Tiramisu cupcakes

  After making Mascarpone cheese, I didn't want to make this winner dessert right away.  I took some time to go through what I wanted.   With guests at home and my kid waiting to get pampered, I could not have settled less for the cupcake.  Yes, super soft and moist coffee cupcakes paired with Mascarpone cheese icing, with a hint of coffee on top.  I got this super-soft sponge recipe from Natasha's Kitchen. With coffee flavour infused, they were great even when had straight away from the refrigerator.

So, what's this Tiramisu?  What makes them so special and so romantic?  Tiramisu meaning 'pick me up' or 'lift me up', is a popular Coffee-based Italian dessert.  It is assembled with ladyfinger -(a sponge cake in a shape of a finger) dipped in coffee syrup and arranged with a layer of mascarpone cheese and whipped eggs, topped with cocoa.  It's this beautiful combination of coffee, cocoa, and cream that can light up the romance in the air.  <3  <3

So, let me hope that you agree with  the same and bake them for ur better half's ;)  ;)

Minion Macaron with Mango cream

  French Macaron is any Baker's desire.  They are one such bakes, which needs highest precision.  You need to tame these each and every step, yes almost like handling your toddlers :D  For those, who are new to this term, French Macaron is an meringue-based confection which has an usual filling of ganache, buttercream or any fruit jam.  They differ from Macaroons, since they include almond flour and icing sugar for their crispy shell with an feet.

With Mango season around, I made Mango buttercream as an filling, and played around gel colours and edible marker pens with Macarons to get this Minion theme done.  The base recipe is from Pooja Dhingra's The Big Book of Treats.  Please make sure that you age egg whites for 4-5 days for this recipe.  And yes, all ingredients should be brought to room temperature before use.  

Wow, look at these Minion cuties - if you have any Minion fans back at home, you should definitely give this an try.  And yes, considering complexity of this recipe, make sure you follow each and every step.  

The following recipe yields 18 pairs of Macaron.

One Bite Doughnuts

   Hi friends, so, how's summer going in your place?  Telangana is burning like an pre-heated oven.  That said, local newspapers are giving us various tips to stay hydrated.  Obviously, my refrigerator is filled with water bottles and juices.  Still, we can't get hold of that sweet tooth, can we?  :)  That's where these One Bite Doughnuts / Mini Doughnuts comes to the rescue.

    All the craziness started when I first baked these for my daughter's birthday, everyone loved it for its cutey look,  yummy taste and since it is an baked version, it gave an healthy uplift as well.

I made these along with my daughter as an summer project.  She enjoyed colouring the glaze and played with sprinkles.  I would recommend these, as they are not only non-greasy food, but can also tackle sweet carvings on an small portions.  Please do try and let us know.

Shrikand cookies

Cookies are always an essential bites at home.  They lift up every occasion and cheers us all.  Following Zebra cookies, here comes Shrikand cookies, made by hung curd.  This fusion cookie starts with rich flavour and ends on an sour note. 

Their speciality is their cake-like crumbly texture, appealing to crowd of all age.   I had them garnished with cardamon, almonds and saffron to coincide with traditional shrikand.  Here, everybody enjoyed the bite and are  having an good time :)  Hope you guys try and let us know.  

Zebra cookies

   I was completely fascinated, when I found these cookies from the book, "100 BEST DELECIOUS CHOCOLATE".  The entire concept was fun, and reminded me of an long gap from my last baked cookie.  These striped cookies were very easy and required an total whisk with each and every ingredient.  You need chocolate buttons though, I did pipe few, a day before and that came in handy with the presentation and saved an lot of time.

I made these with milk chocolate, dark chocolate is also preferable.   This zebra cookies are very kid friendly and can be tagged as an party food too.  Dough can be kneaded in advance, because more the refrigeration, more the flavours enhance within these.  Fresh out of the oven, they had an crisp edges with an chewy middle.  With an ongoing monsoon, these cookies did an good pair with hot tea. Do try and let us know.   

Jam thumbprint cookies

    Cookies are quite an demand at home.  Though they serve mainly with evening tea or milk, they are also helpful when it comes to noon-time sweet carvings.  This jam cookies is one such type, be it with milk, or an small serving of dessert, it never fails to make an refreshing impact. This recipe is adapted from book, ' The Big Book of Treats' by Pooja Dhingra.

Tastewise, they were similar to butter cookies.  We feasted on them :)  You can also freeze the dough and make them whenever needed.  

Fruity shortcake

According to wiki, Shortcakes are crumbly bread that is leavened by baking powder.  Not only do they differ in size to regular cakes, but their method of preparation resembles like that of an bread/muffins.   The liquid ingredients used to moisten the dry ingredients are milk/cream,  resulting in crumbly-textured dough, which is shaped as desired and baked.  The baked ones are then, garnished with whipped cream along with fruit & fruit juices.  

So, when such gorgeous short-cakes were, suggested as this month's Baking partners challenge, I could hardly resist myself from trying them.  All thanks to Reeni and Swathi Iyer, for this awesome challenge.  I made this, and my family relished whole-heartedly. 

Butter biscuit

      My routine life, with incoming guests had cornered my blogging to an standstill factor.  But, now, am slowly picking up my pace :)   Yes,  so, for an refreshing start, let me introduce you this butter biscuit.  :)  With an incoming monsoon, we all are forced for an lot of  masala chai accompaniments, aren't we?  And this treat, which is also my childhood- driven inspiration, impressed all.

Special mention goes to the nutty texture, yes, I had sprinkled some coarsely chopped nuts along with cardamon powder.  Tricky part lies in baking them, this biscuit barely needed ten minutes and were super-crispy when cooled to room temperature.  

So, guys, do try them and let me know....

Chocolate macaroons

Macaroons are lightly baked confectionery.  Remember the ones, we used to avail at Adayar Bakery, Chennai?  Similar to them, yet imagine them with an hint of  chocolate....... Imagining sooo, replace the crunchy cashew pieces with chocolate vermicelli, wonderful them, aren't they?   Any kid would drool over these and by the time, my kid opened her snack-box, everything was gone.... :)  :)  Next time, I am planning to bake an huge batch of these.....

 These macaroons are made from egg whites, which are stiffly beaten and folded with sugar and required essence.  Then, these are piped with foil/ parchment paper lined tray and baked for 100 degree celsius, for about an 80 minutes.  This baking at an slower temperature helps macaroons in gaining an crusty top with crunchy body.  You can skip few minutes, if you wish to have an gooey centre (Like marshmallows).  These macaroons, are best made at summer as humidity or an rainy day would introduce moisture into them, and would make them soggy....

I made them using an single egg white, (as my oven had moderate capacity).  Remember stiffly beaten egg whites cannot be stored and piped again, these macaroons must be baked as soon as they are done with batter.  Exact trick lies in obtaining stiff peaks, also folding other ingredients into stiffly peaked egg whites.  And, after done they can be stored in air-tight container for almost an week.  This hot temperature was easing the macaroons, don't miss them out for an perfect climate.  :)

Chocolate conecakes - My anniversary treat

    First I saw them on an random google image search, I was stunned.  These cute conecakes were simply amazing to look, and would definitely be an 'hit' dessert for any occasion.  I decided that I will bake my own version someday.  And when that 'someday' turned out for my anniversary, I was completely excited.

I had baked these few weeks back, for my daughters's summer camp party.  At first, my other half mocked me, by saying, 'Can you do those, all by yourself?'  This, itself was like, enough to trigger the 'baking' fire on me.  But, unfortunately he was right and I flopped first time.  But, second time, I tried keeping in mind, all my flaws, I got them perfect.  Don't worry guys, I will share all my flaws with you, so that you need not suffer any, 'first loss'  as I did.  Just keep yourself hooked till the end of the post for all kind of tricks and tips.

These conecakes, usually are baked from short-bottomed cones.  But, here I have used normal cones, we can see at every ice-cream parlour.  The batter I have filled is chocolate sponge cake, with whipped white chocolate ganache and an dark chocolate ball, to top with.  Overall, these triple chocolate conecakes, were an delight to watch, delecious to eat, everything I have imagined them to be....

Rainbow cupcakes

    CUPCAKES.......those wonderful, tiny delights topped by an gorgeous swirl is my all-time-inspiration. I love to experiment with cupcakes, but running almost an nuclear family, restricts me to bake  twice an month.  And with not-so-cream loving hubby, I had to opt for an minimal or no-creamed cupcakes.  So, once when I came through sour rainbow strips in an super-market, I really knew what to make from them.... :D  :D  Do check out my other cupcakes collection.... Dairy cupcakes, Butterfly choco cupcakes, Orange cupcakes, Panda cupcakes  Vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate icing. 

Rainbow-themed cupcakes, which can also be smeared by blue coloured buttercream, topped with white buttercream swirls with rainbow crossing over, is an perfect party food and would please any kid with an summer boredom :)  I avoided blue buttercream, and replaced it with an blueish cake batter, thus my icing-usage was reduced, an fact to satisfy my hubby's soul :D

Koffiebroodges or Coffee rolls

Koffiebroodges or coffee rolls are from Dutch.  They are glazed, with custard filled rolls which find great company with Coffee.  They also make an great party-time snack.  Great to taste and easy to make, this is sure to please everybody at home.  Thanks to Swathi Iyer and Kaveri for introducing this sweet rolls to us.

Back at home,  I made them at two batches, we all relished.  My daughter, who just woke from her noon-nap, landed straight near oven and demanded them.  I, handed her some and she finished them in seconds, burping out loudly.  :P  These buns were too appealing since they had an shiny, pale red glaze.  This was  due to brushing of jam over the top of baked roll.  According to source,  powdered sugar is also added as glaze.   

Eggless Fruit Cake

Merry Christmas to everyone :D  Hope you all enjoyed and had a blast.  With incoming guests at home, I made this Eggless fruit cake to suit the occasion.  It was devoured in no time, and I as mighty impressed with myself.  Here are few clicks .....

The only prep needed was to marinate dry fruits and nuts overnight, you can throw few spice powders if you like - they will elevate the flavors for sure.  I have used condensed milk as a substitute for eggs.  Do let us know how it tastes as the recipe follows. 

Red velvet cake with creamcheese icing

   November month is full of birthdays & anniversaries.  So, with lots to plan - I settled for this Red velvet cake with Cream cheese icing for his birthday.  Red velvet cake is known for its velvety texture is paired here with the tangy cream cheese frosting.

Pineapple upside-down cake

    This is one of the most delicious cake I had ever baked.  This special cake was made for my birthday. And its taste was so amazing that it justified the occasion.

As the name goes, pineapple upside-down cake is baked with pineapples , caramel syrup and Butter cake batter  on the bottom of cake dish, later titled upside down and served.  Though these are recommended with an dollop of cream, trust me just a hot slice is enough  :D