Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Mango Mousse Layer Cake (Eggless)

This year we celebrated my mother-in-law’s 65th birthday on August 21st and apparently it is 1st birthday of our new home too, so double celebration.

She is a very pure, strong soul and has minimum expectations from life and obviously from us. So to surprise her I wanted to bake a cake. However with a 5 months old baby and a very inquisitive 4 year toddler around me, I had very little time on hand. So quick cake was on mind. A new idea popped up and that was icing and filling the two layers with my very popular Mango Mousse. I have made layer cake with one flavor before so decided to try with two different flavors this time. And that “quick cake” idea took a back seat. LOL.

Let’s see how I compiled this very beautiful and tasty layer cake.

The cake consists of two layers. One is chocolate and the other is sponge cake. You may find the Microwave chocolate cake recipe here. And you will find the recipe for a quick Mango Mousse here.

Once you make the Mango Mousse and the Chocolate cake, please put them in the refrigerator. We want all the ingredients really cold when we start to layer the cake. This mousse has tendency to melt really quickly so we have to be extra careful while layering it.

The sponge cake recipe is given below.  

Ingredients:

  1. All-purpose Flour/ Maida: 2 Cups
  2. Sugar: 1 ½ Cup
  3. Vegetable Oil: ½ Cup
  4. Warm Milk: ½ Cup
  5. Hot Water: 1-1 ¼ Cup
  6. Vanilla Essence: 1 Tsp. 
  7. Baking Powder: 1 Tsp. 
  8. Baking Soda: ½ Tsp. 
  9. Lemon Juice: ½ Tsp

For Mango Icing: 


  1. Mango Pulp: ¼ Cup
  2. Agar-agar: 2 Tbsp. dissolved in ¼ Cup of hot water. (Optional)
Tools:
  1. Microwave safe container: 9 inch (round)
  2. 13 inch. Angled Icing spatula: 1
  3. Disposable Decorating bag: 1
  4. Pastry tube/ Nozzle (star): 1
  5. Butter paper or parchment paper: 4 (cut in 5-6 inch wide)
  6. Sieve: 1 Big
  7. Toothpicks
  8. Cooling rack: 1
  9. Whisk: 1 

Method:

  1. Take a big bowl. 
  2. Sieve all the dry ingredients in it. 
  3. Now add warm milk and stir well. 
  4. Add one cup of boiling hot water to the mixture and stir well breaking the lumps. You may require ¼ cup of boiling hot water to make thick paste. 
  5. Now add vanilla essence. Stir well. 
  6. Finally add lemon juice and stir well one last time. 
  7. Take a 9inch greased, round baking pan and pour the batter in it. 
  8. Tap the baking pan to air vacuum the bubbles. This step will make the cake very light. 
  9. Pre-heat the oven on 350F. 
  10. Bake the cake on 350 F for 35 minutes. 
  11. Take out the cake with the help of oven mitten. Check it with tooth pick insert and if it’s clean, consider your cake is done. If it is not clean then bake it for couple of more minutes. 
  12. Put the cake on a cooling rack for about 15-20 minutes.
  13. Now dissolve ¼ Cup sugar in 1 Cup hot water in a bowl. 
  14. Let this syrup cool a little. 
  15. Put the cake in a plate and put the sugar syrup on both the cakes (on chocolate and on sponge cake) with the help of a small spoon. Do not pour all the syrup at once. Once you think the cakes are moist stop pouring the syrup. 
  16. Put the cakes in the refrigerator for ½ an hour.

How to layer the cake?


  1. Before you start the icing process, slide down 4 pieces of parchment papers under the cake forming a square. We will take these papers out once we are done with the icing. It will keep the cake surface clean.
  2. Carefully take out the sponge cake from the refrigerator and put it on the turn table.
  3. Take out ½ the amount of mango mousse from the refrigerator and with the help of a spatula (preferably with an icing spatula) spread it on the cake. 
  4. Put the cake back in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. 
  5. Now carefully take it out along with the chocolate cake which we made in the microwave (and kept in the refrigerator). 
  6. Put the chocolate cake on the base layer and top it with remaining mango mousse. (Keep about ½ a cup of mango mousse aside for the final decoration)
  7. Layer it nicely with the help of spatula. 
  8. Now pour the mango pulp and agar-agar mixture on the cake. Putting agar-agar in the pulp is optional. If you don't have agar-agar then pour super chilled mango pulp on the cake. 
  9. Put it back in the refrigerator for another 15-20 minutes. 
  10. Take it out. Take a decorating icing bag and put a star nozzle in it. Fill the decorating bag with the remaining mango mousse and start piping it down as per your liking and imagination. However, you have to be extra quick. 
  11. Now pull the parchment paper out carefully. 
  12. I decorated it with few blue berries and wrote the birthday message on a sugar-free crème wafer. 
  13. Put it back in the refrigerator and take it out just before you want to cut it. 


I won’t call it a quick recipe however I’m sure everyone will like it and appreciate all your efforts.

If you like it give a thumps up and please share it with others. Don’t forget to enjoy this yummy and innovative “layer cake”. Happy Cooking!!!!
Please leave your comments and suggestions about this recipe. We welcome your feedback.

These are the few pictures of the things which I used while making this cake.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Ukadiche Modak /उकडीचे मोदक/ Steamed sweet Rice flour dumplings


Growing up in Maharashtra I have always indulged in different varieties of Maharastrian delicacies. And obviously one of them is Ukadiche Modak or rice flour dumplings with sweet coconut filling in it. These are usually made during the holly festival of Ganapati. It is presented to Ganapati Bappa as his Prasad. It is said that he loves Modak the most.  During the Ganesh worship ceremony, known in India as Ganesha Chaturthi the puja always concludes with an offering of twenty-one modaks to the deity and as prasad

This particular variety of modak is steamed and eaten with Tup or Desi Ghee which makes it healthier.

I could go on and on talking about this awesome sweet, instead you may find more details about it here.

Let’s make these Modaks for our Ganapati Bappa.


Ingredients:

You will be able to make around 14-16 modaks with this measurement. 
  1. Khovalela Naral/ Grated coconut: 2 Cups (fresh or frozen) 
  2. Gul/ Jaggery: 1-1½ Cup (depends on jaggery’s sweetness and your family’s taste buds) 
  3. Tandul Pithi/ Rice Flour: 2 Cups (very very smooth) 
  4. Pani/ Water: 2-2½ Cups 
  5. Ghee/ Clarified butter: 1 Tbsp. / 2 Tbsp. 
  6. Mith/ Salt: A pinch 
  7. Velachi Pud/ Cardamom Powder: 1Tsp.

Method:

For Filling:
  1. Take one coconut. 
  2. Grate the coconut and use 2 Cups from it.
  3. Alternatively take 2 cups of frozen grated coconut in a microwave safe bowl. (Thaw the coconut before measuring it.) 
  4. Add 1 Cup of jaggery to the coconut. Stir it. 
  5. Put it in microwave for 30 Sec. 
  6. Take it out, give it a good mix and put it back in microwave for about 2min. 
  7. Take it out after a minute, add cardamom powder and stir it. At this point you may add chopped nuts of your choice to this mixture. 
  8. Take it out with the help of oven mitten. Usually at this time the stuffing is ready. If you feel the jaggery is not melted completely then just put it back just for 10-12 sec. If you keep it longer then the stuffing will be hard. (I have done that and had to rescue it. I have added the tips to rescue the filling at the end) 

For Outer Cover:

  1. Take 2 cups of water in a pan and put it on the stove on medium-high heat.
  2. Once you see the water bubbles, add a pinch of salt and a tbsp. of ghee in it. 
  3. Measure the rice flour properly in a bowl. The rice flour has be very soft and smooth on touch. If it is little thick then please sieve it. 
  4. Once the water is boiling put the heat to low and put entire bowl of flour in the water. 
  5. Start stirring it immediately and vigorously with the help of a nice firm spatula. 
  6. Please make sure it’s not lumpy anymore. 
  7. Put a tight lead. 
  8. The steam trapped inside the pan will do the magic now. Take is off the gas after 2 minutes. 
  9. Switch off the gas. 
Modak Making:
  1. Take out the warm dough on a plain surface. 
  2. Start kneading the dough once it is bearable to hands. But it should not be cold otherwise we will not be able to shape them. 
  3. Put a little oil or ghee on your palms and start kneading. 
  4. Cover the dough with warm damp cloth.  
  5. Make medium sized ball and start making modaks. 
  6. Take the rice flour ball and roll a small puri of it (about 2-3inches). 
  7. Take the coconut filling and put 1 Tbsp of it in the middle of this puri. 
  8. Take this puri in one hand and start pinching it with another hand. It will look like a bulb of a lotus flower. 
  9. Now start taking all the pinched petals together and stick them together making a peak out of it. 
  10. It will look like a small onion. 
  11. I have a Modak mold bought from Tulashi Baug, Pune so I used mold to make these modaks (grease the mold before filling it with little ghee). It is very special for me since it has been gifted to me by a dear friend. 
  12. Take a rice cooker (with steamer) or idali steamer to steam these modaks or dumplings. 
  13. I have a rice cooker-steamer in which I put one damp handkerchief and put 7 modaks at a time on the steam mode for about 7-8 minutes. If you are using idali cooker or pressure cooker for steaming the modak, then please keep it for 12-14min or as per instructions on your cooker. 
    Another form of mold

  14. Once done, take them out and pour desi ghee on it and relish them as a nice, healthy sweet.
    गणपती बाप्पा मोरया !!!
Tip:

  1. If for any reason your filling or सारण becomes hard, put it in a pan and add little ghee to it. keep stirring till it is soft again. It may change it's color to little brownish but that is completely alright. 
  2. The rice flour should be really smooth. If it's too coarse then the outer cover will break while molding the modaks. 
  3. Do not let the dough cool down for the same above mentioned reason. 

Please try this super easy recipe of Ukadiche Modak and please your Bappa (We call Lord Ganesha- Bappa). If you like this recipe, give a thumps up and please share it with others. Happy Cooking!!!!

Please leave your comments and suggestions about this recipe. We welcome your feedback.

बोला गणपती बाप्पा मोरया, मंगल मूर्ती मोरया !!!!!!!

Other recipe you can try during the festival:
Paan Ladoo
Paan Shots
Narali Bhat  

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