Make your diwali sweeter...Halwa trifle

Festive season is here in full swing. It is time of colors, lights and SWEETS. Here is our bit to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Halwa trifle!! 

What will you need:

Carrot Halwa:

5  - Medium sized carrots

2  cups- Milk

1/2 cup Khoya/Mawa

1/2 cup Sugar 

1 tsp elaichi powder  

1 tbsp ghee

Doodhi Halwa

1 - Medium size Doodhi/Lauki/Bottle gourd

2 cups Milk

1/2 cup Khoya/Mawa

3/4 cup Sugar

1 tsp elaichi powder

1 tbsp ghee

Beetroot Halwa

3 Medium sized Beets

2 cups milk

1/2 cup khoya/mawa

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp elaichi powder

1 tbsp ghee

Genral stuff:

Mixed dryfruits for decoration

How to make it?

For each of the halwa, the procedure is same

1. Heat some ghee in a pan

2. Add the grated carrots/Doodhi/Beetroot and fry for about 4-5 mins

3. Add the milk and let it cook till all the milk evaporates

4. Add the mawa and sugar and again keep stirring intermittently till al the liquid evaporates

5. Sprinkle with elaichi powder and your halwa is ready!!!

Thats it!!

Now for the trifle take a glass serving bowl or pie baking dish

Add the 1st layer of carrot halwa, spread it out evenly

Add the 2nd layer of Doodhi halwa and 3rd layer of Beetroot halwa

Decoration:

Soak almonds in water for a while remove the peel split into half and arrange it in flower like pattern show above.

Get as creative as you can!!

Courtesy: Surekha Dongargaonkar 

Eggless Rasgulla Black Forest Cake

Our special thanks to Pankaj Master Chef India Season 1 Winner
We have tweaked her recipe a bit to come up with this wonderful cake!

For Cake:
2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup yogurt
11/2 cup Reduced Fat Milk
2 tbsBaking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

For Icing/Decoration:
470 ml Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla essence
Chocolate bar for chocolate shavings and chocolate powder
Cantaloupe/Honey Dew

Procedure:
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. (make sure you sift them to avoid lumps).
Now mix butter and yogurt in a separate bowl and whisk it thoroughly.
Now add the dry mixture and milk little by little alternating them, beginning and ending with the dry mixture.
Mix all the ingredients well!
Make sure you have preheated the oven to 350 F.
Grease the cake pan well with butter or oil.
Sprinkle some flour to just dust the surface well. This helps while removing the cake from the pan.
Pour the cake mixture in the pan.
Now you are all set to put it in the oven :)
And the WAIT begins....

If you are impatient, you can start preparing for the icing ;)

For Rasgullas:
We used ready made Haldirams Rasgullas.
But we will put up a separate blog for Rasgullas...so watch out!

For Icing:
Whisk heavy cream and sugar nicely till it gets the consistency of whipped cream!
Add a little essence just to get rid of the smell of the cream ;)

For Decoration:

Prepare chocolate shavings using a vegetable peeler.

Grate some chocolate to use it as chocolate powder.

Scoop out the melon like icecream scoops using a scooper and then cut into halves.

It can be done using a spoon as well :)

Just insert the spoon a little deep to get a good height for the scoop. Run the spoon through in a circle and there you have a lovely scoop similar to your half rasgulla :)

Your wait should be almost over...check the cake after 35 minutes.
You can test it by inserting a  toothpick at the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is baked perfectly!
Now let the cake cool well...very important!
Once its cooled well, remove it from the baking pan onto your serving plate. It is very difficult to move the completed cake with icing and rasgulla layer.

Now slit the cake horizontally into two layers.
Use a knife dipped in water to make sure the cake does not crumble or develop cracks.
Sprinkle some sugar syrup of rasgullas on top of the bottom layer and bottom of the top layer to make it moist.
Squeeze the rasgullas a bit ensuring they dont crumble or are extremely juicy!
Now cut the rasgullas into halves and start placing them all over the bottom layer :)
Dont start having the rasgullas as it is...They will taste yummier in the cake!

Now apply some icing cream that was prepared on top of  the rasgullas to glue them to both the layers of the cake.
Carefully place the other layer of the cake over the rasgullas.

Wowww....you are almost there :)

Now apply the remaining cream on the top of the cake carefully completing each stroke.
Use a butter knife for this, its very easy
Now spread the chocolate shaving leaving the circumference. We will use that to place the melon.
Sprinkle chocolate powder/grated chocolate along the side.
Now place those half scooped melons along the circumference.

Yipppiieee!! We are done :)

We love to hear about your experience baking the cake and how much did it titillate your taste buds!

Eggless Coffee flavor Tres Leches (Mexican Cake)

Ingredients :

For Cake
1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup butter
1/8 cup olive oil (You can substitute this with butter for more soft cake)
1 cup sugar
4-5 tbs Coffee
1 tsp Vanilla Essence (Pure is better)
2 tbs Bakin Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 Can of Non Fat Condensed Milk (1 can = 396 g)
1/4 cup Chocolate chips (optional)
1/4 cup skim milk

For Tres Leches Softness:
1/2 Can Non Fat Evaporated Milk
1/2 Cup Skim Milk

For Icing:
1/2 Packet (4 Oz) Fat free Cream Cheese (Full Fat will taste much better but have more Calories ;))
3/4 Cup Icing Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

For Decoration :
Coffee Powder
Your Favorite Chocolate Bar :)
And Chocolate waffer

Tools:
Bowl
Hand Mixie or Laddle
Strainer
Vegetable peeler


Procedure:
Step 1) Mix all the dry ingredients of Cake in a Bowl namely (Flours, baking powder, baking soda and Coffee) and keep it aside

Step 2) Beat the non dry ingredients of a cake namely (Condensed Milk , Butter and Sugar)

Step 3) Now mix all of these ingredients together and beat it till the mixture is soft and easy to pour. Add skim milk if necessary  (Only if the paste is too thick ) and beat again.

Step 4) Grease the baking pan with tsp of Oil /Butter.

Step 5) Pour the Mixture in the Pan ( We used 8 inch Diameter Round pan)

Step 6) Preheat the oven to 350F

Step 7) Put the pan in the oven to bake it for around 35 mins.

After 35 mins....

Check if the cake is ready (This varies depending on the type and power of the oven being used.)
Perform a quick test using toothpick.

Take the pan out and insert the tooth pick at the center. If you are able to remove the toothpick without the batter on it, then your cake is ready :) (yayyyy) if not then put it back in the oven for another 3-4 mins and do the test again.


For Tres Leches:
Let the cake cool for 45 mins.
Now mix the ingredients for tres leaches (namely Evaporated Milk and Skim Milk) in a bowl.

Step 8) After your cake is completely cooled, make holes (around 35 -50 holes) on the cake with bamboo skewers.

Step 9) Pour the mixture of milk on it, and let the cake absorb it.

Step 10) Cover the cake with cling film and put it inside the fridge for cooling. You need to cool it atleast for 2 hrs so that all the milk is completely absorbed

For icing:
Beat the Cream cheese and Sugar in a Bowl.
Add little vanilla essence to it.

And beat it further with light hands or on a slow speed of your hand mixie till it becomes fluffy.

Take the cake out from fridge and apply the icing on the cake using butter knife .
Make sure that you do not create crumbs or craters in the cake while applying frosting.
To prevent this, when applying frosting, make sure you complete the stroke without lifting off the knife from the cake. Try to apply single stroke of knife in one direction to apply frosting smoothly.

And now Decoration..........

After the frosting is applied on the cake, we are ready for decorations :).
Use a vegetable Peeler to shave the chocolate chips on the cake.
You can also use strainer to sprinkle coffee powder on the cake.
Cut the chocolate wafer and stick them on the side .

Tadaaaaaa and the delicious cake is ready!!!!!!!!!!!!

Try it and let us know how it turns out!!! :)