Creme Caramel

This is what I had for dessert last night. Pretty gorgeous huh!

Creme Caramel in all its glory!

Some minor imperfections, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

It looks like I spent hours on it, but this took about 15 minutes of prep time only, and 45 minutes in the oven.

Its really easy and only requires a few ingredients, which I'm sure all of you will find in your kitchen.

I've used ramekins here. If you dont have ramekins, fret not. You can double or triple the recipe and make it in a cake tin, casserole dish or whatever floats your boat. Just make sure that its oven proof, and you have something bigger to put it in. (see post below)

  

This recipe makes 2 servings. 

Prep time: 12-15 mins

Cooking time: 45 mins

Time in the Fridge: 2-3 hours

You'll need:

(For the Caramel)

1/4 cup of Sugar

2 tbsp of Water

(For the Custard)

1 cup of Full fat Milk

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence

3 tbsp Sugar

1 whole Egg

1 Egg yolk 

Preheat oven at 160 degree centigrade.

(For Caramel)

Heat sugar in a pot till light golden

Try not to stir with spoon as the sugar will crystallize. Use the spoon when the sugar is melted.

When light brown quickly add water and stir. (Measure water beforehand)

Be careful not to burn the sugar, once it reaches light brown color it will quickly turn dark brown and bitter.

Remove from heat and quickly pour into ramekins (or any dish you're using)

Careful not to burn yourself, as the sugar is REALLY REALLY HOT at this time.

Keep aside.

Meanwhile make the custard.

Gently heat Milk, vanilla essence and 2 tbsp of the sugar till hot but not boiling.

In a separate bowl, lightly whisk Egg, Egg yolk and the remaining 1 tbsp of sugar.

Now add the hot milk to the eggs in a thin stream while whisking continuously so that the eggs dont get cooked.

Pass the mixture through a sieve. This will insure that your creme caramels are silky smooth, so dont skip this step.

Now add this to the ramekins.  

Place the ramekins in a dish (I used a casserole dish) and fill the dish with water.

the water should be 3-4 cm high. 

This is called a Bain marie. The water will let the custard cook gently and not burn.

Cover the whole thing with aluminium and bake for 45 minutes.

Take out and leave to cool for about 30 minutes.

Now comes the hard part:

Cling wrap the ramekins, and keep in the fridge to chill for about 2-3 hours or overnight.

When ready to serve, gently run your knife on the edge of the custard (be careful not to break th custard, its so delicate. As you can see mine did break a little from the sides as i was taking it out). Place a platter on top, and flip. Remove the ramekin, and enjoy your master piece!

Leave a comment to tell me how it turns out!!

Enjoy!

Besan ka Halva {Gram Flour Halva}

This Halva is something that i make when I'm craving something sweet but dont want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen and lets face it, we are all tired of eating Suji ka Halva! Dont get me wrong, i love that Halva too, but a little variation cant hurt anyone!

Its super easy and made with so little ingredients (ones that you usually have at home!)

and take only 15-20 minutes to make!

This recipe serves 2.

You'll Need:

4-5 tbsp of Gram flour

2 Cardamom pods

3-4 tbsp of Ghee (clarified butter)

1/2 cup of Milk

2 tbsp of Cream (can be skipped)

Sugar as desired. I used about 4-5 tbsp

Dry roast gram flour till light brown and fragrant. Careful not to burn.

Take your time with this step, if you add the other ingredients too quickly you'll have raw flour taste in your finished halva. So be patient, this would take around 8-10 minutes.

Add ghee and cardamom. Cook for about a minute or so.

Than add in the milk, cream and a little bit of water.

Cook till the Halva leaves the sides of the pan. Add sugar and cook till the sugar dissolves, about 2 more minutes.

Serve garnished with almonds and pistachios!

Enjoy!

New Cakes and Some Gorgeous Jewelry.

Hey guys !!! 

I'd share a few on my recent cakes and cupcakes.

And I'd be telling you about a Facebook Page, They have gorgeous jewelry, Their pieces are exquisite and unique (you wont be seeing them anywhere else !)

They have 18K Gold-Plated Jewelry at a very reasonable price!

They'd ship you the stuff too, no matter where you are !

Check out their page !

https://www.facebook.com/IrisDesignsKhi

Here are a few pictures of my recent cakes, browse through and enjoy !!

Sporty Twins

Perfect Father

 

White Elegance

Canon Camera Cake

Camouflage

Shoe box Cake

Dancing Diva

Graduation Cake

Wedding Cake

Angry Birds Cake

Mango Feerni - Mango and Rice Pudding

Hey guys, I'm back !! :)

The last 5 months have been quite hectic, I was stuck in preparation for my exams and than the actual exams , got free on 6th June and than got busy with cakes !

Now i feel like i can spare some time and write this post. I've missed you all ! <3

So for today i'd be posting a recipe for Mango Feerni that i found here.


You can leave out the mangoes (if you are not a big fan) and have it as is it.


Its a great make-ahead dessert, that you can whip up a day before a get together or a 'dawat'

So here goes,

1 liter of Milk
1/2 cup of Rice - soaked in water for 3-4 hours
1 can of condensed Milk
Pulp of 2 Mangoes ( blended to a smooth paste)
3-4 Cardamoms 
Sugar as required
A few drops of Kewera Essence
Crushed or Flaked Almonds and Pistachios for Garnish
A few small slices of Mango for garnish.

Grind Rice to make a paste. Keep aside.

Grind Mangoes to make a smooth pulp. Keep aside.

Boil milk with cardamom. Keep on simmering on low heat for 10 minutes.

Add the rice paste and a cup of water, keep on cooking on low heat with frequent stirring to prevent burning.

After 10 minutes add condensed milk. Keep on cooking till the rice is cooked and the Feerni is thick.

Add sugar. (keeping in mid that the condensed milk is quite sweet and you'd be adding mangoes as well)

Cook for a minute or two till the sugar dissolves.

At this stage you can take it out, chill and have it as is it. Its quite good !

For a mango version,

Add the mango pulp. Take off heat and cool to room temperature.

Than put it in the fridge to chill for a few hours. Garnish with Crushed almonds, pistachios and mango pieces!

Enjoy!!

Doctor Themed Cake

Today i made a cake for my sister's friend. She asked for a doctor themed cake and she wanted me to incorporate "the Vampire diaries" on the cake as well.

So i made 1 9 inch round layer of Chocolate cake

And

1 layer of pink colored vanilla layer.

Filled and frosted with chocolate ganache.

Made fondant decorations ( Not perfect, i know, as you can see the cracks in the stethoscope :( but i'm new at all this, so cut me some slack ok!)

Gosh, I'm exhausted :D

I'm off to bed, see ya!

The birthday girl likes damon !

Chocolate Chunk/Chip Cookies

I was having Chocolate chip cookie cravings ever since i woke up today, so i go to my kitchen but I see that i've run out of butter, milk chocolate chips and brown sugar (which, by the way i found with some extensive pantry searching).

I compensated for the chocolate chips by some chocolate bar (diary milk) that i had at home.

As for the butter, I just thought of using vegetable oil ! :D

If you are a gooey cookie lover, like yours truly, than these cookies are for u !!

I didnt even take a proper picture. !:D sorry !!

Ingredients :

Flour : 1 1/2 cupsBaking soda : 1/2 tsp
Salt : 1/4 tsp
Sugar : 1/4 cup
Brown Sugar : 1/2 cup 

Vegetable oil : 1/2 cup 

Egg : 1 large
Vanilla essence : 1 tsp
Chocolate chips : 2/3 cup (I used 1/3 cup of milk chocolate chunks and 1/3 cup of white chocolate chips)

Method:

Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Keep aside.

Whisk oil and both sugars...

Add egg and vanilla essence. Whisk until incorporated.

Add the flour. whisk. it fill form a sticky dough.

Add the chocolate chunks or chips (i ran out of chocolate chips :D )

...white chocolate chips.

Fold.

Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop a tablespoon of batter 2 inch apart.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 13-15 minutes.

And get ready for gooey deliciousness !!