Our family being Gulab Jamun lovers, my kids just love this Eggless Gulab Jamun Mix cake and always prefer it at each family celebration. So when the time came to think about some desserts for elder one's birthday celebration, his answer obviously was "Gulab Jamun Cake". Keeping his preference in mind, I went ahead and prepared this western cheesecake dessert with a desi spin. Inspired from Sanjeev Kapoor's recipe, this cake is eggless made with agar agar. All you have to do is whip the ingredients together, pour into the springform pan, place it in the fridge and wait for couple of hours or overnight. The best thing is you don't need any oven to make this cake and still this delicious cheesecake will make you look like a baking expert! 




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A well baked sponge cake can be the perfect base for hundreds of different cakes. Today I am posting a recipe for simple sponge cake using condensed milk that acts as an egg substitute. You may get creative and experiment with shapes, sizes, use different fillings, icing, frosting of your choice to make the cake look exotic. It is an oil based cake so you can use this as base cake and pair it with fresh whipped cream. In my post few days back, I have paired this cake with fresh whipped cream to make delicious Eggless fresh cream pineapple pastry.




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Tick tock tick tock ... The countdown clock is ticking down. Its time to bid adieu to 2014 and welcome 2015. Looking back at the year's best times, I move ahead with memories of happy moments to be treasured for years to come and welcome year 2015 with new hopes and aspirations for brighter future. 

                                Wishing all of you A Very Happy New Year 2015 !
                           "Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come,
                                                 whispering, it will be happier "
                                                      ~ Alfred Lort Tennyson ~


So here comes my cake for this year, a delicious eggless plum cake using sour cream. The original recipe is by Farrukh which you can read here. I prepared it for the first time following her recipe to the core [the first pic]. Later I decided to experiment by including wheat flour, brown sugar to make it more healthy (seen in below pics).


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A simple to prepare cake that had caught attention and was prepared by many bloggers as well as FB foodie group members, me too couldn't escape this recipe adapted from here. The original recipe mentions number of dates, but I have weighed the quantity of dates [deseeded] that were used to prepare this cake [ since the size of dates vary from place to place]. The amount of oil has been reduced in the below recipe, and white sugar has been substituted with brown sugar making it a low cal version. I made them in mini bundt cake pans [inspired by my friend Jay] but you may use regular baking pan or any other shape baking pan.




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I had posted recipe for savoury semolina cake few months back, that was tried by few of my friends who enjoyed it as a tea time snack. If you haven't do try after you check the recipe here

Today the post is again a cake made from semolina, and its sweet rather than savoury. Its eggless and I used mango purree as egg substitute here. A big thanks passed to my friends D, U and J who inspired me to bake the below cake, definitely a keepsake recipe at my place.



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Few days back tried Simi's Nutmeg cake with pears, actually I was so fascinated by her presentation, the pear standing perfectly amidst the loaf cake, that I added flax seeds instead of eggs and attempted it. Turned out so yummy but just couldn't click any snap :(. While discussing about the attempt with Jayashri on FB, she suggested me to have a look at an eggless whole wheat cake recipe from Uma's culinary world here. She mentioned that calorie wise, sour cream was better substitute to butter. And it was more healthier way with use of wheat flour instead of maida/APF. I bookmarked it and tried to follow Simi's idea of using pear in the above suggested recipe [to capture the shot as Simi did :)] [Totally an optional step which you can exclude and go ahead with the basic recipe as mentioned here or from the original source.

So did u guess, what special today? Yes it is eggless whole wheat spice cake because I am back to baking. Was on baking spree baked many cakes, cookies and other dishes. Will surely share all of the recipes as and when I attempt them once again.





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Today when we were already in celebration mood at home, this news came in as a surprise. I got to know from few of my friends about the photo of Soya Golmatol that I had messaged to Sanjeev Kapoor was selected and featured on SK FB page which you can check here. I was on cloud nine and fully excited! Thought to share this news with all my friends and readers here on Flavors n' Colors along with this virtual visual treat. :)

Few months back, I had prepared an eggless cake inspired from Anushruti's preparation here and followed her recipe exactly. The outcome was a very delicious cake. This time I decided to go with same recipe but wanted to try upside down cake. My search bought me at myjhola as Sai too had followed Anushruti's recipe so without any delay I picked up the plums sitting in the fruit basket and baked upside down cake. Kids thorougly enjoyed and all got finished the day itself :D




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When I came across this tried and tested cupcake recipe by Pavithra at Dishesfrommykitchen, I got this urge to bake them instantly. The recipe not only called for common simple ingredients that most of us would keep stocked in fridge and kitchen, but the process of blending these ingredients also was very simple. Inspite of super-busy schedule on the day before the travel - office, packing, cooking, Christmas activities at school for kids...  I decided to bake these mini cupcakes with a plan to carry them as energy boosting food for kids during our travel [hence exclusion of coffee]. Replaced white sugar with brown sugar as I wanted these mini treats to be a little healthier. The cakes turned out perfect and tasted delicious!



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Kids eagerly wait for weekends as they look forward to enjoy the activities planned for them. One being "Family movie night" scheduled by dear hubby. Post dinner we sit down to watch a kid friendly movie which helps them to relax and enjoy after studies and other school activities. Personally, I see this activity as an opportunity to enhance our family bonding. 

Now the activity I m interested in is baking! Hubby takes care to engage kids in extra curricular activities and, I prefer to enter the kitchen to start my baking with a relaxed mind and extra time on hands. This is usually done on a day before the Family movie night:). Baking kind of unwinds me from my daily mechanical routine and I am sure it has the same effect on all of you who love doing it. Being alone in the kitchen with my baking equipments, I am able to enjoy the whole process, right from assembling, mixing the ingredients to preparing the final product. 

Today, I am posting a recipe of chocolate cake that I finished baking last weekend. This recipe is eggless bookmarked from Joy of Baking. Reading through it, I got to know that the cake was named as "Wacky" or a "Crazy" Cake. So if you are crazy about chocolates this cake is perfect for you !

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With a plan to make an eggless apple cake, I prepared fresh spice powders from cinnamon and nutmeg that would go into the mixture to flavor this cake. You can read about home made spice powders [nutmeg and cinnamon] over here.




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I was about to finish my cooking for the day when my eyes fell on the brown spotted bananas, sitting and staring at me from the kitchen countertop waiting to be used. "Balala" [that's how my younger one asks for his favourite fruit] provide energy and nutrition and we often buy them for kids, they being convenient as a grab and go snack option when compared to chips and wafers. But sometimes these bananas get spotted so fast and too ripe that kids refuse to even look at them. Instead of throwing them, I prefer to prepare Mangalore buns [deep fried puris using these type of ripe bananas] and the times when I don't want to deep fry then I use them to make shikran/ halwa or paratha. 

As I finished my cooking, flipped through my recipe notes and came across a recipe shared by Sahana on facebook few months back - an eggless cake using ragi flour and mango pulp. 
Baking with bananas ..a cake or may be a bread was in my mind since long time. While browsing through the net I came across a similar cake recipe on Lite Bite by Sanjeeta. A reader had left a comment on Sanjeeta's page about using bananas instead of mango pulp in the recipe. Ta ta da ... there I was super excited to discover another excellent way to use these overripe bananas and turn them into healthy baked treat. Thanks Sahana for sharing your recipe.




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A gap of almost 2 weeks between this post and last post :( ... That's because first I had been busy with my kids exams, followed by a busy schedule at office where in our department [Health planning and follow-up] was involved with organizing a conference on strategic planning in healthcare at national level under Ministry of Health, Kuwait. With consultants and speakers from different countries sharing their experiences and expert opinions about planning, it was helpful not just brushing up/ updating myself in the subject but getting the hands on experience to work at an individual level and in a team while arranging this event and I enjoyed every minute of it. Now back to my space/blog [a place that helps me in relaxing and this is what I am looking for post conference]

After the first successful attempt to prepare Tiramisu and Pannacotta [Cardamom flavored and Mango chocolate flavored], the next recipe on my "to do list" was a cheesecake. With mangoes in the season the flavor already got decided in my mind. Yes, it was a no-bake eggless chilled Mango cheesecake.


The recipes that I came across various food groups and blogs had different combinations of ingredients. I opted for the vegetarian version that had used either hung curd and paneer or cheese with cream besides mango puree and vegetarian setting agent in it as filling layer. I adapted from different recipes as per the availability of ingredients at my place.

Ingredients

For the crust
Digestive biscuits 250 gm  + 4 biscuits
Butter 100 gms
2 tbsp cocoa powder

For the filling
Philadelphia cheese 200 gm
Whipping cream 250 ml
Mango puree 1 3/4 cup
Sugar 1/2 cup
Agar Agar 15 gms * [See notes]
Water: to soak as well as prepare the agar agar solution.

For the glaze topping
Mango puree 3/4 cup
Agar Agar 5 gms
Sugar 1 tbsp
Water 1/4 cup water
Mango diced for garnishing
Few fresh mint leaves
Cake Sprinkles [optional]


Method: 

Crush the biscuits with hands on a plate. [You can even put them into a ziplock and use a rolling pin to crush these biscuits or whiz them in food processor to coarse powder]. Now add melted butter and blend well until the mixture comes together. Divide this mixture into two parts and add cocoa powder to one part.

Press the plain biscuit powder mixture into the bottom of 8 " springform pan [Alternately you can use individual glasses and divide the mixture equally into all the glasses]. On top of this mixture press the cocoa biscuit mixture firmly using back of your spoon [You may omit dividing the mixture and adding the cocoa powder to proceed further as mentioned below]. This mixture will form the base of the cake. Refrigerate the mixture for 30-40 minutes while you proceed to prepare the filling.

Prepare agar agar solution as per the packet instructions depending upon the brands that you use. [I had to soak agar agar flakes for 10 minutes, drain the water]. Take enough water to immerse the agar agar and warm it. Warm up mango puree in another vessel. Once the agar agar gets dissolved in the water, reduce the flame and add the mango puree stirring continuously on sim flame. Switch off the flame after 2-3 mins. Allow it to come to room temperature.

Meanwhile, whisk the whipping cream in a large deep vessel until soft, then whisk in the Philadelphia cheese and sugar. Add the mango- agar agar mixture into cream mixture. Beat gently with a hand held wire whisk until well combined. Pour this mixture over the prepared crust, level with the back of spoon. Chill for 3 - 4 hours in the fridge.

For glaze, soak the agar agar as per packet instructions and warm it up along with water and sugar. Prepare the mango agar mixture using the same steps as mentioned above. (optional step: you can add 1 tbsp lemon juice). Allow it to come to room temperature. Now spread the glaze over the set cream layer and refrigerate it for 2-3 hours or till you serve it.

Keep the cake at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before serving. Now slowly release the cake from the pan. Garnish with mango cubes/pieces, cake sprinkles and mint leaves. You can also top the cake with chocolate sauce and strawberry.



And that's a slice of delicious cheesy cake, a virtual treat to my readers and friends.

* Notes :
I am still experimenting with agar agar and the measurement may differ little-bit with respect to the brands that are used or the form [powder/ flakes] that we use. Its bit tricky but once you get the real science, then you would know the correct ratio of the setting agent that should be used. Read more about properties of agar agar and the steps required to cook it from here

Update: Thanks to Meena Dhage, who messaged me and gave the equivalents of agar agar if flaky or powdered and her experience to get the cheesecake (with hung curd and paneer) right using the below formula -
"4 tablespoons agar agar flakes = nearly 3 tsp agar agar powder "

Happy cooking!!!
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"Tiramisù"  is the most popular Italian dessert. The literal meaning of  "Tiramisu" is "Pick-me-up", a layered dessert consisting of coffee soaked savoiardi biscuits alternating with layer of mixture of whipped eggs, masacarpone cheese, cream, sugar and flavoured with Marsala wine/rum and cocoa.


I excluded eggs and wine from my preparation completely and so this preparation is not the traditional one, but even without eggs and wine it tasted very nice. Mind it with so much cheese going in to its preparation this is no fat free or light dessert, but its worth to try this creamy cake once, provided the ingredients are easily available and we burn those extra calories with extra workouts, can't we ?

I wanted to prepare this at the earliest after I saw a post on a food group page by foodie friend, JB with the link for the recipe that she followed. The recipe looked so simple with steps such as making coffee extract, whipping the cream and assembling the store bought ingredients into layers, push the cake tin into refrigerator, allow it to set, garnish the cake and serve it!

With no idea about the ingredients availability in supermarkets here [never bothered to check for their availability such as ladyfinger biscuits, mascarpone cheese, etc], I went in search of them and was superglad to find all the ingredients. As I picked the biscuits from the shelf, I found them not to be eggless :(. A bit disappointed, I thought to use either pastry puffs or rusks or marie biscuits instead of these finger biscuits, paid the bill for rest of the ingredients and came home.

This being the first attempt didn't want to risk my time, efforts and avoid wastage of the other ingredients, I dropped the idea of using those alternatives.  Now that the other ingredients were sitting in my fridge I checked on net trying to search a substitute for ladyfinger biscuits. I came across various recipes that mentioned preparing the eggless biscuits, then the use of eggless sponge cake. I also came across Tarla Dalal's recipe that used biscottis [toasts] prepared from eggless sponge cake. With all these inputs, I planned to opt Tarla Dalal's method to prepare the biscotti from cake and rest of the preparation followed the recipe and tips as given by JB. 

Kids [Include me too along with them :P] were just eager to taste this dessert right from the time I assembled the layers and kept on asking "When are we going to taste the cake ?"


If things are planned well in advance preparing this eggless non-alcoholic cake is an easy job. So lets get onto the recipe step by step.

Making Eggless sponge cake

Ingredients 
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup condensed milk
1 cup butter
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp Vinegar
1 cup milk
2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method
Sift the flour along with baking powder and soda together in a bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in another wide mouthed vessel. Stir well until combined.

Now add the dry ingredients little at a time to wet ingredients and fold the mixture gently with spatula. Continue till all the dry ingredients is mixed into the mixture. The batter should be of dropping consistency. Divide the batter into two parts and add 2 tbsp cocoa powder to the other part.

[[[ I thought of eggless cocoa cake for my KIDS who could enjoy this cake instead of consuming caffeine that soaks the sponge cake layers and also use these cocoa biscottis as decorative edges ]]].

Pour the plain batter and cocoa mixed batter separately in the respective greased cake tins and place the tray in preheated oven [for 10 mins] at 180 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes or till the cake is done. Allow the cake to cool.

Making biscottis from the cake
Slice the eggless sponge cake horizontally into 2 equal layers.
Cut the top layer of the sponge cake into 1/2" X 2" long finger shapes. [We will use the bottom layer of this cake later while assembling the tiramisu].  Arrange the cake fingers on a baking tray and toast them in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and keep aside to cool completely.
Repeat the same with eggless cocoa cake to get cocoa biscottis.

Making coffee extract
Ingredients
Coffee powder [ I used Bru instant coffee powder] 3 tbsp
Boiling water. 1 cup
Sugar 2 tsp

Method
Brew the coffee by mixing the coffee powder, sugar into boiling water. Let it cool. Place in refrigerator to cool completely.

Making the cream cheese mixture filling
Ingredients 
300 gm mascarpone cheese
1 cup thickened cream
1/2 cup castor sugar

Method
Whisk the thick cream with an electric mixer until it forms a stiff peak.
In another bowl, gently mix mascarpone cheese and castor sugar until well combined. Now fold the cheese mixture into the whipped cream using a spatula. Fold the mixture till well combined.

Assembling the layers
Once you are ready with above steps, we can move on to assemble the cake. Remove the coffee extract from the fridge. I assembled this cake in springform tin. Place the bottom layer of the eggless sponge cake in the springform tin and sprinkle the coffee extract evenly on top of the cake. Spread a layer of cream cheese mixture with the back of a spoon.

Now line the tin with cocoa cake biscottis. [Cut the biscottis to the same height of the cake tin before you line them] Once you finish doing the lining, fill the gap in the centre with sponge cake biscottis. Using a pastry brush, soak the biscottis with coffee extract. And finally place the cream-cheese mixture on the top and spread again with the back of a spoon. You can repeat the steps of layering until you have covered the cake with the last layer of the cream cheese mixture. [ I could make two layers each of sponge cake alternating with cream cheese mixture] Sprinkle cocoa powder on the top and refrigerate the cake for atleast 3-4 hrs [best overnight] before serving.

Once the cake sets, demould the tiramisu from the tin on a serving plate and top with chocolate chips/chocolate shavings/chocolate sauce/ fresh fruits [optional] as per your preference. Tie a ribbon around the cake to support and for the finishing touch, and you are done !!!! 

I made an attempt to prepare chocolate filigrees to decorate this cake, but somehow the designs turned out to be very flimsy and got crushed. I sprinkled these crushed chocolate pieces on top of the cake


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Today's recipe I opted to prepare at the time when there was no baking oven at my place. I came across this microwave recipe on a social networking site [obviously it has to be FB,,,a piece of cake if  you guessed it rightly ;)] by a member Ekta Chopra. Her recipe was followed by many other members who did some changes to the original recipe. A yummy and an easy to make cake. We can bake this cake in microwave, oven and even in pressure cooker.
All the ingredients are easily available, an eggless recipe and the microwave option. I had to try this recipe.


Ingredients

Glucose biscuits [Parle G or Tiger] 1 packet  [100 gms]* [ you can use any biscuits like marie/ good day/ oreo biscuits
Hide n Seek /Bourbon biscuit 1 packet [100 gms]
Sugar 2 tsp [adjust as per the taste]
Milk 1/2 cup
Eno salt 3/4 tsp non-flavoured
Icing sugar/ choco chips and chocolate sauce for decoration [optional]
Butter to grease the microwave vessel

Method:

Take a packet of any glucose biscuit, either Parle G or Tiger or any other brand. Take the packet of chocolate biscuits [Bourbon or Hide n Seek]

Empty the packets in mixer and dry grind them to fine powder. Add 2 tsp of sugar, half a cup of milk and stir again in mixer to form a smooth batter. Add 3/4 tsp of ENO [fruit salt] and stir everything in mixer. Grease the microwave vessel with butter and pour the mixture from mixer into this vessel.
Microwave just for 5 minutes. Since the original recipe didn't mention any specific setting in the microwave, I assumed it to be normal mode at full power and as per my MW settings it took me 6 and half minutes. [Toothpick or knife inserted in the centre should come out clean]

Once the cake is done allow it to cool. Now transfer the cake to a plate and decorate by sprinkling some icing sugar, choco chips and chocolate sauce. Slice and serve. 
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After the initial attempts of mine to bake a cake, yes now I am confident enough to say "I can bake". To boost my confidence more, I decided to try one more cake recipe. This time it was from Tickling Palates by Radhika and I was pleased to get the perfect result once again :).


Sieve together flour, baking soda, baking powder and keep aside. Mix together curd and sugar, whisk it until the sugar dissolves in the mixture. Next add oil and whisk it. Add 1/4 cup of milk and vanilla essence. Mix it well until the wet mixture turns smooth, I used a hand mixer to mix the above liquid ingredients. Now, add the sieved flour gradually to the wet mixture. Switch to a spatula and fold it gently taking care not to over do it. You may add the remaining milk according to the need to adjust the consistency of the cake batter.

Now add tuttifrutii mixture and give it a final mix. Pour the batter in prepared pan/tray and bake for 40-45 mins @180 degrees C or till a toothpick/knife inserted comes out clean. [Oven timings may vary,keep a watchful eye on your cake and check for doneness. It takes about 50-55 mins for me to get it perfectly done]

Allow the cake to cool on the wire rack for 5- 10 min. Slice it up and enjoy biting into the each slice of this cake.



Note:

• Sometimes I add saffron strands to 2 tbsp warm milk and add to the wet mixture.
• You can use an icecream scoop to divide the cake batter and fill in the cupcake liners to prepare tasty colourful cupcakes.

Happy Baking !!!
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After the new year post, I' m back again with another cake. That is because, friends I am hooked on to baking !!!




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2013, another fresh new year and my first post of this year is here...

Year 2012 helped me grow professionally, and also find some of my hidden interests like photography and cooking [I am still trying to figure out how a girl like me who used to run away from the kitchen, now loves to be in there experimenting, trying and testing n number of recipes :P]. This year I hopped and took a step up to initiate my blog, that keeps a record of these experiments from my kitchen. 

1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour/Maida
1 cup yoghurt 
1 cup castor sugar 
1 and 1/4 tsp baking powder 
1/2 tsp baking soda 
1/2 cup cooking oil (any flavourless oil)
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 

Note: All the measurements mentioned above are leveled & not heaped.

Method:

Seive maida and keep it aside. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C for 15 mins. Prepare cupcake tins by placing cupcake liners. 
In a large bowl, mix the yogurt & sugar until the sugar dissolves completely. Now add baking powder and baking soda to the above and mix well. Leave it aside for 5 minutes.You will see bubbles appearing and the mixture slightly raising in volume . Now add oil, vanilla essence and mix well. Add the flour spoon by spoon and gently fold the mixture. Mix well until creamy. Avoid stirring it vigorously.

Fill each cupliner 3/4th full and bake in a preheated oven for 30-40 minutes or until cupcakes are done. To check if they are done insert a toothpick in center of the cake and it should come out clean. Remove them from oven and can place them on wire rack, allow them to cool completely. [ I kept them for about hour or so].

You can bake the same batter in 6 inch cake tin as seen in the below pic.



For Icing/ Frosting
I used leftover whipped cream frosting and some edible food colors. You can check the ingredients as well as quantity to whip the cream here. I experimented with different nozzles to get different designs.



Happy Baking!
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Since the time I developed interest to cook, I was looking forward to baking and preparing a simple eggless cake. Blackforest cake being favourite at home, I browsed through various recipes and came across one at Easycooking by Divya. The recipe and steps were so easy [No wonder the blog title is easycooking] that I instantly bookmarked it and finally I am here posting the cake baked from home. Have been baking it regularly now after my first attempt [cake seen in the last pic on this post] with few adaptations. Rest of the pics are from recent attempt and have been updated on 1/1/2017. 

Lets move on to the recipe to see how it is made.




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