Minecraft Themed Birthday Cake

My favorite post on this blog has to be the Minecraft Cake I made for my son and his best friend. They share the same birthday and are best of friends since 1st grade. Their interest in characters changes every year and this was the Minecraft phase. It's been some time now and they still are big fans. Hey, I would take Minecraft over other games, it's just building and trading and I am ok with that!

I try to make a cake every year based on my son's current muse and this was the best one I ever made.

I did get the inspiration from another post online for the water and the bricks. Also, the grass tip for the piping was a really awesome idea too.

I used Blue Jello for the water, rice crispy treats for the building bricks, green colored frosting for the grass, chocolate cake for the soil and my son helped me make the characters, animals and the TNT blocks using printed make your own characters from the internet.

The key is to make everything yourself and not use the pre-made Jello, Rice Krispies or cake, since this will help in maintaining the correct dimensions needed to make the cake.

Since I was short on time, I used a boxed cake mix to make the Chocolate cake. Feel free to use a box cake or your own recipe.

Rice Krispies Treats:

Rice Krispies - 5 Cups

Butter - 2 Tbsp

Marshmallows - 25 to 30

On low heat, melt the butter and add the marshmallows. Mix until melted through and add the rice krispies. I used Kelloggs Rice Krispies. Mix well until well incorporated. While the mixture is sticky and still warm, grease a cake pan and add this mixture into the cake pan and smooth into a evenly. This should be about an inch and half to 2 inches in thickness. When slightly cool, cut into long blocks, about 3 inches wide and cool completely.

Chocolate Cake:

Using a box cake or a recipe of your choice, bake a chocolate cake in a sheet pan of your choice. The cake should be at least 4 inches in height after baking. Cook completely and set aside.

Blue Jell-O:

Kraft Jell-O - 2 Packets

Use the instructions on the back of the box to mix the Jell-O and pour into a cake pan. Make sure the depth is less than the Rice Krispie treats. It should be about an Inch or so in thickness. Once cooled and set, keep in the refrigerator until ready to assemble the cake.

Green Icing:

Use a boxed icing mix or make your own.

Powdered/Confectioners Sugar - 3 Cups

Butter - 1/3 Cup

Vanilla Extract - 2 Drops

Green Food Coloring - A few drops

Milk - a few Tbsp as required

Using a hand mixer or an electric mixer, beat the butter and slowly add the powdered sugar.

Beat well ad add the milk as needed to a make a stiff frosting mix. Add the vanilla extract and the food coloring and mix well.

Minecraft Characters:

There are several resources online to print, cut and make these characters. My son helped me make them and they are adorable.

When all the above steps have been complete, you are now ready to assemble the cake. There is no perfect way to doing this, so you can follow my version or assemble it in any other way you like. I stacked the chocolate cake but everything else is in a single layer.

First, cut and arrange the chocolate cake into the shape in the cake pictures above. Basically, we are trying to mimic the soil with the chocolate cake. 

Fit a piping bag with a grass tip (this is just a tip that has many tiny holes bent outwards) or just a ziploc bag snipped at the end and inserting this tip and sealing with a rubberband or a tape. Fill the bag with the frosting.

Pipe the grass onto the chocolate cake, where you gently press piping and quickly pulling off in order to make tiny thin grass like strings. Cover the entire cake with this piping.

Now, take the Rice Krispie block strips and place them around the perimeter, not evenly to mimic the blocks in Minecraft.  For all the remaining portion in the middle, cut the Jello to fit and place gently.

Top with the Minecraft Characters and you have your Minecraft themed Cake.

It does take some effort to make this, but it's totally worth it if your kid is into this. The look on my little ones faces were PRICELESS!

Easy Mini Pecan Pies

I had some leftover pie crust from the holidays and I wanted to make something new and interesting. I have made the whole pecan pie in the past and I have a fool proof simple recipe that I have reused here. 

Corn Syrup is a common ingredient for Pecan Pie. This gives it the sticky and gooey texture, but I really didn't want to use this. It's debatable that Processed Sugar is just as bad as Corn Syrup, but I would pick a known devil over the unknown.

I made these for a dinner party at a friend's place and I cut the pie crust into rounds and baked them in a Muffin Pan. They turned out really yummy and this recipe is a keeper.

Ingredients:
Pie Crust - I used Pillsbury
Pecans - 1 Cup
Flour - 2 Tbsp
Sugar - 1 1/4 Cups (White + Brown Mixed)
Butter - 1/2 Cup
Eggs - 2
Milk - 2 Tbsp
Vanilla Extract - 1/2 Tsp

Unroll the pie crust and use a bottle cap or any round cookie cutter/tin etc to make 8 small pie crusts. Gather the left over and keep rolling it back to not waste any dough.

Beat the eggs and add melted butter, vanilla extract and milk and mix. Mix all the dry ingredients separately and add to the wet ingredients and mix. Add the pecans and mix again.

Pre-heat oven to 400F. Place the crust in the muffin tin moulds and pour the filling 3/4 of the way. Bake for 10 minutes, reduce to 350F and bake again until set. about 20 more minutes.

Remove and serve with Whipped Cream.

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

Butter - 1 Stick

Flour - 1.25 Cups

Salt - A pinch

Chocolate Chips - 1/4 Cup

Brown Sugar - 3/4 Cup

Vanilla Extract -  1/2 Tsp

Egg - 1

Beat the Butter and Sugar till fluffy. Add the Egg, Salt and Vanilla Extract and beat again. Add the flour little by little and mix well. Add the Chocolate Chips and mix well. 

Pre-heat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place lime sized cookie dough balls on the sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 min until the cookies are slightly brown but still very soft. Remove and cool. They will continue to harden once you take them out of the oven.

Mango Overload

Ingredients for Cake:

All Purpose Flour – 1 Cup
Mango Pulp/Puree – ¾ Cup
Baking Soda – A pinch
Baking Powder - 1 Tsp
Salt – A pinch
Sugar – ¼ cup
Oil – 1/3 Cup
Milk – 3 Tbsp

Mix all the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well until you form a smooth batter.

When the mixture is well incorporated, grease a cake pan, and pour the batter into the pan.

Chop the almonds, and top the cake with the chopped nuts.

Pre-heat the oven to 350F and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes. A knife inserted in the middle should come out clean. If the cake is not cooked through, the knife will have some batter on it.

Mango Whipped Cream:

Whipped Cream - 1 Cup

Mango Puree - 1/4 Cup

Mix them carefully, folding the mango pulp into the cream. Do not over mix.

When the cake is cooled, cut into squares. Place a square on the plate, top with the mango whipped cream. Top with chopped nuts and place another square of the cake. Top again with the mango cream, the nuts and finally top with some plain whipped cream.

Drizzle some mango pulp for the extra mango burst.

Enjoy!

Walnut and Carrot Cake - Valentine's special

This was a last minute attempt to make something for Valentine's day for the dear hubby. Boy am I glad I did :) He surprised me with some lovely roses and I managed to make my cake pretty with some flowers from the Backyard.

Using a Bundt cake pan gives the cake a much needed face lift and it ended up looking very pretty, perfect for a Valentine.

I adapted the recipe from this link:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/super-moist-carrot-cake-with-cream/

All-purpose flour - 3/4 cup

Whole wheat flour - 3/4 cup

Granulated sugar - 1 cup

Baking soda - 2 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Ground cinnamon - 2 tsp

Canola oil - 1/4 cup

Vanilla - 1 tsp

Grated carrots - 2 cups

Mashed soft Bananas - 2
Chopped Walnuts - 1/4 cup

Glaze:
Powdered Sugar - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1 to 2 Tbsp
Walnuts - 5 or 6

Preheat oven to 350F. Combine the 1st 6 ingredients from Flour to Cinnamon.
Combine all the wet ingredients from oil to mashed bananas. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir well. Add the chopped Walnuts and stir.

Grease a bundt pan or any normal cake pan and add the batter. Bake for about 45 min until a tooth pick comes out clean without any batter sticking to it. Remove and cool.

In a small bowl, mix the Milk and powdered sugar into a thick glaze and drizzle on the cooled cake.
Top with walnuts.

Mango Cream - Quick and Easy Dessert

This is a quick and easy dessert to satisfy the sweet tooth. Not a great dish but it's tasty and simple to make. Especially during the mango season, this will be a good dessert that highlights the flavor of the mangoes.

Ripe Mangoes -2

Whipped Cream - 1 cup

(or)

Heavy Cream - 1 cup

Powdered Sugar - 1/4 cup

Walnuts - 1/4 cup chopped

Cube the mangoes and mash a few pieces. In a bowl, add the cream and the sugar and whip till there are soft peaks. 

Add the mangoes and the mashed pulp, top with the whipped cream and add some chopped walnuts. 

Serve Chilled.

Gavvalu

AP Flour/Maida - 2 cups
Salt - a pinch
Butter/Ghee - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Water - 3/4 cup + water to knead the dough
Oil - for frying

Mix the maida with salt and melted butter. Knead with water, to form a soft dough. Make chickpea sized balls of the dough and press on the end of a fork. Roll out the dough, to form the shape of the gavva. Alternately, if you have the wooden block to make these, use the block. The fork method work great here. I could not take pictures during this step. Heat a deep bottomed pan with oil and fry them. Make these gavvas ahead and cover with a damp cloth. I tried making some while the rest were frying, but it was a stretch. Fry them and set aside. In another pan, heat the sugar with 3/4 cup water and mix till the sugar dissolves. Cook till the mixture thickens and reaches a 1 string consistency. When you touch the solution with your fingers, a sting should form. Else, add a few drops of this solution to a bowl filled with water, and it should hold its shape.
Pour this solution on the fried gavvas and mix well. When the coating starts to harden and turn white, mix again. Stir once every 5 mins, till they are completely cooled down. This will ensure that they do not lump together. Store in an air tight container when they are completely cool.

Flan- Custard

I used ready mix Custard powder for this recipe and it saves a bunch of time. I have never made custard from scratch, so I cannot vouch if the store bought custard powder tastes as good as the one made from scratch. However, this is a really tasty version too.

To make it more fancy, I added some caramel on top before I steamed the custard.

This is very similar to a Flan, the only difference is, the Caramel on top is not as thick and we steam this instead of baking it.

Custard Powder - 1 pack

Caramel:
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water - 3 tbsp

Mix the sugar with water in a thick bottom pan and heat till golden brown. Don't stir.
Pour the Caramel into a dish that fits into the pressure cooker.

Prepare the custard mix according to instructions on the box. Pour on top of the caramel.

Place in the steamer/cooker and steam for about 20 to 25 min. Open and check if it's set.
Remove and cool and invert onto a serving plate.

I love this when it's chilled.

Vermicelli Kheer: Kesar & Badam

I am not big on sweets, especially Kheer. 

But it's the quickest sweet dish for festivals. More of a cop-out!

I added some Saffron and Almond powder to make this slightly more flavorful.

Ingredients:

Vermicelli - 1/2 Cup
Sago - 1/4 cup
Milk - 3 to 4 Cups
Sugar - 1/3 Cup
Ghee - 1 Tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1 pinch
Raisins - 1 tbsp
Cashews - 1 tbsp
Almond Powder - 2 tbsp
Saffron - a tiny pinch

Soak the sago pearls for 3 to 4 hours.
In a pan, add the ghee and roast the cashews and raisins. Remove them and add the vermicelli and roast until slightly fragrant. Add the sago and milk and boil till soft.
Add the sugar, almond powder and the saffron. Boil until thick and remove.
Add the Cashews and raisins and serve warm or cold.

Dates and Almond cake

This is my first attempt at baking a cake from scratch. It is a very simple recipe, and quite tasty. One does not miss the eggs or the butter in this cake. I made this cake twice in a week, and it was a winner. My mom got me Lion dates syrup from India, and I used this in place of sugar in this recipe. This cake does not require any icing on it, however I glazed the cake with some orange flavored glaze. I adapted this cake from several dates cake recipes I found on other blogs.

Dates - 15
Milk - 3/4 cup
Date syrup - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Flour - 1 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Oil - 1/2 cup
Almonds - 1/4 cup

For Glaze: (Optional)
Powdered sugar - 1/4 cup
Orange juice - 2 tbsp

Heat the milk and dates in the microwave for 3 minutes. This will make the dates soft and help with grinding them. I used Lion dates that were pitted and soft. If using dried dates, soak them in milk over night.

Grind the dates with the milk. Add the date syrup and sugar and grind. If you do not find date syrup, substitute it with sugar. Just use 3/4 cup sugar instead of the date syrup + sugar combination. 

Add the oil to this mixture and whisk well. Mix the flour and baking soda and add to the liquid one spoonful at a time. Mix well. When the mixture is well incorporated, grease a cake pan, and pour the batter into the pan.

Chop the almonds, and top the cake with the chopped nuts.

Pre-heat the oven to 350F and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes. A knife inserted in the middle should come out clean. If the cake is not cooked through, the knife will have some batter on it.

Cool and remove.

Powder some sugar, else use a 1/4 cup of powdered sugar. Mix the orange juice into the powdered sugar. The glaze should be runny, and you should be able to pour in onto the cake with a spoon. Use more juice if required.

Drizzle the glaze onto the cake with a spoon. Cool and serve.

 

Pumpkin Halwa

What do you do with the pumpkin you carved after Halloween is done? Cook it of course. I shredded the pumpkin, without having a dish in mind. This being my first time cooking a pumpkin, I had 3 dishes in mind. Pumpkin pie, soup or halwa. The obvious choice was a halwa, since I dislike both the pie and the soup. The halwa was delicious, and nobody would guess it was made of pumpkin. I assume this is a pretty healthy Indian sweet, considering that the 75% of the dish was pumpkin.

Shredded/Grated pumpkin - 6 cups
Brown/White sugar - 1 cup (More if you like it sweet)
Condensed milk - 1/2cup
Milk - 1 cup
Cardamom - 5 pods
Ghee - 4 tbsp
Broken cashews - 1/4 cup

In a heavy bottom pan, melt 2 tbsp ghee and add the grated pumpkin. I used the food processor to shred the pumpkin. Cook on low flame, until the pumpkin is soft and reduces in volume. Add the sugar, milk and condensed milk. Stir and cook on low flame, until the mixture thickens and reduces considerably. 

Fry the cashews in the remaining ghee. Add the smashed cardamom and the cashews and ghee to the pan.Cook till the halwa is thick and starts forming a ball. It will not stick to the pan anymore.

Remove onto a greased plate and cool. Form the halwa into any shape of your choice.

This is our summer beach pumpkin.

Mysore Pak

My mom makes crazy good Mysore Pak. This is her recipe, and it uses a lot less ghee than many other versions out there. They are really soft and melt in your mouth. I am not a fan of sweets, but I must admit these taste divine. This sweet needs a lot of ghee, and skimping on it will change the taste and texture. We made these for diwali, and shared them with friends and family. 

Gram Flour/Besan - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 cup

Dry fry the besan until fragrant and golden brown. Set aside. In a vessel, melt the ghee and set aside.

In a pan, add the sugar and 1/4 cup water. When the sugar melts and come to a boil, check if it reaches a 1 string consistency. Slowly add the besan and mix well. Stir well without any lumps and keep stirring.

Add the ghee 1 tbsp at a time, while stirring. When the ghee is done, the mixture will start to leave the sides of the pan, and will start to bubble. 

Grease a shallow bowl or plate and remove the mixture into the greased plate.

Smooth the surface and cool.

When the mixture cools a bit, cut into squares and cool completely.

Remove and store in an air tight container.

Carrot Muffins

Egg - 1
Orange juice - 3/4 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
White flour - 1 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 pinch
Shredded carrots - 2 carrots
Chopped almonds/pecans - 1/4 cup
Honey/Syrup - to drizzle on top

Whisk egg lightly in large bowl. Add orange juice, butter, sugar and mix well.

Mix or sift together all the dry ingredients.

Stir into egg mixture, mix only till moistened.

Gently fold in shredded carrots and nuts.

Spoon into well greased muffin pans about 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Cool and drizzle with honey or syrup.

Poornalu - Stuffed sweet dumplings

Poornalu are a traditional sweet lentil stuffing, dipped in batter and deep fried. They were a festival staple, and I have never seen them being made any other time. I am not a fan of the sweet stuff, but I love the savory outer coating. When I was younger, I would eat the crispy outer coating, and give the filling to my mom. The filling is similar to the one we use for poli.

For the filling: 

Channa Daal - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1 cup

Cardamom - 1 pinch

Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup

For the coating:

Raw rice - 2 cups

Urad daal - 1 cup

Salt - 1 tsp

Canola/Vegetable/Sun flower Oil - to deep fry

Soak the channa daal for 4 hrs. Drain and set aside. In a vessel that fits in a pressure cooker, add the daal and 1/2 cup water. Cook for 4 to 5 whistles. Remove and cool.

When the daal cools, mash it. Add the grated jaggery and coconut. In a pan, add this mixture and cook on medium flame. This will become runny as the jaggery melts, but will solidify after a while. When the mixture is thick, turn off and cool.

Soak the rice and daal for about 6 hrs. Grind with water. This should be thicker than the consistency of dosa batter. When a ball of filling is placed in the batter, it should not sink to the bottom.

Make rounds of the filling, golf ball sized. Dip these in the coating.

Heat a pan with oil and when it is hot, drop these balls and fry on medium high, until golden brown. Drain onto a paper towel and serve hot.

Chakkara Pongal

Chakkara Pongal is my aunt's special dish. This is her recipe:

Rice - 1 cup

Moong daal - 1/4 cup

Water - 4 cups

Grated Jaggery - 2 cups

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Ghee - 1/2 cup

Raisins and Cashews - 2 tbsps each to garnish

In a pressure cooker, add the daal, rice and water. Cook for 3 to 4 whistles and turn off.

In an other pan, add the grated jaggery and 1/2 cup water. Let this mixture melt and come to a boil. Cook for about 10 minutes. When a drop of this is added to some water, it should remain in place and not spread in the water.

Open the cooker, and mash the rice and daal. Pour the jaggery mixture into the rice and daal.

If it is too runny, place on stove top and cook till it thickens. If if is too thick, add some milk and coook some more.

In a pan, heat the ghee and fry the cashews and raisins, till the raisins plump up and the cashews are golden brown. Add this to the pongal, and add the cardamom powder.

Mix well, and serve hot.

Mango Shrikhand

This is a light and flavorful dessert, perfect for the warm summer months. Its is really easy to prepare and tastes great.

Yogurt  - 4 cups/ Greek yogurt - 3 cups
Frozen/Fresh mango pieces - 2 cups/ Mango pulp - 1 1/2 cups
Cardamom pods - 4
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Pistachios/Almonds - for garnish

Hang the yogurt in a muslin cloth for about 3 to 4 hours. This will drain all the excess liquid and the yogurt will become really thick and creamy. Alternately use the Greek yogurt, which is thick and creamy  by itself.
Puree the mango pieces with the sugar. If using the mango pulp, skip this step.
Remove the seeds from the cardamom pods, and powder them.
Whisk the yogurt, mango puree and the cardamom until it looks creamy.
Alternately, run this mixture in the blender.
Garnish with chopped nuts and a few mango pieces.
Serve chilled.

Rasgulla

Milk - 1/2 gallon

Lemon juice - 1/2 cup (diluted with 2 tbsp water)

Cheese cloth

Sugar - 2 cups

Water - 5 cups

Cardamom pods - 5

In a thick bottom pan, boil the milk.

When the milk starts boiling, add the lemon juice and stir till the paneer separates.

Keep aside for 10 min. 

Strain the paneer into the cheese cloth and wash under cold tap water, to remove any residual lemon flavor.

Squeeze well and remove unto a plate.

Knead the paneer well, like a roti dough.

Knead till the paneer is soft and forms a ball in your hand.

In a pressure cooker, add the water, sugar and crushed cardamom pods.

Mix till the sugar dissolves.

Form small balls of the paneer and add to the pressure cooker.

Don't crowd the cooker, as the balls will expand in size.

Close the lid and cook till 2 whistles.

Cool and serve chilled.

Panasatonalu

A very traditional and a special Andhra Pradesh sweet treat. It tastes similar to the sweet version of Shankarpara. I guess the difference is in the shape. Panasa tonalu mean jack fruit strips. Sorry I dont have pictures of how I made them. I just missed taking pics. But I will upload more pics when I make this the next time.

All purpose Flour/maida - 2 cups

Ghee or clarified butter - 1/2 cup

Salt - a pinch

Sugar - 2 cups

Oil - To fry

Water

In a bowl, mix the maida, salt and ghee. Add water and knead it like a chapati dough.

In a flat bottom pan, add sugar and a cup of water. Melt the sugar and cook it to a one string consistency.

In a pan, heat oil for deep frying.

Mean while, make lemon sized balls of the dough and roll out like a chapathi.

Leave upto an inch around the sides, and make vertical slits in the roti. Be careful to leave an inch intact around the edges.

Now, join the edges by rolling the roti. the edges will be sealed, but the strips in the middle will be apart.

Fry this in oil, and remove them into the sugar syrup. Leave for 5 min and remove.

Cool and store for upto a week. If they last that long.

Spiderman Cake

I made this cake for my son's 4th B'day. It so happens that he's never had his birthday party on his actual birthday which fell on a weekday every year. He is a huge Spider-man fan. Which 4 yr old kid isn't :)  I baked this cake at 12 in the night, so he would not see it. I still remember the delight on his face, when he found out his mommy had made it for him.

I used a box cake mix for this, and a whipped vanilla icing.
I got food colors, and mixed them in with the icing.

This is how I decorated the cake:

Bake the cake in a round pan and let it cool.
Carve the bottom portion of the cake to resemble an oval face.
Now, cover the cake with the red colored icing. I did not have piping bags, so I used ziploc bags.
Use the blue colored icing to outline the mask, and fill the eyes with the white icing.

This cake was super easy to make. Next time, I plan to try a super mario cake. That being his current muse :)