Beer Chocolate Cake

I've been experimenting with beer in my cooking and baking for a while now. I don't drink much of it coz it leaves me sleepy and bloated, but I do love the mild bitterness and depth it adds to food. Before I started the marathon experiments, I had only a layman's knowledge of beer. Pop a can or pull a draught at the microbrewery and really all beer was the same! Right? Wrong!! 

I actually got talking to a brewmaster and was boggled at all the subtleties and methods that differentiate each brew. Roasting, hopping, brewing, maturing... they all combine in limitless combos to bring the perfect aaahhh to your sip! 

When I baked my Beer Bread, I was completely clueless and just reached into the fridge for a Bud. But this time round I was better educated, and now that I understood the flavour profiles, i was confident of pairing the right beer with the right ingredients. 

This particular cake uses the English Brown Ale. The dark colour boosts the chocolate tones. And the roasted nutty malts carry an undertone of chocolate that just enhances the taste of the cake to an altogether different level. 

The best part about adding beer to your bakes is the texture. This cake in particular has a gorgeous moist crumb that makes you just reach for slice after slice. If you think I exaggerate, just bake a batch and try for yourself! 

Now I wish this was an original recipe, however, my inspiration comes from The Beeroness. I tweaked a few ingredients around. Added some and subtracted a little. After all, what's life without a little twist?!

Ingredients:

Eggs                         1

Butter                       1/2 cup

Granulated sugar     1 cup

Muscovado sugar    1/2 cup

Vanilla essence        1/2 teaspoon

Ginger powder        1 teaspoon

Beer                         3/4 cup

Oil                           1/4 cup

Flour                       1 1/2 cups

Cocoa Powder        3/4 cup

Baking soda           1/2 teaspoon

Salt                         1/2 teaspoon

Method:

Pre heat the oven to 180 C. Sift all the dry ingredients together. Beat the butter and the two sugars till pale and fluffy. Add the egg and the essence. And beat well. Gently stir in the beer and oil till combined. Do not beat or the beer will get too flat. Now fold in the dry ingredients a little at a time. Gently mixing till all is just combined. Pour into a well greased cake dish. Bake for 60 minutes. Let cool a little before cutting in!

Not Just Any Hot Chocolate!

Growing up on a healthy diet of Enid Blytons and Archies, I was besotted by the seemingly exotic Hot Cocoa. Sipped steaming with a tossing of marshmallows, seated on a warm rug in front of a roaring fireplace. A dog cuddled next you and a throw carelessly wrapped around the shoulders. Really, that was the romanticism of winter for me. I dreamt of staring out the window, watching the snow fall softly as I warmed my palms on my very own cup of Hot Cocoa, the aroma of chocolate wafting through my senses. 

Mum didn't laugh off my fantasies. She indulged me with her shorthand version of the Hot Cocoa. But warm milk with drinking chocolate just didn't have the same magical feel. Dad would add a capful of brandy and insist it was the secret ingredient to that elusive taste. But sigh! My literary tastebuds weren't fooled!

Many snowfalls and failed milky cocoas later, I found it! As Nigella beamingly stirred her pot of hot chocolate, I knew it was The One! I could almost inhale the aroma through the telly. And I wasn't wrong. I made it the very next evening. And as we sipped it under the wintry stars, my chocoholic cuz agreed every sip was a trip to heaven. We had found the Hot Cocoa of our literary dreams!

Over the past few years, I've played around with the flavours, tweaking it a lil here and there. Made it truly my own. And as the winter chill nips my toes, I tuck em under my snoring dog, pull my Naga shawl a little closer and revel in that warm, molten chocolate dreamily making its way down my throat. The magic is alive. And this is Not Just Any Hot Chocolate! 

Ingredients:
Milk                            2 cups
Dark Chocolate           100 gms, chopped or shredded
Cinnamon                    1/2 inch stick
Brown Sugar               1 teaspoon
Vanilla Syrup               1 1/2 teaspoon
Peppercorn                 4, crushed coarsely
Rum                            1/4 cup

Method:
Pour the milk, chocolate, peppercorns, sugar and cinnamon into a saucepan. Heat on the lowest flame till the chocolate dissolves completely. Take off the heat and add the rum and vanilla syrup. Whisk well. Strain and get ready to be transported to Chocolate Heaven!

Notes: I used Monin Vanilla syrup but you can easily replace it with vanilla extract mixed with honey. And if you want a more decadent experience, substitute half cup of milk with Amul fresh cream :) 

Chocolate Rum Cake

  

Drunk texting? Sure! We've all done that at some point of time. But drunk blogging? Well, that's definitely a first for me! Blame it on my mum's birthday. Yes, you read that right! Its my mum's b'day and her b'day cake that's gotten me here. Not that I am complaining! I could probably go for a couple of slices more, though the blurred edges of the words warn me otherwise.

Let me start by saying that my mum's favorite present are those beautiful boxes of dainty liqueur chocolates. With very little time to shop, I am embarrassed to say I came up with naught. This would have been acceptable had I a heartwarming present on standby. But alas! I failed there as well. So I thought of the next best thing. Make her some liqueur chocolates. And as my brains unfroze they decided to take it a step further. Chocolate and liqueur in a cake. An all in one dessert! 

Now it would have been great had I stuck to the thought and used one of my regular recipes. But no when you go big, why not go grand?! That's when we went from dainty to drunk! In my quest for the best ever chocolate rum cake, Google kept pointing me towards the Caribbean inspired dark chocolate and rum cakes. And the more I read, the more I knew I just had to make the most chocolatey, most boozy ever rum cake. Decadent and degenerate. 

Enter the recipe on foodinmybeard. After having devoured hundreds of rum and choc recipes, I can honestly say that this was hands down the booziest and easiest cake around. I knew I wouldn't rest till I made it. And well, ate it! Now the cake came out of the oven looking all normal and innocuous.

 

 

And then it was subjected to this. Now the bottles on top are merely to add weight to the lid, and don't actually form part of the recipe. But below the lid is a sinful, booze addled rum butter sauce that with the extra weight squishing it down, permeates every crumb of an already very rummy cake. The result? Drunk Blogging!

Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate Compound     170 grams

Butter                                       1/2 cup

Dark Rum                                1 cup

Flour                                        1 cup

Eggs                                         4

Sugar                                       1/2 cup

Brown Sugar                            1/2 cup 

Baking Powder                        1/2 teaspoon

Baking Soda                            1 teaspoon

Cocoa Powder                        1/2 cup

Salt                                          1/2 teaspoon

Rum Butter Sauce

Butter                                      1/4 cup

Sugar                                       1/4 cup

Dark Rum                                1/4 cup + 1/2 cup

Method:

Microwave the butter, chocolate and rum for 30 seconds. Whisk. If it hasn't melted completely, microwave again for 30 seconds. Whisk till smooth. Add the sugars and whisk well. Now add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Sift all the dry ingredients together. Add half the dry mix to the wet batter and mix well. Now add the rest and mix till combined. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Pour the batter into a greased and lined cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes or till done. Once the cake is done, take it out and poke holes all over with a toothpick or skewer. Gently pour over the entire butter sauce. Cover with a lid that touches the surface of the cake, and weigh down with additional bottles. Once the cake cools completely, flip onto a serving tray and for once, you can drink your rum and eat it too!

Rum Butter Sauce: Heat together the butter, sugar and 1/4 cup of rum. Bring to a boil and let it boil for a minute more. Take off the heat and whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup of rum. Pour warm over the cake. This is the lethal weapon that turns your cake from decadent to drunk! 

Mocha Layer Pudding

Everybody loves dessert. And if you are me, you probably skip the main course to make room for dessert. But be warned! You can't serve me ice cream and call it dessert. Ice cream is ice cream. When I was younger, parties always meant light citrus souffles and decadent mousses. There were multi layered trifles and warm, gooey flans. Ice creams were for weekdays when mom was too busy to whip up dessert. 

Of late though, desserts have vanished from the dinner parties. Too complicated and tedious, say the ladies. Trust me, it doesn't have to be. I am no superhero domestic diva, but I do manage to serve up a duo of desserts at the dinners I host. This Mocha Layer Pudding is almost always a permanent on my menu. And it only takes me five minutes. Honest! 

Give yourself a treat today and go ahead and try this blockbuster hit. I promise you will never fear once you've tried this dessert dare!

Ingredients:

Bread                          10 slices

Cocoa Powder             6 tbsp

Coffee Powder            1/2 tbsp

Sugar                           6 tbsp, powdered

Fresh Cream               500 gms

Walnuts                       1/2 cup, chopped

Rum or Brandy          2 tbsp (optional)

Method:

Run the bread in the mixer to make bread crumbs. Whip the cream lightly and add 2 tablespoons of sugar and the brandy or rum. To the bread crumbs, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. In a serving dish, spread a layer of the bread mix. Then pour a layer of the cream. Repeat layers till the ingredients are used up, ensuring the last layer is of the cream. Garnish with chocolate bits and shavings and some walnuts, Refrigerate for an hour. And you have yourself an easy dessert to indulge!

Cappuccino Walnut Cake

Valentine's Day is not really a biggie at our place. Blame it on hubby dear! He is quite the romantic, and my entire year is peppered with heartwarming gestures.. both small as well as extravagant. Love notes will find their way into the most extraordinary places and that outfit I casually termed nice, will suddenly show up in my closet! But by far the most romantic gesture took place two years ago.
I was preggers and craving desserts. However, we were living in this quaint hill station with a delicious but very basic bakery. Now, over the years, every time hubby asked me to choose a gift, I would promptly ask him to bake me a cake. It became a comic routine between us coz hubby dear's kitchen skills are limited to tea and instant noodles. But this time when we re-enacted the routine on my birthday, he steeled himself and out came a manly, " All right!"
I thought he was joking. But turned out he was quite serious. " I will bake you the fanciest cake you desire. But you will have to guide me through the sticky parts." It was the offer of  a lifetime and there was no way I was letting it go! So out came the recipe books. And the first recipe to pop open was the Cappuccino Walnut Cake!
Now that was a cake that required time, dedication, and above all skill. But the army man was not one to back down from a challenge! He could practically see me salivating over the page! So off he went with whiskey in hand and attacked it with the precision of a strategic battle. Of course, he needed the General's (moi) expert guidance once in a while. But he did it. And all by himself. The end result was the maid begging me to never let him enter the kitchen ever again! And the cake? Gosh! It was the best I had ever eaten. Utterly addictive and full of love! I had to eventually request him to hide it so I wouldn't devour it one sitting :p
So this Valentine's Day, ditch the conventional. And instead, pour your heart into making something your better half will forever cherish. It could be a self written poem, a handmade card, breakfast in bed, or this absolutely divine cake.

Ingredients:

Butter                           65 gm (4 tablespoon), melted and cooled

Maida                          100 gm (3/4 cup)

Baking powder           1 teaspoon

Eggs                            4 

Caster sugar                125 gm (1/2 cup)

Coffee powder            1 1/2 tablespoon, dissolved in a little milk

Walnuts                       3/4 cup, toasted, cooled and chopped

Decoration:

Walnuts                       1/2 cup

Sugar                           1 tablespoon

Cinnamon powder       1/4 teaspoon

Icing:

White Chocolate          200 gm (2 milky bars)

Coffee powder             4 teaspoon, dissolved in a little milk

Cream                           500 gm, lightly whipped

Method:

Preheat the oven to 190 C. Beat the eggs and sugar together in a food processor or with an electric mixer, over a pan of hot water. Beat till the mixture is fluffy. Remove the hot water and continue beating the eggs for another 10 seconds, till it is cooled and leaves a ribbon trail. Gently fold in the the rest of the ingredients. Pour into a greased tin and bake for 25 minutes. Cool. Split the cake into half horizontally. Spread half the icing onto the lower part of the cake. Place the top half. Spread the remaining icing on the top and sides. Coarsely grind the decoration ingredients together. Sprinkle onto the top and sides of the cake. 

For the icing: Chop the chocolate and microwave for 90 seconds, till melted. Beat the coffee and cream till smooth. Slowly beat in the melted chocolate. Icing is ready to be used.

Quick Mocha Cake

I love baking. I love all its finicky measuring and obsessive temperature control. But there are some days when I still want my cake fix, but minus the long drawn complicated process. Enter the Quick Mocha Cake. Not only is this a one bowl wonder, but it also cooks in double quick time. Really win win in my opinion. Now, the purists can scoff all they want, but the proof is definitely in the eating. And this one is addictively delicious!

Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Flour         1 and 1/2 cups
Cocoa Powder                  1/2 cup
Baking Powder                 1 teaspoon
Baking Soda                     1/2 teaspoon
Milk                                  1 cup
Vinegar                             1 tablespoon
Kahlua essence                 a few drops
Sugar                                 1 cup
Butter                                3/4 cup

Method:
Mix the vinegar and milk. Keep aside for 10 minutes. Sift all the dry ingredients together. Grease a 7 inch square baking dish. Finally, mix all the ingredients well. Pour into the prepared dish. Level it out. Microwave on full power for 7 minutes. Let it rest for a few minutes more. The Quick Mocha Cake is ready.
Slather it with ganache. Or serve up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Munch it with some coffee. Or jus eat it as is!

Note: The Kahlua essence can be substituted with a mix of 3 heaped teaspoon instant coffee powder and 1 teaspoon hot water.

Jam Swirl Blondies

Blondies are said to be the original brownies. Crumby with just a hint of chocolate. Over time, chocolate took over the entire dessert and came to reign as the crowd favourite. But aah! Blondies have a charm of their own.

 Ingredients:
                      Jam                            1/2 cup
                      Plain Flour                 3/4 cup
                      Custard Powder         3/4 cup
                      Baking Powder          1/2 teaspoon
                      Salt                             1/2 teaspoon
                      Butter                         1/2 cup
                      Sugar                          3/4 cup
                      Cream                         2 tablespoon
                      Eggs                            2
                      Vanilla essence           1 teaspoon
                      Chocolate chips          1/2 cup


Method:
             Microwave the jam for 1 minute. Stir and leave aside to cool.  Sift all the dry ingredients together. Thrice. Beat the sugar and butter together till thick and pale. Add the eggs, cream and essence and beat again till creamy. Fold in the chocolate chips. Now gently fold in the sieved ingredients, until just combined. DO NOT BEAT! Pour into greased 8 inch square dish. smooth the batter evenly. Drop the jam on top. Swirl gently with a fork or toothpick, taking care to not scrape the bottom. Microwave at full power for 7 minutes. Let it stand for 15 minutes before serving.Alternately you can bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 30 minutes. Serve up with some chilled coffee or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Doughnuts

The first shower of the season had me splashing away like a kid. After months of heat and humidity, the cool water refreshed everything around. Of course, all that rain dance had me craving for some strong coffee and hot chocolate doughnuts. This recipe belongs to my dear friend Sonal, and every bite reminds me of the icy Himalayan rains, made warmer by her love <3

So while i demolish yet another batch, you can roll out your own deep fried indulgence :-)

Ingredients for CHOCOLATE DOUGHNUTS:

Eggs - 2

Caster Sugar - 1/2 cup

Butter / Oil - 4 tbsp

Refined Flour - 2 1/4  cups

Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup

Baking powder - 2 tsp

salt - a pinch

Milk - as required

Icing Sugar - as required.

Method: Mix all the dry ingredients together, and slowly add the eggs and oil to form a soft dough. If the dough feels a little tight, incorporate a little milk. Do not knead the dough. Keep aside for for 45 minutes. Now place the rested dough between two layers of cling film and roll out with the help of a rolling pin. Do not roll too thin or thick. With the help of a biscuit cutter or a sturdy cap, cut out rounds and poke a hole in the middle with your finger. Deep fry in hot oil till puffed, golden and crisp. Generously dust with icing sugar and serve up with some hot coffee!