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Life in Gold

Tag Archives: Dessert

Favorite Chocolate Cake

29 Wednesday Oct 2014

Posted by The Ice Maiden in Food

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Baking, Cake, Chocolate, Cooking, Dessert, Food, Homemade, Icing

There’s nothing more elegant than a simple, moist chocolate cake. It is one of those sweets that everybody enjoys, unlike pies and tarts and even cookies, sometimes. I am not a fan of chocolate, but as long as there is a good balance of sweet and chocolate, this cake is my favorite baked dessert.

I adapted this cake from Ina Garten’s recipe (don’t we all just adore her!!). What I like about this recipe is that it is super simple and doesn’t require extensively precise ingredients or techniques. It is great for beginners and experts alike, and is really hard to mess up. Every time I’ve made this, I’ve ended up with a beautiful, moist end product that has been devoured instantly.

Hope you all enjoy baking this as much as I do!

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Chocolate Cake

A wonderfully moist cake with a hint of coffee topped with chocolate and coffee icing.


What you need:

For the cake:

All-purpose flour – 112 gms
Sugar – 128 gms (1 cup)
Cocoa powder – 48 gms
Baking powder – ½ tsp
Baking soda – 1 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Eggs, extra-large – 1
Buttermilk – ½ cup
Vegetable oil – ¼ cup
Vanilla extract – ½ tsp
Brewed coffee – ½ cup

For the icing:

Semi-sweet Chocolate – 56 gms (2 oz)
Unsalted Butter (at room temperature) – 2/3 stick
Confectioner’s Sugar – ½ cup
Egg yolk (at room temperature) – ½
Cocoa powder – 2 tbsp
Instant coffee – ½ tbsp
Vanilla extract – ½ tsp


The Method:

Preheat the oven at 350 F.

Grease a 9” round cake pan and dust with flour.

In a large bowl (or the bowl of your Stand Mixer), sift all dry ingredients and mix well together. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together all the wet ingredients except coffee.

Now with the paddle attachment on and the mixer running on slow, add the liquid to the dry ingredients.

Scrape the bowl and add the brewed coffee. Combine on low speed.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 40 minutes till a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let it cool for 10 minutes and then remove to a rack to cool.

For the Icing:

Whisk the butter in the stand mixer until light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for another 2-3 minutes.

Slowly sift in the sugar and cocoa, and whisk till smooth and creamy. Scrape the bowl and whisk well.

Dissolve the instant coffee in a teaspoon of warm water and add to the icing. Whisk one final time till well incorporated and you like the texture and taste. *Note: You can always adjust the ingredients if you want the icing more or less sweet or chocolatey.

Layer the icing on the cooled cake and enjoy!

Tip: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can add ½ tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to ½ cup of milk. Let it rest for about 5 minutes to get your buttermilk!


Happy baking!

The Perfect Vanilla Cake

21 Friday Feb 2014

Posted by The Ice Maiden in Food

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Baking, Cake, Cooking, Dessert, Food, Vanilla

Sometimes having a light, moist yellow cake is all a girl wants to satisfy her sweet cravings. I love how simple and versatile this creation is. While it can take on a multitude of icings, a simple slice of this cake is the ultimate accompaniment to tea or coffee, or just about anything.

This is the cake I knew as a child and the very first one I learnt from my mother. This is also the cake I experimented with numerous times – adding cocoa to make it chocolatey, or adding nuts to add some flair. However, this basic recipe always worked best! Sorry for the picture, I unfortunately did not take any better pictures of the cake I made most recently 😦 The cake also wasn’t as brown – it’s just the Instagramming at work!

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Basic Vanilla Cake

A moist vanilla cake that can be eaten alone or topped with the icing of your choice.


What you need:

All-purpose flour – 1 ½ cups
Vegetable oil – ½ cup
Sugar – 1 1/8 cup
Eggs – 3
Baking powder – 1tsp
Buttermilk – 2/3 cup
Salt – a pinch
Vanilla extract – 1 tsp


The Method:

Preheat the oven at 350 F.

In a large bowl (or the bowl of your Stand Mixer), beat the oil and sugar together till fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Also whisk in the vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder and salt together.

Now with the mixer running, add the flour mixture to the sugar and eggs alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.

Scrape the bowl and beat well.

Grease a 9” round cake pan and dust with flour. Pour the batter into this pan and place in the center of the oven.

Bake for 40-45 minutes till a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let it cool for 10 minutes and then remove to a rack to cool.

Layer with icing or enjoy as it is!


Tip: If you don’t have buttermilk, you can add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to a cup of milk. Let it rest for about 5 minutes and the buttermilk is ready!

Happy baking!

An Anniversary Dinner – Part 2

19 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by The Ice Maiden in Food

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Cooking, Dessert, Flan, Food, Outfit, Tiffany

My husband is a HUGE lover of sweets. He always has to have something sweet post dinner, even if it is a bowl of chocolate puffs cereal! So obviously any meal in our home is never complete without dessert. I wanted something elegant, so I chose to make Flan, more commonly referred to as Caramel custard. After one batch of failed caramel, the final product turned out pretty decent! Oh and of course the recipe was this one courtesy Allrecipes.com. Also, instead of a single 9-inch round, I baked the custard in individual ramekins.

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For the actual dinner, I wore a Betsy Johnson LBD that I bought a while back.

photo 1 (2)(Face: Makeup Forever HD Foundation in 155, Lancome Star Bronzer in Bronze Riche, Tarte for True Blood eyeshadow palette, Nars Satin lip pencil in Hyde Park)

Oooh ooohh and the best part – the gift from the husband! He gave me a beautiful pendant from the Tiffany Infinity collection. I’m super excited to wear it!!!

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And in case if anyone is wondering, I bought him a nice jacket. AND since it was our first, a.k.a. paper, anniversary, I also made him an album of our pictures from our first year together!

Sweet Delights

28 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by The Ice Maiden in Food

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Cooking, Dessert, Food, Indian

Living away from family we all do what we can to restore a little piece of home into our lives daily. I do not have much of a sweet tooth, but I do have a desire to be a master chef – for both savory and sweet foods. I used to collect recipes as a child, and have a collection of thousands of recipes from newspapers, magazines, cookbooks and tv shows. But unfortunately, being extremely lazy, I’ve never actively cooked. So what better time to actively practice and hone the cooking skill than now, just in time for the wedding!

My fiance loves to eat, and I decided to make coconut laddoos for him. I’m my worst critic whenever I cook, but they turned out delicious – can’t tell you how glad that makes me!

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Choco Coconut Laddoos:

Laddoo is the generic name for traditional round-shaped Indian sweets, usually made with ingredients like wheat flour, gram flour, semolina, or in this case – Coconut. This recipe has peanuts for some added flair and a hint of chocolate. You can omit these ingredients based on your preferences or allergies.


What you need:

Grated coconut – 1 1/2 cup
Roasted and coarsely powdered peanuts – 3/4 cup
Thick fresh cream – 3/4 cup
Powdered sugar – 1 cup
Bittersweet chocolate – 1/2 cup {this can be increased for more chocolatey flavor}
Ghee {a kind of clarified butter used in the Indian sub-continent} – 4 tsps
Cardamom seeds – 1/2 tsp

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Makes: 15-20 laddoos
Prep time: 20 minutes; Cook time: 20 minutes


The Method:

Heat a pan and add ghee. You can use unsalted butter instead of ghee.

Add the coconut and fry for 5 minutes on medium heat. Then add the peanuts and fry for a few more minutes. The coconut burns easily so make sure to stir it often.

When the coconut changes color to golden, add powdered sugar, whipped cream, chocolate and crushed cardamom seeds.

Saute continuously for 15 minutes or till the mixture thickens.

Let it cool for 5 minutes.

Image

Rub some ghee or butter on your palms and shape the mixture into round balls, about an inch in diameter.

Bite into a warm laddoo and enjoy the chocolatey coconuty-ness!


Happy cooking!
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