Sticky Toffee Pudding And All Things Sweet

Of late, my blog seems to be peppered with desserts, chocolate, fudge.... What's happening to me? I am supposed to be off sugar completely. The more I want to be off big bad sugar, the more it shows up, insidiously finding its way into my life somehow. I wonder why? The further I run, the closer it gets. Until it is so so hard to say no and I give in.

Well now I say enough is enough and the next few posts are going to be only spicy SPICY all the way (let us see how long my good intentions last !!!).

Recently I was in Singapore on a short, much needed break, when friends of ours took us to the Cricket Club there. The food was amazing. As usual I had to order the dessert ( did you not read the above and figured out my weakness for anything sweet???). I had heard of but never tasted Sticky Toffee pudding. The name itself fascinated me. How delicious does it sound? Sticky Toffee Pudding. Say it a few times. Aloud. See I told you so. Makes you feel like immediately grabbing a spoon and digging in, doesn't it? My friends tease me all the time saying that I think of nothing but food and if I have to be honest here, I have to confess they are right. And in this case, can you blame me?

Well with a name like that I just had to order it. When it came to the table it looked so yummy. This steaming, tiny little perfectly baked brown cake sitting in a little puddle of gooey caramel. And all of it accompanied by a scoop of vanilla icecream. OOOooooohhhhhh. Just delicious.

And the taste.... it was really yummy. Words cannot do justice. I felt like doing a little jig right there. Jumping around with happiness... silly me. Well anyway. To cut a long story short, instead of jigging I just started digging {:)}.. At the end of the meal, I was simply sitting like a beached whale, unable to move but with a beaming face, totally satisfied.

Warning::: Read, make and EAT at your own risk. Please do not blame me if eating this results in an instant weight gain of 2 kgs or an immediate heart attack. ( I mean, have you looked at the ingredients?)

Now for the recipe....

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup deseeded dates
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

FOR THE TOFFEE SAUCE:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup cream
1 cup packed light brown sugar

Method:

Toffee Sauce:
Combine the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar in a saucepan; heat to boiling, stirring constantly.
Boil gently over medium low heat until mixture starts thickening. This will take about 6 minutes

Pudding:

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and grease a 10-inch round or square baking dish.

Sift the flour and baking powder.

Chop the dates fine. Place in a small bowl and add the boiling water and baking soda; set aside. This will foam up. That's fine, it is meant to. When it cools down, belnd in the mixie till it is a smooth paste.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; mix well until blended. Gently add the flour/baking powder mixture. Add the date paste to the batter and mix really well.

Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake until pudding is set and firm on top, about 35 minutes.

Poke holes in the cake with a skewer. Pour 1/3 cup of the toffee sauce over it and leave it to soak.

Serve hot with the remaining toffee sauce and with either whipped cream or vanilla icecream.

ENJOY!!!!

.

Citrus Cake and Taste of Oranges

As mentioned in my earlier post here, the change of seasons brings the freshest of fruits and vegetables. Right now with winter on our heels, the market is flooded with delicious kamala oranges. I think nature also knows what is good for us and when. Oranges with their high Vitamin C content helps protect us against colds and any other passing infections. And sure enough, right on cue, oranges come right when we need them to.

Oranges are one fruit that the children really enjoy. Even if they are a little tart now and then, they still down them at a furious pace. Oranges are supposed to have a high satiety factor even compared to bananas.

Oranges are such a versatile fruit. Can be used in so many different ways. Cakes, desserts, juices, cooking, just by itself... the list goes on.

The other day a friend asked for a cake for a bake sale. I had been wanting to make this cake for a long long time. This then became the perfect one to make for the sale.





It is an easy recipe which can be made by anyone, even rank beginners.


Ingredients:

2 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon lemon essence
1/2 cup orange juice


For glace frosting:

2 cups icing sugar/ confectioners sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
juice of 1 lime


Method:

Sift together all the dry ingredients ( flour, baking powder, salt).

Cream the softened butter and sugar till light. Add lemon essence and eggs one at a time. Mix well.

Add milk and the dry ingredients and continue to beat till well mixed.

Bake in a greased and lined 9 X 13 inch pan at 175 deg C for about 25 minutes

When the cake is still hot, take out from the pan and poke holes in it. Pour orange juice over it till it gets soaked.

Frost the cake.


Frosting method:

Sift the icing sugar. Heat the orange juice and mix with the icing sugar and lemon juice. Pour over the cake and leave to set.

Decorate with sprinkles.

Lemon Cheesecake - Celebration of a 1000 hits

I have a problem on my hands now. I promised the kids that if and when I had a 1000 hits, I will make any dessert of their choice and post it. This was when I had 150 hits or so. Then thanks to Food Blog Desam, the numbers quickly climbed and I reached the magic figure. But then I was swamped with work. This morning I noticed I was fast heading for the second thousand. So before leaving for work, I quickly made their dessert of choice - Lemon Cheesecake. But unfortunately they could not eat it all day. Guess why? Because yours truly has not found the time to take the photographs.

Finally, I managed to get everything together, garnished/decorated the cheesecake as quickly as I could, took the pictures.... So here goes.

Recipe:

I packet Marie biscuits( Update: Use one large packet or two small packets. Should be about 200 grams of biscuits)

75 grams butter melted

300 gms hung curd ( 1 litre of yoghurt tied in a muslin cloth till all the whey drains off and it is a solid mass)

500 grams cream

2 tablespoon lime juice

400 grams sugar

1 teaspoon lemon essence

2 tablepoon gelatin soaked in 1/4 cup water

a pinch yellow food coloring (optional)

Powder the marie biscuits till you get fine crumbs. Add the melted butter to it mix well and press into the base of a pie dish. Put into the refrigerator to harden.

With a hand mixer, mix the curd cheese, sugar, lime juice, coloring and essence.

Whip the cream till it gets soft peaks and keep aside.

Heat the gelatin over very very low heat till it melts. Cool it down.

Add to the curd mixture.

Gently stir in the cream into the curd mixture. Mix till well blended. Be careful not to over beat as the cream may split.

Pour into the biscuit crumb base and refrigerate till set.

Garnish and serve cold.