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Strawberry and Cardamom Cake with Rosewater Glaze

17|02|2023

A cake like this is always remembered. Fragrant, pretty on account of a beautiful bundt shape and refreshing with a combination of juicy strawberries and subtle tones of cardamom, this strawberry, cardamom and rosewater bundt cake is something that can be whipped up any time.

A sour cream glaze is my go to for most cakes. Because It’s not sugary like a typical glaze and can be flavoured without any hassle, it’s the best choice for icing a cake. Replace strawberries with any other berry if you like.

Cardamom is such a beautiful spice if used in the right proportions. In India where I grew up, people also used it as a mouth freshner. It was too strong for my liking so I really just wanted to reserve the flavour and smell for a delicious aromatic, savoury curry or a creamy, lush dessert.

If you like the taste of cardamom in your cakes, don’t forget to try out my Blackberry, Sour cream, Cardamom Cake

Strawberry and Cardamom Cake with Rosewater Glaze
Makes a 8-cup bundt cake

1 cup (125 g) self raising flour, sifted
3/4 cup (71 g) almond meal/ground almonds
1 tsp powdered cardamom
3 large eggs
3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup + 1tbsp (135 ml) vegetable oil
3/4 cup (180 ml) buttermilk
1/2 cup (72 g) strawberries, roughly chopped

Rosewater Sour Cream Glaze

2/3 cup (79 g) powdered sugar
2 tbsp (30 ml) sour cream
1 tsp rosewater
pink gel food colour (optional)

Make the cake : Preheat the oven to 325°F (163°C). Grease an 8-cup bundt pan really well.

In a medium bowl, place the flour, almond meal and cardamom.

Beat the eggs and the sugar until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the oil and continue to beat until combined. Add the buttermilk. Beat the mixture slowly until blended.

Fold in the flour mixture until just combined. Do not over-mix the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until cooked through (a skewer inserted in the middle should come out clean.

Make the sour cream glaze : In a small bowl, sift the powdered sugar. Add the sour cream and rosewater. Stir the mixture with a spoon until well combined. Add the colour as desired (insert a toothpick in the colour and use that to colour the glaze). Mix until smooth and no white streaks appear.

Assemble: Once the cake has cooled completely, pour the glaze over the sides and the top of the cake. Decorate with fresh strawberry slices and dried rose petals.

Mini Pistachio Cakes

13|02|2023

Nothing beats the beautiful colour and unforgettable flavour of pistachios. Paired with rosewater, it can create a treat that is divine. The Mini Pistachio Cake recipe involves creating the pistachio cakes first, then coating them in white chocolate that gives it the lustrous shine and gorgeous green colour.

Pistachios have been my favourite nut since childhood. They were present abundantly in both sweet and savoury dishes but I Ioved them the most in ice cream. the flavour was known as ‘kesar pista’ meaning saffron pistachio ice cream. Oh the beautiful taste, takes me on a walk down memry lane! Even a sprinkle of chopped pistachio is a dish adds flair and colour.

These pistachio cakes are pretty simple to make if you can get hold of a sillicone mold. A sillicon muffin mold will work as well even if you don’t find it in the fluted shape.

If you like mini cakes , dont forget to check out these Blueberry Mini Cakes

Mini Pistachio Cakes
Makes 6

1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 g) castor/granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup (63 g) self raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
100 g ground pistachios
1 tbsp (15 ml) milk
1 tsp rosewater (optional)
150 g Green chocolate melts or white chocolate + green gel colour
Whipped cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C. Lightly grease molds.
Beat the butter and sugar till fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
Add the flour, baking powder, pistachios, milk. and rosewater Beat until just combined.
Using a piping bag or a spoon, pipe batter into molds. Bake for 18-20 mins or cooked through.
Remove from mold. Allow to cool.
Once cooled, spread cleaned mold with melted chocolate. Quickly insert cakes in the mold. Place in fridge to set (approx 15 mins).
Serve with whipped cream and edible rose petals.

Caramilk and Strawberry Madeleines

11|08|2022

Wow! Two back to back madeleine recipes. You might be wondering if there is a madeleine obsession happening here. Well, let me tell you that once you start baking these dainty Madeleines/french cakes aka caramilk cookies and strawberry cookies, you’re going to make them over and over again. So easy to flavour and decorate but thats not even the best part. The best bit is that the batter can be made ahead and stored in the fridge for upto 3 days. When you want them fresh, just bake them with your favourite fillings.

I filled half my batch with caramel sauce, then coated them in caramilk which is nothing but roasted white chocolate. The other half were filled with strawberry jam and coated in white chocolate (colored red).

I used these Madeleine molds to make them that make for easy release of the cookies.

The caramel sauce I used was was store bought and thick, almost the texture of dulce de leche. A thinner sauce might not hold up and get lost in the batter. That’s the only thing to be mindful of. Otherwise they are very simple and very delicious.

If you love Madeleine cookies, you’d love these Rosewater and Cardamom ones

Caramilk and Strawberry Madeleines
Makes 18

3 eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup caramel sauce or dulce de leche
1/2 cup strawberry jam
100 g Caramilk, melted
100 g white chocolate, melted
red gel food colouring

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease well, a 12-hole madeleine baking pan.
Place eggs, sugar and vanilla into a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until thick, pale and doubled in volume. Gently fold in flour, baking powder and butter using a metal spoon. Cover bowl with cling film and place in the fridge for 30 mins or up to 3 days.

Pipe or place approx half a tablespoon of mixture into each prepared madeleine moulds. Pipe or carefully spoon 1/2 tsp of caramel sauce or strawberry jam. Cover with 1/2 tbsp of madeleine batter to encase the filling. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cakes spring back when pressed in the centre. Cool slightly before removing from moulds. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

For the Caramilk cookies , pipe or spoon about 1.5 tsp of melted Caramilk into each clean mold of the pan. Gently place madeleines over the chocolate, pressing slighly. Place pan in freezer to set. About 25 mins. Remove from freezer. Madeleines should easily come off the pan. Store in an air tight container in room temperature.
For the strawberry madeleines, colour the white chocolate with 2 drops of red gel food colouring. Pipe (or spoon) small amount of melted white chocolate into a clean mold. Gently place madeleines over the chocolate. Repeat with remaining madeleines. Place pan in freezer to set. About 25 mins. ⁣
Remove from freezer. Madeleines should easily come off the pan. Store in an air tight container in room temperature.

Nutella Sandwich Cookies

18|12|2021

I made and shot these cookies way back in October when I bought a few cookie stamps but never got to post the recipe. What can be a better time to share cookies than the official cookie season of the year? The recipe is pretty simple and as you can see the beauty is in the stamp design. However these can be made plain without the designs and simply rolling out and cutting them in different shapes using cookie cutters. Cookie stamps can be found on Ebay, Amazon and almost all cake decorations stores.
We can never go wrong with Nutella, can we?

Nutella Sandwich cookies
Makes 12 sandwich cookies

225 g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/3 cups plain flour
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup Nutella

Beat the butter and brown sugar with electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until fully blended. Turn out dough on surface and knead until smooth. Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper. Allow dough to sit at room temperature to soften slightly.

Dust a surface with a little flour. Roll out the dough with a regular rolling pin to just thicker than 1cm – around ½”. Press dough with cookie stamp. Cut out cookie flower shapes with a flower cookie cutter.

Place on prepared trays. Refrigerate for 15-20 mins. Bake 12-14 minutes or until cookies are crisp. Cool on a wire rack. Once cool, spread or pipe Nutella onto a cookie. Sandwich with another cookie.