down the cake and enjoy . The cake keeps well in the fridge and ages well too. The spices make this cake very special by the passing days ...if it lasts ...

This cake accompanied many of our teas and coffee...

I had made some muffins with the same batter in my ceramic teacups ...

And those muffins were gobbled down for breakfasts ... They were refrigerated after covering them with foil and it was easy to remove the foil and just microwave them for 30 seconds for a hearty breakfast...The husband loves sweet treats for breakfast...

I like something handy to serve... something rich , moist and sweet .

Rich sweet breakfast is not always a bad idea ... my glass of milk is hot while the husband likes it lukewarm ... but sometimes we like similar things too :)

apple cake/bread with whole wheat....

 The cake is heavy on the apple flavor as apples are used in three forms. Apple juice , apple pieces and apple sauce, making it a moist cake made with lesser fat and some whole wheat.This should be a good reason to keep this cake in the fridge when kids are visiting, or you have growing kids of your own.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine had come with her daughter and the daughter had liked this cake . Knowing that this kid was fed on bakery bought pastries with heavy icing , i was not surprised when she did not recognize a cake without icing . It's not a cake...she had announced. Surprisingly , she liked the cake when i served it saying it is a nice bread . Later, I had packed some of this cake for the kid and when after some time this friend asked for the recipe i did not actually remember which apple cake i had made that time . In all probability , my memory indicates as the child was in love with the apples , also she thought it was a bread and not a cake ( the most unattractive cake it is , if you believe it's a cake ) it must have been this cake and now after more than 2 years i am posting this recipe. With all my apologies to this friend of mine ....

So do not go by how it looks ..... better call it an apple bread if you please...

The cake/bread is the most easy cake you might have prepared . It is all the more convenient when you have some apple butter in your fridge , homemade or otherwise. Even if you do not have some apple butter , it's so easy to peel a few apples core them , dice them and microwave them with a little sugar and a stick of cinnamon or any other spice you like ..... blend to make a puree and viola !!! I keep a jar of apple butter in my fridge almost all the time.

Now armed with apple butter you just need a few ordinary things to start with.

apples 2 nos peeled and chopped in cubes
apple butter 1.5 cup( mine was quite thick like jam)
apple juice 1/2 cup approximately ( i used from a carton)
whole wheat flour (atta) 2 cups
sugar 3/4 cup or more if the apple butter has no sugar
eggs 4 nos.
oil 1/2 cup
baking powder 2 tsp
soda bicarb 1/2 tsp
cinnamon powder 1/4 tsp ( indian cinnamon)
nutmeg powder a pinch
apple or vanilla essence

preparation...

Mix oil , sugar and eggs and whisk till fluffy . Add the apple butter and whisk to mix .

Mix the atta with baking powder, soda bi carb and the spice powders , mixing them dry before adding them to the wet mixture.

Add the essence and the apple pieces to the batter . The batter should be barely dropping consistency so add the apple juice at this stage to adjust consistency. If your apple butter is thin , you may not need to add the apple juice at all , and this will not interfere with the flavor of the cake . Thicker apple butter results in a richer flavor of the cake , just that.

The consistency of the batter should be thick...  A thick batter which resists when dropped from a ladle...

Line a baking tray with greased butter paper , or whatever way you grease or line your cake tin , and bake for 45-50 minutes on 180 degree. Check with a skewer after 35 minutes and decide how much more time it needs in the oven...for me it's always a matter of how the cake is behaving this time ....as i keep changing the proportions of the ingredients :)

This is the kind of cake which fills your kitchen with a nice toasted apple or apple pie aroma in your kitchen ..... you would be impatient with the cooling of this cake i tell you...

No problems even if you cut this cake while still warm , but cooling will be a good idea if you want nice clean slices .

Enjoy the cake for a week or two , if it lasts that long . Or simply make a large one . This cake or bread whatever you like to call it , keeps well in the fridge for about 2 weeks , actually gets better with time , ages well as they say ...

fruity citrus cake....

This is a very flavorful moist cake although the pictures don't do justice to the actual cake. In fact i made a large round cake for gifting someone and the leftover batter was poured into a loaf tin so a dwarf loaf was left with me and that one is posing for pictures here...The cake was made some 2 moths ago , the recipe was requested and here i am...

The cake has lot of fruit and less fat so the flavors are truly divine . I like adding some fruit or vegetable to my cakes for the added moisture specially when the cake is made low fat. I added finely grated apples and pineapples along with some pineapple juice and orange zest , the flavors were to die for..... i was planning to serve it with butterscotch or chocolate sauce but the thin slices vanished in one go ....

ingredients...

plain flour (maida) 2.5 cups
oil 3/4 cup
sugar 3/4 cup
Eggs 5 nos.
baking powder 1 tsp
soda bicarb 1/4 tsp
salt one scant pinch
finely grated apples 1 cup
finely grated or coarse paste of pineapples 1 cup
pineapple juice 1 cup or as required
orange zest 2 tbsp

preparation...

In a mixing bowl add the oil , sugar and eggs and mix well till creamy .

Add the coarse paste of apples and pineapple into it and mix again . I used my chopper to make a coarse paste of both apple and pineapple. A food processor can be used as per convenience.

Now add the maida and baking powder and soda bicarb to the batter and whip adding the pineapple juice and grated or chopped orange zest. Make a smooth flowing batter adding pineapple juice as required....

Pour in greased and dusted cake pan and bake at 180 degree for 40 minutes . Check by inserting a skewer , cool for a while and invert the cake by tapping the cake pan... the loaf tin here , i just cut the slices without taking it out and it vanished...

No one is going to believe the cake has apples as the citrus flavors dominate the cake . pineapple adds a very nice tart and sweet thing to the cake .Apples in this cake just help in making the cake moist and soft . Sugar can be adjusted to taste as this is a mild sweet cake and you can add a couple tablespoons more of sweetness to it....

I am imagining a citrus glaze over this cake right now...

lemon pound cake served with a quick butterscotch sauce...

I baked a lemon cake for Arvind's birthday after spotting a few plump lemons in my garden . The lemon tree is laden with green lemons but they are not yet ready to be juiced or zested . I spotted a few of them just fragrant enough for a nice lemon cake .

But the flavors were not a bit close to the lemon cake i used to bake some years ago when i had a gondhoraj lebu ( a variety of large lemons with a think and very fragrant rind ) tree in my garden . That gondhoraj lebu was so good for making cakes and lemon tarts , i am looking for a seedling of that variety just for the lemon cakes and tarts we so used to enjoy.

Baking a lemon cake is anyways a great thing as the home is filled with a nice lemony fresh aroma and anybody entering the house is tempted to snoop into the kitchen . Lemon pound cake has been a long time favorite with both of us and whoever has been visiting when the cake was baked.

And the quick butterscotch sauce is as aromatic while being cooked , it sizzles on the flame and makes me drool with a chocolaty caramel aroma .........so well complemented with lemon cake . I made the butterscotch sauce thin so that the cake is soaked well , thick butterscotch sauce is suited for ice creams and trifles .

The cake is a normal pound cake where the cup measurements are so convenient even a child can whisk and bake them..

ingredients for the cake ...
maida ( APF ) 2 cups
butter 1 cup
sugar 3/4 cup ( 1 cup can be used when the cake is not topped with butterscotch sauce )
eggs 4 nos
lemon juice 1 tbsp
lemon zest 1 tsp
salt a pinch
soda bicarb 1/2 tsp
baking powder 1.5 tsp

procedure....

Sift the maida , soda bi carb and baking powder together to mix them well and keep aside.

Whisk the eggs in a small bowl . Whisk the butter and sugar in another larger bowl till light and creamy . Add the whisked eggs slowly and keep whisking till a creamy frothy consistency is achieved . Add the lemon juice and lemon zest and whisk to mix .

Add the flour and fold the batter to make a homogeneous batter. Pour in a greased tin and bake for about 25 minutes at 200 degree C . Insert a skewer to check if the cake is cooked .

It is a lightly sweetened cake and great with a cup of tea any time of the day...

As a dessert it is complemented very well with this runny butterscotch sauce ...

ingredients for the butterscotch sauce...
sugar 1 cup
salt 1/2 tsp ( or 1/4 tsp if you don't like the hint of salt )
heavy cream 1 cup
milk 1/2 cup or more if you want it more runny
cocoa powder 3 tbsp
vanilla essence 1 tsp ( i used butterscotch essence which my sister had gifted me )

Pour sugar in a pan and heat to caramelize , as soon as it starts melting and getting golden colored add the cream and let the mixture boil . Mix cocoa powder with the milk and pour into the boiling mixture . Let it boil vigorously once again . Add  salt and take off heat. Use hot or cold as required.

A runny sauce is very well soaked into the cake and it was great this way . For ice cream topping it is better to keep the sauce thick so do not add any milk in that case.

You may like a thicker butterscotch sauce sandwiched between the slices of cake .... chocolate and lemon are the hottest of flavors and eat the way you like it.....

last minute Christmas cakes : a carrot orange cake and a zucchini and lemon cake, all in a day...

After seeing so many cakes and cookies, truffles and ginger breads all over the blogosphere , I was like ...to be or not to be........I rarely bake a cake or a cookie these days as both of us are off the desserts for some time....that is just one reason, the other reasons being plain procrastination. This recipe proves that cakes are not as high on calories always.

I know every reason for not making cakes will just be a lame excuse. I did not soak my dry fruits in rum in advance so no choice to make a proper fruit cake bursting with goodness of rich dry fruits and mixed peels. Then I thought of making an orange cake and even kept two large oranges on the kitchen platform to remind me of turning them to a cake. And guess what, even they could not prompt me to bake a cake. In the meanwhile I had to tell over telephone the exact measurements and recipes of different cakes to friends who were baking . Several calls followed to tell me the chocolate cake was yummy and that orange cake was an instant hit and that last minute addition of rum worked well...........that was the moment I could not resist.....

I had carrots and I had those oranges, mandarins actually which are called kinnoo in this part of the world. Two large kinnoos were actually waiting for the cake to happen as I told you.....overripe and the skin wrinkled and semi dried ....perfect for this cake as this peel is going to give a texture and taste similar to mixed peels .........and heyIi had a large tender zucchini and lots of lemons too.........

Forgive me for poor photography but it is to show you the dry leathery peels being chopped as one of the friends could not do it just by telephonic instructions...... hey S , this is for you.......I chopped them once more cross wise to make them even finer ........let's see how it was made ...a frugal cake with a rich taste........

ingredients....
mandarin peel chopped finely 1 heaped tbsp ( or more )
( i used peel of two mandarins )
finely and neatly grated carrots 2 cups
all purpose flour 2 cups
sugar 3/4 cup
vegetable oil 3/4 cup
eggs 3
baking powder 3/4 tbsp
baking soda 1/4 tsp
juice of one mandarin orange ( a little more if the batter is too thick)
the juice from the mandarin i used was less but very concentrated as it was an overripe n dried one

procedure...

Mix the grated carrots and orange juice and keep aside..

In a large dry bowl sieve the flour , baking soda and baking powder  twice to allow proper mixing , keep aside...

In another deep bowl whisk the eggs , oil and sugar together till creamy n fluffy , pop in the chopped orange peel , whisk once again and add the grated carrots with juice , whisk till combined ...

Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture in three batches while folding it nicely to incorporate.......do not whisk vigorously .......it's ready to be baked now...adjust consistency by adding more juice if the batter is not in thick flowing consistency. It will be thick due to grated carrots and not flowing freely but it should be a thick but flowing batter...ribbon consistency will not be achieved here......the picture will make it clear...it is with zucchini and lemon which i made just after this cake n took the picture for showing the consistency.......

Pour in a greased and dusted pyrex dish and microwave for 7 minutes on high ( 900 W) , check by inserting a needle , put back into the MW preheat while the cake is still inside the oven ...after two minutes open the door and quickly place the cake dish over the high wire rack to be browned nicely by the hot grill........3 minutes is enough.......i kept it for 4 minutes and it browned a little too much......but the brown part was the yummiest..........see the top and the side......

As I said , after baking this cake I made another with zucchini and lemon using the same recipe ...replacing carrots with zucchini and mandarins with lemons....using two lemons for half of this quantity.......this cake was yummy too and the color is just so beautiful....

The cakes vanished quickly as I sent half of it to a friend too....... and then I made another .....a loaf this time .....

This cake ages well and becomes more rich in taste after a couple of days...that is the reason why I baked the loaf ...it is sitting in the fridge and a fat slice appears on the table everyday........today was the second day by the way..........for the loaf....

The grated carrots provide a nice fruity texture while the flavors are brought by the rich mandarin peel , I could have added a few nuts to enhance the richness but the orange flavor would have been masked by nuttiness ......moist fruity bits in a fluffy yet dense cake , that is how the carrot and orange cake was.

Zucchini provides softness to the cake and the much loved color to enhance the lemon feel.....lemons are to be used liberally to get a fairly lemony zing ...i used the grated zest of two of my garden fresh large lemons for half the above recipe..........zucchini does nothing to the taste though , but the softness n color it provides to the cake is just so fit for the lemon flavored cake...........

Truly a frugal recipe for great tasting cakes.......

Wishing all my readers for a wonderful year ahead.......

easy brownie...eggless and low fat.

brownies are such a loving and adorable treat that i have yet to see a person who denies a brownie.......my husband loves brownies of all color , size and shape and is super delighted to have it with vanilla ice cream....it is quite understandable that this one dessert recipe is a regular at my place.........and i make it in many ways .....initially when i first learnt to make brownies i would stick to the standard recipe using dark cooking chocolate ( i have that recipe in my drafts n have been postponing it for no apparent reason)....but now i try brownies with almost any thing chocolaty.......cocoa powder is a common replacement for dark chocolate but this time i made it with cadbury's drinking chocolate ( ran out of dark chocolate and cocoa powder both)........the reason for such adjustable recipes of brownie is that arvind can demand them anytime n i try n make it without a trip to the store....and secondly whenever some guests arrive for evening tea on short notice it is the easier thing to prepare for me...............we have a tradition to serve mithai to guests in India and i generally don't keep any store bought mithai at home .....this time i had suji ka laddo ( recipe coming later) and thought that a brownie will be a better option since the guests had young kids ( the kids liked it very much and the mother ended up asking for the recipe) ...he he...


also i find that the brownies made with dark chocolate are very fatty as they have higher amount of fat in the form of not only cocoa butter, some trans fats too.............when you replace dark chocolate with cocoa powder the fat content of brownie becomes considerably low....works very well for me because the intense flavor of chocolate is still there, just it becomes a bit drier...no problem with me.........so it's like the more fatty the brownie is , it is more gooyi , soft and sinful...heavenly in fact......as you replace it with cocoa powder it becomes a little dry and crumbly......tastes as good as the original one though.........after all, the choice is your's..........i think something which you like so much and is so fatty.....you should be able to adjust a little with the texture at least, if not the taste..........right!!


One more thing i want to tell about a recipe of brownie......many of my friends who have had my brownies, have been asking for the recipe for a long time.....and i tell you that at one such discussion of sharing the recipe i used to tell them that i'll start writing a blog wher i'll write down the recipe for you guys..........it took me this long even after starting my blog, to post this recipe....i am almost on a guilt pang now..........so it was the recipe of brownies , asked again n again , when i started thinking of blogging about food.....( people used to ask me recipes of almost everything i made though )..........so here it is.........

the brownie at last........it takes less time to make than reading my crap above...he he.........

ingredients

all purpose flour 1/3 cup
drinking chocolate 1/2 cup ( or cocoa powder which i use normally)
soda bicarb 1/4 tsp
baking powder 1/2 tsp
butter 1/4 cup
thick curds 1/2 cup ( i used curdled soy milk cuz i always have it due to mithi)
sugar 1/2 cup
coffee 1 heaped tsp brewed in 2 tbsp of hot water
procedure

mix together the first four ingredients with a fork or by sifting them together......

soften the butter and mix the remaining four ingredients by whisking them together......

now slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients little by little and keep whisking...i use a fork mostly...or a wire whisker...

the batter should be of thick ribbon consistency , that is , when you drop a ladle full of batter from above the bowl, it should fall like a thick ribbon...

pour in a suitable baking dish....i used a borosil loaf dish as i find it easier to make slices.....you can use a shallow dish to get thin sqaure pieces of brownie....

if you want nuts in your brownie.....add them just before pouring the batter into the baking dish...in that case a shallow dish is better as the nuts drown in the loaf dish....n you find them only in the bottom...

microwave for 4-5 minutes........

you have to make approximation with the timing according to the amount of batter.........my tip for making cake or brownie in the microwave is..........watch the sides of the cake rising first as it starts cooking from the sides........slowly when the center rises and the central most point rises...watch it...as soon as it comes up n gets firm , wait for 5 secs and stop.......your cake is done.........nice tip na!!

wait for 2 minutes before taking out from the microwave...you can insert a toothpick to test if it's done...

cool and cut into pieces to serve.....it crumbles when sliced while it is hot....so be careful.

enjoy..