Spice Cake

Three penguins made of fondant is actually kind of easy.
Three penguins made of fondant, perched one on top of another, is not.

But when you're mad about a particular spice cake you've come up with, that's unfussy and beams Christmas like no other, you have to dream up a theme.

Furthermore, the drive it took to get each of these guys snug, top on top the other, is kind of what's prompting me to let you in on the whole star perching scene.

It's not a lot of work. I promise. I made two in two weeks. I can vouch that's it worth the one hour putting the cake together and the essential three four hours fashioning a sugar dough balancing act.

The cake, itself is moist, fragranced in the terrific air scenting way that it could rival your best oil diffuser. Notes of ginger and cloves sing with cinnamon making each crumb drunk in enough Christmas spirit, you possibly wouldn't need the additional brandy used to soak a 9 inch item such as this, like tradition could demand in similar situations (though it wouldn't be counted against you , if you did).

That being said, I'll leave you to bask and enjoy in what's left of our decade's last holiday.

And have my fondant fellow trio show you how to reach and keep a neverending joyful spirit.

Merry Christmas, friends!

(Fondant penguin tutorial: Sweet K)

Ingredients:

• 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
• ¼ cup corn starch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp  nutmeg
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ½ tsp orange zest
• ½ cup salted butter, softened
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• ½ cup sugar 
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup plain fat free yoghurt
• ½ cup water

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F degrees. Grease two 9-inch round baking pans well with melted butter, then lightly dust with flour. Shake out excess. 
• In a bowl whisk together flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and orange zest well.  Set aside.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together, butter, dark brown sugar and sugar until light and creamy.
• Add eggs. Beat for about 4 minutes at high speed.
• In a measuring cup, whisk together. yoghurt and water.
• With mixer on low speed, beat in flour mixture to the batter, in two additions, alternating with the yoghurt mixture, until combined.  Scrape the bowl in between while mixing.
• Pour the batter into prepared cake pans.
• Bake in preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
• Allow to cool in the pans for 5 minutes.
• Invert the cakes onto wire racks to cool completely.
• Frost with cream cheese frosting.
• Decorate as desired.

December~

2016: Grinch cake

2015: Cranberry, orange loaf

2014: Baklava

2013: Green rice pulao

2012: Perfect egg salad

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"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us)." Matthew 1:23

Cherupayar parippu payasam/ Split mung bean payasam(kheer)

This feature is assigned to those who consider the sweet tooth a vital part of their body, keeping it happy and bringing into congnizance all the lovely things that need to be eaten in a lifetime. Of course, it could purely be my own survivalist thinking, but I like to believe, that in the general realm of assumptions I speak for many of us. Am I right?

Payasam. What is it? After this one conversation, we haven't had another centering it. Surely, a coconut milk based pudding deserves more recognition than that. It certainly makes an entry into every inherited celebration our household knows, some stemming from what my imagination concocts.

With remarkably intense flavors, taken from all over the Indian food spectrum, payasam is the crown and glory of dining tables across the subcontinent's beloved Southern belt, tables teeming with no less than ten dishes and five assorted sweetmeats.

The mung bean or moong dal, a parcel of the legume family is boss ingredient in today's show. It is, in all fairness and to the credit of the post, native to India. However, of late, the moong has gained international notoriety. Punched with a plethora of minerals, these lentils are high in protein with generous amounts of disease preventing antioxidants. It would be safe to say the half cup in our recipe transcends to bowlfuls of life saving love.

Shaved jaggery and spices, imminent to South Indian dessert-ing, are part of the formula in getting our payasam sweet and tasty, so that the likelihood of second and third servings are terrifically inevitable.

Not to mention, working the variable of ingredients/methods through the Instant Pot will greatly decrease the gap from it being made over and again. Thanks to hyper cooker, the succession in steps of payasam slimmed in time, task, to sooner getting at a final taste. 

Before I conclude, below are some key points which might help in your own c.p. parippu payasam making journey. I press you to take note.

✻ There is an unsaid mung bean to lush payasam correlation. A greater amount of cooked mung, with the said amount of liquid, even a cup more, will yield a thicker, almost muckier the body, while less gives a soupy bean texture. Both are undesired. Keep to the measures given.

✻ The amount of jaggery adds to depth and sweetness. Tone it up or down, by the amount you shave in, according to your preference. You can portion in different sweeteners, like I did with the coconut sugar, to give it a bit of intrigue. But the hero of the parade will always be the jaggery.

✻ The trio of spice mentioned may be omitted. In place, you could lose out on the very essence of an old world Kerala sweet course. Hence not a commendable idea.

Take a cue and try what could be tops on your dessert list.

I'll even go as far as to dare you to swap it for one of the upcoming holiday's stipulated pies.
Then give me thanks later.

In using jaggery, you can err on the side of more, without screaming sugar coma. The sweetness of jaggery is one most people prefer in Indian sweetmeats such as these. To jazz it up, I  added coconut sugar, deepening the coconut flavor, which I very much enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• ¼ cup coconut slices
• ¼ cup cashews (I use roasted, salted)
• ½ cup split yellow gram dal/split mung beans
• 2 cups water
• ½ cup shaved jaggery
• 2 tsp coconut sugar
• 1 pod cardamom, crushed
• ½ tsp cumin powder
• ½ tsp ginger powder
• 1 can unsweetened coconut milk

Directions:

• Select saute feature on Instant Pot and set to high. Pour ghee and oil into the pot.
• Add coconut slices and cashews and lightly brown, about 1 minute each. Using a slotted spoon, skim them from the oil an set aside.
• Place mung beans into the same oil and saute until slightly roasted, not more than a minute.
• Add 1 1½ cups water.  Turn off saute function.
• Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook at high(manual) pressure for 10 minutes.
• Allow for natural release.
• Open the lid, mash the mung bean in the pot. 
• Select the saute feature to high, for 10 minutes.
• Add the cardamom, cumin and ginger powders. Stir in jaggery, coconut sugar and stir until sugars are dissolved.
• Pour in the coconut milk and the remaining ½ cup water( pour the water into the empty can to clean out milk contents and return it to the mixture)
• Cook for an additional 3-4 minutes, allowing payasam to boil and slightly thicken.
• Top with the fried cashews and coconut slices.
• Serve hot or refrigerate to serve cold.

Notes:

This gets considerably thicker as it cools. Add either coconut milk or regular milk to loosen it up for a more pour-able consistency.

Don't worry and inhale coconut🥥 Since the State of Kerala owns it when it comes to coconut production, a mere hint of the fruit would qualify for an unworthy payasam. So, it's studded to the core,  with aplenty milk, and generous slices of flesh too. 

November~

2017: Curd(yoghurt) rice

2016: Cashew chicken curry

2015: Stuffed acorn squash

2014: Chili roasted cauliflower
2013: Dulce de leche cookies

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"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:58