Black Forest Cake

My son turned 9 in September and I made this gorgeous looking Black Forest cake for him. He loved it with chocolate gratings on the top and cherry with it.  It was easy to make n bake. It was my childhood favorite and lot of memories are attached to it. So I was happy to bake this for him to make new memories of his own. I Followed a youtube link and it helped me with simple steps. It turned out well and yummy.

Only thing I would do next time is not use machine hand blenders and use hand whip so I don't brake the gluten in the cake. It turned out a little dry but taste overpowered all that.

Rasberry chocolate mini Bunt cakes

Rasberry is my new favorite. The color the taste and looks is one of the Natures best. Rasberry goes very well with chocolate( I can say perfect duo after orange n chocolate). I have a book called "Cupcakes & Muffins" bought it at a book store for a bargain price and it has over 100 recipes with some pics too. It's very easy to follow and do. So you will see some recipes which I think turned out well and gets some thumbs up more often.

Ingredients:

4.5oz Semi-sweet chocolate

1/2 cup Milk

1/4 cup Unsweetened cocoa pwdr, sifted

1 stick Butter, softened

1/2 cup Superfine Sugar

2 Eggs

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

1 pint Raspberries for decoration

Whipped cream to serve(optional)

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 325*F.  Place chocolate, milk and powder cocoa in a small sauce pan and stir over a low heat without boiling, until chocolate is melted and mixed into a smooth paste. Keep aside and cool it.

Take a big bowl and beat sugar and butter until fluffy with an electic mixer. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until combined. Keep aside, now in a new bowl sift APF & baking powder.  Combine together flour and chocolate mixture to the butter mixture, stir well to mix( I added some chopped raspberries to the batter- if u want u need to add here and mix it once more ). Spoon the batter into the grease/ paper lined muffin trays( here I used small bunt cake tray). Bake it for about 25 mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Set the muffins to cook once baked and serve with chocolate glaze/ chocolate syrup/ powdered sugar and raspberries.

Note: 

I had to bake more than 25 mins as I like it a little hard and crisper.

I only did the half the portion of everything and I could make 12 mini sized muffins. The whole portion will yield 12 big muffins.

Home made Cream

Heavy cream is something so easy that you can make it at home just before a dish which demands. I learn't this trick from a cookery class I attended few yrs back and always do that at home. So here is the simple recipe, you can make fat free or full fat cream. Choice is yours. Here I have made low fat Cream.

Ingredients:

1/4cup Cream from the 2%Milk(When you boil the milk and cool it for the yogurt or anything else, start collecting the cream on top of the milk in a small box)
1-2tbsp 2% Milk
Method:

Put the cream and milk in a blender or Food processor and blend it well for 1-2 mins till its foamy and thick. Store it in an airtight container and use within 2-3 days. Or make fresh every time.