Cherry Upside-Down Cake

This is my first attempt at making upside-down cakes. I always had the opinion that upside down cakes are nothing but a plain cake with a fruit topping. But when I tasted a pineapple upside down cake recently, I was quite impressed with the moist pineapple flavor absorbed by the cake. I tried this cake using bing and rainier cherries, and it turned out so yummy that I couldn't resist from having more than 1 serving.

The recipe makes one 8" round cake.

Ingredients:

1. Cherries - 1 cup (pitted and cut into half pieces)
2. Unsalted Butter - 4 tablespoons (I used "I can't believe it's not butter")
3. Brown sugar - 1/2 cup (can be reduced if cherries are very sweet)
4. Granulated Sugar - 1/2 cup
5. All purpose flour/cake flour - 1 cup
6. Baking powder - 1 tsp
7. Salt - a pinch (less than 1/4 tsp)
8. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
9. Orange zest - 1 tsp

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Place butter in an 8" round baking pan, and warm it in oven until the butter melts completely.
3. Remove from oven, and sprinkle brown sugar evenly over the butter.
4. Layer the cherry halves, cut side down, all over the pan.
5. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt in a bowl.
6. Separate egg whites and yolks in two separate bowls.
7. Beat egg whites at high speed until they become fluffy. Set it aside.
8. Beat egg yolks with sugar, vanilla extract and orange zest at medium speed until creamy. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until they are well mixed.
9. Add the egg whites to the above mix and fold it using a spatula.
10. Pour cake mixture evenly over the fruit layer in the pan, and smooth the surface.
11. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until cake is done (a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).
12. Cool it for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Invert carefully onto a plate. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Before turning upside down -

After turning upside down -

Plain Cake

As the name suggests, this is a simple cake with very few ingredients. Also known as pound cake (in which all the ingredients are a pound each), it is my family's all time favourite because of it's soft, light and fluffy nature.

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour - 1 cup
2. Unsalted Butter - 1 cup (can use less ~3/4th cup)
3. Sugar - 1 cup
4. Eggs - 4
5. Baking powder - 1 tsp
6. Vanilla essence - few drops
7. Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)

Instructions:

1. Pre heat oven to 350F.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl (all purpose flour, sugar,cardamom powder and baking powder).
3. Keep the butter at room temperature. Blend it with hand mixer until it becomes fluffy (the more we beat, the more fluffy and light the cake will be).
4. Add eggs one at a time and blend well.
5. Add dry ingredients to the above and blend well. Finally add vanilla essence and mix well.
6. Grease the cake pan with oil and place a parchment paper. Fill the pan with the cake batter 3/4th full and bake for 45 mins (or) until the cake is done. Cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Another entry to Event for Eggs.

Dark Chocolate Cake

"Save the Earth. It's the only planet with chocolate". - My favourite quote :).
This is my all time favourite chocolate cake. Tasted many chocolate cakes but never beat this cake in taste. I got this recipe from Hershey's website.


I am sending this recipe to "For the Love of Chocolate - April 30th" event.

Ingredients:

Unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's dutch processed) - 3/4 cup

Sugar - 1-3/4 cups

All-purpose flour - 1-3/4 cups

Baking powder - 1-1/2 teaspoons

Baking soda - 1-1/2 teaspoons

Salt - 1 teaspoon

Eggs - 1

Milk - 1 cup

Vegetable oil(Canola) - 1/2 cup

Vanilla essence - 2 teaspoons

Boiling water - 1 cup

• Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (or spray oil) two 9-inch round baking pans.
• Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl.
• Add egg, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
• Pour batter into prepared pans.
• Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.

I made the chocolate Ganache using the below recipe:

Ingredients:

Butter - 1 stick
Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/3 cup
Powdered sugar - 1 cup (or as required)
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

• Melt butter, add cocoa and boil 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. Spread while warm.

Enjoy the rich moist dark chocolate cake.

Banana Muffins

This recipe makes 12 medium size muffins. It's easy to make and takes about 30 mins.

Ingredients:

Bananas - 3 no.

Sugar - 3/4 cup (or depending on your taste)

Egg - 1

All-purpose flour(Maida) - 1 cup

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Canola oil - 1/2 cup

Baking soda - 1 tsp

• Mix the egg, sugar and oil in a bowl with hand mixer, add bananas one at a time to this mixture and mix well.
• Mix the dry ingredients (flours, salt, baking soda) in a separate bowl and add them to the above wet mixture. Make sure there are no lumps.
• Grease the muffin pan with oil and pour the batter 3/4th full in the cups. Sprinkle nuts and raisins on the batter.
• Preheat the oven to 350F and bake for 20 mins.
• Test the baked muffins with a toothpick. If you feel the center of the muffins is not cooked properly, cover the muffin pan with aluminum foil and bake for another 6-7mins.

If you have overripe bananas or don't like to eat banana as a fruit, this is a nice way to have them.