Category: Baking


Jul
2013

Vanilla Buttermilk Eggless Sponge Cake

categories: Baking, Breakfast, Cake, Cakes, Summer

Vanilla Buttermilk Eggless Sponge-2

After the last post of SugarPlum Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake, many people wanted an eggless sponge cake. I knew I had to bake one immediately… hence this post.

This recipe is from my initial baking days… very simple and easy to make even for beginners… so naturally it never got posted on the blog. Not bragging but I thought it to be too simple to be posted here. But trust me, it is every bit delicious! This is my go-to recipe while baking for non egg-eaters and it has turned out perfect every single time so it is tried, tested and tasted recipe in a true sense!

Use this as your basic cake recipe and add any other ingredients you like to it. Cinnamon, chocolate, lemon… anything! Sky is truly a limit. Use any other fruit you like or even better, make it tropical (pineapple and coconut, anyone?) style! Getting ideas?! ?

This eggless sponge is moist, has tight crumb and relatively flat top which makes it perfect for a multi-layer cake for birthdays or for any other occasion. In past, I have successfully doubled and tripled this eggless sponge recipe to make a 2 or 3-layer celebratory cake. For frosting ideas and recipes, read the recipe notes at the end of this post.

Vanilla Buttermilk Eggless Sponge Cake-1

Previously I have always used fresh strawberries for this eggless sponge as seen in the picture above. This time I had Kiwi fruit on hand so I decided it was time for a change. I am not a fan of baked Kiwi fruit so I refrained from adding fruit pieces to the batter which I sometimes do with strawberries but if you have no such qualms then go ahead.

It is perfect for eating any time of the day!

Yup, even for breakfast!

It has yogurt and fruit! Totally acceptable, right?! 😉

Kiwi Buttermilk Cake - Eggless1

 

Recipe adapted from here

Print Recipe
 Vanilla Buttermilk Sponge Cake ~ Eggless
Course Breakfast, Cake, Desserts
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
slices
Ingredients
Topping
Course Breakfast, Cake, Desserts
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings
slices
Ingredients
Topping
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Spray a 6 or 8-inch baking dish with vegetable oil and line the bottom with parchment paper.
  2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, oil and sugar with electric mixer or hand whisk. Whisk in vanilla extract.
  4. Using rubber spatula, gently stir in dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 2-parts alternating with yogurt/buttermilk, ending with dry ingredients. Do not over-mix the batter.
  5. Spoon the batter in a baking dish and smooth out the surface with the back of spoon. Top with Kiwi/strawberry slices and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes or till the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Recipe Notes

*Stays fresh for 3-4 days if refrigerated in an airtight container.
*Want to add fruit within the cake batter instead on top? Mix together about 1/2 generous cup of chopped fruit and 1 Tbsp flour, fold into the cake batter.
*You may double/triple/quadruple the recipe to make layers for a multi-layered cake. Use vanilla bean buttercream, fresh strawberry cream cheese frosting, lemon cream cheese frosting or coconut buttercream frosting recipe to decorate.

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Jul
2013

Skinny Carrot Sticks

categories: Appetizers, Baking, Quick Fix

Skinny Carrot Sticks2

Healthy snacking… It should be a way of life. Little indulgences are okay during breakfast or lunch time. But not acceptable during evening bites. This topic is written and read and discussed over and over again.. But who follows all that anyway?!

I have my weaknesses… I know them… So let’s go over the culprits. I love french fries.. I adore potato wedges.. & oh.. forgot potato chips.. So the common thread is potato! Yup.. I love my potato ~ deep fried! Nothing beats that. But after trying the baked versions of all these potato treats, I’m sold! They taste every bit as delicious and not one bit skinny! So they have become party favorites at our house.. I still indulge in these fried treats when it is junk food day which does not happen regularly so it’s fine.

Skinny Carrot Sticks3

So on a lazy Sunday afternoon, instead of my favorite baked potatoes, I made these carrot sticks. Really crispy, low-fat and dee-lish! Carrot sticks covered with dry thyme, salt, black pepper & onion powder and thankfully not smothered in too much oil! Just a bit… Yaay!! 😀

And yeah, going along the skinny way I served them with light mayonnaise.

Feel free to use potatoes or sweet potatoes instead of carrots.

Skinny Carrot Sticks1

Skinny Carrot Sticks

Serves: 2 or 1 😉

Ingredients:

  • 300 gm carrots, peeled and cut into 1-cm thick fries (about 4 medium sized)
  • 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 Tbsp dry thyme
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • freshly cracked black pepper, a pinch
  • salt, to taste
  • 2 Tbsp light mayonnaise (I used American Garden’s)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F. Toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 20-25 minutes, tossing and turning halfway.

Serve them hot with mayonnaise.

*For even crispier sticks, throw in 1/2 Tbsp bread crumbs also to the mix.
*Feel free to add whatever you like to your mayonnaise.
*Feel free to use potatoes or sweet potatoes instead of carrots.

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Jul
2013

SugarPlum Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake

categories: Baking, Cakes

SugarPlum Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake1

Happy Half New Year Everyone!!

You must be thinking who remembers or celebrates that! Neither do I! But got reminded of it on through WhattsApp messenger. Guys, we are in the middle of the year, we have finished 183 days of the year already! Another 182 days to go! Today is 184th day.. I know I am a day late in wishing you all but if none of you even remembered it then it doesn’t count, right? 😉

I can’t believe how half the year has already passed by and time has engulfed us in its speed that we can barely keep up! I have not even started ticking my to-do list of this year. So I really need to brace myself as soon it will be Christmas even before we know it!

And its finally raining in Bangalore!! Not as much as I would like but hey I am not complaining. Bangalore marked half of the year by gracing us with rain yesterday evening. I was so happy that I had to do a little dance, listen to my fave songs and bake! With cinnamon!!! I love how the aroma of cinnamon fills the house and this smell mixed with the smell of rain is almost heavenly!

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I had bought almost 2 kg of sugarplums from my regular supermarket as it was on sale! Half of them were super-ripe and sweet so it goes without saying that we enjoyed them just like that. Rest of them were quite sour and tart for which hubby & I both have got pretty low tolerance so I decided to use them in a cake.. A topping for a simple cinnamon buttermilk cake! They look like red jewels… So adorable it makes my heart sing! Plus, all the tartness is masked by the sweetness of the cake.

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As it was raining, there was music and I was in a mood to dance while I bake, I decided to whip the batter with hand. It was so therapeutic!!! No mixer is required for this cake and only 2 dirty bowls! Complete win-win.. 🙂

The plums I had were quite firm so slicing slivers from them was not so messy and quite pleasing experience. Be sure to use a sharp knife for this. Each plum will give around 8 slices.

Perfect as a coffee/tea time cake & perfect as a dessert served with vanilla custard or sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream!

Oh, did I mention it is healthy?? 😉

Enjoy!

SugarPlum Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake6

SugarPlum Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake

Adapted from Super Natural Every Day – Heidi Swanson

Prep Time: 25 min | Baking time: 30 min | Serves: 12

Ingredients:

  • 2 and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 Tbsp baking powder
  • 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup caster sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 and 1/2 cup buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
  • zest of 1 very large lemon
  • 6-8 sugarplums, thinly slivered (ripe yet firm)
  • 3 Tbsp granulated white sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 200 C/400 F. Grease an 11″ tart pan or quiche dish.
  2. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and salt in a bowl. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and lemon zest.
  3. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until all the flour pockets disappear and the batter is just combined.
  4. Spoon batter into greased pan, tapping the pan over the working station. Smooth the batter with back of your spoon, spreading it out towards the edges. Arrange plums in a circular pattern or just scatter them around. Top with granulated white sugar evenly.
  5. Bake for 30 minutes or till the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm with a dusting of icing sugar or vanilla custard or sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream.
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Jul
2013

Crust-less Zucchini Pie

categories: Baking, Dinner, Lunch, Summer

Crustless Zucchini Pie3

A wonderful savory pie made with zucchini, parsley, basil, onions, Cheddar and Parmesan cheese.

A simple recipe to make your meal exciting!

I had a wonderful birthday weekend and I am still in a weekend recovery mode.. (Can anyone blame me?! I think not!)

So I was just browsing throu my recipe folder, seeing what mess it is and found this unposted recipe. I had baked this pie almost more than a month back for taking to a party at friend’s place but forgot to post it here and wanted to do it ASAP before it gets lost in a huge mess that my laptop has become! (I need to organize everything into folders big time!!!) 😛

It is as easy as all the other recipes on my blog as easy is what we all love, isn’t it? The hero of this pie is my favorite zucchini which is available in abundance around this time of year. The flavors get a touch of refresh due to parsley and basil leaves. It is perfectly cheesy and oh-so soft and moist.

Crustless Zucchini Pie1

Be sure to squeeze all the liquid from grated zucchini otherwise the pie will stay uncooked at places and it will be sticky while slicing into pieces. So squeeze it down till its last drop, okay?!

Crustless Zucchini Pie2

Crust-less Zucchini Pie

Serves: 4, Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups shredded zucchini, liquid squeezed out
  • 1 large red onion, chopped finely
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh curled parsley
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
  • ½ cup cheddar cheese, grated
  • 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 tsp olive oil plus extra to grease the pie dish
  • 3 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Freshly cracked pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Shred zucchini, put it in a cheese cloth or muslin cloth and give it a good squeeze to remove extra liquid. Preheat the oven to 400°F/ 200°C. Grease a pie dish with olive oil.
  2. Combine zucchini, onions, parsley, basil and cheddar cheese in a bowl.
  3. Sift flour and baking powder in a medium bowl. Add milk, olive oil, beaten eggs, salt and pepper to it and blend well. Combine with zucchini mixture and pour it into pie dish.
  4. Top with Parmesan cheese and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine took exactly 37 minutes. Let it cool on a rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

*Serve it with crème fraiche or fresh tomato salsa. Pairs well with soups too!

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Apr
2013

Skinny Cherry Banana Muffins

categories: Baking, Cupcakes & Muffins

Cherry Banana Cupcakes1

I know I knowwww.. I bake all the time!  Anyone who knows me know about my love for baking & eating baked stuff!!! In fact, if you keep following me here, you might as well believe this to be a baking blog!! 😀

So after disguising myself behind the first 2 posts of salad and appetizer, I decided to come out with this skinny cherry banana muffin recipe.

If you like to kick-start your day with something sweet then these muffins are just what you want! I love muffins and making them a teensy bit healthier is so easy to do. I love to bake them in a small batch of 6 to last me for a couple of days. I can grab one on the way to work and later snack on one after I get home. They are pretty convenient and I don’t feel guilty at all digging in. 😉

Cherry Banana Cupcakes2

Healthy recipes that do not taste healthy at all is like finding a treasure!

I loooveee helthifying recipes as that is the only way I can have them too much! 😛 Plus, these muffins are insanely easy to make. If they weren’t, you can bet all your money that I wouldn’t have baked them on a weekday! Oh yeah, they are that easy and quick to whip up!

Start with some of your wet ingredients: unsweetened Applesauce, some sugar, mashed banana, low-fat buttermilk and vanilla extract. Applesauce is taking the place of butter and oil in this recipe as there is simply no need for the added fat. And min you, if you think these are gonna be dry and crumbly without butter and egg then you are mistaken! I can’t stress enough that these are NOT anything like that. All the wet ingredients mentioned above do a fine job of keeping the baked muffins soft, tender and moist.

There is only 1/4 cup of white sugar in the whole recipe, yielding 6 large muffins. So you get my point when I am repeatedly saying these are extremely healthy and still decadent tasting!

The dry ingredients are simple: whole wheat flour, quick-cooking oats and your leavening agents. You can sift the flour before mixing it with wet ingredients. This step is not necessary and you can skip it.

And the last thing you add? Cherries of course! I used glazed cherries cut into bite size pieces but you can easily replace them with fresh or canned cherries. Plus, a sprinkle of walnuts just before popping them into oven.

Cherry Banana Cupcakes

These muffins taste great with the cup of milk or coffee!

The muffins take an easy 18-20 minutes in the oven. Mine took 20 minutes. Be careful with these though, you don’t want to overbake them, which will lead  to dry, course muffins. Insert a toothpick in one at the 18 minutes mark. If it comes out clean, they are ready. If not, bake for 2 more minutes.

Today’s recipe is perfectly healthy and quick to prepare as no mixer required,  practically taking 10 minutes to prepare the batter. Okay, I’m done convincing you. Make these!! 🙂

Skinny Cherry Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup Applesauce
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 medium over ripe mashed banana
  • 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup quick-cooking oats
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 15-20 glazed cherries, chopped into bite size pieces
  • 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Line 6-count muffin pan with liners.
  2. In a large bowl, combine apple sauce, sugar, mashed banana, buttermilk and vanilla. Whisk them all together until smooth.
  3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Slowly stir in to the wet ingredients , being careful not to overmix. Get any dry pocket of flour out. Fold in the cherries. The batter will be smooth but not too runny.
  4. Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Sprinkle with walnuts. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  5. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool for 5 minutes before removing them from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe source: http://cookbybook.wordpress.com

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