BASIC MICROWAVE BROWNIE

BASIC MICROWAVE BROWNIE

The Brownie's birth place is the USA. It is classified as a bar cookie rather than a cake because traditionally it is eaten with fingers like a cookie or biscuit and not with a fork.  The first published recipe of Brownie goes to Ms fanny Farmer who in 1905 tried her chocolate cookie recipe into a bar cookie baked in a rectangular baking pan.

The difference between a Brownie and a cookie or a cake is that Baking Powder or Baking Soda is not used in Brownies, thus it is neither a fully puffed up cake nor a flat cookie.

Although later on Brownies were made with baking powder and soda as well, with the inclusion of chocolate and nuts etc and I think that can be classified as Brownie Cake. 

Here I am giving you a very simple and easy recipe of baking in Microwave with very few ingredients.

INGREDIENTS:

1.  1 Cup all purpose Flour
2.  3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
3.  3/4 Cup packed Brown Sugar
4.  1/2 Cup Butter or Oil
5.  2 large Eggs
6.  1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
7.  A pinch of Salt
8.  1/2 Cup chopped Walnuts

METHOD :

1. Sift and whisk together all-purpose flour, salt, and Cocoa Powder and set aside.
2. Put half of the chopped Walnuts in this dry mixture and whisk to combine.
3. Beat Brown Sugar and Butter or Oil till combined, never overmix it.
4. Beat Eggs one after one.
5. Add Vanilla extract.
6. Gradually add dry mixture into the egg mixture and whisk it till no lumps are found.
7. Grease a Pyrex bowl or any baking pan with butter or oil.
8. Pour the combined brownie mixture into the pan and tap to level.
9. Sprinkle remaining chopped walnuts over the top and put the pan in the Microwave for 5 minutes.
10. Check it by inserting a toothpick or a clean knife in the middle of the brownie, if it comes out clean, your Brownie is ready to be served. Otherwise, bake it for 30 seconds or a minute more.

Bake with no FEAR OF FAILURE.

Thanks

NOVICE

RAINBOW MARBLE CAKE

RAINBOW MARBLE CAKE

The Rainbow Cake is mostly made in more than one layer of different colors and a Marble Cake is made in two colors i.e, yellow and brown or Egg and Cocoa Powder.

I tried to make a mixture of both by adding two more colors in the Simple Vanilla Cake batter.  The result is as good as it looks in the picture below.

  

Certainly, it does not look perfect but what I do is to experiment with the simplest and easiest way, ingredients, and method so that the beginners may not get disheartened when they go through the recipe of a Great Chef.  When beginners like me prepare this cake they feel elated as it boosts the confidence to go for the elaborate and difficult recipes as well.

The question here is to make a Cake and not that it should be as perfect as seen in the Food Magazines or placed on the glass shelves of a Bakery.  Perfection will come later by practice.

So I always try to make things easier and at the same time cheap by using simple ingredients which are either available at home or any of the nearby grocery stores.

My aim here is to make you overcome the FEAR OF FAILURE. We have to review our work again and again to avoid another failure.

This is also a WARM-UP RECIPE of cake baking, I'll try my best to take you to the elaborate and difficult recipes later, with different types of Frosting, Glaze, Ganache and so on and so on.

I have used common food colors in this recipes which are easily available at every big or small grocery store round the corner.  The only expensive thing is your Oven and the Cake Panes. Don't loose heart, you have none of the above two, you'll still bake a cake.  In Pressure Cooker, simple cooking utensil and on the normal stove.

Here is my easiest and Simplest Rainbow Marble Cake recipe:-

THE SIMPLEST & EASIEST RAINBOW MARBLE CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

• Flour                               2 Cups (take out 2 level table spoons of flour and add 2                                                  tablespoons of Corn Flour in its place)                                        
• Large Eggs                      4
• Butter/Veg Oil                3/4 Cup
• Sugar                              1-1/4 Cup
• Baking Powder                1-1/2 tea spoons
• Vanilla Essence               1 tea spoon
• Milk                                1 Cup or as desired 
• Food colours                   Choice (For Brown colour you can use Cocoa Powder as well)
• Salt                                 A pinch.

METHOD:

1. Pre heat Oven to 180 C and grease the cake pan before starting for the batter.
2. Sift together Flour, corn flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
3. Take another deep and wide bowl and beat Butter or Oil and sugar by electric mixer or a whisk and make them creamy and light. 
4. Now add eggs one by one and beat again on medium high speed if you are using an electric mixer. When these are fully combined add flour mixture a little at a time.  No need of beating now, you can fold the dry mixture by Spatula or a wooden spoon.
5. Add milk one tablespoon at a time to make batter thin and a bit runny.
6. Arrange small bowls numbering exactly as the number of food colours you are using.  
7. Distribute equal amount of the batter in each bowl except the original cake batter which may be a bit more in quantity then the coloured bowls. Add colours in each of the bowl and mix them to the desired colour scheme.
8. Grease the cake pan and pour the original batter in it in a manner that it covers the entire bottom of the pan.
9. Start pouring coloured batter by spoon over the batter already in the pan, choice of colour preference is yours.  Just do nothing except pouring and then do the same with next colour.
10. Finally tap the pan on any hard surface or the counter and put it in the oven, bake for 30-35 minutes.
11. Check it by inserting a tooth pick or a clean knife in the centre of the cake, if it comes out clean that means the cake is ready.  Take it out and cool it for 10-15 minutes before loosening it out of the pan.

Enjoy

Bake with no FEAR OF FAILURE.

Thanks,

NOVICE.

SIMPLE VANILLA CAKE

First Cake for Beginners

This simple cake may be taken as starting point for baking cakes.  It is very simple and easy to bake, there is no rocket science involved at all. Only a few ingredients and 30 minutes of baking are required. There is nothing which will make life difficult for you to obtain. All ingredients will be available in your pantry, so start with the name of ALLAH.

The first thing to do before backing anything is to preheat the Oven for 15-20 minutes. The heat varies for some recipes but for cakes it is mostly 180 C.

Next you grease the bottom and sides of Cake pan with oil or butter and for making it more easy to take out the backed Cake is to cut out butter paper to the size of bottom and the sides and fit them it the pan over the oil or butter already applied and then grease the paper as well.

Now one more essential job to do and that is to make sure you have put all the ingredients on the counter before you and have also checked with the recipe if there is one.

SIMPLE VANILLA CAKE

INGREDIENTS :

• 1.       Flour                  1 and a half Cup
• 2.       Sugar                 1 Cup
• 3.       Butter or Oil       Half Cup and a Table Spoon
• 4.       Eggs (Large)        2
• 5.       Milk                    Quarter Cup (Optional)
• 6.       Baking Powder    1 and a half Teaspoon
• 7.       Vanilla Extract    Half Teaspoon

 METHOD :

• Sieve the flour and baking powder together at least twice and set aside.
• 
  
• Put butter or oil and sugar in a bowl and whisk them until they are creamy and combined, the mixture will change its color. Mix eggs one by one and whisk or using Electric Beater to Beat till it becomes foamy and fluffy. During whisking or beating once or twice scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula to clear the bowl and also to mix the residue in the mixture.
• 
  
• Don’t over mix or over beat, it will only take 5 minutes.
• 
  
• Add vanilla extract and mix it for a few seconds then add flour mixture in 3 parts and mix it. Make sure there are no lumps. Add Milk, one tablespoon at a time. The Milk is optional but it will make the cake softer.
• 
  
• The batter is now ready to be transferred to the prepared cake pan and tap it 2-3 times on the counter or any flat surface and place it in the Oven for 30-35 minutes.
• 
  
• Check the cake after at least 20-25 minutes by inserting a toothpick or a sharp knife, if it comes out clear the cake is ready to be taken out of the oven.
• 
  
• After taking out the pan from oven put it on a Wire rack or a wire mesh used in our homes for placing any hot cooking utensils after taking it from the stove. No problem if there are not available, place the pan at any place where it is open to the air for cooling
• .
• Cool it for 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Notes:

For folding the flour in the mixture means mixing it delicately with a wooden spoon or silicon Spatula, please don’t beat the mixture at this stage.

Bake with no FEAR OF FAILURE.

Thanks

NOVICE