Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

 My little darling at home cannot sit quite for a minute. Does something to keep herself busy and one of her favorite things to do is baking. She made these fluffy, flavor filled cakes with a hint of spice back in Fall. I was busy and just found time to post her work. We surfed around and came up with this perfect recipe. 

INGREDIENTS:

11/8 Cups All-purpose flour

1/2 Cup Sugar

11/2 Tblsp Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/3 Cup Milk

2 Eggs

1/2 Tblsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

1/8 Tsp Nutmeg Powder

1/8 Tsp Clove Powder 

1/8 Tsp Ginger Powder

1/8 Tsp All Spice

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup Butter,at room temperature

1/3 Cup Milk

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Prepare12 cups muffin tray by lining with cupcake liners

Sift together the dry ingredients and keep aside.

In a big bowl beat together white sugar, brown sugar, butter and egg until light and fluffy. Now stir in the milk and pumpkin puree.

Then stir the sifted dry ingredients until just mixed through. 

Pour the batter into the cupcake liners in the prepared pan.

Bake for about 22 to 25 mins.Check at 18 mins and then add more time as needed because depending on the oven the time may vary. The surface should be golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting the cake.

Pumpkin Spice Cranberry Scones

The change of environment into vibrant colors and the decline of temperatures with a crisp cold breeze always pairs well with the warmth from your oven and the aroma of spices filling your whole house. Even though summer always seems to leave before you can catch those last bright rays, those which fade into the cold, gray clouds all too soon, autumn also brings with it many wonderful things- enter pumpkins! 

Now don't just let these orange beauties go to waste; bring some in home for these spiced up scones, crispy and flaky with a bite into the sweet glaze, balanced by the tartness of the cranberries. Enjoy your mid mornings with these scones and your favorite tea or coffee.

INGREDIENTS:

Scones:

11/3 Cups Flour

1/4 Cup Cold Butter

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1/4 Cup Dried Cranberries/Craisins

1 Egg

1 Tblsp Yogurt

1 Tblsp Cold Water

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

A Pinch Clove Powder

A Pinch Grated Nutmeg

1/6 Tsp Ginger Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract (Optional)

Glaze:

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

1/4 Tsp Cinnamon Powder

1/2 Tblsp Melted Butter

1 Tblsp Milk

METHOD:

SCONES:

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil, then grease it and dust with flour.

 In a medium bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and all the spices. To this add the butter cut into small cubes and mix with a fork or pastry cutter to resemble a coarse meal.

In the other bowl, beat the egg with pumpkin puree, yogurt, cold water, and vanilla essence.

Pour this mix to the dry ingredients and mix untill well incorporated.

Finally add the cranberries and mix well. Do not knead the flour mix. Transfer to a floured surface and spread into a 8" disc.

Place this onto the prepared sheet and cut into 8 or 12 (preferable) wedges and bake for about 14 mins or until the surface turns slight brown.

Cool down for five mins before applying glaze.

GLAZE: Mix together cinnamon and powdered sugar, then add the melted butter and milk to form glaze. 

If you prefer more glaze you can double the quantity. Or serve half the pieces with glaze and leave the rest plain. It tastes equally good.

Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes with Raspberry Filling

We have a budding baker at home; by which I mean really just a 7 year old who loves cupcakes, both baking and eating them (especially the latter). Sometimes, all of a sudden, she'd come and tell me that she feels like baking. She would give me the idea and a list of the ingredients that go in. All I have to do is get everything and measure them- in short, be the sous chef.

   So as the story goes, we made this awesome chocolate coffee cupcake filled with raspberry filling. Interestingly, as we didn't have eggs that day, it turned out to be an eggless and vegan cake

with no compromise on taste. To top it off we made a Raspberry Cream Cheese Rose icing. This is a very easy and mess free cake and can be had with or without the frosting. The coffee can be fresh brewed or instant and also can be made strong-to-mild to fit your taste. If you don't like coffee, substitute with just warm water. Also, vanilla essence can be used in place of cinnamon and rose water.
Because the pictures were taken late into the night, lighting was not that good.

Again the color of the cake would be a little bit more black because of both coffee and chocolate, but it doesn't affect the taste.

INGREDIENTS :

For The Cake :
Flour                   : 11/4 Cup
Sugar                 : 1 Cup
Cocoa Powder   : 1/3 Cup
Baking Soda      : 1 Tsp
Salt                    : 1/2 Tsp
Warm Coffee     : 1 Cup
Cinnamon          :1/2 Tsp
Vegetable Oil     :1/3 Cup
Vinegar               : 1Tsp

For The Filling :

Raspberry Jam    : 1/4 Cup

For The Icing :
Cold Cream Cheese       : 8oz
Butter                             : 3/4 Cup (At room temperature)
Raspberry Jam/Preserve : 1/2 Cup
Rose Water                     : 1 Tsp
Salt                                 :  A Pinch
Red Food Color              : 2 Drops
Powdered Sugar              : 2 Cups

METHOD :

Icing First:
             
       Beat the cream cheese, butter and raspberry jam together until smooth using an electric mixer at medium speed. One by one add salt, rose water and the food color until an even pink color is reached.
   Now reduce the speed to low and add little by little the powdered sugar. Once all the sugar is added raise the speed until the frosting turns really smooth.
  Keep this frosting refrigerated until the cupcakes are cooled and ready for frosting.

Cupcakes:

     Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line a 12 cup cupcake pan and keep it ready. In a mixing bowl mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, cinnamon and baking soda with a whisk. Then add the warm coffee, oil and vinegar. Mix them until everything gets well blended.
   You can do this using an electric mixer or a stand mixer but just mixing with a hand-held whisk does the job too for this recipe.
  Pour them into the prepared cupcake pan bake for about 13 to 15 mins or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven. 

Using the back of a spoon, create a hole in the center, making sure it doesn't go all the way down. Fill them with the raspberry jam. Once done, let it cool down completely before frosting.

Tomato Parmesan Basil Scones

Its a snowy morning. There's something in the oven keeping the house warm and the smell of baked goods makes the soul happy. Scones are the best way to brighten up your day. These scones are light and flaky yet warm and filling.

INGREDIENTS :

All Purpose Flour   - 2 Cups

Baking Powder      - 3/4 Tablsp

Salt                        - 1/2 Tsp

Sugar                     - 1 Tblsp

Black Pepper          - 1 Tblsp (coarse)

Dried Basil               - 2 Tsp

Butter                      - 1/3 Cup

Parmesan Cheese   - 1/2 Cup (grated)

Sundried Tomatoes  - 1/2 Cup

Milk                          -1/2 Cup

Egg                           - 1

METHOD :

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

    In a small bowl slightly beat egg, add milk to this, mix well and keep aside.

In a medium mixing bowl take the 2 cups of flour along with all the other dry ingredients - the salt, sugar, baking powder, dried basil and grated parmesan and stir well. 

 To this add the cold butter pieces and mix to resemble a coarse corn meal. Stir in the tomatoes to this mix. 

 Finally add the egg and milk mix to this until the flour mix is moist.

Gently knead the flour and spread it  in to a 7" round disc on a prepared cookie sheet ( line with foil and slightly brush with olive oil) and cut them into equal sized wedges.

Bake them in the oven for about 15 mins. This time varies depending on the oven, can take upto 20 minutes. 

 Brush them with butter or olive oil once you take them out of the oven.

 These scones are so light and flaky. Enjoy them with your coffee. Have it for breakfast or mid morning tea.

Nagercoil Plum Cake

  Nagercoil Plum Cake. The reason I named this recipe Nagercoil plum cake or more accurately, Greatest Bakery Plum cake is because I had this in my place since my childhood and haven't had such a luscious tasting cake anywhere else. And I bet you won't find this anywhere else in the world. It brings a lot of sweet memories and nostalgia about so many recipes and flavors of my home town. To prove it wrong you should first taste this cake from my place. Do try out this recipe, but my native cake is much more rich and sophisticated than my recipe. I tried to find out the ingredients needed for this cake and read about this recipe from another blogger. I made changes and finally ended up here.

INGREDIENTS :

All Purpose Flour - 2 1/2 cups
Sugar             - 2 1/2 cups
Large Eggs        - 2
Butter            - 3/4 cup   
Baking Powder     - 2 Tsp
Cloves            - 10nos(slightly pounded)
Nutmeg Powder     - 1/4 Tsp
Shahjeera         - 1 Tsp (coarse powder)
Salt              -1/4 Tsp 
Orange Zest       -1/2 Tsp
Orange Juice Fresh - 1/2 Cup
Apple Cider        - 1/2 Cup  
Prunes or dried Plums -3 Cups

Black  Raisins     - 2 Cups
Cashew Nut Chopped  - 1 Cup

 

METHOD : 
  
The method needs some make ahead steps. You can even do them a week ahead and refrigerate.
The first step is soaking the dry fruits. Soak the raisins in half cup orange juice and half cup water along with a quarter cup apple cider. You can leave them overnight at room temperature or until ready to use, in the refrigerator. Drain excess liquid when adding to the cake batter.
    Next make the caramel syrup. In a pan over medium heat mix 1/2 cup sugar with 2 tablespoon water and mix until sugar dissolves. Give it a gentle stir and let it caramelize to a deep golden color. When completely caramelized, add half more cup of water and make a brown syrup out of this mixture.      
    The last make ahead thing is the plum puree. Chop 2 cups of prunes and mix with 1/2 cup water and 1/4 cup apple cider and cook on medium flame until the prunes are soft. Cool down the mixture and puree them. To this add the other cup of finely chopped prunes and keep aside.
    Pre-heat oven to 325 F. Use a 2lb bread loaf pan or a bundt pan. These pans help the heat to get through well because the batter is kind of thick. Grease and dust the pan and keep aside.

    In a mixing bowl add the flour, baking powder, salt, the pounded cloves and shahjeera and mix them well.
    Cream the remaining 2 cups of sugar and butter. It's always better to have room temperature butter and eggs. To the sugar-butter mix, add the eggs, one at a time and the orange zest and continue creaming while still adding the caramel syrup. To this start adding the flour and the raisin puree alternately. When done, fold in the soaked raisins and the chopped cashew nuts with a spatula. 
     Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about an hour and 15 minutes. Test by poking a toothpick into the cake. It should come out clean. If not, bake for another ten to fifteen minutes. The outside can be dark and that is perfectly fine. Remove from oven and let it cool down completely. The longer it sits in the pantry, the more heavenly it tastes. If you love baking and cakes, this recipe is a must-try.