Black forest Cake

Its my sweethearts birthday time.... had enough of monthly birthdays of my little one, now i wanted to bake a special cake for some one really special. I made this cake on 24th sep. it came out simply awesome...i was simply surprised to see myself at the final product.
And i was really proud of it when i ended up getting comments from my friends who tasted this on 25th sep. I am glad that my wilton classes are put in to use.

Ingredients:-

For the cake ( I used one 8 "inch and the other is 9 "inch size )

All purpose flour- 2 cups
Sugar- 1 1/2 cup
Eggs-4
Baking soda- 1 tspn
butter-1/2 cup
Milk- 1 1/2 cup
vanilla extract- 1 tspn
unsweetened cocoa powder-2 tbspn



Method:-

• Preheat the oven at 350F for 10mins.
• Sieve together flour, baking soda, cocoa powder.
• In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar. When they are well mixed, add eggs. Beat well. Add milk and stir together
• Add the flour mixture little by little.
• Pour the mix in a greased oven proof dish. (I used two baking dishes and divided the mixture accordingly). Bake at 350F for about 30mins or till a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Let it cool for atleast 1-2 hrs and keep it aside. you dont want to ice the cake when it is hot.

For the filling:

1 1/2 heavy whipping cream
2 tea spns vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
Maraschino Cherries
chocolate baking bar- grated

Sugar syrup:-

1 tbsp lime juice

½ tbsp Sugar

3/4 cup Water

• Use a hand mixer to whip the cream and sugar by adding vanilla extract.
  
• Mix all together and beat till soft peaks form.keep aside the cream.
  
• meanwhile mix the sugar syrup and pour on the cake( poke holes by using fork it absorbs more syrup). set aside the first cake and slowly layer the cake with cream on it as shown in the picture above. add some cherries on top of it.
  
• Place the second cake on top of it. Repeat the sugar syrup procedure again and apply a thick layer of cream on to it.
  
• Decorate with cherries and chocolate crumbs.

Special Thanks to Namratha, kavya, aayis recipe and vahrehvah chef. (sources)

Dates Cake

I was doing monthly birthdays for my little one. each month different variety of cake. I happened to see my friends picture in orkut. she had made dates cake for her little one. I just loved it. Thanks archana for sharing the recipe from Aayis. I added eggs and made thsi cake for more tastier and cake becomes more soft. Made thsi cake on swanu's 10 th month bday and also for our DDLC kitty party. All my friends just loved it. Infact my hubby and his friends, my Father in law just loved this cake.
This is for all my friends who are waiting for me to post thsi on my blog.


Ingredients:-
20 dates
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour or maida
1/2 cup oil
1 tea spn baking soda
2 eggs
2 tbl spn cashews, almonds




Method:-
Soak the dates in warm milk overnight.Remove the seeds. i use usually seedless as it is softer and easy .
Add sugar and grind them to a smooth paste along with the milk in which it is soaked in.
Note:-Sugar quantity might vary, depending upon your dates sweetness
Add oil and mix teh dates mixture.Add 2 beaten eggs in to it and again mix it properly.
Sieve together flour and baking soda. Add the flour one table spoon at a time and mix slowly. Add the nuts and mix.

Preheat the oven at 350F. Bake the cake for 35-40min (or till a toothpick in the cake comes out clean).

Tips for baking:-
Determine a size you will need.
Choose a light finish pan, so that it bakes with a lighter color crust.
Anodized pans are good and wont rust.
Use non stick sprays for coating the pan.