Fresh Sweet Cherry Crumble

Bright red, plump, juicy and sweet cherries are such a beautiful sight! Just wash them and serve as afters for a dinner party and you have an elegent finish. Leave stalks on of course- Looks are almost as important as taste soemtimes!

Pitting and halving cherries can be a little time taking task. run a knife around the seed, Hold one side of the cherry and twist gently. That half should come off quite easily. Simply pull the seed out of the other half in which it is embedded. Add 2 tbsps castor sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon powder and a drop of vanilla to a cup of cherries and leave covered for 15 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the crumble topping. A rather simple task.

For a cup and a half of cherries, simply mix together 3/4 cup of flour, half cup castor sugar, a drop of vanilla, 1 tsp cinnamon powder and 50 gms unsalted butter. Use firm cubes of butter. Rub between fingers till the mixture resembles bread crumbs or moist sand.

Spread the marinated cherries on the bottom of a greased baking dish. Sprinkle the crumble topping to cover the cherries. A few cherries peeking out are totally OK. Gently press down the crumble topping. Don't try too hard.

Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees. Enjoy warm with some whipped cream or icecream on the side.

Strawberry Shortcakes

In a sudden flash of inspiration brought two packets of fresh strawberries. Baked a chocolate strawberry cake (threw strawberries in the chocolate cake batter, was quite good actually), made some strawberry jam (recipe shall follow shortly) and was still left with some. So I tried a hand at making shotcakes.

Mix

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 stick butter, chilled
2/3 to 3/4 cup half and half, milk, or cream

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and cubes pof chilled butter. Mix using your fingertips. Mix on until the mixture resembles coarse meal, but with few pea-size chunks of butter left in the mixture. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and make a well in the center. With a fork stir in the cream or milk, just until dough is moist. Be very careful not to overwork. The dough doesn't have to hold together well at this point. Let the dough stand for a minute. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough 2 or 3 times, until it is holding together and is less sticky.
Gently pat the dough into a rectangle about 3/4-inch thick and cut into biscuits with a floured round cutter. Transfer to a greased baking sheet. Brush on a little milk or cream and arrange some strawberries in the center. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees, until risen and golden brown.

Let cool before sprinkling some icing sugar on top. Serve with whipped cream.

The texture of a shortcake was a cross between a cake and cookie. I felt , as I do with puff pastries as well, that too much effort goes into making them compared to the speed with which they vanish from the plate and you are left wondering whether toiling for an hour was worth it!

Strawberry and Cream Sponge Cake

Strawberries and Cream are the quintessential pair that can never go wrong. So when I decided to cover a sponge cake with the two I dint go through any nervous birth pangs- I knew it will be good.

The question for many is- will the sponge cake in question will be spongy enough? I want to share how I make sponge cakes. I have followed recipes that have gone wrong but with this method you have a good chance of ending up with a light, airy, very spongy cake.

Heat oven at 250 degrees for 10 minutes. Grease and dust an 8 inch cake tin.

Separate yolks of 3 eggs. Cream together all 3 egg yolks, 1 cup of castor sugar, 1/3 cup butter or malai (the layer of cream that settles on boiled milk as it cools down). Using malai here sounds odd but you have got to trust me when I say it results in the moistest and softest of cakes. Continue beating egg yolks, sugar and butter or malai, whatever you are using, till sugar somewhat dissolves and mixture looks creamy.

Now seive 1 cup self raising flour (maida), 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda together. As you seive this dry mixture, keep the seive few inches above the pan in which the mixture seives and falls. This will capture more air into it.

Mix the dry ingredients into the egg yolk, butter/malai and sugar mixture. Mix well but avoid overmixing.

Now beat the 3 egg whites you had. Beat swiftly in one direction till it becomes frothy and light and soft peaks start to form. You must always beat the egg white just before using them because it doesnt stand well. After just a few minutes it will loose all that froth you worked so hard for.

Fold in the egg white mixture gently into the batter. Mix into a homogenous mixture. Again, dont over mix.

Your batter is ready. Pour over the lined cake tin from a distance of a few inches or a foot. As the batter falls in sheets in the tin, it will capture more air.

Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

You can use smaller cake moulds and bake two of these instead of one big one. With two cakes, though smaller, you can have more layers.

Cool the cake completely. Slice horizontally into layers using a long sharp knife or a wet thread. Heat 3/4 cup of water with 1 tbsp of sugar till sugar dissolves. Cool and pour over the layers and let the layers soak in the syrup.

Whip 250 ml cream with 1/2 cup icing sugar till soft peaks form. Apply on bottom most layer. Place the next layer on top. Continue till you run out of layers. Cover the sides with the whipped cream icing.

Slice strawberries and arrange around the iced cake and on top in any pattern you like.