Fruity Vanilla Cupcakes with Lemony Hung Curd Icing

My toddler is getting fussy day by day.  One day she likes homemade food and the other day just junk food.  I try to combine different things to make something healthy that could also make her taste buds happy.  These cupcakes are the result of my one more experiment for my little one.

She likes fruit flavoured muffins and corn puffs of a local brand here.  I must say her choice is excellent :) I too relish her favourite junk foods.  Those muffins and corn puffs are really delicious.  In the muffins, vanilla and fruit flavours comes out very nicely and I love it.  

Last week, before throwing the empty packet of muffin, I read the ingredients on the pack and decided to make it at home.  I had no idea how the fruit flavours came in the muffins as no essence or fruits were there in the ingredient used.  So I added orange, pineapple and vanilla essence.  I didn't add any fresh fruit.  

I was very apprehensive about the results as I had no measurements and moreover I was using some additional ingredients too.  But finally, when I tasted them, I was on cloud nine :D  They came out so well.  The sweetness, the flavour and the texture was just perfect.  I loved them and so did my baby.  

After having few cupcakes, I thought to have them with some icing.  Instead of cream, I decided to make the icing with the thick hung curd.  It was a healthy option too.  One lemon was also sitting in my fridge so I used up that too and made a lemony icing.  The final result was yummy, creamy, lemony curd icing that took my cupcakes to another level.  The combination of both (cupcakes and icing) was just mind blowing.  Now there is a guilt free icing that we can relish anytime..  isn't it awesome.?  

So my dear readers, here is the recipe of my yummy cupcakes and delicious icing.  Do try and see your kids jumping with joy... Don't forget to read the notes first.  Happy Cooking :)

Ingredients
(Makes 6 medium and 6 small size cupcakes)

All purpose flour/Maida	1 cup
Cornflour	1 tbsp
Milk powder	2 tbsp
Egg	1
Baking powder	½ tsp
Baking soda	2 big pinch
Castor sugar/powdered sugar	½ cup
Oil	¼ cup
Mixed fruit juice	1/8 cup
Soda water	1/8 cup +1 tbsp
Orange essence	1/8 tsp
Pineapple essence	¼ tsp
Vanilla essence	1/8 tsp

Lemony curd icing
Ingredients:
(For icing 4 cupcakes)

Thick hung curd**	½ cup
Lemon zest	½ tsp
Fresh lemon juice	½ tsp
Vanilla essence	1/8 tsp
Icing sugar	5 tsp

Decoration:

(For 4 cupcakes)

Thinly sliced lemon peel	8 strings
Glazed cherry	1
Colored sprinkles	1 tbsp

Method:

• In a bowl, take all purpose flour, corn flour, milk powder, baking powder and baking soda.  Mix well with a spatula.  Set aside.
• Preheat oven at 180 degree.  Line a muffin tray with paper cupcake liners.
• In a mixing bowl, take sugar and egg.  Whisk well till fluffy. Add in oil and whisk again.  Add vanilla essence, pineapple essence and orange essence and mix well.  
• In a cup, take soda water and fruit juice and give a stir.  Pour a little of it in egg sugar batter, mix it and add a little flour mix.  Mix well to avoid formation of lumps.  Add some more soda fruit juice mix and little more flour.  Mix well again.  Finally, add remaining soda juice mix and remaining flour and mix again.  The batter should be smooth and not too thick.  If you find that the batter is a bit thick add 1 tbsp milk
• Fill the moulds/paper cupcake liners with the prepared batter till half and bake for 20 minutes or till the cupcakes gets golden brown on the top.
• Remove from the oven and let them cool on a wire rack.

Icing 

• Take the hung curd in a mixing bowl, add in icing sugar and whisk well.  Add in vanilla essence, lemon juice and lemon zest and whisk again.  Don't over mix.
• Icing ready.

Icing the cupcakes:

• Take one cupcake and put 2 tbsp icing on the top of it.  Spread the icing all over it with the help of a small spoon.
• Decorate with lemon peel strands and sprinkles.  Top it up with glazed cherry.

Notes:

1. Any dried fruits or fruit mix can be added to the cupcake batter.
2. You can use your choice of fruit essence in the cupcake batter.
3. Do not leave the cake batter for long.  Bake it as soon as you make it.
4. Let the cupcakes cool down completely before icing them.
5. The curd should be very thick.  Hang it overnight to get the required thickness.
6. You can adjust the level of sugar in the icing.
7. Icing can be made of any flavour of your choice. 
8. You can decorate the cupcakes with your choice of stuff.
9. Baking time varies from oven to oven so keep checking the cupcakes after 15 minutes. If you find them getting over brown, remove from the oven.  If you find that even after 20 minutes the cupcakes are white on the top, bake them for another 5 to 10 minutes or till they get the desired browning.

** To make hung curd you can use a simple method. Take a big tea strainer and arrange it over a deep bowl.  Pour the curd in the strainer and put it (with the bowl under it) in the fridge for overnight.  Next day you would get the thick curd.

Sticky Choco Bistix

Hello to all.  So finally I am here after almost a month.  Actually, I was feeling too lazy to type anything  But its better late than never hehehehe.

Today I have come up with an easy peasy recipe which would be a hit with the kids.  No fancy ingredients and no consumption of your precious time :)

I had all the ingredients in hand and a big packet of marie biscuits which was begging to be used .. so I add up a few more things with it and got this yummy dish called sticky choco bistix.  After tasting it for the first time I was so thrilled coz it was too good but when I thought of posting it here I had no name for this dish.  It was a bit sticky and had a lot of chocolate with biscuits, hence this name.

Hope you will try it for your kids.

So no more chit chat.. just try it and enjoy.

Happy Cooking :)

Ingredients:

Marie biscuits or any digestive biscuit	5
Coco powder (unsweetened)	3 tsp
Sugar	4 tbsp
Milk	¼ cup
Desiccated coconut	1 tsp
Salted butter	1 tbsp
Any chocolate (grated or cut in small pieces) (I used ½ of a Bar One chocolate)

Method: 

• Take biscuits and crush them coarsely (do not make powder).
• Grease a very small loaf pan (I used a small silicon loaf mould).
• Heat a non stick pan. Add butter. Let it melt. Add milk and mix well. Once milk gets heated up, add coco powder and mix it well to avoid the formation of lumps.  Add sugar and mix again.  Add chocolate pieces and mix well.  Heat the mixture till the chocolate melts, don’t forget to keep stirring the mixture continuously. Cook for 2 minutes.  
• Let the mixture be a bit thick.  Add crushed biscuits and mix everything very well.  Remove from heat and pour the mixture into the greased mould/pan.  Even the top.  Sprinkle dessicated coconut and press it with the spatula.
• Put the mould in the fridge for atleast 1 hour.
• Unmould and cut into desired shapes.

Notes:

1. Any lightly sweetened biscuits can be used.
2. Brown sugar can also be used.
3. Chopped nuts can also be added.
4. Do not over cook the mixture.

Eggless Molten Choco Lava Cake

A big hi to all my readers.  Hope your new year is going very well just like mine.  These days I am going very busy with Mishi (my LO). And whenever I open my laptop to post something she starts banging her fingers on the keyboard.  She simply loves it.  If she is with laptop, it is almost impossible to divert her mind to any other thing.  Anyways, I shall keep trying to write whenever I find it possible. 

Lets come to today’s recipe.  Today I am going to post a very special recipe i.e. molten choco lava cake. Its my all time favourite and is very close to my heart.  Actually the thing is, during my pregnancy, I used to have sudden cravings, mostly in the odd hours.  So one night I had suddenly started craving for this cake..that too very strongly.. the molten chocolate had started filling my mind  hehehe.  That time I was with my sister-in-law (big sister of my hubby) so I shared my wish with her..and even  at that odd time she immediately taken me to Dominos and satiated my crave .. it had happened so many times for different things but she never ignored my silly demands even once... that was so sweet of her.. she is such a darling... .. love you didi J

So that was the story behind my extra love for this cake.  I was thinking to try this cake for a long time but was a bit hesitant.  And two days back when I finally gathered courage to try it, it came out soooooooooo yummy and I was more than happy on my success.  I had never thought, even in my weirdest dream, that I would ever be able to make it at home but see I had made it all by myself  J 

I generally do not like chocolate cakes much but the molten chocolate oozing out from this cake is just irresistible for me.  This cake is a visual treat.  I am 200% sure that you guys will surely love this cake.  It is totally eggless and the taste is awesome (just like the Domino's).  In short, its an Insanely delicious dessert that is incredibly easy to make.  

Here I am posting the full procedure to make this cake.  Please please please try it out and enjoy with your family.  Happy Cooking  :)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour/Maida	½ cup
Cocoa Powder	6 tbsp
Baking powder	½ tsp
Baking soda	½ tsp
Dark chocolate chips or grated dark chocolate	¼ cup + 2 tbsp for filling
Butter	¼ cup
Castor sugar	½ cup + 1 tbsp
Curd	½ cup
Milk	½ cup

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, sieve together all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder.  Set aside.
• Melt chocolate and butter together in a microwave safe bowl or in a double boiler. Once chocolate is melted, add castor sugar in it and mix well. 
• Preheat the oven at 180 degree and grease some silicon muffin moulds with butter and dust with cocoa powder.  Keep aside.
• In the chocolate mix add half of the curd and milk and mix well.  Add flour mix and fold well.  Then add the remaining curd and milk.  Mix everything again.
• Take the muffin moulds and fill the same till 1/4 with the cake batter, put some grated chocolate in the middle and pour some more batter over it.  Fill the mould till half.  Repeat the process with remaining batter as well and bake it for 9 minutes.

half filled moulds

• Remove from the oven.  Let them slightly cool and unmould carefully in the serving plate.  
• Dust with icing sugar and serve warm.

Notes:

1. If you wish you can make this cake without filling the grated chocolate in the middle.
2. Do not experiment with the quantity or ingredients mentioned here.
3. I recommend to use silicon moulds or porcelain ramekins to make this cake.
4.  Do not bake the cake more than the mentioned time or it would be baked from the inside and would lose its molten texture.

Easy Christmas fruit cake (Alcohol free)

Hello to all my readers.  This is the last day of this year and I have already started making it special.  As I had promised you to post an easy peasy Christmas fruit cake recipe, here it is for you all.

Its a very easy n no fuss cake.  Everything you would find in your very own kitchen.  No fancy ingredients but the taste is simply divine. Unlike other Christmas fruit cakes this one is completely alcohol free. 

My cake came out so soft and yummy and the aroma had just filled my entire home.  I had again experimented here but this time I was so sure about the success as the ingredients were sure shot :)  Unlike my other bakes, this cake is made with egg but I used only one (as usual) and I can bet you are not gonna smell it due to the aromatic Indian spices.  Its a must try.  I had soaked my fruit mix in orange juice, instead of Rum, for three days but if you dont have much time you can soak for 24 hrs.  Even if you dont have 24 hrs. then also you can make this cake :) Yes you are reading correct YOU CAN MAKE THIS CAKE :)  Now no excuse please :D  If you dont have time for soaking you can add your dried fruits with boiled sugar butter mix that I have used in the recipe.  This cake is gonna rock your parties or you can simply make it to treat yourself.  This is a no fail recipe trust me. So I am leaving you here with the recipe of this awesome fruit cake.  Do try. Happy Cooking :)

Ingredients:

All purpose flour	1 cup
Brown sugar	½ cup
Salted Butter	Little less than ¼ cup
Oil	1 tbsp
Baking soda	Little less than ¾ tsp
Egg	1
Cinnamon powder	Little less than ½ tsp
Nutmeg powder	Little less than ¼ tsp
Clove (powdered)	3 or ¼ tsp
Ginger grated or powdered	¼ tsp
Vanilla essence	¼ tsp
Cashews (chopped)	15
Glazed cherries (optional)	3 (chopped)
Dried fruit mix (raisins, black currant, golden raisins,orange peels)	1 cup
Orange juice (I used store bought orange juice)	1 ½ cups (To soak the dried fruit mix )
water	1/2 cup + 1/8 cup

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, sieve together all purpose flour and baking soda.  Keep aside.
• If you have time, soak dried fruit mix in orange juice atleast for 24 hrs. 
• Take a sauce pan, add sugar, butter, water, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, powdered clove and ginger powder and mix well.  Put on the stove and let it boil till sugar dissolves.  Once its boiled and sugar is dissolved, remove from stove and let it lukewarm.  Beat the egg lightly and add into the prepared sugar butter mix. Also add vanilla essence and mix.  At this stage, separate the soaked dried fruit mix from orange juice and add it to the lukewarm sugar butter mix and give a quick stir.  Discard the orange juice.  ( If you dont get the time to soak the dried fruits you can directly add them to the sugar water mix before boiling).
• Set the oven at 180 degree.  Grease your cake pan with oil or non stick spray and dust the same with flour. Keep it aside.
• In the sugar butter mix, add all purpose flour little by little to avoid the formation of lumps.  Mix well to make it a smooth batter.  Add oil, cashews and chopped glazed cherries.  Mix well.
• Pour the cake batter to the greased cake pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes. 
• Keep checking the cake after 40 minutes by inserting a knife in the center of the cake.  If the knife comes out clean, cake is baked, if not keep increasing the baking time by another 10 minutes.
• Once the cake is baked, remove it from the oven and let it cool down at least for 10 minutes.
• Carefully shift the cake to the serving plate and enjoy.

Notes:

1. You can use white sugar in place of brown sugar.  Brown sugar gives the deep brown color to the cake.
2. I have used 1 cup of dried fruit mix, you can use more.  You can use tutty fruitty as well. You can add almonds instead of cashews or both.  You can use your choice of dried fruits in this cake but do not overload the cake with them.
3. Spice level can be increased or decreased as per your choice.
4. If using unsalted butter, add 1/4 tsp of salt in the batter.
5. My cake took exact 60 minutes to bake but baking time differs according to the oven so keep checking your cake after 40 minutes. Do not over bake the cake.
6. You can soak your dried fruits in rum also.
7. Do not skip egg as it would help in raising the cake and making it fluffy.  You would not get the eggy smell due to the use of spices.
8. You can make the icing for the cake or have it with simple chocolate sauce or vanilla icecream.