A new celebration begins !!!

Its been a year already - 365 days !!
How is it that so many days have gone by and it seems that it was just a few days ago that I had this tiny little being in my arms..all swaddled up, with a misshapen head (my mother told me later that all she was worrying about, after seeing her first grandchild, was how she would correct the shape of his head !! ), clenched fists and eyes screwed shut ??
Its been 365 days of sleepless nights , scores of dirty, smelly diapers..and all I can remember is the way he used to fall asleep in my arms, the way his lips curled up in a sweet smile when he slept, the way his face lit up and his mouth broke into a toothless grin (*sigh*) when he caught sight of me or his dad after an absence.
Einstein's theory of relativity must be true after all...a whole year has gone by and it just seems like a fleeting moment in time..
My son turned a year old today and that is an achievement in its own right , all of us have come out of it unscathed :D
Well, as we added a new date in our calendars for important days to celebrate, as we went down memory lane, we decided to make new memories by digging into some yummy chocolate cake paired with homemade vanilla ice cream !
Here's to many many wonderful memories and birthdays to come !
Happy Birthday Son :)


Recipe - Rich Chocolate Cake




I found this recipe on the ppk.com site.
Although its a vegan recipe and I am not vegan, only a vegetarian :), I found it easier to adapt from this recipe rather than try and eliminate the eggs from a regular cake recipe.

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ cup cocoa powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup milk
½ cup canola oil
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 °.
2. The original recipe called for a springform pan..but since I do not have that kind of a pan, I simply prepped a regular 9 inch cake tin, by spraying the bottom and sides with a non stick spray and dusting with flour. Be sure to shake out the excess flour.
3.Heat the milk until is slightly simmering and then whisk in the cocoa powder until it is fully incorporated. It helps to continuously whisk the milk while adding the cocoa bit by bit. This prevents lumping and creates a smooth mixture.
4.Sift the flour along with the baking powder, baking soda and the salt into a mixing bowl. ( Note to Self : Should really get a sifter, it is painful to sift the flour using a small tea strainer )
5.Combine the oil, lemon juice, vanilla and the brown sugar in another bowl and mix as much as possible. The mixture will be thick due to the sugar.
6. Add the hot milk + cocoa mixture to the sugar mixture and thoroughly whisk until all the ingredients are incorporated.
7. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix thoroughly. There is no need to beat the mixture.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes.

The cake is done when you insert a toothpick or a small knife into it and it comes out clean.

Results

I was really surprised at how well the cake turned out !
It was rich, it didnt crumble , it rose quite well and tasted delicious !
My husband pronounced that for an eggless cake it was really good. It would taste even better with a good frosting.
All in all, a successful adaptation and I will make it again ! Yippie !!!
(I really get excited when any of my recipes turn out good )

Variations:
Chopped nuts would give a nice crunch to this cake.
Serious chocolate lovers could rejoice by sprinkling chocolate chips over the batter before baking it !

Homemade Vanilla Ice cream

One of my recent acquisitions has been an ice cream maker. I had been thinking about it for a long time and finally got one this summer ! This is my first attempt at making ice cream at home !

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk (preferably chilled)
2 cups heavy cream (preferably chilled)
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method

1. Add the sugar to the whole milk and using a hand blender or a whisk, blend on low speed for a couple of minutes, until the sugar dissolves.
2. Fold in the heavy cream and the vanilla and mix until combined.
3. I also cut open half a vanilla bean and scraped the seeds, to give a richer vanilla flavour.
4. Chill this mixture in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours and then follow the instructions on your ice cream maker to churn the ice cream.
5. The resulting mixture is of soft serve consistency and can be consumed immediately. But I put the ice cream in the freezer for another couple of hours to get a firmer texture.
6. If you dont own an ice cream maker, you can just stick the mixture in the freezer and churn it with a blender or a mixer and put it back into the freezer. Do this a couple of times and your ice cream will be ready !

Results

Umm..umm..ummm umm um..Need I say more ???
Creamy, rich and heavenly !!! I scream for ice cream !
I am so happy that I got the ice cream maker...I cant wait to try more recipes !
Oh, by the way, the sugar can be reduced a little and the ice cream can be made less fattening by substituting the heavy cream with half and half and replacing the whole milk with low fat milk ! Happy eating !!!