German flag fruit cake.

I made this one for my sister, tanmayta on her birthday. She is very fluent in German and is pursuing a career in it. It came out really well. I made a very big one using 12 eggs and it was a hit! You can make a small one and a different combination of fruits or a different flag. I suggest using 6 eggs at the least because this cake doesn't rise much. I know it looks a little complicated but it is a basic cake with whipped cream and fruits. Do not try to achieve matt-like perfect icing as you are baking at home for friends and family and it does not have to be professional-looking. Instead Aim for great taste!

What you need:

3 eggs
3/4 cup flour, sifted
3/4 cup finely powdered sugar, sifted
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp boiling hot water.
(double everything for 6 eggs)

Icing:

Black grapes
Grated chocolate
Fresh strawberry, slit and strawberry crush
Chopped tinned pineapple
Mango crush or pulp
Whipping cream, 250 ml
Icing sugar, to taste  (Don't make it too sweet because fruits and crushes have sugar in them)
Vanilla essence, 1 tsp
Sugar water (1 tsp sugar and water mixed together nicely)

Preheat the oven to 190 deg Cel.

Mix together powdered sugar and three egg yolks on the side. Beat egg white stiff. Mix together baking powder and flour. Alternately add egg white and flour mix to the egg yolk batter with a light hand.

Beat thoroughly in one direction. Add a table spoon of hot water and mix nicely in one direction.

Grease and dust a 22 cm tray (for 3 eggs) and pour the batter in. Bake for 12-14 mins or till the time the top of the cake starts looking golden.

For the icing beat whipping cream, icing sugar and vanilla essence on ice cold water if it is warm outside. Otherwise you can whip without any cold water. Beat till you get stiff peaks.

Cut the cake into half and sprinkle with sugar water then start icing. Ice the layer with some cream and mixed fruits and sandwich the cakes together. Do not put a lot of it as it will spill when you sandwich both sides.

Now ice the entire cake with whipped cream using flat knife or spatula and decorate with fruits. Make sure you mix the fresh fruits with some icing sugar before placing them. Pour the respective fruit crush when you are done placing the fruits.

 I made a German flag which was quite simple as it had perfect rectangles of three different colours. You can make any other design and please your friends and family.

You can serve with few toasted cashew nuts, grated chocolate and extra fruit crushes. I did that and it was heavenly. All of it just worked perfectly together. And we are done. : )

Strawberry crush and Vanilla strawberry shake.

This is so refreshing and beyond words delicious. It is crazy delicious! Please do try it. Super simple and super yum. Strawberries are in season too.

What you need:
Strawberry crush, 4 Tbsp (home made, you can use the market one too)
Fresh strawberries, 5-6 chopped
Vanilla ice cream, 1 scoop
Milk, 300 ml
Ice cubes, 4-5

Strawberry crush, home made:
To make the strawberry crush you need to put some chopped strawberries (180 g) in a hot deep-cooking thick bottom pot (deep kadhai). Immediately add sugar to this and let it simmer on slow flame. Switch it off when the mixture looks blood red in color and is reduced. You can store this in the freezer and use it as jam or on a cake as icing or with muffins or eat just like that to satisfy your sugar craving. Should look like the pictures shown below.

Put everything (strawberry crush, milk, ice, fresh strawberries, vanilla ice cream) in a blender and blitz. Garnish with chopped strawberries. And you are done! 

Herbed chicken

So I am writing a recipe after a long long time. Been busy with some things and also i hate to get addicted to the internet. Anyway here is something i tried yesterday. It was delicious. One of my favorite from now on for sure. And My apologies for the bad photographs. I am a terrible photographer. 

What you need:

2 chicken breasts
5 tbsp whisked curd, should be thick and not runny
7 crushed garlic flakes
Black pepper
Chilli flakes or chilli powder
Oregano 2 tsp, dried
Thyme 1/2 tsp, dried
Olive oil, 2 tbsp ( 1 for the marination and left over for the veggies)
Red bell pepper
Mushrooms
salt to taste 

Wash the chicken nicely and dry it with a kitchen towel to get off any excess water. Make small incisions on the chicken breast as to let the flavors penetrate nicely. Mix all the herbs, spices, crushed garlic and 1 tbsp olive oil together in a bowl. Now massage the chicken nicely with this marinade. Let the chicken marinade over night in the refrigerator or you can keep it for 4-5 hours too,if you are in a hurry.

Preheat the oven to 220 deg Celsius and  also Line an oven tray with some tin foil. Wash and cut your veggies (red bell peppers and mushrooms) into big chunks. You can more veggies of your choice like carrots, potatoes. Season the veggies with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Place the veggies on the tray to make sort of a bed for the chicken. Take out your marinated chicken and lay them on the bed of veggies. Pour the extra marinade in the bowl on top of the chicken breasts. Roast the chicken for 25-30 minutes. It tastes delicious with some spicy ketchup. Serve hot and i hope you enjoy this recipe.