Magnolia Vanilla Cup Cake

Magnolia vanilla cupcake: Magnolia, one of my favourite cup cake shop and I was lucky to visit this place when I was in NY on work!

Chocolate frosting for few, plain vanilla for others!

Made these for a dear friend who is also a soon-to-be-mother , am so glad her husband K, she and her lil one inside enjoyed it!

The pattern for the crochet coasters are here, via ravelry(I am so in love with this site!)

Triple crochet cap with a flower

Pattern from 'Happy Hooker'

Amigurumi Tea Cup

Video here , they are easy to work and very interesting too!
Thanks Tracey!

My first doily

Loved this pattern. Made a small mistake at the joining stitch in the last round which I am yet to correct! But I love this and next time I need to stitich it tight!

Puffs anyone!

Yah! I finally made puffs with home made puff pastry! Thanks to VahreVah chef and his detailed instructions and video!

Made a few egg puffs and few vegetable ones!

The pictures are not great, I was so excited that I randomly clicked some pics and then sat down to enjoy them warm:)!

Thank you Chef!

Chocolatey chocolate cake

Ever since I saw the pictures and write up on this post, I had been drooling. Couple of weeks ago, I had all the ingredients at home(buttermilk being that one item which I usually dont stock and this day I had some) and so I set out to make this cake.
I halved the recipe and still there was enough for 12 cupcakes and a small 8" cake.

Chocolate ganache frosting for the cup cakes were awesome!

Swiss Meringue ButterCream icing for the round cake!

Loved the cake, in K's words they were 'khatarnaak cupcakes'(khatarnak in Hindi means dangerous but used in slang,with reference to context, to refer to something 'too good'):)

Thank you SmittenKitchen- your blog is very inspiring!

Crochet Cap for a lil' boy

My maid(we call her mausi) had asked me if I would make a cap for her grandson. I tried a couple of times, referring to the (only) book on crochet I have. The first one turned out too big,so big that it fit me.(I am a newbie here as well!)

The few attempts at increasing the base did not work and they formed waves. The project was abandoned or rather kept on hold. Was not feeling good that I was yet to make the cap for the little boy!

Made a few searches on the net and read tips from the experts,particularly this post and I was finally able to make a decent cap for the little boy! Thanks Pradeepa!

Apple Pie

Apple Pie adapted from this beautiful blog I found recently!

Next time I will make the strips for the lattice less in thickness and bake the pie for 5 extra minutes so the browning on top is a little bit more.

Both of us devoured the entire pie over 2 days!It is simply awesome, not to mention the aroma the home is filled with, once this goes in the oven-Bliss!

Thank you Natasha once again!

Choco Chip Cookies

A glass of warm milk and one cookie..thats how I like to end my day these days..atleast till these babies last!Loved these "choco chippies" :)

Recipe: Ria's Chocolate Chip Cookie ! Thanks Ria!

Banana Raisin Bread

Have some really ripe,dark skinned bananas staring at you?Go ahead and try this recipe!

We loved loved this bread.. so will you and its super easy...Recipe here. Thanks so much OurItalianKitchen:)

Cheers

Another chocolate cake...

Recipe adapted from here..halved the recipe and baked in a small loaf tin. Loved the texture and tasted good as well!

Birthday cake for a little boy who turned one!

Baked this one for my maid's grandson who turned one yesterday! She wanted an eggless cake, so that was a first time for me. Recipe for the cake adapted from here.I ate some bits of the cake, that had to be removed to even out the top before icing it, and I liked it. I thought it could have been sweeter, (must be because I used salted butter since I ran out of unsalted butter)but then with the chocolate icing(Hersheys perfectly chocolate chocolate frosting), I think the sweetness must have just balanced!
Thanks DivineTaste!
Verdict: Apparently everyone loved the cake at the birthday boy's house!Am so glad.

Darling cup cakes!

Magnolia s chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting! Loved it and had fun playing with colours:)
All I missed was having my three friends to share this with a la Sex and the City!

Birthday Cake for a friend!

Hershey's perfectly chocolate chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!Link to recipe here

On a date...

This is a recipe from my mother-in-law's diary which I had copied some four years ago and decided to try it when I had a box of dates lying since a few days. We simply loved it-it is so easy,not a lot of beating and best part, the table top was not as messy as it usually is when I am done with a cake!



Recipe:
Pitted dates-1 cup
Hot Milk-1 cup
Maida-2cups
Refined oil or cream-1 cup (I used oil)
Sugar-1 cup
Eggs-3
Baking soda-1tsp

1. Preheat oven at 200 degree C.
2.Soak the dates for some time in hot boiled milk(I soaked them for 40minutes). Once it is cooled a bit, grind the dates in a mixer to form a paste.
3.Sieve maida and baking soda thrice(thrice as per amma, I did it only once:)
4.In a new bowl, mix oil and sugar.
5.Beats eggs separately and add this to the bowl containing oil and sugar and mix well.
6.Add the dates paste to the above.
7.Now add the maida-soda mix to this slowly, stirring in between.
8.Bake for 30-35mins.
9.Let is cool in the tin for 10min and then let it cool completely out of it.
10. Slice it and serve it with your evening coffee or tea or just have a bite any time of the day!
Enjoy!