Cakes

Mmm .. I love Cakes and Pastries. My kids love them too. So I had to learn baking cakes and cookies and the likes and in this regard it was my Mom who has been of immense help. She taught me the finer nuances of baking which one can only get through experience and not by just reading a recipe. I first started with a simple sponge cake and then gradually learnt to make the icing or frosting whatever you call it.
Here is the recipe for a simple Chocolate Cake complete with choco icing.
Ingredients:
eggs - 4
Maida - 200 gms
Sugar - 150 gms ( powdered)
Butter- 200 gms
cocoa powder- 2 to 3 tbspns
vanilla essence- 1 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
for icing:
butter -50 gms
powdered sugar 50 gms
milk - 3 tbsps
cornflour- 2 tsps
cocoa powder - 4 tbsps
First cream the butter in a vessel with an electric beater, add the sugar and beat again. Add the eggs one by one beating after adding each. Seive the baking powder, maida and cocoa powder together. Now add this to the above mixture slowly, beating at lower speed ensuring that there are no lumps. Add the vanilla essence and pour into a greased and dusted cake container and bake in a preheated oven at 185 C for 26 mins. Prick a knife in the middle and see if it comes out clean, if not bake for another 2 mins. Remove and keep on the wire rack to cool.
For the icing, take a saucepan and melt the butter on a slow flame, add the sugar and stir. Add the cocoa powder and ensure there are no lumps. Now add the cornflour to the milk and add it to the above mixture, stir evenly. Let it simmer for nearly but less than a minute and pour on the cooled cake. Spread it evenly and you can decorate it with dry fruits if you wish.

Enjoy..........

Pic : Chocolate Cake with Icing

Cooking

One of my passions in life right after music is cooking. I started cooking with considerable interest only after marriage. My hubby is a total foodie and enjoys all kinds of food, which I have to admit, is the main catalyst to my cooking. I learnt North Indian, Chinese dishes just for him. And soon I started loving it considering cooking is an art in its own right.
Some of the dishes he loves are Paneer tikka, Veg Kolhapuri, Biryani and Dum Aloo. Needless to say these dishes feature in my menu frequently and some other dishes I like are Gobi Manchurian, Schezuan Rice and Tandoori Gobi. ..mmm.. My mouth is watering now.

The dishes in the pic are Biryani, Dum Aloo and Raitha

Divine Music

One of my favourite genres in music is Carnatic Classical Music. There are many stalwarts who have enriched this genre with their soulful renditions but my idol remains MS. Subbulaksmi. No word can singularly express the quality of her pristine voice. Her rendition brings peace to my soul, often tears to my eyes. Such is the greatness of MS Amma that it is not an exaggeration when one says ' na bhooto na bhavishyati ' which means in Sanskrit, there is no one like her in the past and there wouldnt be one in future. She is a legend and though she is not amidst us now her divine songs will remain beyond eternity.

It has been my dream to learn vocal Carnatic Classical music, but for some odd reason it has been eluding me till now. I'm hoping I would do that in near future.