Nigella Lawson’s Baby Bundts + Making Allowances

Does the world need another recipe for a lemony cake? I suppose not. But is this one worth sharing? Yes. I think all cake is worth sharing!

I’ve been baking quite a lot from Nigella Lawson’s How To Be A Domestic Goddess over the past two months. It’s a book I’ve owned for over 2 years, but it’s only now getting some quality time in the kitchen.  I’ve made a few of her recipes before- cherry-almond loaf cake, store-cupboard chocolate orange cake, Victoria sponge cake, and some others, with pretty good results.

The new cover
image courtesy | nigella.com

The old edition, which I have
image courtesy | unibooks.co.au

The thing with me is, I try new recipes often enough, but when it comes to baking something for a potluck or dinner party, I always end up baking the same few recipes over and over again. There’s Nigella’s chocolate olive oil cake, a simple vanilla sponge cake, or a lemony loaf cake. I get nervous about busting out something new that I’ve never baked before.

I am also hit with a slight sense of anxiety: invariably, there will be someone in the party who detests a particular flavour; and it is near impossible to please everyone. When I bake, I pretty much choose between two broad categories: is it going to be a chocolatey cake, or a fruity one? (This could be anything from a citrusy oil-based cake to banana bread or a strawberry/apple cake.) If I decide to make a fruity cake, there will be someone who detests Granny Smith apples, cannot stomach strawberries or hates bananas.

And with chocolate- yes, there are plenty of people who really do not like chocolate. Being a chocoholic myself, I used to find it absurd. I couldn’t understand how people could dislike the taste of chocolate, or caramel, or dislike dessert altogether. I’d feel bad if someone passed up dessert, or said, “I don’t eat chocolate, I’ll pass.” Even though they had a perfectly valid reason- I’d still feel a bit let down. They don’t like cake. They don’t want my cake. When cooking and gathering around the table to feed friends and family is your happy place, you have a tendency to be blind to smaller appetites and cautious eaters.

And then I looked at my own eating habits. I am not a big meat-eater. If there’s mutton masala, fish curry or fried prawns on table, I’ll eat a small amount. I usually don’t take seconds, and even with biryani, I end up taking a single piece of chicken or meat, while the rest of the party is digging in for more. Being less enthusiastic about non-vegetarian food- this behaviour could very well be perceived as strange by the host/hostess, right? S/he could be thinking: Meenakshi doesn’t like my mutton masala.

So when it comes to personal taste, one really can’t judge.Some of us don’t enjoy meat. Some people just really.hate.chocolate. And while my 20-year-old self would have gotten all high-pitchy with a chocolate-hater and argued “How can anyone NOT like chocolate?,” now I’ve learnt to just let it be. Create with love and serve everyone: if they enjoy it and get themselves seconds, wonderful. If they’d rather not indulge, it’s all good. Make allowances. Be accepting of tastes not aligned with your own.

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This recipe is also about making allowances. It’s a recipe for baby bundts- except I don’t have a bundt pan, baby or XL. I do own a mini donut tray, so I used that instead. So it’s not a baby bundt- but maybe we can pretend it’s a baby ring cake?

We had a family potluck last month and I decided to make this instead of my standard chocolate cake or fruity loaf. I figured it would be easy to eat and portion out or carry home. And if someone didn’t like it too much- they’d have to endure only 3-4 bites in total!

The way the ingredients are mixed is muffin-like: wet and dry mixed separately, then combined. Considering the amount of yoghurt in the batter, I expected a moister cake, but this one was quite springy. The glaze, of course, helped. All in all it’s a fun and agreeable little cake- not too fancy, not too shy.

I don’t have a picture of the glaze- but don’t leave it out- it’s not as nice without it 🙂

NIGELLA LAWSON’S BABY BUNDTS (From How To Be A Domestic Goddess.)

INGREDIENTS

The Cake

• 125 ml natural yoghurt
• 75 g butter, melted
• 2 large eggs
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 150 g flour
• 125 g caster sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of salt

The Glaze

• Juice of 1 lemon
• 200 g icing sugar

METHOD

The Cake

• In a measuring jug or bowl, mix the yoghurt, melted butter, eggs, and lemon zest until combined.
• In a separate larger bowl, lightly whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt.
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, folding until everything is combined.
• Pour the batter into baby bundt moulds (in my case, mini donut moulds!) and bake at 170 C for 25-30 minutes.
• Once cooled, ice the cakes with the sugary glaze.

The Glaze

• Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl, and slowly pour in as much lemon juice as you need to make an icing that is thick enough to hold shape but drizzle down the sides.

 

Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Fudge Cake + A Love For Cookbooks

It’s been slim pickings here at the blog for a while now so I thought I might as well post something rich and decadent after a-ummm-how shall I put it across? A blog-fast? A locked pantry?

We celebrated my husband’s birthday this month, and every year, he asks for a chocolate cake. He likes cheesecake and loaf cakes and citrusy oil-based cakes as well, but when it comes down to the kind of cake he’d like to cut on his birthday, it must be chocolate. Clean. Classic. Simple. Elegant.

And if there’s one cook out there who has chocolate cake recipes to suit every kind of palate and occasion, it’s Ms Lawson. Need a fancy cake? Torta alla gianduia from How To Be A Domestic Goddess. Need a cake that’s less dense, but looks difficult and laboured over? Chocolate cloud cake from Nigella Bites. Need something sophisticated and served individually? Molten chocolate babycakes. Gluten-free? Nigellissima’s Chocolate olive oil cake! So you see, she has something for the children, something for the chocoholic, something for the gluten-intolerant.

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I picked up a copy of Nigella Bites a month ago, it was a nice hardcover edition, plus it was on sale. I know the number of recipes is limited compared to say, a How To Eat, Feast, or Nigellissima, and I’m well aware that almost all her recipes are available online (either on her website or a food blogger’s,) but the offer was too good to resist. I’d flipped through a copy of Nigella Bites it in a bookshop and quite liked it. (Yes, I’m one of those people- I’ll browse in a bookshop and buy it on Amazon or Flipkart if it’s cheaper there.) I have HTBADG, but I like Nigella Bites because it’s slightly different from the others- fewer recipes, but more step-by-step pictures, and a page after each chapter for notes, so you can scribble your observations and notes to self.

Okay, I’ll say it now- I am a Nigella convert. I’ve been quite open about my contempt for her in the past, but as I browse through more of her books, I began to see why she’s so popular: the pretty prose aside, she does tend cook to like many of us would at home. (I use stock cubes and frozen peas myself.) While I may not be making her ham in Coca Cola anytime soon, there are plenty of other things I can attempt, from involtini to orange breakfast muffins and Vietnamese chicken salad. And even if I don’t end up making all of the recipes, I don’t mind- like having cookbooks to hold and read!

Actually I love collecting cookbooks. I read them like I would a novel, going through recipes and techniques before bed each night, drawing some kitchen inspiration and figuring out how I can use the ingredients I have in a new way.

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So most nights, before I sleep, I’ll flip through a cookbook in bed. I’ll just pick a book off my bookshelf, based on how I feel- and I’ll read a recipe or two like a bedtime story. Marcella Hazan’s tips on how best to store basil. Felicity Cloake’s recipe for perfect gazpacho. Amanda Hesser’s baked zucchini with herbs. Ritu Dalmia’s marinated eggplant sandwich recipe, or one of Nigella’s many, many muffin or cake recipes. More than the recipe itself- “…in a bowl sift together flour, salt, baking powder..,” I like reading the notes preceding a recipe. What inspired it, who it’s borrowed from, a special meal it was part of, how the author has added her twist to it.

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I’ve come across other bloggers who do the same- and I wonder- do you curl up with a good cookbook? And why? For the prose, meal planning, or just to take in the beautiful photography?

Sometimes I wonder if I think about food a little too much: right now, I’m thinking about how to prepare a bowl of wheatberries, currently soaking. And this brings me back to Ms Lawson. She claims to have her mind on food almost all the time, and she’s unapologetic about it. And her recipes too, are straightforward and unapologetic about how they came to be.

This chocolate cake is chocolate cake at its simple, uncomplicated best. No 70% dark chocolate to be melted, just good old-fashioned cocoa powder, flour-butter-sugar-eggs. The way the ingredients are combined differs from some of Nigella’s other chocolate cakes, but it yields a spongy and light cake with a creamy, sweet and slightly tart frosting. It’s got more body than buttercream, so it holds up well, and it’s a nice contrast to the spongy cake.

I also feel it tastes better the day after it’s baked- the rest moistens the sponge and makes it a little richer 😀

NIGELLA LAWSON’S CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE (From Nigella Bites)

I halved the recipe to make just one layer. I also substituted some ingredients, which I’ve added in brackets.

The Cake

• 400 g all-purpose flour
• 250 g golden castor sugar ( I used white castor sugar)
• 100 g light brown muscovado sugar (I used light brown sugar)
• 50 g cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 large eggs
• 142 ml sour cream ( I used plain yogurt)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 175 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 125 ml corn oil (I used sunflower oil)
• 300 ml chilled water

For The Chocolate Frosting

• 175 grams dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
• 250 grams unsalted butter (softened)
• 275 grams icing sugar (sifted)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

 

METHOD

For The Cake

• Preheat the oven to 180°C
• Grease and line the bottom of two 8-inch sandwich tins.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• In another smaller bowl or measuring jug, whisk the eggs, sour cream and vanilla until blended.
• In a third, large bowl, beat the melted butter and corn oil until just blended, then beat in the water. Add the flour mixture at once and beat well. Add the egg mixture-sour cream mixture and continue beating till everything is well combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared tins.
• Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool completely before icing the cake

The Icing

• Melt the chocolate in the microwave  or a double boiler. Allow it to cool slightly.
• In another bowl beat the butter until it’s soft and creamy. Add the sieved icing sugar and beat till light and fluffy. Then add the vanilla and melted chocolate and mix until everything is glossy and smooth.
• To assemble, sandwich the middle of the cake with 1/4 of the icing, and spread the frosting over the top and sides.

Howdy, It’s Been A While: Random Musings, Food & Books

I have been so busy with deadlines that I have neglected my blog and all my bloggy friends. So, if I have been spamming your blog with comments, it is only out of love. I really marvel at my friends A in L.A. and A in Bahrain who are full-time mothers, with full-time jobs, a family and home to manage  and STILL manage to blog often, and  quite wonderfully at that.

I wish I knew the secret blogging formula, but I cannot do what Copyblogger does and blog 24×7.

Yes, blogging is  science and an art and I’m sure by the time my son gets ready for college most phancy universities will offer courses in it. I’m telling you, ‘digital storytelling’ is the new creative writing.

Some random thoughts and happenings:

Stories. When I was a child, a story was something that came out of a book, ink and paper, bound and pressed. It had protagonists, a plot, a beginning, middle and an end; and a resolution to the said plot. Now thanks to Mark Zuckerberg, a story is any random piece of &%$#! that comes up on anyone’s Facebook page. Oh well.

Denim. I know that a lot of things change post-pregnancy. Some of us develop cravings for food which we didn’t care for earlier. Some of us develop aversions to things we loved. That has happened to me. I hate denim jeans now. I just can’t wear them anymore. I abhor the heaviness. I dislike the stretch. I detest the density.

So I invested in cropped cotton pants with a bit of stretch a la Audrey. Cotton is so much nicer. It helps me breathe. I know that style guides will accuse me of adding extra age to my frame by opting for slacks and doing away with denim in my 20’s, but I really don’t care. My face is the same  so it’s cool.

PEZ. I recently rediscovered this candy when I went shopping the other day! I love that artificial cherry tang. Crunch. Did you know there is a microsite dedicated to PEZ dispensers? My son loves it too! So now I know what to keep out of his reach. Toddlers on sugar highs=less naptime=not very nice for mommy. (Judging by how disjointed this paragraph is, perhaps I’m the one who needs to cut back on the PEZ.)

Nerds. Since I have been munching on PEZ, I suddenly realized how much I miss Nerds!! I love this candy. Sweet, tart, powdery, sugary: all at once! As I child, every Halloween, I’d pray that people would hand out more Nerds boxes and Snickers bars. I used to get very upset if I got stuck with candy corn. Nerds rock. They are pebbles of perfect awesomeness.

Some stuff that has been coming out of my kitchen: 

Last-minute mango & peach crumble, with the last fruits of the season.

Paneer butter masala. Always great for when people come over.

Chocolate cake. I have found my ultimate chocolate cake recipe (so far.)

Some recent book purchases:

Go my hands on How To Be A Domestic Goddess.

image courtesy | nigella.com

I know. I caved. I have written earlier about how I do not really like Nigella, but there are so many great recipes in her book, and so many of my blogger friends have made wonderful things using this book, and I needed a baking book anyway, and Dorie’s book was out of stock, and you know….ok, enough with the validation.

I bought Nigella’s cookbook. All the better, because in her book, I only have to see her words, not her crazy-eyes.

I also got my hands on Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go Bernadette, simply because I read such great reviews about it and went through a sample. I am yet to start it, but looking forward to it!

image courtesy | amazon.com

Great. I even got the ‘click to look inside!’ logo. How incredibly lazy of me. Oh well.

I have also regressed a few years, and have taken to watching Grey’s Anatomy.

In my defense, I have liked Patrick Dempsey since Can’t Buy Me Love in the 80’s. A dedicated fan even uploaded the entire film on Youtube for 80’s film geeks like me. ( I swear, it was not me. Truly.)

So that is what I have been upto, between cold-nursing, mothering and work.