MEDOVIK / RUSSIAN HONEY CAKE

This month International Food Challenge drives us to Russia, world's largest country. Our host, Sara challenged us with 3 Russian authentic recipes and i choose Russian honey cake. Russian cuisine is a collection of the different cooking traditions of the Russian people. The cuisine is diverse like it's area.

Medovik or honey cake is one of the most popular cakes in Russia. Each layer  is soaked with creamy caramel filling and covered with crushed biscuits. There are many variations of this cake. This version is honey with dulce de leche. My family loved it a lot. Thanks sara for this wonderful recipe.
Recipe adapted from : Cooking Melangery

Ingredients :

For layers :

1. Flour - 5 cup
2. Sugar - 1 cup
3. Egg - 3
4. Butter - 100 g
5. Honey - 2 tbsp
6. Baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp

For cream :

1. Milk - 2 cup
2. Eggs - 3
3. Cornflour - 2 tbsp
4. Dulce de leche - 1 tin / 400 g
5. Honey - 1 tbsp
6. Butter - 100 g

Method :

1. Whisk together the eggs and keep aside.

2. In a saucepan bring some water to a simmer. Place the sugar, butter and honey in a heatproof bowl and set over the simmering water. When it melts, add the eggs, and mix until pale in colour. Add baking soda and cook for one minute.

3. Transfer the egg butter mixture into a mixer or food processor and add flour. Mix on low speed until combined. It should be very soft. Do not put more flour.

4. Sprinkle some flour on your working surface and place the dough. Knead it few times and form into a ball.

5. Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each piece into ball. Cover with a kitchen towel.

6. Take one piece and roll into a thin circle.

7. Use the bottom of a round pan to cut around it with a knife. Save all scarps just the way you cut them and place them on a baking sheet and then bake.

8. Bake it for 3- 5 minutes. Repeat for the remaining 7 balls.

9. Finally crush the saved scrapes into crumbs.

Method for cream :

1. In a large saucepan, heat 1 1/2 cups of milk, but don't boil.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 1/2 cup milk with egg and cornstarch until smooth. Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the warm milk, bring to a simmer over moderate heat. Whisking constantly very thick. Remove and cool.

3. Whisk in the butter and dulce de leche.

Assemble the cake :

1. Top each cake layer with 1/2 cup of cream and spread it around evenly. Repeat with all the cake layers. Spread the cream evenly over the top and sides of the cake.

2. Sprinkle the crushed cake scrapes over the sides and top of the cake. Refrigerate for 8 - 10  hours.

ARABIC HONEY CASHEW CAKE

For may month Home bakers challenge  was host by dear Rafeeda of Big sweet tooth . She challenged us with Arabic cuisine. 3 savoury and 3 sweet dishes. I choose Arabic honey cashew cake. Thanks rafeeda for this recipe, my kids really love this. Sorry for the delay Rafeeda.

Recipe : The wanderlust kitchen.
Ingredients : 

1. Butter -  1/3 cup
2. Egg - 3
3. Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
4. Vanila essence - 1/2 tsp
5. Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
6. Flour - 1/2 cup

For topping :

1. Butter - 1/2 cup
2. Sugar - 1/4 cup
3. Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
4. Honey - 1/3 cup
5. Cashew / Almond - 1/2 cup
6. Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp

Method :

1. Beat together egg, sugar and vanilla essence till the mixture whitens in colour.

2. Add melted butter and mix well.

3. Combine flour and baking powder, then add to the egg mixture.

4. Pour into a greased baking tin and bake for 10 - 12 minutes.

5. Meanwhile,  melt butter in a medium pan. Over medium flame add sugar, honey , cashew and cinnamon.

6. Bring to boil and stirring constantly.

7. Pour topping gently on cake and return to oven for 15 minutes.

RED VELVET CAKE

As because of its enhanced look i was thinking to make Red velvet cake. And as a reason Shazzy selected red velvet theme for Home bakers challenge. Here i used liquid food colour for the reddish. But as a healthy recipe you can add beetroot instead of artificial colours. There is no special frosting and much flavours used in this cake, but still its delicious and smooth like a velvet.
                                

                                                           RED VELVET CAKE
                                                     Recipe from : Sprinkle Bakers
                                                                    serves : 8


Ingredients :

1. Flour - 2 1/2 cup
2.  Sugar - 2 cup
3. Salt - 1 tsp
4. Butter - 200 g
5. Egg - 2
6. Cocoa powder - 1 tbsp
7. Buttermilk - 1 cup
8. Red colour ( liquid ) - 1 1/2 tbsp
9. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
10. Vinegar - 1 tbs
11. Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Method :

1. Combine flour and salt.
2. Beat butter and sugar antil light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time. Beat well after each addition. Blend in vanila essence
3. Add flour mixture to the sugar butter mixture with buttermilk. Beginning and ending with flour.
4. In a small bowl mix 1 1/2 tbsp colour and 1 tbsp cocoa powder until a paste form. Add this to the sugar mixture.
5. In another bowl mix together baking soda and vinegar. Pour to the batter immediately and mix well.
6. Pour the batter into a greased baking tin and bake @ 180 degree for 35 - 40 minute or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
7. Top with some whipping cream and garnish with red velvet crumbs.

GULAB JAMUN CAKE

Gulab jamun cake is specially for sweet tooths. I got this idea when i have some balance gulab jamun in my fridge. My daughter asked me "mom, why dont you make a gulab jamun  for me in the size of a cake". Then i think to make these gulab jamuns a cake. Its very soft and very tasty. It should keep in fridge, so that it will be more taste.

Ingredients :

. Chocolate cake - 1 ( recipe is here )
. Gulab jamun - 15
. Whipping cream - 250 ml

Method :

1. Slice cake horizontally into 2 pieces. Keep one piece on a plate.

2. Moisten it with some gulab jamun syrup.

3. Spread a layer of whipped cream. Arrange some gulab jamuns over cream.

4. Cover with second cake layer. Moisten with some syrup.

5. Spread a thick layer of whipping cream over top and sides of the cake.

6. Garnish with sliced gulab jamuns.

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SNICKERS BROWNIE

We all are familiar with the words snickers and brownie. Already i  introduce Rocky road brownie and Blonde brownies. I got the brownie recipe from the world class chocolate maker hershey's. And thanks a lot for the hershey's for giving an awesome recipe. Here snickers brownie is quiet easy to make. We are just adding chopped snickers bars with brownie. You can imagine the taste when the king of chocolate is adding to brownie. Its just an unbeatable taste.

Here i just chopped the snickers and mixed with brownie batter. You can also make layers of batter and chopped snickers, so it will be like a layered brownie. The snickers will make the brownie a real chewy feeling and nuts in the snickers will make it crunchy.

Ingredients :

. Butter - 100 g
. Sugar - 1 cup
. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
. Egg - 2
. Flour / maida - 1/2 cup
. Cocoa powder - 1/3 cup
. Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
. Salt - 1/4 tsp
. Snickers - 2 bar

Method :

1. Combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Keep aside.

2. Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla extract. Add eggs; beat well with a spoon.

3. Add flour mixture to the egg mixture, beating until well blended.

4. Add chopped snickers and mix well with a spoon.

5. Spread batter into a greased baking pan and bake at 180 degree for 20 - 25 minutes.

KIWI WALNUT CAKE

Kiwi is also known as chinese gooseberry. Kiwi fruit has an unbeatable taste and natural goodness like vitamins, potassium, dietary fiber and magnesium. What i like the most in it is, its low amount of sodium cholesterol and saturated fat. In kerala, only some selected hypermarkets we will get kiwi. But next time when you get it dont forget to make it. Once you taste it and next time when you hear the name kiwi, it the cake that runs over your mind.

Kiwi walnut cake is a very tasty dish you can make easy and fast. One thing you have to care about is the kiwi fruit should be sweet, otherwise we will get a sourness. We can use kiwi in it by chopped or grated. And for supporting kiwi, i used walnuts. But any nut you can use as per your choice.
recipe adapted from here

Ingredients :

. Sugar - 3/4 cup
. Butter - 100 g
. Flour - 1 1/3 cup
. Baking powder - 2 tsp
. Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
. Lemon juice - 1 tsp
. Egg - 2
. Kiwi - 4
. Mashed banana - 1
. Walnut - 3/4 - 1 cup

Method :

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Keep aside.

2. Beat butter and sugar until creamy.

3. Add mashed banana to the sugar butter mixture and mix.

4. Add eggs 1 by one. Beat well after each addition.

5. Add lemon juice and chopped kiwi. Mix gently.

6. Add flour mixture to the butter kiwi mixture and blend until just incorporated.

7. Add chopped walnut and mix well.

8. Scrape the batter into a greased baking pan and bake 30 - 35 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

NUTTY DATE CAKE

Nutty date is a smooth and tasty dish which everyone gonna love. It is rich in dates so it got all the nutrients from dates for a health. A best cake for date lovers.

I got this recipe from David Lebovitz. But he using rum for soaking dates and i replaced rum with orange juice. One of the highlight is it doesn't contains any oil and only one tbsp butter is using. So its a heart friendly too. We need  high quality dates for this item, because more quality will more taste for it. When i prepared Nutty date cake, my family love it a lot, everyone is saying its just amazing. So thanks to Mr. David Lebovitz

Ingredients :

. Dates - 1 1/4 cup diced and pitted
. Orange juice - 1 1/2 tbsp
. Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
. Egg - 2
. Flour / maida - 1 cup
. Sugar - 1 cup
. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
. Butter - 1 tbsp
. Hot water - 1 tbsp
. Salt - 1/4 tsp
. Nuts - 1 cup

Method :

1. Toss the chopped dates in orange juice and let sit for one hour.

2. Combine flour, salt and baking powder.

3. In another bowl beat egg and sugar until light and creamy. Mix in the butter, vanilla essence and hot water.

4. Mix flour mixture to the egg sugar mixture and combine well.

5. Use a spatula to stir in the dates and nuts.

6. Spoon the mixture into a prepared pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

NEAPOLITAN CUP CAKE

For february month home bakers challenge was host by siri of Brave cook. She challenged us with some macarons, whoopie pie, cheesecake and some neapolitan cakes. I choose neapolitan cup cake.  Thanks Siri and Priya.

Neapolitan cup cake... here we are going to give a city's name for a cup cake. Neapolitan is the another name for the Naples city in Italy. Not only a cup cake, there are lots of Neapolitan dishes, Neapolitan ice cream, Neapolitan Wafers, Neapolitan sauce and Neapolitan pizza. Here we will discuss about Neapolitan cup cake, remainings we will try by time. In sha allah.

Neapolitan cup cakes are layers of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry coming together via a deliciously sweet mixed fruit jam. Actually strawberry jam or strawberry frosting are using, but here we are using mixed fruit jam. Other than a cup cake we can make this as a baking cake also. This neapolitan cake is also known as ' the heaven on earth '.
Recipe adapted from : My baking addiction

Ingredients :

. Flour / maida - 2 1/4 cup
. Baking powder - 1 tbsp
. Egg white - 4
. Milk - 1 1/4 cup
. Salt - 1/4 tsp
. Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
. Butter - 100 g
. Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup
. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
. Mixed fruit jam / strawberry jam - 1/4 cup

Method :

1. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.

2. In an another bowl Whisk egg white and milk.

3. In a mixing bowl beat butter and sugar until light. Beat in vanilla essence.

4. Add both flour and egg mixture to the butter mixture, half at a time, beating well until blended.

5. Divide the batter into thirds.

6. Set aside one third, mix cocoa powder in second and mix jam in third one.

7. Drop some of each three coloured batter into prepared cup cake liners. Swirl with a knife to get a marble effect.

8. Bake in preheated oven at 180 degree for 18 - 20 minutes.

9. Or just bake a cake... thats also delicious.

BLONDIES / BLONDE BROWNIES

This month's home bakers challenge was host by sharanya of   just not the cakes. She challenged us with many recipes related to the american food recipes. January 22 is a national blonde brownie day.This blondie is very rich in chocolate, sugar and butter. Really delicious. Blondies resemble the traditional chocolate brownie, but are based on brown sugar instead of cocoa; they are sometimes referred to as blonde brownies.
Recipe adapted from All recipes

Ingredients :

. Flour - 2 1/4 cup
. Baking powder - 2 1/2 tsp
. Brown sugar - 1 3/4 cup
. Salt - 1/2 tsp
. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
. Unsalted butter - 150 g
. Chocolate chip - 320 g

Method :

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

2. Beat brown sugar and butter with an electric egg beater until creamy.

3. Beat in eggs one by one. Mix well after each addition.

4. Beat in flour mixture until just combined.

5. Spread into a greased baking pan. Bake at 180 degree for 20 - 25 minutes or until top is golden brown.