Sourdough Chocolate Cake

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 13

Bake of the day: Sourdough Chocolate Cake

I'm going to end this year and Bake-a-thon on a sweet note with this Sourdough chocolate cake. Sourdough is usually associated with rustic breads but it can also be used to make delicious cakes like this one. I already made carrot cake with sourdough and it was quite a hit. That reminds me to make that one again sometime.

I made this cake twice -- first time for my cousins birthday, but I couldn't take pictures and second time to take pictures and enjoy it again. The cake doesn't have any tell tale sign taste of sourdough and everybody liked it a lot. It is a very moist and chocolaty cake that needs just a little bit of planning. 

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Mexican Chocolate Bars

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 12
Bake of the day: Mexican Chocolate Bars

Last week of December, last couple of posts for this year's Bake-a-thon.. sigh.. time sure is zooming by fast :-( Can't believe we are just a few days away from a new year, I'm excited and anxious as to what it's going to bring.

Coming back to today's dish, I made these Mexican Chocolate bars way back in May when I had my blog buddies over for a get together. I took the photos but didn't get a chance to post the recipe till now. Recipe is from Woman's Day.

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Chocolate Cookies (Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies)

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Holiday Bakes

Dish: Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies

Hope all of you are having a good holiday weekend. Mine turned out to be busier than expected and I couldn't find time to type the posts that I planned for the weekend. These chocolate cookies were supposed to be posted yesterday but with my poor time management they are a day late :-(

I made these Chocolate chip cookies aka World Peace cookies by Dorie Greenspan twice this month. I sent a batch with my mom for my cousins in India and the second batch went to my son's school as a holiday treat. I kept a few home and left them out along with some chocolate-chip cookies for Santa on Christmas eve.

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Orange-Cranberry and Nut Fruitcake

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 4/ Day 2

Theme: Holiday Bakes

Dish: Orange and Cranberry Fruitcake

Merry Christmas to all of you.
We had a fun filled Christmas eve party with friends last night and today it's going to be another great to spend with family. My sister and my cousin are coming over for Christmas lunch, so the post is going to be rather short today :-)

I made this fruitcake to give as gift and this recipe is great for people like me who are not great at planning ahead and decide to make a fruitcake in the last minute. Recipe comes from King Arthur Flour and like all their bakes, this one turned out great. Here's the 90 minute fruitcake I made last year and here's the Vegan fruitcake I made the year before.

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Overnight Panettone

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 10

Bake of the Day: Overnight Panettone

Panettone has been on my baking list for a very very long time. Last year I took the leap and even bought these panettone paper pans from King Arthur flour, then I chickened out in the last minute. So, this year I made up my mind to give it a try.

I followed this recipe for Overnight Panettone from King Arthur flour. This recipe has much less fat than the traditional more luxurious recipes. But it is light and delicious. Addition of Fiori di Sicilia extract gives it that special holiday flavor.

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Nutella Star Bread

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 9

Bake of the Day: Nutella Star Bread

Star bread has been on my to-make list ever since I saw this beautiful loaf on Nalini's blog. Finally I got to make it for Bake-a-thon. Instead of Nalini's savory bread, I made a Nutella filling star bread and the whole family absolutely loved it.

I followed the recipe from King Arthur flour. The filling for this bread can be anything from cinnamon sugar to Nutella to even garlic and cheese. Since Nutella is one of my kids favorite I wanted to try it with that, but I'm definitely going to make the savory version sometime soon.

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Chocolate-Caramel Sandwich Cookies

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 8

Bake of the Day: Chocolate-Caramel Sandwich Cookies

I made these cute little chocolate-caramel sandwich cookies for my daughter's Halloween party in school. They were quite a hit and all her teachers wanted the recipe. The recipe is from Martha Stewart site.

Chocolate cookies are very easy to put together, just mix all the ingredients, roll and bake. The only change I made is to use egg replacer powder instead of the egg yolk.

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Eggless Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 7
Bake of the Day: Eggless Strawberry Creamcheese Cupcakes
Did you know that yesterday, December 15th, was National Cupcake day? I didn't either, but it was on my daughter's calendar and that's how I found out :-) So here's a recipe celebrating the cupcake day.

I actually made these for my mom's 60th birthday couple of months ago. We also celebrated my daughter's 3rd birthday on the same day, hence the 60 & 3 toppers on the cake. I decorated some with fresh strawberries and some with fondant toppers. Base is my favorite vegan vanilla cupcakes stuffed with a piece of cream cheese which is in turn topped with strawberry jam.

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Eggless Fruit & Nut Cake

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 6
Bake of the Day: Fruit & Nut Cake without Eggs
We are just 12 short days away from Christmas and I'm sure everyone is in full gear with holiday decorating, shopping and baking. We just put our Christmas tree up yesterday and the decoration is still work-in-progress. My 3 year old is very excited about Christmas and has been actively helping me in decorating the house :-)

This fruit & nut cake reminds me of Britannia snack cake with little specks of tutti fruity in it. I have made this cake about half a dozen times already and it has been quite a hit every time I make it. Recipe is from Nisha Madhulika's site. Recipe needs just a few basic baking ingredients and a few minutes of stirring, voila you have a delicious cake in less than an hour.

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Wholewheat Banana Bread (made with Honey)

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 5

Bake of the Day: Wholewheat Banana Bread

I sometimes feel that overripe bananas are a bane of my existence. They haunt me with their lingering smell and I can't eat or throw them away. The family abandons them the minute they turn slightly blotchy outside even though they are perfect inside. I have learnt to show them only peeled ones so they don't judge it by the package.

Even with all this I end up with 3~4 overripe bananas by the end of the week. I have so many versions of banana breads/ muffins that making another one doesn't excite me that much. But this recipe from Cookie+Kate is made with wholewheat (pastry) flour and is sweetened with honey (or maple syrup) got me off my behind and into the kitchen to bake.

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Mini Chocolate Chip Scones

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 4

Bake of the Day: Mini Chocolate Scones

I think scones are one of the easiest baked goods, they can be made without any prior planning with ingredients straight from the fridge. When I see any new scone recipe, I bookmark it right away. This mini chocolate chip scones recipe is from King Arthur flour.

Mini vanilla scones are sold at Starbucks for about a $1, but they are quite easy to make at home for fraction of the cost. Except for using some wholewheat pastry flour I followed the recipe to the T and these mini scones are really very addictive -- flaky and delicious.

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Toasted Millet & Oats Granola

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 3

Bake of the Day: Toasted Millet & Oats Granola

Today I have a simple and easy to make granola recipe with millet, rolled oats, coconut and pistachios. Recipe is from Everyday Food by Martha Stewart. This recipe has been on my to-make list for a while now and I'm glad I can finally strike it off from the list.

This granola is crunchy with the toasted millet and chewy with the coconut flakes and dried cranberries. I like to eat it over some Greek yogurt for breakfast. Soaking it in almond milk makes it a little soft and easier to eat.

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Harvest Grains Loaf

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 2
Bake of the Day: Harvest Grains Loaf

Here's another family favorite bread that is soft and delicious with a nice blend of grains and seeds. I used King Arthur's Harvest Grain blend which is a mixture of 4 grains and 4 seeds. You can use any combination of grains and seeds. Grains like oat berries, millet, barley flakes and seeds like flax, poppy, sesame, sunflower etc can be used.

I think the next time I make this bread I will use a higher ratio of wholewheat to all purpose flour. Like I said before this is a very soft and tasty bread that is great toasted for even in a sandwich. I made some potato curry & cheese sandwiches and also Nutella sandwiches with this bread. Both tasted great.

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Basic Sourdough Bread

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 1
Bake of the day: Basic Sourdough Bread
It's December already which means we are right smack in the middle of the holiday season. It is also the month where few baking enthusiastic bloggers come together for a Bake-a-thon. So look out for new posts with baked goodies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in December. Thank you to Valli for organizing the event and also for the very helpful linky tool so all of our bakes are all in one place.

First up is a basic sourdough bread. I already have a basic sourdough sandwich bread on the blog that is made with very few ingredients. This one has some fat and potato flour for a more softer crumb and a fluffier bread.

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Fruited Sourdough Sandwich Bread

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 14

Bake of the Day: Fruited Sourdough Bread

It has been a busy Christmas weekend. We drove to Chicago to see my cousins. It was a really long drive (about 800 miles) and thankfully it went really well, though we are still recovering from the after effects. I had all the last weeks posts scheduled ahead of time and planned on baking couple of cookies for the last 2 days of bake-a-thon.

But unfortunately the hectic weekend is taking a toll on me. I can't seem to keep myself awake, so I looked through my drafts and found 2 bread recipes that I baked a while back. After the eggless ricotta loaf, here's another loaf bread using sourdough starter and fruits like apple & raisins.

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Eggless Ricotta Loaf

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 13

Bake of the Day: Eggless Ricotta Loaf

This is going to be a quick post today. I had some ricotta cheese in the fridge that needed to be used up and I also had to bake a bread for the week, so a little googling landed me at Versatile Kitchen's amazing eggless ricotta loaf recipe.

It is eggless but has the nice moist and beautiful crumb that the usual brioche breads have. A perfect bread to have for breakfast with some butter and jam or for a more elaborate French toast breakfast. It tastes good just as is for a quick snack.

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Gingerbread People Cookies

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 12

Bake of the Day: Gingerbread People Cookies

I love the smell of Gingerbread houses -- the vanilla frosting mixed with the spices from the gingerbread makes it feel like Christmas time. 3 years ago, when I was still working, our department decided to participate in the annual gingerbread house competition. It was so much fun to come together as a team and even though we didn't win, I think we had a great time making the gingerbread house.

My son has been making gingerbread houses in school and we keep it around the house for a while because I love the smell of it and it feels like Christmas for a little longer in the new year too.
This year my son volunteered to bring Gingerbread people to school. It was his brilliant idea (!!!!!!) to include people in their gingerbread houses and when the teacher said they are difficult to find, he volunteered to bring them himself (?????). Well, since I love baking, I didn't complain and took up the project.

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90 Minute Fruit Cake

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 11

Bake of the Day: 90 Minute Fruit Cake

Christmas is just 1 day away. If you didn't make a fruitcake and think you don't have time to make it, think again. This 90 minute fruitcake is just for you. Instead of making loaves or round shaped fruitcakes, these mini bundt cakes are very easy to put together and taste almost like the regular fruitcake.

Last year I made an eggless Christmas Fruitcake that involved soaking in the dry fruit and nuts in orange juice or some kind of alcohol for at least 1 day or more to get the best flavor. This year I wanted to make something different and when I saw these mini bundt cake recipe in the King Arthur catalog, I knew I found myself a good recipe.

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Lemon Almond Biscotti

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 10

Bake of the Day: Lemon Almond Biscotti

Yay!! It's the week of Christmas. My 7 year old is very excited and can't wait for Christmas day and to open his gifts. I have all the gifts already delivered, but haven't had a chance to wrap them. Since he's in school today, I have to try and finish wrapping them. These crunchy Lemon-almond cookies are great while wrapping along with some hot tea :-)
I made these as 'Christmas gifts' for my friends. I gave them a choice of 6 homemade treats to pick from and these biscotti were on ALL of their lists. Oh, by the way, do check my list of homemade edible gifts if you have time and plan on giving them to your dear ones.

These lemon-almond biscotti are very subtly flavored with lemon and almond. Recipe is from King Arthur Flour site. Lemon zest and lemon juice are added along with almond extract. I added some sliced almonds for some extra crunch. The lemon drizzle on top is a really nice touch.

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Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 9

Bake of the Day: Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

I recently took a 'Pie making' class along with a dear friend at Chef Central. The class was the day before Thanksgiving and the 3 pies we brought back from the class were served for dessert on Thanksgiving day.

The crust is the foundation of any pie or tart. A good crust can enhance and elevate the resulting dessert. Conversely, a bad crust can make a wonderful filling lose its appeal. We learnt 3 different types of pie crusts: 3-2-1 Pie dough, Pâte sucrée and a simple cookie crust.

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