Monday, September 27, 2010

Jelly Rolls


INGREDIENTS:
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup jam
confectioners sugar+ dry grated coconut

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line roll pan or cookie pan (10 1/2 X 15 1/2) with aluminum foil or waxed paper. In small bowl, beat eggs about 5 minutes until very thick or lemon colored. Pour eggs into a larger mixing bowl, gradually add sugar.

On low speed blend in water and vanilla. Gradually add flour, baking powder, and salt, beat until batter is smooth. Pour into pan, spreading batter into corners.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Loosen cake from edges, invert on towel, sprinkled with confectioners sugar and dry grated coconut.

Carefully remove foil, trim off any hard edges if needed. While hot, roll cake and towel from narrow end.

Cool, unroll cake, and remove towel. Beat jam to soften and spread over cake. Roll and sprinkle with confectioners sugar and dry grated coconut. If you want them a little moist, keep the rolls into refrigerator and take them out for about 15-20 minutes before eating them.

Banana Bread


Its a very simple recipe and a good one for breakfast!!

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 cups bananas
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 cup nuts
3 tbsp milk

DIRECTIONS:
Cream shortening and sugar. Add bananas and eggs. Put baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flour together. Mix with other inredients. Blend well. Pour into 1 large loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 to 1:15 hr. Test after 45 mins by inserting a toothpick in the center to see if it comes out clean.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Baby Bib Cake


This eggless cake was for a baby shower of my friend who was going to have a girl very soon...got the idea of making the "bib" shape through various sites on the internet..Since it was a baby girl, "pink and white combination" was my natural choice for decorating the cake..

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 can condensed milk (14 0z) 
1 cup orange juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup melted butter

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two 9- inch cake pans with parchment or wax paper and grease it with cooking spray. Sift and mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the sweetened condensed milk, orange juice, vanilla, and melted butter. Mix well with a whisk and pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30-40 min until the toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Decorating the cake:
Ice the cake with white whipped cream frosting all over. To get the pink color of the frosting mix a drop of red wilton icing color in the white frosting and stir it. Stirring too much will make the whipped cream watery and curdled. With a star tip pipe out a lace design on the outer border of the cake and about 1/4 of the inner border. Pipe out small spots in the middle of the two borders using the round tip. You can either keep a readymade pink lace on the top of the two borders or pipe it out with the petal tip. I used the readymade one. You can add the baby shower favors to the cake once the icing is done..

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Chocolate Butterfly Cake


This is a cake recipe which I had tried out some 2-3 months back on my husband's birthday. The basic recipe is same for the chocolate cake and then I just decorated the cake with butterflies made up of chocolate...

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
2 whole eggs
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup hershey's cocoa (unsweetened)
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate morsels for butterfly decoration

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool the cakes before removing from pans.

Icing the cake:
Use the whipped cream frosting.

Decorating the cake:
The butterflies are made out of melted chocolate. Melt the chocolate by taking semi-sweet chocolate morsels in a heat proof pan and dipping the pan into boiling water until the chocolate melts into liquid (pouring) consistency. Fill out a piping bag with melted chocolate after letting it cool for about 2-3 mins and just tear of the end of the bag to make a small hole enough for the desired thickness of the butterflies. Then pipe out the shape of the butterflies on the top of the cake and place some cherries in between the butterflies.