Cocoa Cake with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Cinnamon Frosting

I wanted to do something different for my Halloween Event, had lot of things in mind, but could not accomplish all because of the time crunch and in weekdays I get much tired and loose interest in experiments too much. So I kept it simple, but tried to include the ingredients related to my event and as always keep in mind to use healthy alternative on ingredients. Well I hope I accomplished it with the recipe, but by the time I made this and waited on the cake to cool down to decorate with frosting, it was night and could not do well on the pictures. But anyways something is better than nothing right ?? :)

Ingredients:

------------

Method:

---------

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. In a mixing bowl add the dry ingredients and mix them with a whisk.

3. In another mixing bowl with a hand mixer blend all the wet ingredients.

4. Now add the dry ingredients to the wet and blend it slowly or until mixed.

5. You can either fill this mixture in a a cup cake pan to make cup cakes or in a baking pan to make cake. I used the baking pan and baked it as a cake.

6. If the batter is used to make cup cakes it will make about 6 cup cakes and will make a medium sized cake.

7. I topped it with walnuts, you can choose any kind of nuts or keep it optional.

8. Bake the cake for about 20 - 25 mins or until done.

9. Allow it to cool and then decorate with the frosting.

Method:

---------

1. In a bowl add all the ingredients, and with a hand mixer blend all the ingredients well.

2. Refrigerate it until the cake is done and cooled.

3. Now pipe the frosting on to the cake with any design of your choice or just spread it over the cake or cupcake.

You Might Also Like:

Chocolate Birthday Cake	Barney and Friends Fondant Cake	Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Berry Cobbler My Way - Easy Fast N Healthy

I have used all kinds of berries in most of my recipes, mostly try to use all berries in one dessert. This is another recipe which I wanted to do it fast, yet keep my goal in mind to keep it healthy with less fatty ingredients.

I was browsing for dessert recipes to make it along with the Lentil Soup (my previous post), which I was taking it to the office, where they would collect money from employees to donate it to the food bank. I know I would spend most of my time making the lentil soup I didn't want to again spend lot of time on the dessert which is too much on a weekday.

So I came up with this easy recipe, as soon as I made and was taking it out to check if it's done....my son came to me and asked as to what I was making...so I told him..it's a berry cobbler. For a min he kept quite and asked is it berry pie? I just said yes, cos it would be hard for me to explain the difference to him. :))

I did ask him if he wanted to taste some or I can save some for him...but he didn't want it. So I decided to take the whole dessert to the office.

I have taken few different pics, as I had to make it again and the reason for doing so is........................

The next day as I was picking my son up from school, he asked me if I did take it to the office, I said yes and he asked where is my piece? So I promised him to make one for him and would only add his choice of berries in it, so I made it again on the weekend, this time I made individual desserts and took more pics....:))

Method:
---------
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a large mixing bowl add all the berries, sugar and corn starch and mix it gently with a fork, just until all the berries are covered with the sugar and the corn starch.

3. Transfer these berries into any oven safe bowl or a pie pan or a glass bowl or your choice of cook and serv dish.
4. Now in another mixing bowl add the bisquick mix/pancake mix, add water and cinnamon and gently mix with a whisk/wooden sppon/ fork just until mixed, a little bit of lumps is absolutely fine.

5. Add this mixture over the berries and cover the berries as much as possible, it does not have to look neat. :)
6. Crush the mollasses cookies or any flavored cookies of your choice with hand or use a blender, if you are using hard cookies. My mollasses cookies were soft so I used my hand to crush them directly over the bisquick mix.

7. Bake it for about 30-40 mins until the top is slightly golden. Make sure the bottom part of the bisquick mix is also cooked trhough.
8. Serve this hot/warm/cold with or without your choice of whipped cream/ice cream/any toppings etc.,
(Decorate it with your choice of toppings on a serving plate.:)

You Might Also Like:

B-O-O-O-O Halloween Event OCt 5th to Nov 5th	Very Berry Banana Shake	Mixed Berry Cake

Kalakand (Ricotta Cheese Desert) - 2 Ingredients Wonder

This is for my celebration of having 200 followers/ blogger friends who have been with me all through the years of my blogging in encouraging me and giving me the inspiration and to improve more.
Thanks to all the friends!
:)

I always wanted to make traditional/authentic Indian sweets at home and keep myself way too far from trying them as I felt it was time consuming. But I really appreciate people around the world to bring up the ways to make it easier and still keep the authenticity of their respective country desserts, especially when they are out of their country and still want to eat their country sweets and don't get it, but really have to find a way to make one for yourself at home. This made me feel good and so I am here with the experiment of making Kalakand the easiest way I have ever known. :) So

Well since this is the oldest Indian Sweets, I would love to share some words about this dessert.

This is a popular Indian Sweet made out of solidified, sweetened milk and cottage cheese. It owes to the milk-rich Braj, a region of Uttar Pradesh. Kalakand is famous in many states of India.

Kalakand is one of the oldest sweets made in India during festivals and celebrations.

The traditional way of preparing this sweet is, you place a huge pan with large amount of milk is boiled and reduced/thickened while stirring continously adding sugar and dry fruits into it.

I hope anyone like me, craving to eat this traditional Indian Sweet would not miss this post and at least give it a try to make it once and I bet they would definitely make it more than once. :)

Ingredients:
-------------
15 oz Ricotta Cheese (I used whole milk, you can use either low fat or skim, I feel whole milk gives the best results)
15 oz Condensed Milk can
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
Dry Fruits - Your choice (I used slivered Almonds, toasted them lightly and decorated on top or you can use edible silver foil)

Method:
---------
1. In a bowl mix all the ingredients except the almonds if you are using it for garnish, else if using mixed dry fruits you can mix along with other ingredients.
2. In a microwave safe bowl which has little high sides, place the mixture and cook it for about 5-10 mins on high atirring it occassionaly or b/w every 1-2 mins.
3. Now place it in a flat pan spreading it out to the desired thickness you want.

4. I cooked in the same glass pie plate and allowed it cool in the same.
5. Garnish it with the almonds and allow it to cool in fridge.
6. Once it has set for a hour or so, you can cut into desired shapes and serve it cold or at room temperature.

It's as simple as that!! :)

You Might Also Like:

Oats Strawberry Bar	Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Bar	Soy Flour Pineapple Cake

Pineapple Strawberry Almond Pie

What makes you crave for desserts/sweets?? I guess u don't have to have any reason ...he he. The day I made this dessert was like that. I was so tired and didn't wanna do anything, but just craved for something that I had no idea about. I opened the freezer and here I see this pie crust, gosh I completely forgot about it. I saw that it's going to expire soon, hmm so something I have to make, but still keep it simple and concentrate on the ingredients to add more fruits and keep it healthy as well.

I cannot do anything more to the pie crust...but add more fruits and guess what...i decided to add some nuts too. I went to check my pantry, i remembered that I have a can of strawberry pie filling, hmm looked around and found a can of pineapple slices/rings. So here you go these ingredients makes this beautiful and yummy pie in minutes. :)

Ingredients:

------------

1 pkg Pie Crust (thawed)

1 can Strawberry Pie filling

1 can Pineapple Slices/rings chopped to desired size

1/2 cup Almonds (Blanched and powdered coarsely)

Method:

---------

1. Preheat oven to the desire temperature as per the package instructions.

2. Spray the bottom part of a pie pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with one sheet of the pie crust.

3. Now add the strawberry pie filling in between the pie crust, add the pineapple (without the juice), mix lightly and then sprinkle the powdered almonds.

4. Now layer the other pie crust, fold and pinch the edges gently and press with a thumb on one side and press in the opposite direction too get the wave effect.

5. Now with a knife draw slits, so that the steam comes out easily.

6. Bake it until done or until the top of the crust is golden brown.

7. Serve it hot or warm with a scoop of ice cream or whipped toppings or with some more fresh fruits.

You Might Also Like:

	Mixed Berry Cake
	Oats Strawberry Bars
	Strawberry Mango Popsicle

Blueberry Pie with Almond Crust (Made from scratch)

When I create something new with berries I guess I get very excited, cos I love berries and they are so easy to cook with and the results are amazingly delicious. I have made the same recipe with strawberries which I learnt it from a friend of mine, so I thought if I can make it with strawberries then why not with blueberries. :)

Here is the recipe for the Strawberry Pie that I made previously.

When I made with strawberries, I didn't add the cream cheese topping for the pics, so I thought this post would be a new one with all the enhancements and improvements in all aspects like pics, recipe etc.,

Before I could take the pics of the whole pie...we started eating it...so still have to work on that part! :)

 So I hope you all will enjoy it too! :)

Ingredients:
-----------
For the Almond Crust:
------------------------
1 1/2 cups finely chopped Almonds (You can use blanched almonds too if you don’t like the whole almonds)
3 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Butter at room temperature.

For the Blueberry Filling:
-------------------------------
3 cups Blueberries washed and keep in fridge to keep it chill.

For the Blueberry Glaze:
------------------------------
1 cup Sugar
2 tbsp Cornstarch or 1 tsp Knox
1/2 cup Water
2 cup mashed Blueberries

For Cream Cheese Topping:
-----------------------------
8 oz package Cream Cheese at room temperature
1 cup Whipping cream (cold)
3/4 cup powdered Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla

Method:
---------
To make the Crust:
--------------------
1. In a pan add the chopped almonds and roast them in medium low flame until they turn light brown. Allow to cool it and blend them in a mixer with the melted butter and sugar.
2. Preheat oven to 400F
3. Place this mixture in a 9" or 9 1/2" pie pan and press down with a fork in the center and work it through the sides up till you can take it. Make sure it is even.
4. Bake this crust for about 8-10 mins or until the crust turns light brown.
5. Remove it from oven and cool it to room temperature.
6. Now add the blueberries over the top of the crust or you can even place these blueberries over the glaze that we are going to make.

To make the Glaze:
--------------------
1. In a sauce pan add all the ingredients and mix it well with a whisk.
2. Bring the flame up to a boil, and then reduce it to low and keep stirring and cook the glaze for about 5 mins or until it becomes thick.
3. Off the flame. Allow it to cool and keep in fridge so that it's is chilled.

To make the Cream Cheese Topping:
--------------------------------------
1. In a mixing bowl (make sure even the bowl is cold - to make it cold you can place the bowl in freezer too) add the the whipping cream with an electric hand mixer, beat it until stiff peaks form.
2. Add the powdered sugar and mix again.

3. In another bowl add the cream cheese and carefully add the whipped cream in batches and fold it in the cream cheese, so that you don't loose the air. (I did not use this topping this time, but I topped the pie with Vanilla Ice Cream while serving a piece of the pie - you can do anything of your choice or even you can use just a whipped cream topping and decorate the pie).
4. Keep this topping in fridge so that it remains cold.

Assembling the Pie:
--------------------
1. Place the pie crust and pour the glaze over it and arrange the strawberries and top it with cream cheese topping or any topping of your choice or ice cream and allow it to set in the fridge for about 2-3 hrs or overnight would be best to get a perfect slice of the pie.