Baking and Caking!!

 Since last year I have found a new hobby …… which has become a passion for me these days!!!! J And its Baking yummy cakes and cookies.. I have tried my hands on baking fresh bread at home and it turned out to be a major success… Baking fresh cakes, pastries and cookies from scratch is very satisfying. You can add a little style and touch to every occasions and holiday. It’s so fulfilling to observe the white dough rising and giving birth to a fluffy golden brown cake. Playing with different batters then adding colors to the fondants or adding a hearty frosting to the cake is something that gives me immense happiness now a days. I have added some of my cakes which I have baked in last one year. Also, I have given the recipe of the simplest cake on the world below along with some frosting ideas..  Read on-

Here’s the recipe of the simplest cake ever-

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter

3 Eggs

2 Tsp Baking powder

2 Tsp Vanilla essence

Pinch of salt.

Preheat oven at 350 F . Add all dry ingredient ( Flour, sugar and baking powder) together and the wet ingredients( Melted butter, Eggs ) in two separate bowls. Now mix the dry ingredients   with the wet ones and mix it well till it forms a smooth batter. Grease your cake pan before using it and bake it for 35 minutes.

Birthday Cake for my husband - Simple chocolate cake with chocolate frosting covered with harsheys chocolate shavings,decorated with fruits.

Red velvet cake with peanut butter frosting topped with white chocolate shavings and dry fruits.

Vanilla cake in peanut butter frosting decorated with colored fondants,

Added a fondant handmade doll.

Banana and Date cake

Now lets talk about adding colors and patterns to your cake- I have tried a different kinds of fondants and frosting for my cakes.

Fondants- Is one of several kinds of icing-like substance used to decorate or sculpt pastries. The word, in French, means "melting",

Rolled fondant or fondant icing, which is not the same material as poured fondant, is commonly used to decorate wedding cakes. It includes gelatin (or agar in vegetarian recipes) and food-grade glycerine, which keep the sugar pliable and creates a dough-like consistency. It can also be made using powdered sugar and melted marshmallows. Rolled fondant is rolled out like a pie crust and used to cover the cake. Rolled fondant is popular on many cake-related reality television shows in the US, including shows such as Ace of Cakes, Ultimate Cake Off, Cake Boss, and The Next Great Baker, all which often showcase decorators creatively decorating complex cake structures with fondant and other types of frosting and icing.

Recipe of my peanutbutter frosting-

1 small cup peanut butter
half cup butter
1.5 cup confectionery sugar

Beat it to form fluffy frosting. Cover the cake and allow this to freeze.

Buttercream frosting-

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

8 cups confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

In a mixing bowl, cream butter. Beat in sugar and vanilla. Add milk until frosting reaches desired consistency.               

You can do the following modifications in the buttercream frosting to create variety of frostings-

For Chocolate Frosting: Substitute 1/2 cup baking cocoa for 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar. For Peanut Butter Frosting: Substitute peanut butter for butter. For Lemon-or Orange-Flavored Frosting: Substitute lemon or orange juice for milk and add 1 teaspoon grated lemon or orange peel. For Almond-or Peppermint-Flavored Frosting: Substitute almond or peppermint extract for the vanilla. Liquid or paste food coloring may be added to match flavoring (green for mint, for example) or for contrast when decorating.  

Peanut butter and choco chips cookies

Cookies just out of the oven

½ cup Butter softened

¾ cup sugar

1/3 cup peanut butter

1 Egg

1 cup chocolate chips

½ tp vanilla extract

1-1/4 cup all-purpose flour/Maida

1 tp baking powder

Heat oven to 350 .Beat butter,peanut butter, vanilla,sugar and egg until fluffy. In a separate bowl  mix flour ,baking powder and choco chips. Now mix the dry ingredient to the wet ingredient. Make it  a dough like consistency.

Grease a cookie sheet and  make a desired size drop of cookie mix  and bake for 8-10 min.

                            

Chocolate cake with simple butter cream  frosting with fondant flowers.