Let’s bake a little more for Christmas with mouthwatering cakes
If you have a sweet tooth, this festival has so much to offer. So why wait?
SNS | New Delhi | December 20, 2018 5:22 pm | Updated : December 21, 2018 1:46 pm
Christmas is not just a festival, it’s a feeling of warmth and a celebration of togetherness. The festival is all about spreading the message of love for everyone.
Though the trees are decorated with lights, stars, bells and miniature Santa Clauses, the festival is incomplete without a slice of Christmas cake.
From ginger cookies to plum cakes to chocolate slice, the festival brings with it merry spirit with all sorts of mouthwatering desserts.
Advertisement
So if you have a sweet tooth, this festival has so much to offer. So why wait? Make your way to the kitchen and start baking.
So, this Christmas, try out these exclusive recipes made by different chefs and become a pro by baking a cake.
Plum Pudding—Taj Mahal Hotel
Ingredients:
White butter 312gms
Brown sugar 187gms
Eggs 3
Apple chopped 187gms
Flour 125gms
Corn flour 50gms
Baking powder 3.5gms
Nut meg 2gms
Ginger powder 3.5gms
Lemon zest 3
Soaked fruit 875gms
Fresh cream 100gms
Rum 100ml
Method:
Cream butter & sugar till fluffy and sugar is dissolved using a paddle attachment in the machine
Add slowly eggs and incorporate well.
Add cream and mix
Sieve in all dry ingredients and mix gently
Lastly add in all the dry fruits and chopped apples.
Bake in a mould lined with butter & sugar and covered with foil at 150C on hot water bath for 4 hrs.
Soaked in brandy/rum and Serve warm.
Flourless Walnut Cake with Poached Pears — Chef Sabyasachi Gorai
Ingredients:
For the cake:
Butter for greasing
350g California walnuts
Zest of 1 lemon
4 eggs
225g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp icing sugar
For the poached pears:
4 ripe conference pears
8 cardamom pods
Pinch of saffron
Juice of 1 lemon
150g caster sugar
250ml water
Greek yogurt to serve or
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C, grease and line the base of a 9-inch cake tin with a circle of baking parchment.
Place the walnuts into a food processor and blitz until you have flour like consistency.
Separate the eggs into 2 mixing bowls.
Whisk the egg yolks, lemon zest and caster sugar with an electric hand whisk until pale and creamy, and then whisk the egg white to stiff peaks.
Mix the blended walnuts into the egg yolks, and then fold in the egg whites.
Spoon the cake mixture into your prepared cake tin, place on the middle shelves of the oven, and bake for 35-40 minutes (or until cooked in the centre and risen).
Meanwhile, peel the pears and cut in half, scooping out the core with a melon baller or teaspoon, and bruise the cardamom pods.
Add the peeled pears, saffron, cardamom pods, lemon juice, caster sugar and water to a medium sized saucepan over a low heat and poach the pears for 15-20 minutes, or until soft and infused.
Slice the cake into 8, and serve each slice with a poached pear on the side and a blob of Greek yogurt or creme fraiche.
Cinnamon Zucchini Walnut Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting— Chef Sabyasachi Gorai
Ingredients:
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-1/2 cups freshly grated zucchini
1 cup California walnuts, chopped
Cream Cheese Frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
3 cups powdered sugar
Method:
Preheat oven to 176°C. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, beat together sugars, eggs, and oil until well combined. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Combine dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Stir in zucchini and walnuts.
Pour batter evenly in pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes clean. Cool completely.
For the cream cheese frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese together until creamy.
Add vanilla extract and heavy whipping cream and beat until combined.
Beat in the powdered sugar until smooth. Frost the cooled cake and serve immediately.
Rum Plum Delight — Chef Shailendra Bhandari, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa
Ingredients:
For fruits and nuts mix soaking:
750 ml Dark Rum
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 pinch salt
300g raisins
250g currants
250g sultanas
75g chopped mixed peel
10g almonds, chopped (skin-on)
½ orange zests
½ lemon zest
For cake:
175g self-raising flour, sifted
175g soft-dark brown sugar
175g butter, softened
4 medium eggs
Method:
Few days before baking cake | Add cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, dried fruits, mixed peel, nuts and zest in a mixing bowl with 750 ml of rum in airtight container.
When you are ready to bake the cake| pre-heat the oven to 140°C.
Mix flour and sugar and softened butter into a large mixing bowl then add eggs and beat until everything is evenly blended. Now use a large metal spoon to gradually fold in the fruit mixture until it’s all evenly distributed.
Then add flour mix and soaked nuts mixture into the prepared tin, leveling the surface with the back of the spoon.
Finally cover the top of the cake with a double square of parchment paper with a 50p-size hole in the center.
Bake the cake in the center of the oven for 4 hours until it feels springy in the center when lightly touched.
Cool the cake for 45 minutes in the tin, and then remove it to a wire rack to finish cooling. When it’s completely cold, wrap in double greaseproof paper.
Foil it and store in an airtight tin or polythene box.
Christmas Mince Pies — Enchante Patisserie
Ingredients:
1st Soaking:
Black Current 1000gms
Orange Peel 125 gms
Lemon Peel 175 gms
Prunes 500 gms
Raisins 500 gms
Brown Sugar 500 gms
Rum 500 gms
2nd Soaking:
Unsalted butter 250
Orange Juice 125
Lemon Zest 5
Sweet Pastry:
Rose Flour 250 gr
Butter 150 gr
Salt 2.5 gr
Icing Sugar 75 gr
Eggs 50 gr
Method:
Mix all the ingredients of the first soaking together and macerate for 48 hours.
Mix the ingredients of the second soaking along with the first and keep aside.
For the sweet pastry rub in butter into the flour. Add in salt and icing sugar. Lastly, add eggs to combine.
Chill the dough for at least 45 mins. Roll out dough to 2 mm thickness. Line the tart shells.
Fill in with mince filling prepared earlier.
Use a star cutter and paste on top of filled tarts. Rest for 30 mins.
Bake at 170 degrees in a convection oven for 20-25 mins.
Truffle Rum Cake— Chef Shailendra Bhandari, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa
Ingredients:
Chocolate sponge
Flour 175 gm
Cocoa powder 25 gm
Eggs 10 no
Sugar 200 gm
Rum 30 ml
Baking powder ¼ tsp
Chocolate filling
Chocolate melted 500 gm
Cream whipped 1 lt
Egg white, beaten 5 eggs
Sugar 100 gm
Rum 30 ml
Method:
Separate egg yolks and whites
Whisk sugar and egg yolks together and add vanilla essence
Whisk egg whites to stiff consistency
Sift flour and baking powder
Mix the egg whites and egg yolk mixture
Fold in the flour and coco powder into the eggs using cut and fold method
Line the greasing tray with butter paper and pour the mixture
Bake in preheated oven at 200degrees Celsius for 25 min.
Chocolate Filling
Melt the chocolate and keep aside
Whip the cream and add vanilla essence
Combine egg white and sugar on double boiler till stiff consistency
Add cream to the above mixture
Remove from double boiler add rum and melted chocolate
Layer cake with thin chocolate sponge and pour thin layer of chocolate mixture on it and repeat the same
Refrigerate for 1 hour and serve chilled piped with chocolate cream
Plum Pudding — Chef Sujeet Singh, Radisson Noida Sector 55
Ingredients:
Butter 1kg
Caster sugar 1kg
Egg 1kg
Maida 800gm
Bread cram 500gm
Caramel colour 150ml
Almond 300gm
Cashew nut 300gm
Kishmish 300gm
Orange peel 400gm
Black currant 300gm
Dry cherry 500gm
Dry fig 300gm
Tutti frutti 500gm
Cinnamon powder 25gm
Green cardamom 25gm
Cloves powder 20gm
Ginger powder 20gm
Liquor(rum,whiskey,brandy) 500ml
Baking powder 10gm
Apple greeted 01 kg
Method:
For preparing cake batter:
Cream butter and sugar together slowly and add egg one by one, after creaming add flour, breadcrumb, baking powder and greeted apple mix them together and add caramel colour.
Add liquor soaked dry fruits to the mixture and mix well.
Then prepare cake molds for baking greases them with butter.
Pour the prepared mixture into small pudding molds and set them properly.
Covered the mold with silver foil and steam baked.
Bake at-230*c for 90-100 minutes
Gingerbread Cookies — Enchante Patisserie
Ingredients:
Refined Flour 500 gms
Honey 205 gms
Butter 90 gms
Ginger powder 15 gms
Milk 5 gms
Eggs 2
Mix Spice 1 gm
Baking Soda 7 gms
Brown Sugar 110 gms
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together to form a dough.
Sheet to 4 mm thickness.
Cut with different shaped cookie cutters and bake at 180 for 15 mins.
Red Velvet Cupcake — SHEROES Cooking Community, Vaishnavi Tambat
Ingredients:
125-gram All-purpose flour
100 grams butter
1/2 tin condensed milk/ milkmaid
2 medium-sized beetroot
Red gel food color as required
2 tbsp. powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla essence
3/4 tsp. lemon juice
Method:
Wash, peel the skin of beetroot and chop into small pieces.
Take a jar and put chopped beetroot and grind into a smooth paste without adding water. Beet root paste is ready.
Now put the paste of beetroot in a strainer and keep a bowl under the strainer to collect the liquid. Now take out the liquid by pressing it with the spoon. Beet root juice is ready.
Take a bowl and add butter, sugar and mix well using a whisk. Now add condensed milk and again mix it well for few seconds by using whisk.
Take another bowl and add all the dry ingredients- all-purpose flour, soda, baking powder in a bowl and mix it well. You can also add 1 tbsp. of cocoa powder (optional) at this stage only.
Now put ½ of the beet root juice with wet ingredients and gradually put ½ of the flour mixture into the bowl of wet ingredients and mix well.
Now put rest of the flour mixture, beet root juice and red gel food color, vanilla essence and mix it well. Lastly add lemon juice and mix it well again. If the mixture is thick then add water as needed and make medium thick batter.
Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree Celsius and line a muffin tray with paper or foil liners. Now fill 3/4 cup of liners with batter. Do not fill too much as it will become fluffy after baking.
Put the muffin tray in a pre-heated oven and bake it in convection mode.
Christmas Cake — Chef Ashish Srivastava, Regenta LP Vilas, Dehradun
Ingredients:
Dried Mixed Fruit 500GM
Lemon zest 30gm
Orange zest 30gm
Glace cherries 60GM
Cooking brandy 120ML
Orange juice 20ml
Lemon juice 20ml
Amul butter 175gm
Dark brown sugar 175gm
Whole eggs 3nos
Self-raising flour 175gm
Ground almonds 50gm
Whole almonds 60gm
Whole walnut 60gm
Mixed spice powder 30gm
Apricot jam 30gm
Icing sugar 50gm
Method:
Put all zest and juice in a bowl with mixed dried fruit and glace cherries. Add the brandy cover with clingfilm and soak for a minimum of 1 hr or overnight.
Grease and line a 20cm cake tin, preferably with a removable base.
Preheat the oven to 150°C,
Beat the butter with the sugar and black treacle until paler and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs, beating each one in thoroughly before adding the next one. In another bowl, combine the flour, ground almonds and mixed spice and stir to mix thoroughly. Then add all the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and fold in gently until thoroughly combined.
Add the soaked fruit and all the juices, plus the nuts if liked. Fold gently together until the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Turn the mixture into your prepared cake tin and flatten the surface. Place in the centre of the oven, and bake for 2 hrs or until golden brown and springy to the touch. Use a sharp knife or skewer to test the cake. If there is still wet mixture on the blade, bake for another 20-30 mins. It should come out clean.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies have procured 85.41 lakh metric tonnes (LMTs) of paddy in Punjab during the ongoing kharif marketing season 2024-2025 as of November 2, according to a statement issued by the Union Food Ministry on Sunday.
India stands at a crossroads where its rapid economic growth starkly contrasts with the sobering reality of food insecurity among its most vulnerable populations.