Christmas Cake preparations - and Milestones

I have been tardy this year in soaking the dry fruits for the cake I make for Christmas every year. I usually try to do it mid-November, or atleast by the 25th, but this year we seemed to have a million things to do on the weekends this month.

Started with our Diwali celebration at the beginning of November, in Mumbai with family, then there was a breakfast picnic like this one, outdoor parties before it becomes too cold, dance and musical performances -The Manganiyar Seduction (an international act of Rajasthani folk musicians performing in 36 boxes stacked one on top of the other in 4 rows) was particularly spectacular!  - a children's literature festival called Bookaroo which has managed to reach its third year with much support from enthusiastic parents and children and the driving force of Swati Roy and Sanjay Roy who own Eureka - the children's bookstore.

In December, the 3-day Jazz Utsav was this weekend - we went on Friday, which was the opening day, and were treated to some scintillating performances - especially the one by Ranjit Barot and Talvin Singhs' bands.
The Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF) also began this weekend - it has a smorgasbord of events happening till the 12th December including some excellent classical dance performances and theatre. The first ever exhibition of Anish Kapoor in India - (Anish Kapoor is a celebrated contemporary sculptor), opened this week at the newly refurbished National Gallery of Modern Art - and while I don't pretend to understand contemporary art and installations, I am definitely not going to miss an opportunity to broaden my horizons. As I tell my daughter - its OK to not like something after you have tried it, but you should atleast try everything once.
Then there is the Old World Theatre Festival at Habitat Centre, Christmas fairs organised by the various embassies, the Christmas decorations inside hotels and malls to gawk at....November to February is such a nice time to do things in Delhi - its what makes the rest of the year bearable!

These are some of the pics from the German Christmas Fair yesterday - my daughter and I had a nice time picking through the stalls and looking at the christmas stuff all over. There was a stall by the Swiss German Bakery where I picked up some wonderful baguette and sour dough bread as well as the aromatic Lebkuchen - a traditional Christmas cookie/cake which is quite strongly spiced with cinnamon and cloves. The reason I call it cookie/cake, it though it is a cake, it is not soft, melt-in-the-mouth, but quite crumbly in texture with a nice crust. I was happy with my glass of German beer, a quiche and some bratwurst (which was quite pungent I must say) while K devoured a lovely chocolate croissant. 

Anyway, suffice to say that I have enough excuses to have postponed the soaking this long. But I got up early this morning and managed to soak all the dry fruits and nuts. They will sit there for the next two weeks till I bake the cake on the 22nd or 23rd December - the cake tastes better later, as the flavours have time to meld.

'Tis the season to be jolly and all that - well, Peppermill has turned 3 - yes, can't believe it, but my first post was in November 2007. Thank you everyone who reads this blog, for all your encouragement and support and for reaching out to me - I have received much more than I can give, and for that I am thankful.

 

Don't need an excuse to celebrate though, so if you have always thought of baking a fruit cake, now's the time to start! Its a small list of ingredients and all readily available. For those who don't want to steep the fruits in alcohol, just use orange juice. Also, there are a lot of recipes which recommend "feeding" the cake with alcohol, after its baked (some days before Christmas) till its finally eaten. I don't - I also don't cover it with marzipan icing which is another traditional thing to do. I like my cake slices just as they are - filled with fruit, soft and dense and with that lovely dark colour and rich smell.

These are the ingredients I soak

Mixed Dry Fruit chopped - 350 gms (choose from currants,sultanas,raisins, dates, fig, apricot)

I use equal quantities of currants,raisins, dates,apricots and plums (dried)

The dry fruits are soaked 3-4 weeks in advance in about 1/4 cup of dark rum (brandy can also be used)

For the complete recipe and the earlier post- look here

Or you can also try Chocolate Gingerbread Men or White Chocolate, Cherry and Oatmeal Cookies

White Chocolate Muffins (Eggless) and a Breakfast Picnic

Yes, you heard that right! A Breakfast picnic is what we did a couple of weekends back - the weather had been absolutely brilliant in the early am that whole week, so four families with 6 kids and a dog set out at 7 30 am to Lodhi Gardens (Delhi).
We have "our" spot, right under a big old tree with some benches nearby, which we use during the winters (we did two last year and one the year before) but since it was so early in the morning, that was taken over by people doing yoga and stuff. Winters we normally reach around 11 30 when the sun is out and there are fewer people at that time.

So we picked another spot a little further away - we were shaded by the big tomb and some trees cool breeze blew all around us - it was perfect! We spread our dhurries, poured out the tea from the thermos and brought out the food. The cheese sandwiches and rava idlis with gun powder came out first along with a whole bottle of freshly squeezed orange juice. So fortified, the kids went adventure hunting looking out for tunnels, ponds and "secret hiding" places along with some of the adults and the dog. The rest of us, lay back and chatted looking at the blue skies and the spring flowers and almost dozing with our eyes half-closed.

The children were back in no time chattering on about all the "treasures" they had unearthed and dived right back into the food - aloo parathas and gobi parathas, bananas and grapes. Games of catch followed and then turned into a quest for finding ladybugs in the bushes and flowers accompanied by squeals of delight when one would land on a tiny hand. It was worth all the "effort" of waking up on a Saturday morning and getting the kids ready in time - and I treasure these times so much because I have never had the chance to do these things in Mumbai or Chennai. Delhi is blessed with these wide, open spaces which are so easily accessible and I'm glad to be making the most of it while we are here.

Besides the rava idlis, I brought along these white chocolate muffins which I had made the previous day. I made them without eggs since MIL is visiting and she doesn't eat eggs. I added the banana to make up for the moisture content and consistency. And to complete my itch for one weird ingredient per recipe I threw in some chopped candied amla (gooseberry) into the batter. The muffins were nice and moist; some of you might want to add a bit more sugar if you prefer your muffins sweeter. You could also chop more walnuts and add them right into the batter. Replacing the white chocolate with dark chocolate is another option.

This goes to Joelen's Tasty Tools event - where this month's tool of choice is Muffin Pans.

White Chocolate Muffins (Eggless)

Wheat Flour (atta) - 1.5 cups
Refined flour - 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 1.5 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Castor Sugar - 1 cup

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 mashed banana
white chocolate - 100gms, chopped into pieces
1/2 - 3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Walnuts - 6, broken into halves
Candied amla - 2 tbsp, chopped (optional)

1. Sieve both the flours with the baking powder, soda and the powdered sugar. Keep aside.
2. Melt the white chocolate pieces in a microwave at 30 second intervals till soft. You can also put the chocolate into a steel bowl which goes into another vessel half filled with water and then heat it on the stove, stirring till it melts.
3. When the chocolate cools a bit, add it to the mashed bananas along with butter and vanilla essence.
4. Mix the flour into this mixture and whip with a blender. Add the milk a little at a time till the mixture is thick and creamy, but not too runny.
5. Add the chopped candied amla, mix and drop spoonfuls of the batter into muffin covers or a greased muffin tray, taking care to fill only three fourth of the mould.
6. Place half a walnut into the top of each muffin and then bake for 14 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180C. Cool completely.

Vanilla, Cream Cheese and Date Cake

My daughter had an end- of-term party coming up at school (I don't think we ever had such things...for that matter I don't remember going to play school, I think it was straightaway Kindergarten at 3 years) and every child was required to bring one item for the party.

Mine was to bring a snack while her friend was to bring a cake - her mother asked me whether I would bake a cake so that she didn't have to give store bought cake with all that sugar and icing. So we swapped and I came up with a delicious cake adapting this recipe from the Joy of Cooking site.

The kids enjoyed this simple fluffy cake with the childhood favourite Vanilla - the cream cheese made it that much more flavourful and soft.

I am sending this to Masterbaker's April theme - Vanilla Each month Nikki picks one ingredient and we get to bake whatever we want, then she bakes up a bunch of the entries and picks a winner - simple and fun!

Vanilla, Cream Cheese and Date Cake

Ingredients:

Refined flour (maida) - 2 cups
Butter - 1 cup
Cream Cheese - 3/4 cup (I used cream cheese spread and cut out the 1/4 tsp salt in the recipe, you can also use fresh thick hung curd)
Eggs - 3
Sugar - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1 /4 tsp
Vanilla scrapings from one pod or 3/4 tbsp vanilla essence
Pitted and chopped dates - 1 cup

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C and lightly grease a cake pan and keep aside.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. into a bowl. Soak chopped dates in 1/4 cup of warm milk and keep aside.

3 Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar a little at a time and beat until creamy and smooth.

4. Beat in the eggs, one at time and mix well. Add vanilla bean extract or vanilla essence and beat well.

5. Fold in the flour mixture gently until just mixed, drain and add the dates and pour the cake batter into the greased pan.

6. Bake for 1 hour at 180C or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for 15 -20 minutes, before removing out of the pan and cooling again.

Orange Date Cake - Arusuvai Friendship Chain

After much wiffling and waffling....I finally decided how to use the orange extract I received from Deeba of Passionate about Baking as part of the Arusuvai Friendship chain. I baked this lovely citrus cake with luscious dates - especially for our very own orange blossom - our almost 3 year old daughter. Just as she fills our home with sparkling eyes and shy smiles, with stubborn cries and pouted lips, the fragrance of this cake warmed our hearts. This was for a sentimental family occasion and she loved that there was something special for her.
And for me it seemed fitting that a gift from someone who I have not even met yet, but seem to know so well, should be used to create a gift for someone so dear to me.

Thank you so much Deeba - it added that special touch to a beautiful day when my daughter got all saucer eyed looking at "her" cake (we are in possessive mode these day) as it came out of the oven - the one she helped stir and mix and pour orange "joosh" into.

This was the first time I experimented with a cake...I usually pretty much stick to baking recipes and wasn't at all sure how this one would turn out. Now that this frontier has been breached - well my oven had better be scared - very scared!

I loved that the cake turned out so moist and fluffy with a nice crust. The flavour of orange seeped right through. It didn't need an orange glaze which most recipes recommended.....The dates which popped up in between were a nice addition and I think soaking them in the orange juice and orange zest really helped make them juicy.This one will definitely be made many more times and hopefully become a fond childhood memory for our daughter.

I am also sending this recipe and story to Sugar High Fridays #41, which is being hosted at Habeas Brulee and this month's theme is all about Sweet Gifts.

Orange Date Cake

Ingredients:

Flour - 1 and 3/4 cup
Butter - 3/4 cup
Light Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 3/4 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Eggs - 2
Orange extract - 2 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Buttermilk - 1/2 cup (Pour half a tablespoon of lime juice into half a cup of milk and set aside for 5-10 minutes till it separates - strain and use)
Grated zest of 2 medium organges (about 2 tbsp)
Juice of 2 medium oranges (1/2 cup)
Chopped seedless dates - 3/4 cup

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Soak chopped dates in the orange juice and orange zest for about half an hour. Grease a ring mould or a 8" cake pan and keep aside.
2. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
3. Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl; beat eggs well and keep aside.
4. Strain the dates and keep aside the orange juice and zest.
5. Take the bowl with the creamed butter and sugar; add the dry ingredients(flour,salt etc) a little at a time alternating with the wet ingredients (egg, buttermilk and orange juice), ending with the dry ingredients.
6. Pour in the vanilla essence and orange extract. Mix in the chopped dates and the orange zest.
7. Pour in the batter into the greased cake pan and bake at 180C for 45 minutes or till done. Check with a skewer to see whether it comes out clean when pierced into the cake.
8. Let cool inside the oven for about 5 minutes, then remove and let cool outside for about 10 minutes. Remove from pan when fully cooled and set aside for sometime on wire rack.

Christmas Cake

Fruit cake jokes are a dime a dozen around this time in the syndicated cartoon strips and growing up I didn't really get the humour, since I loved fruit cakes and the home baked ones I did get to have were delicious!

When I started making them though, the "hard as rock" and "don't drop it on your foot" jokes really scared me - what if mine turned out like that!

I needn't have worried; I discovered that baking fruit cakes is easier than the usual cakes since they are heavier and are not expected to rise as much. So no "gently folding in the flour into the beaten eggs" and "no beating the eggs for eternity"......the ingredients are mostly brought together and combined with a light hand.

The only thing to take care of is that, since this is a dense cake, it is better to bake it a lower temperature for a longer time.

And as for the dried fruits - well, that's the best part - you can pretty much use your favourites and leave out what you don't like! It's even better if you can manage to soak the fruits in some good alcohol about 3-4 weeks in advance, and the cake tends to moisten up because of the fruits in it and tastes really good the more time it is kept.

This recipe was given to me by a dear friend of mine in England - we have never met but our online correspondence over the past 6 years has brought us closer than we would have ever imagined. She is a wise warm and caring woman and I hope to meet her some day.

The first time I made this was for a close friend - Christmas was always at her place but that year she was in her last trimester of pregnancy and I thought she could do with some Christmas cheer.

This year I made it for her again - we land up at her place on Christmas Day next week and will be staying with them for a bit. So as they celebrate their first Christmas with their baby, this cake will bring with it our best wishes for their wee one and a great year ahead.

This is the adapted recipe, the original contained sherry, black treacle and a few other ingredients which I have changed to my taste and availability.

It is a lovely moist cake and the flavours of the dried fruits as well as the cinnamon lingers on and makes this a beautiful way to end a lovely festive meal.

Christmas Cake

Ingredients:

Eggs - 3 plus 1 white

Unsalted Butter - 125 gms

Flour - 125 gms

Soft brown sugar - 125 gms

Mixed Dry Fruit chopped - 350 gms (choose from currants,sultanas,raisins, dates, fig, apricot)

I used equal quantities of currants,raisins, dates,apricots and plums

The dry fruits were soaked 3-4 weeks in advance in about 1/4 cup of dark rum (brandy can also be used)

Rind of half of a lemon or orange -I used orange peel.

Chopped cherries - 30gm

Ground almonds - 30gm (Toasted in the microwave for about 90 seconds and then ground)

Whisky or brandy - 1 tbsp

Golden syrup - 1 tbsp

Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp

1. Grease an 8" tin and lightly sprinkle flour on top.Preheat the oven to 180C or 350F.

2. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat the eggs and white and add to the creamed butter and sugar.

3. Sift the flour and cinnamon powder together and add slowly to the egg mixture and combine with a light hand.

4. Add the whisky and golden syrup to the mixture and then all the dried fruit,orange peel and almond powder. Mix well; the cake batter will be quite thick.

5.Turn the batter into the prepared cake tin and make a small hollow in the centre.

6. Bake at 180 C for about 45-55 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

This cake goes to :

A Fruit a Month - Dry Fruits, hosted by Latha and Lakshmi over at The ‘Yum’ Blog

and to

dear Sunita @ Sunita's World for this month's edition of Think Spice - Cinnamon.

Walnut & Ginger Bite Ring

One of my close friends gifted me the Baby & Toddler cookbook by Tarla Dalal, just prior to the arrival of our daughter. I dug out this cookbook a good six months later,when I started weaning her off milk and into more of solids and made quite a few of the finger food recipes like cheese straws made of whole wheat flour etc since the alternatives readily available in the market (like bread sticks and Glucose biscuits ugh!) were usually made of plain flour which I wanted to avoid.
The other foods like dal,khichdi, soup and the like were our everyday food which I didn't need recipes for, and as she started eating more and more of what we were eating and I stopped cooking separate meals for her, the book lay forgotten.

While doing a spot of Diwali cleaning, I came across it lying with my other cookbooks and started leafing through it. I found this recipe for a Spiced Walnut Ring which I decided to make for a Diwali dinner we had been invited to and for which I had volunteered to get dessert. The evenings have just started turning chilly in Delhi and I thought this cake, with its spicy notes,would be apt for the occasion.

I did a fair amount of tweaking to the recipe and substituted the ginger powder (soonth) with chopped pieces of candied ginger. The spicy sweet pieces of ginger are a nice surprise when one bites into the cake.

I also cut down on the condensed milk and sugar quantities which I figured might be burnt off by active toddlers, but probably not by us!

I served it warm with a bit of vanilla icecream on the side, but some people also had it with chocolate sauce drizzled over. The warmth of the spices and the bite of ginger and walnut made it a delightful ending to a festive evening.

You can find the original recipe here

Walnut & Ginger Bite Ring

Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chopped candied ginger pieces
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder

3/4 cup white butter (unsalted)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup condensed milk

3/4 - 1 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Bring all ingredients to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Grease a ring mould and keep aside.

2. Sift the flour,baking powder and cinnamon powder together.

3. Whisk the butter and sugar together till soft and creamy.

4. Add the flour mixture, the chopped walnuts, chopped candied ginger, condensed milk and combine till mixed together.

5. Add 3/4 cup of milk and mix till you reach a cake batter consistency, add some more milk if it's too thick.

6. Spoon the batter into the greased ring mould and shake to settle evenly. Bake for 30 minutes till done and a skewer inserted into it comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes and then turn out of the ring onto the rack and let it cool further.

This is my entry for November for the Think Spice.... event hosted by Sunita's World

where this month's spice is Ginger.

This is the first food blogging event I'm participating in and I thought this versatile spice would a good place to start!.