Moist yellow cake

The last few weeks in October predictably find me in a till- January successive frenzy. My annual Pinterest phase kicks in and I am all over the place, attempting a series of household/bathroom/doggie-costume, ahem, artistries. I like to call it seasonal transition therapy. And I kind of take pride in nailing almost everything, despite the fact that half the fun of pin-posting is in its fails. 

Let's just say, you need a different ending sometimes.

It was the cake technique, Wilton decides all of us can do. Not to dissuade you, but side warning, friends, whenever a tutorial tells you to pull apart a template from a seamless finish frosting, never, ever ...repeat and repeat, NEVER listen.  I mean, you might as well smash the project, and start over again. Which is almost what I did. After I cried...then pushed mini pumpkin cutters in, a sort of half attempt to salvage what I thought was completely lost.

Was it the better ending? I believe so. A saving grace where peek-a-boo jack-o-lanterns in an altered, albeit better buttercream ultimately freed the avant garde creative in me.

The take away from the whole spiel?  Don't get distracted by the one wrong thing that you miss out on all that could be right. 

Furthermore, it was the cake that featured as the centerpiece and raffle item in a vendor stall gig I did at a nearby school fair, also major part of the above mentioned frenzy. 

Justification came when the winner of the raffle stated to me the following day, "there's cake and then there's Your cake." How fine does the inflection in that"your" sound, huh?! All because shifted perspective led to cookie cutters setting in motion an alternative and veritably good destiny.

Getting to cake in point, the contents underneath the flame frosting is a moist yellow one, buttery enough that you can't deny where most of the flavor comes from. 

It's moist, owing to the same reason. But a consideration here is in the preparation to getting that texture in crumb. There is an imperative balance to batter beating. Overbeating will make it dense and unable to rise. Underbeating will lead to a sort of gloop, where fat and eggs separate, leaving you with uneven baked cake. 

A sizable part of the labor was painting on the extra coat of frosting, which you will not have to worry about. 

Do consider making it, though, whether it be for holiday, birthday or just to amp up your weeknight dessert scheme.

Who knows? It might enthrall you enough to not weed from the monster packs of candy you're intending to hand out tomorrow.

Ingredients:

• 3 ¼ cup all purpose flour
• ¾ tbsp baking powder
• ¾ cup salted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour cake pans (2- 8 inch is what I used)
• In bowl, whisk flour and baking powder together.
• Beat butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat after each addition. Scrape bowl as when needed.
• In another bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together buttermilk, milk and vanilla. 
• Alternately add the flour and buttermilk mixtures, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions flour mixture- 2  additions buttermilk mixture).
• Beat until just combined. Don't overbeat.
• Distribute evenly among the prepared pans.
• Bake for 24-28 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Once done, allow cakes to cool in pans for 5 minutes. 
• Flip onto wire racks and let cakes cool completely, upto an hour.
• Decorate with vanilla buttercream.
  

Hey ya, lovely person who won the cake. Thank you for the snapshot of the slice you were eating. You're the best. God bless!

October 2016: Fanta cake

******

"Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard." Isaiah 58:8

Project cake: strawberry faultline cake

As far as consistent recipe writing goes, the five cooking magazines I bought the other day and timely pinterest intervention had me up and ready to type the assembly of words you are reading at this moment.

Things in life you desire should not be taken casually: those gushing, deep, dreamy vibes, total sync of elements ...you know, ingredients required for perfect cake. More specifically, a strawberry cake I longed for a number of weeks leading to its arrival.

I struggled a bit. Google's top five searches were sacrilegious... falsities where gelatin was key in achieving moist crumb. Baking mix, the second main ingredient, had me all but cry. I absolutely loathe cake from a box and if the said were the only blueprints available, then I probably would've invented my own. 

Of course, there was a better recipe. A prior fruit reduction taking pink cake to a level of awesome I desperately needed. It compensated for a lot of bygone cravings, awash of nostalgic elements and the reason flavored pastry exists. 

But really, y'all, this actually could be the cake of my dreams. With fruit screaming though every crumb of its structure. And a structure so intentionally marred, it's perfect.

If ever misshapen had a higher calling, this would be it. 

Faultline cakes. Might take you back to grade school Science class and how well you paid attention .  Not that you'd imagine volcanoes in correlation to it, but that it goes against the very theorem of proportionate caking; a congruency vital to a layered build. In fact, the more warped the faultline is, the better the whole show gets. If only all things in life harmonized to a similar fashion.

But there is a deliberateness in roughing up the buttercream edges, so they aren't too Jurassic in nature. The extra frosting coat gets a gold dust gild. A variety of adornments, like the cut berries and flowers force even the unimpressed to wonder... "just how did she do it?'.

The middle layer is what your gaze transfixes on. It makes the effort of baking/stacking/assembling/ painting multiple sizes of a project much more meaningful. 

There it is; strawberry cake, replete with fresh flavor, densely moist and assembled in a cavalcade of pretty you just can't take your eyes off of.

Can you find fault with that?

Recipe adapted from: Liveloveandsugar
Faultline cake tutorial: Sugar Geek show
Strawberry cake~
Ingredients:

• 3 cups quartered strawberries
• 3/4 cup plain nonfat yoghurt
• 1/4 cup full fat milk
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
• 1-2 dots of Wilton pink gel food coloring

Directions:

• Puree strawberries in blender until smooth. There should be approximately 1 1/2 cups puree.
• Boil the puree in a saucepan on medium-high heat, stirring continuously, until it's reduced to 3/4 of a cup. About 12 minutes into boil, measure the reduction and if more than 3/4 cup, add it back to pan and boil a little longer. 
• Place into a measuring cup and allow to cool to room temperature. This step can be done  a few days in advance.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease/ flour pans and cover bottoms with parchment paper. (I used two 6 inch rounds and one 5 inch round)
• Combine the yoghurt, milk, eggs in a large bowl. Separate 1 cup of this wet mixture and leave aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.
• Add butter to the flour mixture, a tablespoon at a time, until it clumps and resembles moist sand.
• Add the larger egg mixture to this. Mix on the lowest speed until blended, then mix on medium high for about 1 minute.
• Scrape down the sides of bowl and stream in the remaining egg mixture. Combine for about 20 seconds on medium high.
• Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
• Remove cakes from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Invert onto racks to cool completely.
• Frost/decorate as desired.

Vanilla buttercream~

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened to room temperature
• 3-5 cups confectioner's powdered sugar, sifted (depending on stiffness and consistency)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2-4 tbsp cream

Directions:

• Beat butter in mixer for a few minutes on medium speed until smooth.
• On lowest speed, gradually add your powdered sugar, until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter.
• Increase to medium speed again and add vanilla extract and cream,. Beat until  frosting reaches desired consistency.

Notes:

If you desire more height to the layers, proceed in doubling the recipe and tripling the amount of icing used, as well as the fruit.

October:

2016-Indian cashew fudge (caju apples)

2015- Basic chicken curry

2014: Besan laddoo

2013- Macarons

******

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” 

 So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Hebrews 13:5-6

Instant Pot caramel custard/creme caramel/flan

A few weeks ago, a friend asked me if I still do desserts. That, by itself, shocked me to convulsions. Like, really, how could you think there would ever be a point in my life. Like. That. When countless things come and go on our journeys, some will remain. They have to. For your mind. For your soul. And the balance between the two. 

Ahem. We are still talking about dessert, my friends.

Writing recipes on a computer screen for more than 7 years is, in hindsight, pure joy. And that I actually didn't quit; probably wanted to, on occasion, is quite the revelation. How regaling tales of food is not only glorious, but the very therapy my being needs. The journaling, which jumpstarts from my imagination and should in some way end on your kitchen tables, instead of slothing away into the recesses of my psyche, has always been the goal. I like to believe it's all for the greater good, for those of you wanting variety in your weekly meal rotations, to spiff up your in-home dining experiences, as well as make the grandchildren I will one day have quite proud. Envisioning a future for all is productive. Don't you think?

My caramel custard recipe is epic. You should know by now that modesty is not the strong point I hold, when speaking of my culinary skills. Bear with me. I've had nonbelievers of egg and cream puddings emphatically claim Hurrah! on how undeniably lovely,  expansively rich and utterly creamy this production is, as custards should aspire to be.

However, when you find out you can have That Level of Grand in an easier, much quicker process, would you not be penning down 100 words for such same reasons?

It was like an epiphany, replicating this favorite dessert within an eight quart pressurized vessel, to less than it takes viewing a trio of window trailer previews on Netflix.

Previously, I've gone at length over how the Instant Pot astounds me. It's nothing short of a weeknight miracle when rice, beef chili, chicken noodle soup, spare ribs, 6 types of chicken curry, Kerala beef, softened tapioca manifest in a fourth of the time it normally would take to have any one of these ready for consumption.

Getting to case in point, the flan of the IP remains true to the original, with many of the magnificent features accentuated, in what may be a luxe, tighter form. With a saucepan, a blender, which you could probably swap out for a bowl-whisk, and the instant Pot, the semi-burnt sugar sauce fused to velvet custard can be your treat too, as soon as you reach the end of our dialogue.

I deliberately halved the ingredient lineup. The list below yields around 6 3-4 ounce trays/ramekins/tubs.

Chill it and it's lush enough to be date night eligible. 

In almost all certainty, it will gleefully delight your inner child.

Which, in conclusion would be the best possible argument for getting on it...right now.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 2 whole eggs plus one egg yolk
• 1 ¼ cup 2% or higher fat milk
• 1 14 ounce can sweetened, condensed milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

*1 ½ cups additional water needed for steaming purposes in the Instant Pot

Directions:

• Arrange 6-8 small ramekins/bowls on your counter.
• Microwave sugar and water on high power for 4 1/2- 5 minutes, until syrupy and deep amber in color. 
•  Swiftly, divide and pour liquid into the ramekins/bowl(s), about 1-2 tsp per ramekin. Swirl to spread caramel evenly, covering only the bottom half.
• Break eggs and 1 yolk into a small bowl.
• Place eggs, yolk, milk, condensed milk and vanilla into a blender. Blend for almost a minute, until ingredients are well combined and pale in color.
• Pour and strain the mixture into a big bowl.
• Divide the custard among the ramekins. Cover each ramekin with aluminium foil and seal well.
• Add 1 ½ cups boiling water into the Instant Pot cooking pot.
• Place a steam rack or trivet into the pot.
• Place the bowls onto the rack.
• Cover with the lid and set the stem release handle to the "sealing" position.
• Set to "steam" mode, using "low pressure" and cook for 12 minutes.
• Once completed, allow 10 minutes for natural pressure release.
• Carefully remove the bowls from the pot; remove foil and allow to cool to room temperature.
• Refrigerate and chill for at least 3-6 hours.
• Unmold onto dessert plates and serve.

Yay! Yay! I was able to get a video done of the whole IP custard making process. Check it out⇊⇊

https://youtu.be/oWDibmcr58Y

Kudos to Eashan Das, the young talent who taped, compiled and edited this video for me, just the way I wanted. Thank you, Eashan.

September-October:

2018: Multigrain pizza crust

2017: Banana cake with citrus cream cheese frosting

2016: Swiss roll cake

2015: Farfalle salad

2014: Besan laddoo

2012: Easy chocolate ice cream

________________________________________________

Kerala recipes: Listed below are recipes I deem, as do many, Kerala cuisine. I am mentioning this at a point, where an individual, by lack of knowledge, proclaimed, that the categorized Malayali recipes are not authentic Kerala. While I do appreciate healthy dialogue in reference to the articles written here and the regional attribution that they are duly assigned to, it is not helpful when things are said/quoted/vented on social media out of haste, due to improper research and lack of awareness. 

If ever you have questions/concerns/comments regarding the content, please message me in the comments section below.

Thank you.

Appam

Palappam

Beef mappas

Beef fry

North Kerala stuffed chicken

Shrimp masala (chemeen peera)

Chicken curry

Kerala parotta

Beetroot pachadi

Vermicelli pudding(semiya payasam)

Jackfruit kheer (chakka payasam)

Aval vilayichathu

Kozhikatta

Another question I'd like to address that came up recently, was whether the photographs displayed on posts were actually mine(?). The answer is a loud Yes! All photographs/blog content are my own original works(unless credit is stated), taken on the Canon 6D or Canon Rebel T2i, and sometimes my handy-dandy phone. Should you want to use/borrow/display an image from BFMK blog pages, please ask. I won't bite. In all fairness, provide due attribution- golden rule- give credit where credit is due. 

Thanks:-)

_________________________________________________

READS

What I read (June 2019 onwards):

The Sisterhood, by Bobbie Houston

You Came Back, by Christopher Cooke

Sometimes I Lie, by Alice Feeney

My Oxford Year, by Julia Whelan

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry,  by Gabrielle Zevin

Present Read- A Great Reckoning, by Louise Penny

******

"Do not, therefore, fling away your [fearless] confidence, for it has a glorious and great reward. For you have need of patient endurance [to bear up under difficult circumstances without compromising], so that when you have carried out the will of God, you may receive and enjoy to the full what is promised." Hebrews 10:35-36