Choco Chip Cake

INGREDIENTS

200 grams of self raising flour (all purpose flour)
200 grams of sugar
150 grams of butter
3-4 eggs
Pinch of baking powder
100 grams choco chips
Drop of vanila assence(opional)
3-4 tblsp of any jam of choice.

METHODS

Put the oven on gas mark 9 or 200c.
Put flour, sugar, butter, eggs, baking powder and vanilla assence into a bowl.
Mix the mixture with a electric wisk for about 45 minutes.
Then add the choco chips and mix them together.
Pour the mixture into a 21" cake tin.
The mixture will fit in two of those tin. Put the mixture in the oven.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until light.
Cool the cake on a cool rack
When the cake is cool spread the jam on top of both cakes and put them on top of each other.

Sheer Khurma

Sheer korma or Sheer Khurma is a festival vermicelli pudding prepared in sweetened milk and dried dates.

INGREDIENTS
Milk - 1L
Dates - 8 pcs., Dried
Pistachios - 15 pcs.
Cloves - 2 pcs.
ghee - 2 tbsp
Vermicelli - 1 cup
Almonds - 12 pcs.
Green Cardamoms - 6 pcs.
Sugar - 2 cups

METHODS
Crush the vermicelli.
Cut almonds and pistachios in thin slices and crush green cardamoms.
De-seed dried dates and cut into 4 pieces each.
Heat GHEE in a pot and fry cloves and cardamoms.
Now add vermicelli and fry for few minutes.
Add dry fruits and fry for few seconds and remove from heat.
Cook milk and sugar in a pot.
Add fried vermicelli when the sugar is completely dissolved.
Remove from flame after cooking for a few minutes.

ENJOY :)!!!!

Your Roti/Paratha is not soft? Some Tips to follow

1.Knead your dough soft with warm water and add a little oil/ghee while kneading. It will make your roti/paratha softer.

2. After kneading, cover it with a wet cloth or put in airtight container and let it rest at room temperature for 10-15 minutes and then you can refrigerate it. If you want to use it straight away then let it rest for another 10-15 minutes. Insha Allah your roti/paratha will not be hard.

3. When you put roti on to the tawa for cooking, cook for just a few seconds until you can see the roti becoming a little kind of transparent ( it gets half cooked and half is still uncooked) and turn it to cook the other side. keep turning and cooking on the both sides till done. Cooking the first side for too long also causes the roti to become hard.

KITCHEN TIPS

Pink Marble Cake

Ingredient:

1 cup room temperature unsalted butter (225gm)
1 and three-quarter cups sugar (350gm)
5 room temperature eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour (360gm)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract or essence
1 tsp strawberry essence or red food flavouring
1 1/4 cup non-fat buttermilk (250ml)

TIP: You can make buttermilk at home. Take 1 cup room temperature milk and add 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice. Let this stand for 5-10 minutes and then use accordingly. :)


Preheat oven to 180C.

Grease and put some parchment in your pan. Then grease the parchments as well and dust with a bit of flour.

Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl every few minutes using the whisk attachment or a rubber spatula. This is crucial. Otherwise you're going to be left with chunks of butter in your finished batter. So make sure you cream it well and don't rush! :)

Add eggs one at a time. Making sure each egg is perfectly incorporated before you add another. If you skip too quickly past this stage, you will have a cake that smells of eggs because the bits of egg that aren't fully beaten in will bake separately in the cake and it will be like having scrambled eggs cooking in your cake, eww! So incorporate the eggs whenever you reach this stage for any cake recipe!! Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl after every few eggs. Add vanilla.

Add flour and buttermilk in three alternative pours, starting and ending with flour. Mix on slow speed and scrape the bowl during the process. I know, it's a pain in the butt. It's worth it. At this stage do NOT overmix, just combine until the batter is incorporated. Overmixing can ruin your cake.

Once everything is well incorporated, use a plastic spatula to fold the batter a few more times to make perfectly sure you've got everything will mixed.

Remove about a third of the batter into a separate bowl, then add the strawberry flavouring or red food colouring and mix until the colour is a vivid pink. Remember, the colour you mix the batter to will be the same colour once the cake is baked, so try and get it to the shade that you want.

Divide the white batter between your cake pans. Then add blobs of the pink batter, making sure to distribute them evenly. Use the edge of a knife and swirl the colours together so that the pink is incorporated with the white. Do not over-mix, you want the colours to be vivid and clearly visible.

Bake in preheated oven for twenty-five (for 2 pans) to forty minutes (for a 9x13 big pan). Check for doneness by pressing gently on the cake. If you leave an indent, not done. If it bounces back gently without leaving a mark, done. You can use a toothpick to check also. Don't over bake the cake! :)

Let the cake cool in the pan for a few minutes then turn it out onto a rack to finish cooling completely.

Enjoy!!

MOIST VANILLA CAKE

This cake is perfect for birthdays and wedding cakes..
so for all you home bakers - this is the one for you :)

Ingredients:
250g pack unsalted butter , softened, plus extra for greasing
250g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
5 large eggs , cracked into a jug
85g plain flour
100g full-fat Yogurt
250g self-raising flour
3 tbsp low fat milk

FOR THE SYRUP
50g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
50 ML water

DIRECTIONS:
1.Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease a round, deep 20cm tin, then line the base and sides with non-stick baking paper.

2. Using electric beaters or a tabletop mixer, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and ¼ tsp salt together until pale and fluffy, then pour in the eggs, one at a time, giving the mix a really good beating before adding the next. Add 1 tbsp of the plain flour if the mix starts to look slimy rather than fluffy. Beat in the yogurt.

3. Mix the flours; then, using a large metal spoon, fold them into the batter, followed by the milk. Spoon the mix into the tin and bake for 1 hr 20 mins or until well risen and golden - a skewer inserted into the middle should come out clean. (took me exactly 1 HOUR)

4. Meanwhile, make the syrup by gently heating 50ml water with the sugar and vanilla in a pan until the sugar dissolves.
Set aside.

Once the cake is out of the oven, leave to cool for 30 mins in the tin, then use a skewer to poke holes all over the cake, going right to the bottom. Pour the syrup over, letting it completely soak in after each addition. Leave to cool completely, then either wrap the cake well or fill and ice it.

If you wrap it with baking parchment and cling film, the unfilled cake will keep well for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to a month

NOTE: I USED A SIMPLE VANILLA GLAZE :)

BASIC BUTTERCREAM:
A good, basic vanilla buttercream

Put 175g soft unsalted butter into a large bowl. Beat with electric beaters for a few secs until pale. Gradually add 300g sifted icing sugar, a spoonful at a time. Keep beating until mixture is pale and creamy. BEAT IN 1 TSP VANILLA. Makes enough to cover a 20cm cake. Will keep in fridge for 1 week. Bring back to room temperature and beat well before using.

Measurements

* Weights and Measures

3 teaspoons equal 1 tablespoon
2 tablespoons equal 1/8 cup
4 tablespoons equal 1/4 cup
5 1/3 tablespoons equal 1/3 cup
8 tablespoons equal 1/2 cup
10 2/3 tablespoons equal 2/3 cup
12 tablespoons equal 3/4 cup
14 tablespoons equal 7/8 cup
16 tablespoons equal 1 cup
1 cup equals 8 fluid ounces

*Since cup measurements differ from country to country, here are my personal measurements:

1 cup flour = 120gm
1 cup milk = 200ml
1 cup butter/margarine = 225gm
1 cup sugar = 200gm
1 cup rice = 185gm
1 tbsp butter = 15gm
1 tbsp baking powder = 15gm
1 tsp baking powder = 5gm
1 tsp yeast = 3gm
1 tbsp yeast = 10gm