Food blogger Vishaka Rautela shares recipes to spice up your chai time.
Why head to a restaurant when you can dish up delicious tea-time cakes at home?
Try these recipes that your kids will surely love :)
Eggless Swedish Chocolate Toscatarta
Recipe by Anuja Sule from Simple Baking's Happy Bakes
Ingredients:
- 195 gm all purpose flour
- 200 gm caster sugar
- 25 gm cocoa powder, sifted
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 75 gm butter, melted
- 1 cup (240 ml) warm water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (or vinegar)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
For the topping:
- 50 gm butter
- 100 gm almond flakes
- 50 gm caster sugar
- 2 tsp all purpose flour
- 3 tbsp Amul cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract or essence
Method:
- Preheat oven to 175°C. Butter and line with parchment paper, an 8-inch round cake tin.
- In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, sifted cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
- Add the melted butter, water, lemon juice/vinegar and vanilla extract. With a fork or whisk, mix all the ingredients together until well-blended.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for around 20-25 minutes. Insert a skewer into the centre. If the cake comes out moist but not totally clean, it will still need another 10 minutes of cooking. Increase the heat to 200°C.
- Just before the 25 minutes are up, make the topping. Place the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When it has melted, add the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil, allowing the mixture to bubble away for one minute.
- After the cake has been cooking for 25-30 minutes, remove it from the oven, and spoon the almond mixture evenly over the top.
- Place it back in the oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the topping is golden.
- Leave to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes. Carefully remove from tin and place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Nutella Squares
Recipe by pastry chef Pooja Dhingra
Vishaka writes, "I had bought Pooja Dhingra's The Big Book of Treats a while back, but had never attempted to bake anything from it.
"Recently I got to taste her renowned sea salt macaroons and cupcakes, they sure lived up to their reputation.
"So I picked up her book, drooled over each post, and finally zeroed in on the Nutella squares."
Ingredients:
- 75 gm dark chocolate
- 125 gm butter
- 50 gm brown sugar
- 100 gm all purpose flour
- 75 gm oats
- 400 gm Nutella
- 100 gm chopped roasted hazelnuts
Method:
- Melt chopped chocolate and butter in a double boiler.
- Add brown sugar and whisk till it mixes together perfectly.
- Fold in the flour with a spatula. Throw in the oats and mix.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a tin with parchment paper.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. Once cool, apply a generous coat of Nutella on top. You can then garnish with chopped roasted hazelnuts.
Dear readers, do you have interesting recipes to share?
E-mail your recipes to getahead@rediff.co.in (subject: Recipe) along with your NAME, AGE, LOCATION.
Also please provide a photograph and a brief description of the recipe (its history, significance etc), if possible.
All photographs: Kind courtesy Vishaka Rautela
All photographs: Kind courtesy Vishaka Rautela