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Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Professor cupcakes

You know what has been missing on this blog lately?
Cupcakes!!
I mean c'mon it's called 'Cupcakes Vs the World ' right? there must be more cupcakes !!
I have been having a lot of ideas for cupcakes lately, some fancy, some plain ol' classic ones and some very very pretty ones!!

Here is a batch of cupcakes I had to make for a birthday order. These were for a science professor and I wanted to do something a little different !! :)
Excuse the pictures, they were taken later in the evening just as the light was fading and I was in a big hurry to manage a close up of every cupcake..

Instead of keeping the base of the cupcake plain, I lined them with blue lines in order to make it look like notebook paper :)
               Tiny little books. This was an obvious choice, I know but they were so cute I could'nt resist.
             A little algebra for the geekier ones.
        Oh, and for the record, I. hate. trignometry.
                      I totally do NOT get the point.It feels like one of those random games you make up when you're a five year old and you have nothing to do in the afternoon and feel like making you an imaginary language or something.
Anyway, moving on......


    Hey, this guy was one short of the big five-oh!!!
   Might as well make it as jhataak as possible ,right?
And let me just say, this little blue bow simply makes me happy. 
:)
Mostly because it reminds me of that guy from the movie 'Up'.
Not the chubby kid, the grumpy sweet old man :)
                       It took a few times to get the bubbles on this one right, but it was well worth it.
 Nothing beats the 3-D effect!!
                                      And finally, the scholarly owl....Notice how he just graduated?? :)
                 

                             All six together!! Now all we need are a few geeks and its a party!!!


                The base as well as all the cupcake toppers are handmade from Gumpaste. It takes a little work and imagination but the ideas and possibilities are endless!!
More cupcakes coming soon!!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Easy-Peasy Chocolate cake

I've been on a little bit of a health kick lately.
You know, egg whites, grilled chicken ,green tea, soup for dinner.. blah blah. the whole shazaam.
Before, you say anything, I know that the picture above definately does'nt prove it, but in my defence the cake is from a few weeks back.
Really.
Pinky swear.

I've even managed to sneak in a KFC zinger  burger somewhere among all the healthy stuff :p
I can't remember the last time I've wasted this much time. What with the last two years spent training, completing journals and cleaning tiles in the college corridors with toothbrushs (catering college woes :/) and waking up at 6 am , the last one month has ben nothing but bliss.

       Summer is my favourite time of the year , Simply because Blue skies and sunny afternoons make me very happy. It's hard to explain. However, the only complaint I have is that my hair seems to take on a life of it's own during summer. It behaves like a spoilt, pampered child   and I literally have to tie it up kicking and screaming on most days even to make it look remotely normal :/
         Over the past few weeks,I also managed to take my first baking class at home, something I've been wanting to do for quite a while now and the chocolate cake here is something that we made on the last baking class which co incidentaly was Mothers day!! :)
I think chocolate cake is utter comfort food. Its the one thing that always works..
feeling grumpy in the morning?
Cant decide on dessert after lunch?
 Lazing around on a summer afternoon with nothing to do?
Think a cup of plain ol' tea just isn't enough?
Birthday?
Fever?
doomsday?
 Day before exam? (notice how Doomsday immediately made me think of the day before exam :/ hmmm )
Late night chocolate craving?
Apocalypse?
Midgets taking over the world?
< Insert chocolate cake here>


I mean, it's pretty much the solution to everything.
Its easy to see why chocolate cake like this, thats easy to make and even easier to gulp down should be loved. No no, not loved. WORSHIPPED.





I love hundreds and thousands sprinkles.
They are so so pretty and just plain happy :)
And not to mention jazzy and jhataak (yes, im allowed to veer off the english language a little!!
(Don't judge me!!)


Easy -Peasy Chocolate Cake:

Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups All purpose Flour
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
    2/3 cup   Cocoa Powder
    1/2 cup  Butter/ Shortening
 1 1/2 cup  Buttermilk
 1 1/2 tsp  Baking Soda
    1/2 tsp  Salt
    1    tsp Vanilla essence
    2          Eggs

  • Preheat the oven to 175'C
  • Line two 9 inch round cake tins with butter paper and grease and dust them with flour.Make sure that they are greased and dusted evenly.
  • Beat all the ingredients in a large bowl on medium speed for about 1 min. until they are blended properly.
  • Continue beating on high speed for about 3-4 min.
  • Immediately pour the batter equally into the two pans and bake for 25-20 min. or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
  • Cool completely and demould the cake from the pans.
For the truffle filling and topping:

450gms Dark Chocolate
150 ml   Fresh Cream
  50 ml   Milk (optional)
Light sugar syrup
  • Melt the fresh cream and Dark chocolate over a double boiler or in a glass bowl in a microwave.
  • stir properly so that no lumps remain, let the mixture cool and come to room temperature.
  • Add a little warm milk if required so that the truffle is spreadable.
  • Sprinke the first layer of cake with some sugar syrup and then Layer the truffle generously between the two cakes.
  • Sprinkle the top layer of cake with some more sugar syrup and then lightly melt the remaining truffle o that it is easier to spread.
  • Cover the cake with truffle and even it out with a palette knife.
  • Decorate as you want!!