Vanilla Cake with Cream and Marzipan- Happy Birthday hubby!

The month of december is my favourite time of the year. There is something special in the air, love, togetherness, not to forget delicious food and all the goodies. All this made even more amazing by beautiful white snow. We do not celebrate Christmas but I don't fail on the celebrations front here... December sees my birthday, my hubby's birthday and our wedding anniversary all in one month.

It was my hubby's birthday a few days ago and he requested that I bake this cake for him. When I heard of it, I couldn't help but smile - he wanted a very sweet (too sweet for my taste bud) cake all by himself :-)

My hubby was overwhelmed and loved it. I was happy with a small bite though (this was exactly the opposite of the kind of cake for me) but I made the birthday boy happy and thats what matters :-)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup - all purpose flour

2/3 cup - sugar

2/3 cup - sunflower oil

1/2 cup - vanilla yogurt

1 cup - milk

1 1/2 tsp - vanilla essence

1 tsp - baking powder

a pinch of salt

a generous pinch of soda bicarbonate

soaking syrup

1/4 cup - water

1/8 tsp - vanilla extract powder

1 tsp - castor sugar

Mix everything together. 

For the whipped cream

150 ml - cream, minimum 30 % fat

3 tbsp heaped - castor sugar

1/4 tsp - vanilla extract powder

Beat everything together till thick

For the topping

50 grams - marzipan

1 tbsp - castor sugar 

a few drops of milk

Mix everything together and knead until you get a smooth dough, roll out into a 15 cm diameter circle. You can roll it out within sheets of clingfilm or wax paper to make the rolling easier.

For the rose

25 gram - marzipan

1 tsp - sugar

a few drops of milk

a pinch of edible red colour

Mix together all these ingredients and follow this video here

edible glitter to sprinkle over the cake

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line two 15 cms round baking pans with aluminium foil and grease generously with oil. 
2. In a bowl,mix together the flour, salt, sugar,baking powder and soda bicarbonate.
3. In another bowl, mix well the oil, vanilla yogurt, vanilla essence and milk.
4. Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and tip in the liquid ingredients and mix lightly.
5. Divide the mixture into the two lined and greased pans, tap the pans against the counter and place both the pans in the centre of the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. 
6. Let the cakes cool in the pans for a couple of minutes before inverting them on the wire rack to cool completely 
7. Once the cakes have cooled down completely, place one cake on the cake board and brush the top and the sides of the cake with the syrup. Place the whipped cream in the centre and spread out evenly over the cake. Place the 2nd cake on the top of the cream, brush the top and the sides with the syrup and carefully spread the cream on the sides of both the cakes. 
8. Place the marzipan circle on the top of the cake. 
9. Brush the bottom of the marzipan roses with the syrup and place on the cake and sprinkle some eddible glitter all over the cake. 

Notes:

1. If you do not have 2 same sized baking pans then halve the ingredients for the cake and make the batter twice. Do not make it all together.

2. You may need a very little of the soaking syrup. Discard the rest of the syrup. Do not brush the cake excessively with the syrup otherwise the cake will turn soggy.

I am going to India for a month. Wishing all my lovely readers a very happy new year :-)

Enjoy!

Welcome 2012- Coffee Chocolate Chequered Cake (eggless)

Wishing all of you a very happy and successful New Year! I hope this year bring loads of love, joy and happiness to your lives.

I welcomed the new year by making this chequered cake. Normally, when I bake a cake for just the 2 of us, I avoid using rich icing, but since this cake was meant not just for us, I took the liberty and used a very (calorie) rich icing.

The cake turned out quite well, in fact, my hubby especially wished for this cake on his birthday. The combination of both the cakes and the espresso-butter icing complemented each other really well. Now that definitely is a good way to start a new year :-)

Ingredients

Coffee Cake

1 cup - whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp - baking powder

1/4 tsp - soda bicarbonate

3 tbsp - sugar

a pinch of salt

100 ml - condensed milk, sweetened

5 tbsp - buttermilk 

5 tbsp - sunflower oil

1 - nespresso chocolate espresso (approx 50 ml), cooled

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease generously a 21 cm / 8 inch round cake pan.
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, salt, soda bicarbonate, baking powder and sugar.
3. In another bowl, mix well the condensed milk, oil, buttermilk and espresso.
4. Make a hole in the center of the flour mix and tip in the liquid ingredients and mix lightly.
5. Pour the batter in the greased cake pan and place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for approx 25 mins or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Let the cake rest in the pan for a couple of minutes.
7. Invert the cake and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Chocolate Cake

1 cup - whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp - baking powder

1/4 tsp - soda bicarbonate

3 tbsp - sugar

4 tbsp - cadburys cocoa powder

a pinch of salt

100 ml - condensed milk, sweetened

5 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil

7 tbsp - buttermilk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease generously a 21 cm / 8 inch round cake pan.
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, soda bicarbonate, baking powder and sugar.
3. In another bowl, mix well the condensed milk, oil and buttermilk.
4. Make a hole in the center of the flour mix and tip in the liquid ingredients and mix lightly.
5. Pour the batter in the greased cake pan and place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for appx 25 mins or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Let the cake rest in the pan for a couple of minutes.
7. Invert the cake and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

Espresso Butter Icing

250 grams - unsalted butter at room temperature

1 3/4 cup - sugar

1 tsp - vanilla extract

2 - nespresso chocolate espresso, cooled

Add the butter and vanilla extract to a large bowl. Cream the butter using an electric mixer. Add the sugar and espresso, a little at a time and beat well on medium speed until creamy and light.

Assembling the Cake

1. Cut out two small circles from each cake. I used a 5 inch and a 2 inch cookie cutter to cut out the circles. So now you have, for each cake, an 8 inch ring, a 5 inch ring and a 2 inch circle.
2. Brush the sides of the cut out circles and the insides of the cakes with the espresso-butter icing. 
3. Reassemble the cakes with the cut-out pieces, replacing the middle ring with the piece of the alternate colour - you will now have two cakes with alternate coloured rings. 
4. Apply the icing on the top of one cake and carefully place the other cake on top.
5. Cover the sides and the top of the cake with the rest of the icing.
6. I decorated the cake with some chocolate ganache and dusted the cake with cocoa powder.

Notes

1. If you have just 1 cake tin then let it cool completely after the first cake before baking the second in it.
2. Let the cake cool completely before cutting out the circles.
3. Brushing both the sides and the insides of the circles helps in keeping the pieces together, and more icing is not necessarily bad either.
4. For leveling the icing on the cake: Dip the knife in hot water for a minute, wipe the knife and carefully use the hot- dried knife to level the icing on the cake. This will enable you to give the icing a smooth and even look. Repeat if required, but always use a hot dry knife.
5. Both the cakes are supposed to be less risen than normal.

Enjoy!

Eggless Molten Lava Cake- Especially for you my dear sis!

My sister recently got engaged to be married, and the wedding takes place in January. I asked her a few days ago if she wanted anything and immediately came the reply, "Yes, I want a dessert platter from you." And, she especially requested for Molten Lava Cakes.

I will certainly make her a dessert platter when I am in India - but for the time being, I wanted to give her a virtual treat with the recipe for her favourite cake. As it happened...I got busy talking on the phone, forgot about the cakes and baked them a bit too long (around 20 rather than the optional 12 mins). Hence they were a little stiff inside, as in this photo below, even though the taste was perfect.

I felt a little bad that because of my carelessness the cakes did not turn out as my sis would have loved them to be - although the taste was great, they were not as gooey and molten on the inside as they should have been. So, of course, I decided to bake another lot, and this time my eyes were fixed on the watch and exactly after 12 minutes, I took the cakes out of the oven, clicked the photos and also tasted it. I was very happy with the result this time, and I hope my sister likes them too, at least virtually!

I made the cake according to my sister's taste and therefore have used chocolate with 50 % cocoa. Personally, I would have used darker chocolate. Feel free to use the chocolate of your choice.

Do you have any other wishes, dear Sis? I'd be more than happy to fulfill them :-)

Ingredients for 3 cakes 


50 grams - 50% chocolate
6 tbsp - water
30 grams - butter
30 grams - whole wheat flour (aata)
10 grams - castor sugar
1/2 tsp - baking powder
a pinch of salt
60 grams - 50% chocolate for the molten part, divided into 3 parts of 20g each. 

Method

1. Melt the 50g chocolate in a double boiler. 
2. Remove the chocolate from the heat. Let it cool for a couple of minutes. Add the water and butter. Put it back on the double boiler and keep mixing until the butter melts. 
3. Remove from the heat and let it cool for 3-4 mins. Meanwhile, put the flour, baking powder, salt and castor sugar in a bowl and mix. 
4. Add the flour mixture spoon wise to the chocolate mixture, and mix well before adding the next spoonful. 
5. Pour the batter into a greased mould, filling half the mould, place the 20 gram chocolate piece in the center and pour a little more batter over it until the chocolate piece is covered. 
6. Place the moulds in the center of the oven preheated to 180 degrees C and bake for around 12 minutes for a yummy lovely gooey inside (and 20 minutes for a little stiff inside or if you are as forgetful as I am!). 
7. Unmould and sprinkle a little castor sugar on the cakes. 
8. Serve warm with icecream, fruits, whipped cream or as it is. It tastes simply awesome.

Enjoy!

Tiny Pineapple Wonders!

Early to bed, early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy and wise. Learnt this classic piece of human wisdom when I was in Kindergarten. However, applying it to daily life is another matter altogether. For both my hubby and me, it's the opposite case. We both are not morning people.

Many a times, whilst reading, or surfing the net or in my case also following what you guys have been up to, we have these sudden hunger pangs and cravings to eat something. My hubby generally settles for something junk, while I prefer having a cup of warm milk with biscuits (I am a milkaddict). But, this weekend, on saturday midnight, my dearest really wanted to have something sweet and we were, a rare exception, out of chocolates. So, in the middle of the night, I baked these tiny wonders, obviously he was more than happy to help me.

I adapted my recipe Bournvita Bundt Cakes  a bit and came up with these cute looking things. Pineapple and coconut were a beautiful combination. And it just took just around 6-7 mins of baking time.

We had a little mid-night tea party, and there was a very happy face sitting beside me and seeing him happy, I was the happiest :-)

Ingredients

2 tbsp heaped - whole wheat flour (aata)

1 tbsp heaped - pineapples, finely chopped (one slice from the can)

1/8 tsp - baking powder

2 tbsp - honey

2 tbsp - sunflower oil

2 tbsp - coconut milk

2 tbsp - dessicated coconut

a pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. 
2. In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. In another bowl, mix together the pineapple pieces with the rest of the ingredients. 
3. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix lightly. 
4. Spoon the batter into the paper moulds and put them on a baking tray.
5. Place the tray in the center of the preheated oven and bake for around 6-7 minutes. Serve. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Ginger Cake with Custard Sauce - Happy Birthday Hubby :-)

Time is just flying and how... We are keeping busier than usual, there is a lot going on but we are loving every bit of it. 

Christmas is just round the corner and we have already started celebrating. Cakes, Scones, Cupcakes...oh the list is endless. Today is my dear hubby's birthday and I pampered him with a grand breakfast and made this cake for him. We both are die hard chocolate fans and we do love ginger a lot and hence this was the perfect cake for his birthday. 

The cake is soft, moist and simply yumm. Ginger adds it own zing to the cake and together with custard sauce it was indeed very satisfying. The best and the most important thing is that the birthday boy was more than happy and that definitely made me a little extra happy :-) 

Ingredients

4 tbsp heaped - whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tbsp - oat flakes

6 tbsp - honey

6 tbsp - sunflower oil

1 1/2 tsp - baking powder

3/4 tbsp - cocoa powder

a pinch of salt

100 grams - chocolate 55%, melted and cooled

1/2 tbsp - crystallised ginger, chopped

2 1/2 tsp - dried ginger powder (saunth)

1/2 cup - gingerale

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease a 15 cm round cake pan.
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, oat flakes, baking powder, cocoa powder, crystallised ginger, dried ginger powder and salt. 
3. In another bowl, mix well the honey and oil.
4. Add the melted and cooled chocolate to the flour and rub lightly with finger tips until it resembles bread crumbs.
5. Add the honey and oil mixture and then add the gingerale and mix lightly for a couple of minutes.
6. Pour the batter into the greased pan.
7. Place the pan in the center of the preheated oven and bake for approx 40 minutes.
8. Let the cake cool in the pan.
9. Unmould and serve with custard sauce. (warm up the cake slice for a few seconds in the microwave and serve- tastes yumm)

With or without the warm custard sauce the cake tasted great...

Sending this cake to Suma's Bakeomania and Jyoti's Winter Warmers. 

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and loads of fun. We are going on a small holiday over Christmas, so will be with you again in a week or so.


Enjoy!

Celebrating an Year of Blogging with my 100th Post: Chocolate Cake, obviously!

I started writing this blog exactly one year ago and here I am today with my 100th post! On my journey with this blog, I not only got to know and experiment with a lot of new recipes from the blog-world, but also made some good friends.

Until a few years ago, I didn't know anything about cooking or baking or anything remotely connected to going near the kitchen. I wasn't interested in cooking at all before my marriage, maybe I didn't feel the need to learn to cook because my mom took care of that, and more importantly, I was so carefree and busy enjoying my time with my friends that I never bothered to learn to cook.

All I would do then was to stand in a corner of the kitchen and chat with my mom whilst she was cooking. And, now I realise, my subconscious mind had learned cooking then - just by looking at my mom cook.

After coming to Munich, I started cooking regularly and then I slowly started liking it. My hubby is a foodie, and, thanks to him, I tried my hand at lots of different and new types of cuisine, learning lots of new things. And then, one fine day, I told my hubby that I thought I should note down my recipes somewhere. And Veggi Fare was born.

It feels so good when others try out one's recipes, like them and tell one about it... the first time somebody wrote to me about how they loved a particular recipe they tried from this blog - I felt as if I had achieved the moon :-) The past year has been a wonderful journey, and all of you travelled bits of the road with me....thank you for that!

Today, I would love to share this chocolate cake recipe (what else could it be?) with you. 

Ingredients

175 grams - whole wheat flour

1/2 cup - muscovado sugar (more or less)

5 tbsp - sunflower oil

4 tbsp - low fat yogurt

3/4 cup -1 cup - low fat milk

2 tbsp - crushed hazelnuts

1 tbsp - cocoa powder

1/2 tsp - baking powder

1/2 tsp - bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp - vanilla essence

a pinch of salt

Icing

100 ml - cream

100 gram - dark chocolate, finely chopped

to decorate

white chocolate and milk chocolate curls

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C and grease a 20 cm round cake tin.
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, soda, baking powder, salt and hazelnuts.
3. In another bowl, mix well the yogurt, milk, oil and vanilla essence.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mix and tip in the liquid ingredients and mix lightly.
5. Pour the batter in the greased cake tin and place the tin in the center of the preheated oven and bake for approx 30 minutes. Let the cake rest in the oven for another 5 minutes.
6. Cool the cake on a wire rack and when completely cool, cut the cake horizontally through the middle.
7. Place the cream and chocolate in a sauce pan and heat gently, stirring constantly, until the chocolate has melted.
8. Pour onto a large bowl and using an electric hand whisk, beat the mixture for 7-8 minutes.
9. Pour half of the choco-cream in between the 2 cake slices and then cover the cake with the rest and chill in the fridge
10. Sprinkle the chocolate curls on the cake and serve. 

Warm up the cake- slice in the microwave for 10 seconds and serve with a scoop of vailla ice-cream- tastes simply great.

A slice of chocolate cake - just for you :-)

Enjoy!

Mini Bournvita Bundt Cake

There is festivity in the air...with Diwali - the Indian festival of lights just around the corner. And with this festival are associated loads of sweets. And as you already know, both my hubby and I just need an excuse to indulge...well err... sometimes we indulge even without an excuse...but lets not get into that. 

Festivals mean joy and happiness and gifts :-) and of course loads of goodies... I thought I should start this month and welcome Diwali with these mini bournvita cakes.

They are simple to make and the main ingredient of these cakes is Bournvita, of which I am an addict. Of course, if you do not have Bournvita, you can use your own favourite brand of malt-chocolate drink. I have been drinking this good old powder mixed with my milk since childhood and its now a habit for life. I make sure that I stock up on Bournvita every time I visit India, enough to last me the whole year. 

These mini bundt cakes looked insanely cute and together with the bournvita cream icing they tasted just heavenly. If you love bournvita like me, then, I am sure you would love these cuties too :-)

Ingredients

2 tbsp heaped - whole wheat flour

2 tbsp - muscovado sugar (more or less)

1 1/2 tbsp - bournvita powder

1/2 tsp - cocoa powder

1/8 tsp - baking powder

a pinch of salt

2 tbsp - sunflower oil

4 tbsp - low fat milk

Bournvita cream

3 tbsp - cream

1/2 tsp - bournvita

1/4 tsp - castor sugar 

mix everything together and beat until thick

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C and grease 7 mini bundt cake pans.
2. In a bowl, mix together the whole wheat flour, sugar, bournvita powder, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.
3. In another bowl, mix well the oil and milk.
4. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix lightly.
5. Spoon the batter in to the greased bundt cake pans and place them in the center of the preheated oven and bake for approx 7-8 minutes.
6. Let the cakes cool on a wire rack completely before decorating them with the bournvita cream. 

Enjoy!

Banana Crumble Cake

Both my hubby and I are dessert people - we love sweets and can have them anytime, anywhere. That's one of the reasons that I try and make my baked goodies a little healthier, I suppose... 

Banana Cake is amongst our favourites. This time, we had friends over for a coffee and I wanted to add a little special element to my usual banana cake - so I added this crumble topping, and it turned out to be an excellent idea. Not only did both of us love it, but also the friends. My hubby even asked me to make it again, and, that's definitely music to my ears :-)

The Cake is really light, soft and an absolute melt in the mouth and the crumble topping is indeed, the highlight of the Cake. A slight nutty taste and some dark cocoa powder definitely added on quite a bit to the flavour.

Ingredients

1 - banana, mashed (yields 1/3 cup)

3 tbsp heaped - whole wheat flour

1 tbsp - dark muscovado sugar

1 tbsp - cream

2 tbsp - condensed milk, sweetened

2 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil

1/2 tsp - cinnamon powder

1/4 + a generous pinch - bicarbonate of soda

a pinch of salt

For the topping

1 tbsp - whole wheat flour

2 tbsp - instant oat flakes

1/2 tsp - dark cocoa powder

1/2 tbsp - pistachio, blanched and thinly sliced

1 tbsp - dark muscovado sugar

2 tsp - ghee (clarified butter) or melted butter

Method

1. Add the ingredients for the topping in a bowl and mix well until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Keep aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease a 6 inch/15 cm rectangular cake tin.
3. In a bowl, add all the liquid ingredients and mix well.
4. In another bowl, add the flour, cinnamon powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and sugar and mix.
5. Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture and mix very lightly. Do not overdo the mixing.
6. Spoon the thick batter into the greased cake tin. Add the topping onto it and press gently.
7. Place the tin in the center of the preheated oven and bake for approx 30 minutes.
8. Let the cake cool in the tin for 5 minutes and then very gently insert two spatulae, one on each side of the cake and lift up the cake and put on a wire rack to cool completely. 
9. Cut into slices and serve. 

Enjoy!

Mini Vanilla Cakes with Chocolate-Mascarpone Cheese

This week was really busy, and on top of that, I hurt my hand and found it a bit difficult to type. My hand is still hurting but I was feeling a little guilty about not posting a recipe for so long.

I made this cake last week and, as usual, we finished it off in no time. They looked cute and the flavours of vanilla and chocolate together were just great. 

Ingredients

3/4 cup - whole wheat flour

2 1/2 tbsp - sunflower oil

1/3 cup - dark muscovado sugar (or any other sugar)

1/4 tsp - bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp - baking powder

3 tbsp - low fat yogurt

1/3 cup - water at room temperature

a pinch of salt

1/2 - vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped 

Icing

dark chocolate (melted and cooled) and mascarpone cheese, mixed vigourously, until smooth and glossy.

Sorry for not providing the exact measurements for the icing. I was so preoccupied that I forgot the amount of chocolate and mascarpone I used in the icing.

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C and grease 3 ramekins.
2. In a bowl, mix together the sunflower oil, sugar, yogurt,vanilla seeds and water.
3. Mix together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt in an another bowl.
4. Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix lightly with a spatula. Do not overmix.
5. Spoon the mixture into the greased ramekins, filling three quarters.
6. Place the ramekins in the center of the preheated oven and bake until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. 
7. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Carefully cut the cakes horizontally through the middle and roughly spread the chocolate-mascarpone icing in between and on the top. 
9. Serve immediately. 

Sending this to EFM Cakes and Bake Series of Srishkitchen. 

Enjoy!

Gooey Chocolaty Microwave Cup Cake!

What does one do when one is in the middle of a very interesting book and has this sudden urge of having chocolate cake? Well, these cravings are nothing new to me, I face them very often and this Sunday was one such day.

Chocolate cake! hmmm... but that would take at least half an hour, thought my mind. I should continue reading the book, thought my mind again... Which I really tried with all my concentration but, " I was lost in that world of chocolate cakes" . Finally, I got up, quickly consulted my dear friend, "Google" and ta da da... got this recipe for this microwave cupcake, from here, which I improvised according to the ingredients available.

When I saw the cake rise in the microwave, my heart did a little jig and dance but then my jaws dropped when I saw it sinking. Apprehensively, I took quick photos, and, had the first bite and, a big smile appeared on my face. The cake was warm, soft, gooey and most important chocolaty...mmmm. So what if it sank, it tasted just awesome and satisfied my craving. So here you go with the recipe.

And - the best part was - The cake was ready in just 2 minutes!

Ingredients

2 tbsp - whole wheat flour

2 tbsp - muscovado sugar 

1 1/2 tbsp - cocoa powder (more or less)

2 tbsp - apple juice

2 tbsp - sunflower oil

1 tsp heaped - mascarpone

1/4 tsp - baking powder

1/4 tsp - coffee powder

a pinch of salt

handful of choco chips

Method

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a cup. 
2. Add the liquid ingredients one by one and mix well. (make sure to scrape the corners well)
3. Place the cup in the microwave, on high, for approx 2 minutes. (time may vary a little depending upon the power of microwave)

I had it without any topping but you may have it with cream or ice-cream. It would taste as great :-)

Sending this to Aparna's No Bake Cake! Event

Enjoy!

Caramelised Walnut and Raisin Muffins

The name says it all! This recipe was made especially for a friend visiting us who is a big fan of everything sweet and everything baked, and loves to try out new variants on old recipes. He is also a big nut-freak, so here is this nutty crunchy munchie sweetie recipe for him...

Ingredients 


1 1/2 cup - all purpose flour
1/2 cup - oat flakes
1/3 cup - raisins
6 1/2 tbsp - muscovado sugar (adjust according to your taste)
8 tbsp - sunflower oil
12 tbsp - low fat milk
5 tbsp - low fat yogurt
1/2 tsp - bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp - baking powder
1/4 tsp - clove powder
a generous pinch of nutmeg powder


To caramelise  


1 1/4 tbsp - muscovado sugar
1/2 cup - walnuts, roughly chopped

Add 1 1/4 tbsp of sugar and the walnuts in a pan and cook, stirring continously,  until the sugar melts completely and coats the walnuts. (approx 2-3 minutes on a high flame)


Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C and line the muffin tray with 10 papaer cases.
2. Add the flour, oat flakes, raisins, caramelised walnuts, soda, baking powder, clove powder and nutmeg powder in a bowl and mix well.
3. In another bowl, add the oil, yogurt, milk and sugar and mix well.
4. Whisk in the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and mix lightly.
5. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and place the muffin tray in the center of the preheated oven and bake for approx 10 - 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.
6. Let the muffins cool in the muffin tray for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Makes 10 muffins



Enjoy!

White Chocolate Muffins With Strawberries

Happy new year!

A new year, a new beginning - full of hopes and dreams.

I wish all my readers all the very best for 2010 and hope you have a tremendous year.

To start the year on the right foot, I thought it would be best to pamper the sweet tooth a bit (more). So heres a recipe which, for me, is a mixture of the year gone by and the new fresh year - the decadent taste of white chocolate together with fresh strawberries.

Ingredients

150 gram - white chocolate
2 tbsp - honey
3 1/4 tbsp - sunflower oil
100 gram - whole wheat flour
40 gram - oat flakes
9 tbsp - low fat milk
5 tbsp - low fat yogurt
1/2 tsp - bicarbonate of soda

Filling

1/3 cup - chopped strawberries

1/2 tsp heaped - vanilla sugar
Cook strawberries and vanilla sugar in a pan for 2- 3 minutes (the strawberries should just be soft)

Icing

a little castor sugar mixed witha little warm water
to decorate - a little chocolate confetti

Method  

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C and line a muffin tray with 8 paper cases.
2. Melt the white chocolate on a double boiler, stirring the chocolate continously.
3. In a bowl, mix together the flour, oat flakes and bicarbonate of soda.
4. In another bowl, mix together the milk, yogurt, honey and oil.
5. Add the melted white chocolate to the flour mixture and rub till the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
6. Make a well in the centre of the flour meal and tip in the liquid mixture. Bring everything together with a wooden spatula.
7. Spoon a little mixture into the paper case, add stawberries and then again pour a little batter over it.
8. Place the tray in the centre of the preheated oven and bake for abt 21-23 minutes. Cool in the tray for about 2 minutes.Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Spread the icing on top of each muffin and then sprinkle chocolate curls.

 Makes 8 muffins

Have a great weekend!