Custard Cake (Cupcakes)

Yes I know, more cupcakes. The story behind these ones is that.. well.. basically I was just looking for a simple vanilla cake. Somehow I stumbled across this one, made with custard powder, so essentially its a custard cake. You could substitute the custard powder with cornflour to make the colour of the cake less yellow but I liked the idea that it was a custard cake, and should therefore be yellow.

As you can see from the photos as well I had a bit of fun with food colouring and made some cupcakes green and orange. Although I cut the cupcakes before they had cooled properly and they ended up a bit of a mess, it made for a very colourful array!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 C White flour
3/4 C Custard powder (or Cornflour)
2 1/4 tsp Baking powder
3/4 C Sugar
150g Butter (softened)
1 cup milk

To make:
1. Combine the flour, custard powder, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl.

2. Add the milk and butter and beat until completely combined.

3. Pour into a well greased cake tin and bake at 180 degrees celcius for approx 40 minutes or until cooked. Alternatively pour into cupcake lined muffin trays and bake for 12-15 minutes or until cooked

Click here for original recipe

Lazy Lasagna

The reason I call this "lazy" Lasagna is because its a quick way of cheating through it, and not taking the time to prepare it carefully and properly. In fact it could just be called Pasta Dish, but the mixture of white cheese sauce and rich tomato sauce give all the tastes of a delicious lasagna.

See I can make a mean lasagna, if I do say so myself (I'll post the recipe one day and you can judge for yourself), but today I didn't have the time OR all the right ingredients to do it properly, so I made shortcuts and improvised with what I had.

It was pretty yummers...
(though nothing beats a perfectly layered lasagna, with ALL the ingredients)


Ingredients:
2 C Pasta. I used bow-ties, and although I'd try to avoid macaroni, pretty much anything else works.
1 C grated cheese for topping

For the white sauce:
1/3 C Melted butter
1/4 C White flour
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Asafotedia (hing)
2 1/2 C Warm Milk (I used coconut which was a delicious twist!)
2 Tbsp grated cheese (optional)

For the tomato sauce
2 Tbsp Butter or oil
1/4 C Chopped capsicum
1/4 C Chopped eggplant
1/4 C Chopped zuchinni
1 C Chopped tomatoes (canned also works)
1/3 C Tomato paste
1/3 C Water
3 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Dried oregano
1 tsp Dried or fresh basil
1 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground black pepper
1/4 C Black olives

To Make:
Cook the pasta in a pot of boiling water. While its cooking, make the white sauce and tomato sauce.

The white sauce
1. Pour the milk in a small pot and put on a low heat. While the milk is heating, in a separate pot, melt the butter in a medium pot also on a low heat.

2. When melted, turn the heat to high and add the nutmeg and hing. After a few seconds, add the flour and stir quickly, so as not to burn the flour. Constantly stir the flour for approx 3-4 minutes, until the flour begins to emit an aromatic smell and tans slightly.

3. Take off the heat. Pour the milk into the flour/butter pot, all the while whisking so as not to accumulate lumps.

4. Once it is fully mixed, put back onto a low heat and continue to whisk until the sauce starts to thicken. Add the grated cheese and salt and take off the element. Put aside for assembly.

Tomato Sauce
1. Heat the oil in a medium pot over a medium flame. Add the hing and after a few seconds add the capsicum, eggplant and zuchinni. Stir to cover all veges with oil.

2. When the vegetables begin to stick to the bottom of the pan and have browned a little, add the chopped tomatoes and stir to combine everything.

3. Let the tomatoes cook right down to a pulp (approx 10 minutes) and then add the tomato paste and water.

4. Finally, add the herbs, sugar, salt, pepper and olives. Take off the flame.

To assemble:
By this time the pasta should be cooked el dante. Drain the water out.

1. Pour enough tomato sauce into a deep tray, enough to cover the base of the pan.

2. Place a layer of pasta in the pan, enough to cover the tomato sauce. Do not pat down to flatten, just drop the pasta in and leave no gaps.

3. Pour in the white sauce over the pasta, enough to cover it all. It may help to use the ladel or a wooden spoon to spread the sauce evenly over the pasta.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 until you have used up all three dishes, however be sure that the white sauce is the last layer.

5. Sprinkle over a generous amount of cheese over the top layer of white sauce and bake in the oven at 150 degrees Celcius for approx 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the top is slightly browned.

My own made
up recipe

Vegan Carrot Cake (Cupcakes)

Gosh at this rate anyone would think I was a vegan and that I only like cupcakes. Despite what it may look like, this is not true. I DO love cupcakes don't get me wrong, but there's a time and place for a cake, and today was just not one of them.

This morning my mother went back to NZ for her annual visit, and while she is away, I get to take her portable oven to my place! Yaaay no more having to trek over to mums apartment with my cake batter or bread dough under my arm, I can do it in my own kitchen! Seriously you have no idea how happy I am. So it kinda goes without saying that I had to bake something in it, now that its sitting quite happily on my kitchen bench.

I went with carrot cupcakes, since there were 3 carrots sitting doing nothing in my fridge. They turned out beautifully, just the right amount of light and fluffy, and the oats giving them a bit of a chew. Lovely. Just lovely.


Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:
3/4 C White Flour
1/2 C Oats
1 1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/2 C Honey
1/4 C Sugar
1/4 C Water
1/2 C Oil
1 1/2 C finely grated carrots (approx 2 large carrots)

To Make:
1. Combine the flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

2 In a separate bowl, combine the honey, sugar, water, oil, and carrots and mix thoroughly with a rubber spatula or whisk.

3. Empty the dry ingredients into the second bowl and stir until all ingredients are fully combined.

4. Pour into a well greased cake tin and bake at 175 degrees celcius for approx 45 minutes or until cooked. Alternatively pour into cupcake lined muffin trays and bake for 20-30 minutes or until cooked.

Click here for original recipe and cinnamon and oat topping.

Vegan Chocolate Cake (Cupcakes)

I emailed my godmother about a year ago, asking her for some chocolate cake recipes, knowing full well she'd have a whole recipe box full of them. She is after all, a professional cook. She caters for events, has a column in the local paper and also supplies different schools canteens. I knew I couldn't go wrong by asking her.

She sent me two recipes, but this one I like the best, its the easiest one-bowl wonder, and its vegan! Which means when I have my vegan friends over, I don't have to worry. I've tried different variations too, adding cinnamon, a little strawberry essence etc.

It was Jala's birthday in the weekend, and I'm sick of mango cupcakes, so used this recipe to make cupcakes instead of a cake for her. Topped with chunks of almond chocolate slabs... what could be yummier!?


Makes about 12-15 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 1/2 C White Flour

1/2 C Cocoa powder
2 tsp Baking powder
2 C Sugar
2 C Water
1/3 C Oil
2 Tbsp Vinegar or lemon juice
1 tsp Vanilla essence

To Make:
1. Sift flour in a bowl and add other dry ingredients.

2. Add wet ingredients and beat together with a whisk or rubber spatula.
DO NOT OVER-MIX.

3. Pour into a well greased cake tin and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through. Alternatively pour into cup-cake lined muffin trays and bake for 12-18 minutes or until cooked.

4. Make buttercream icing (with added strawberry essence or a little cocoa powder for flavour) and pipe over the cupcakes. For an extra touch, top with slabs of chocolate.

Recipe from my Godmother

Hot chai

It kinda goes without saying that living in India, there is chai all around me. Just a few steps out of the compound where I live, you will find a chai-wallah with rows of clay cups, just waiting for you to hand over your Rs3.

I searched online for some sort of recipe, and tried a few, but couldn't find anything I really liked. The recipe that I did find, I adjusted it so much that I couldn't really say I even followed it in the end! I decided to give it a go making my own, without actual tea... that way not only will I know exactly whats in it, but also I can adjust it to my liking. The basis of chai is cardamom... so don't even bother trying to make it without it. I've only just discovered the amazing number of uses for cardamom since being in India, and always keep a healthy supply on my spice tray.

Adjust this to YOUR liking. If you like your chai milky, put more milk and less water. If you like it sweet, put more vanilla or sugar. If you like more of a kick, add a little bit of fresh grated ginger, or more black pepper. Make it your own.


Makes 2 mugs (or clay pots) of chai

Ingredients:
1 1/4 C Milk
1 1/4 C Water
6x Crushed cardamom pods
4x Crushed black pepper corn (avoid using pepper powder)
1 tsp cinnamon or 5cm stick of cinnamon
1 tsp Vanilla essence or 1x Vanilla bean
2 tsp sugar

To Make:
1. Bring the water and milk to boil on a medium heat.

2. Add all spices and let it simmer for approx 10-15 minutes to let the flavours absorb.

3. Pour through a sieve into mugs and serve with a sprinkling of cinnamon or nutmeg.


Click here for original recipe.


















Other flavours you could add or subtract:

1/4 tsp Grated ginger
1/2 tsp Nutmeg powder
1/2 tsp Fennel
1/2 tsp Anise seeds
4x Crushed cloves