Cake decoration spree

Recently I went on a cake decoration spree.....here are some pics of the cakes I baked and decorated. Most of it is buttercream icing but some figures are fondant.

Everyone enjoyed eating it..especially the little fondant animals

This is a vanilla cake

This is a strawberry jam cake

Sum of parts
 

 

2 minute Gluten free oats cookie chocolate (microwave)

As I see my kid munching on junk it troubles me that probably I’m not offering her sufficient alternatives. Wanted something low fat, more nutritious and of course tasty. Hence after much experimenting I have arrived at a perfect and easy recipe of oats , ragi ( finger millet) and raisins which is a hit among kids (and adults)…

Here is the list of ingredients:

1. One cup Oatmeal (this is a great source of fibre among other benefits and will also give your cookie a nice munchy texture)
2. Half a cup Ragi/ Nachni/ finger millet flour (you can add all purpose flour instead if you like but ragi is extremely rich in calcium)
3. One egg (you can choose to skip this one, but I found the cookie to turn out less brittle with egg)
4. One table spoon castor sugar (you can add more if you please)
5. One and half table spoon unsalted butter  (you can add oil instead)
6. Three table spoons cocoa powder.
7. Pinch of baking powder.
8. One tea spoon salt
9. One cup milk

 

To these you can add any of these ingredients as per convenience and preference. (not more half a cup)

·         Sunflower seeds/ Pumpkin seeds/ crushed peanuts

·         Dates

·         Raisins(if u like you can soak these in rum for an hour before using it)

·         Assorted dry fruit pieces (make sure these are broken into smaller pieces (powdered if necessary)

·         Choco chips

·         Rice crispies (lesser than 1/4th cup)

·         Flax seeds (this will give you your dose of omega 3 nutrients too but add very few as it may add a very strong taste)

 

Process:

Beat the egg well , gently add flour, sugar, oats coco powder. Continue mixing till you find it difficult to stir anymore as it hardens. Now slowly add milk as you continue stirring the mixture. Now add rest of the ingredients till mixed well. The consistency is thicker than that of cake but thinner than bread dough. Line your baking tray/ microwave friendly vessel with butter/ oil and place the dough in it. Here you have to ensure that the dough sits flattened (hence it has to be flowy in consistency) , because if it’s too thick it will not bake well. Remember we are using less oil than normal!............just a 2 minute wait and your cookie is ready (depending on the power etc, you may have to cook it a little more…if you cook lesser it will be like hard cake which is better than it being burnt!)  Just poke it with a fork and check. Your fork should come out clean if cooked.

Once done, let it cool completely and you can pack it in a jar to carry some daily for the next week. I can’t really comment on how many days it lasts without refrigerating it as it has been polished off within 3-4 days in my house.

Orange (Citrus) cake microwave

I never thought id ever post recipes...but here I am my experiment with citrus cake turned out extremely tasty!

You need 2 eggs,  1 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or butter), 1 cups flour, 1 cup semolina,  3 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 cup fresh orange/ sweet lime pulp, zest from oranges, vanilla essence....

 

First beat the eggs well and add all the other ingredients except zest. I dint use a juicer but manually extracted the pulp such that it remains intact and tastes great when u bite into it. Gently sprinkle the zest. I added lesser sugar as the oranges and sweet limes I used were extremely ripe and sweet. Pour into a microwave bowl lined with butter/ oil and I let it cook in the microwave for 7 minutes (keep checking that it doesn't over cook or will lose the pulp taste

 

Once done I scooped out the center and put some orange marmalade, sprinkled icing sugar and designed the cake to look like an orange slice....

It tasted great and kids love it! Later I experimented the same with fresh pineapple juice, turned out lovely too!