Chocolate Cake

Technology has made us so dependant on it.. And I realised it when I changed my phone and lost all my reminders..

Feb is like the wedding season in India.. So most of my frendz have their anniversary in the month .. and thus, I require remindersssss...  This CHOCOLATE CAKE was for a dear frend on her anniversary (which I almost forgot.."almost" ..we were at her place with the cake just before it struck 12 :D )

I tried icing for the first time.. and I was very happy with the outcome.. did CHOCOLATE FROSTING and it enhanced the taste manyfold..

For Cake
Butter - 1 cup
Cocoa powder - 4 Tablespoons
Water - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cups
Flour - 2 cups
Baking soda - 1 teaspoon
Eggs - 2

 

For Frosting
Butter - 2 Tablespoons
Cocoa powder - 4 Tablespoons
Milk - 6 Tablespoons
Walnuts (chopped)
Icing Sugar - 2/3 of a cup

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC.

2. Melt Butter with Cocoa and Water in a pan and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add the Sugar, Flour, Baking Soda and Eggs. Mix well (Either use a beater or beat with hand either clockwise or anti-clockwise... It is important to follow 1 direction only)

3. Pour into a greased cake tin. Bake in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes.Insert a skewer to check (it should come out clean). Let it cool before demoulding it.

4. For the frosting, boil Milk along with Butter, Cocoa and Nuts together in a saucepan.

5. Remove from heat and add Icing Sugar. 

6. Once cool, cut the cake into half horizontally. Sandwich the two layers with frosting, then garnish with frosting and strawberries. Spinkle Icing Sugar on top for garnish.

The cake is simple yet yummy :) Wish you a very happy aniv Sunaina :) .. this one is for you..

Linking to: Chocolate Lover, Teenz Yummy Delights' Valentine Event, Chocolate Mela, Sweet Luv, Lets Cook - Sweet Somethings, Lets cook for Valentines, Valentines Day @Annz Cafe

Chocolate Shots with Cinnamon Cream

I am a Chocolate Lover... can have it anytime & all the time..


I had a craving for Chocolate today and thus thought of this simple & quick choco recipe.. for days when you wanna pamper yourself with a yummy dessert... trust me, it's addictive ;)


Ingredients
Bittersweet Cooking Chocolate - 120 grams
Whipping Cream - 1 cup
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 teaspoon


Cooking
Break the Chocolate into small pieces and melt it over a double boiler.

Once the Chocolate is melted, add Red Chili Powder and mix well. Remove from the boiler and let the mixture cool.

In a seperate bowl, whip the Cream till it becomes semi-solid. Slowly fold 3/4 of the whipped Cream in the Chocolate mixture.

Pour into shot glasses and refrigerate for an hour or till set.

Take the remaining whipped Cream and mix Cinnamon Powder into it. Thinly layer this mixture on top on the set chocolate shots. Garnish with Cinnamon Powder.

Yummy Spicy Chocolate Shots are ready.... Serve Chilled...

Too Many Chocolateee events going around...
This recipe goes to Kalyani's Magic Mingle event.

And to Resh's Chocolate Lover event.

And to Srivalli's Chocolate Mela event.

And to Srav's Chocolate Fest.

Healthy Breakfast - ABC Smoothie

Since I started blogging, have got into this habit of randomly reading recipes posted by my fellow bloggers and ofcourse book-marking a few in the process as well.  While browsing I came across Kristin's Banana-Cocoa Smoothie ... was just too too tempted to try it immediately and so I did :) .. a few changes in the recipe and I could tweek it perfectly to my taste.. Loved it .. to the extent that I had 2 glasses of it :))

I used Almonds, Banana & Chocolate for my Smoothie .. naming it ABC SMOOTHIE.. Before we begin the process, chill 2 empty glasses in the refrigerator for serving the smoothie.

All we need is:

Banana - 1

Yogurt/ Curd - 1/2 cup

Milk - 3/4 cup

Cocoa Powder - 1 Tablespoon

Nutella Choc Spread - 1 teaspoon (Choc-lovers could pop in a big dallop ;))

Almonds - 5

Banana Slices & Chocolate Sauce - for garnish

Ice Cubes - few (optional)

Combine all the above ingredients in a blender. Pour into chilled glasses and garnish with banana slices & chocolate sauce.

Pleased to link this recipe to Priya's event Bookmarked Recipes - Every Tuesday

Choc-Vanilla Cake (Marble Cake)

I am usually a lil apprehensive with cakes.. I just feel that my cakes aren't always good-looking.. and mostly settle in for muffins.. but owing to a new cake tin n the urge to try "marbling", I tried the CHOC-VANILLA CAKE :)


This cake happened in an experimental mood... one of those days when you feel like having something sweet but not wholly chocolatee... Also, I thought of trying "marbling" .. don't think I was very successful with it but it surely tasted awesome ;) .. If you have comments about marbling.. pls pls do mention them.. I want it to look better next time..

Sorry... couldn't click this one well :(

 Ingredients
Self Raising Flour - 1.5 cups (White Flour + 1 teaspoon of Baking Powder can be used alternatively)
Eggs - 4
Refined Oil - 1 cup
Powdered Sugar - 1 cup
Cocoa Powder - 2 Tablespoons
Vanilla Essence - 1 teaspoon
Milk - 2 teaspoons (if required)
Chocolate Syrup & Chocolate Chips - For Garnish

Cooking
1. Pre-heat the oven; 350 degree F

2. In a bowl, mix refined oil & sugar together. We could use an egg-beater for the same.

3. While beating the mixture, keep adding the flour and eggs slowly until all the ingredients blend well. Once done, pour half the batter into a seperate bowl.

4. Add vanilla essence to the first half of the batter and mix well.

5. Add cocoa powder & milk to the other half of the batter and mix well.

6. Take a baking tin and brush it with oil. Spoon batters into the prepared pan in 2 layers, alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate like a checkerboard. To create marbling, run a table knife through the batters in a swirling motion.

7. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack to cool 10 minutes.

8. Once cool, transfer the cake on a plate and garnish with choclate syrup and chocolate chips.

Our cake is ready to serve :))

Chocolate Truffles

Was wondering if a food blog was just about innovation & sharing what I cook..until while browsing I discovered that it was just not about sharing the recipe but sharing the entire experience of cooking..so I decided to try a recipe.. comparitively simple one though but something I had been longing to eat.. CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

I had come across this recipe a while ago and it had been on my to-do list for a while. And honestly, the truffles were one of the yummiest I have had :)) .. no self praise but they truely were awesome.

The original recipe is from Taste of Home and because i was keen to participate in Priya's Bookmarked Recipe - Every Tuesday event, I chose to do so today..



Ingredients (for 12-15 truffles)
Milk Chocolate Chip - 1 cup (I used the Hershey's choc chips)
Condensed Milk - 1/2 cup
Walnut - handful (powdered)
Coconut - grated

Cooking
1. Melt Chocolate Chips and Condensed Milk together in a double boiler .. till they are well blended together.

2. Chill the mixture in a refrigerator for about 1.5 to 2 hours.

3. Shape the mixture into small balls with a help of a scooper or using the hand (shaping like ladoos)

4. Spread the powedered walnuts and grated coconut in seperate plates and roll the truffles on your favorite topping :)
Alternatives like powdered cocoa, colored sprinkles etc could be used.

Truffles are ready... :))