........Earth Goddess........

Say it with Flowers

2011-04-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

A thank u box for some friends...

Pirate Cake

2011-04-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

Made this for a pirate theme party for a lil boy

Chocolate Strawberry Heaven

2011-04-06T20:59:00.000-07:00

Rich chocolate cake soaked and frosted with dark chocolate with fresh strawberries

Swiss Roll

2011-04-06T20:55:00.000-07:00

Decorated a swiss roll for my mom to take to one of her friends hosting a get together

Take Home Cake

2011-04-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

Made these for mummy's ladies get together as a take home something for all the guests.

Candy Cake

2011-04-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

Made this for Isha's Class Party when they finished IInd std. First time I tried out this idea and was pretty happy with it.

Castle & Crown Birthday Cake

2009-12-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

Made this for both the monkey's birthday party this year. Went through a lot of effort from concept to execution with this cake. Wanted an entirely different spin to what was available in the castle cake dept in Chennai.
But its basically a rainbow cake and rainbow cupcakes dressed up as a castle with a crown on top and individual cupcakes with the names of each lil guest on them.

Of course, I did'nt want fondant cos then it wud taste terrible and the kids wud'nt enjoy eating it as much. Also, since I had to transport it lock, stock and unwieldy barrel, i ended up improvising a lot.

Am extra-ordinarily thrilled with the cake boards with the pink bows...the center one is pink faux fur - sooo over the top! and the 2 Barbies were free gifts with the Macdonald's kiddy meal that i glue-penned in the sleeves and bodice and dressed in silver and pink net skirts over their minis!

Gorgeous Cupcakes

2009-04-30T02:55:00.000-07:00

Chocolates cupcakes, i made last week ......i'm thrown by this pic...its the perfect size n like right under ur nose, does'nt it make u wanna reach out n help urself to one?

Practice Session

2009-04-30T02:49:00.000-07:00

Practicing with Isha's modelling clay...trying to make some decent roses and work out an arrangement.

Encore

2009-03-22T22:34:00.000-07:00

A repeat request from the girly girl for exactly the
same cake i had made for her birthday last year

A New Year Greeting

2009-03-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

...sent across to my neighbor Vidya n husband Sagar...moist chocolate mini cakes with oodles of strawberries n cream topp'd with a swirl of cream n choc dipped strawberries

A Strawberry Garden Cake

2009-03-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

Moist and Soaked Chocolate Cake stuffed and decorated with tons of strawberries n cream for a family tea gathering....heaven on a spoon

Birthday Cake

2009-03-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

Rich Moist Chocolate Cake filled with strawberries n cream, frosted over with cream and decorated with cream swirls, scrolls and fondant flowers n finished with ribbons and pearls. Individual cupcakes with the name of each lil guest were an unprecedented success...wow! n the reaction....totally worth the extra effort.

Reji's Birthday Cake

2008-10-24T02:19:00.000-07:00

OK! so heres a fantastic cake I had made for my bro's birthday.

I cannot understand why many slave for hours and make great looking cakes with fondant, that people aren't really gonna eat!I need my cakes to look fantastic and taste phenomenal...

This is a Rich Super Deluxe Chocolate Cake soaked in syrup and brandy and enrobed in dark chocolate ganache.

Looked prreeeety goooood too!

Swirls of the deepest, darkest, most luscious chocolate with fondant flowers, buds n leaves in white, beige n chocolate....

KNOCKOUT! (-:

Here's how to make the magic!

Ingredients

Cake:

4 oz sweet/semisweet dark chocolate
5 eggs
¾ cup sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons water

For the Soak :

2 tablespoons brandy
1 tablespoon strawberry syrup
1 tablespoon icing sugar
6 tablespoons water

Method :

Preheat oven to 180 deg C and line a 12 inch cake tin.
Chop the chocolate into small pieces and melt it with the water in a double boiler.
Separate the eggs. With an electric mixer whisk the eggs whites until forming stiff peaks, add gradually half of the sugar while mixing.
In a separate bowl whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar for one minute using the electric mixer. Add gradually the vegetable oil, one tablespoon at a time, whisking well between each time oil has been added. Add the melted chocolate and mix thoroughly. Transfer to the bowl containing the whisked egg whites.
Sift in the flour and baking powder, add vanilla extract and fold everything carefully together using a spoon or a rubber spatula.
Transfer to the cake tin and bake for about 45 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove cake from tin when cool and brush over with a mix of brandy, icing sugar, strawberry syrup and water.
Cover with Chocolate Ganache and decorate with fondant or chocolate dipped strawberries.

Frosting - Ganache:

8 oz cream
1 tablespoon butter (optional but makes it stay really shiny even after refrigerating)
1 oz sugar
12 oz chocolate

Break chocolate into 1/2 oz pieces and place in stainless steel bowl.
Heat cream, butter and sugar to boiling. Pour over chocolate and let stand 5 minutes. Stir from center out until smooth.

After refrigerating 1 hour, use to ice your cake by spreading (allow to cool to room temp first).

This is an amazing cake, not my own recipe, both these I found on the net and tweak them every once in a while. Credits :Chocolate Cake- http://www.cacaoweb.net/ Chocolate Ganache- http://cakecentral.com/

Zack's Cupcakes

2008-08-13T01:20:00.000-07:00

Zack from Rubicon was the happy recipient of this lot of cupcakes...he had done some neat photography work for us ( People for Animals,Chennai) pro bono. He loved them cupcakes ... told Shiranee that he'd be most happy to do anything for us as long as we paid in the preferred currency...cupcakes!
The design was inspired by Isha, my 4 n half yr old- its quite an accomplisment getting stuff done when u have 10 sticky little fingers itching to stick themselves into every batter n mix n demanding to help..with her on a stool next to me, peering over my shoulder n raring to participate, i wanted to make the design simple .. something that she could relate to n think was cool

Chocolate Indulgence

2008-08-13T00:48:00.000-07:00

Bama had come down with Cheekoo n brood in May for her dad's birthday...made this 3 kg-it was huge- wacky cake with pure dark chocolate frosting n choc-dipped strawberries..everyone was suitaby impressed....pic taken against the bedspread at Tiger's (my dad's) place

Art Deco Cupcakes

2008-08-13T00:43:00.000-07:00

Made this for Vijay's (the tubbyhubby aka Fatboy,Gundu,Fatty,Bastard Boy,etc,etc.etc.) colleague's mom...went overboard with the decadent look.. atrocious, bright pinky peachy frosting with fondant rosebuds n leaves n silver balls. needed a classy background so put the curtains in the front room to good use n draped them over the poufee and set the stand on them!

Mummy's Cake

2008-08-13T00:39:00.000-07:00

Made this last year for mummy's birthday... absolutely yummy...rich chocolate cake soaked in rum n syrup, decorated with cocoa n chocolate frosting and white fondant rosebuds..the cocoa frosting was quite messy, so i cheated n covered it up with swirls n chocolate sprinkles...my mom - my worst critic- was totally floored!

Girly girl Cake

2008-08-13T00:32:00.001-07:00

This was soo much fun to decorate ... m pretty crazy bout swirls, n went pretty overboard! Made this for a 16 yr old. her mom told me she was very girly n feminine so went all out for a girly n cool look. Chk out the silver balls in between n diff sizes ....pretty cool huh? The kid loved it, thought it soo pretty n did'nt want to cut it!

Elegant Cupcakes

2008-08-13T00:19:00.000-07:00

jus luuurrve to dress up cupcakes...n of course the fav strawberry n chocolate drizzle ... i swear everyones gonna get fed up!
had to take close-ups...double-click on pic for a lil glimpse of heaven...the pink version was beautiful....
...n the wht ones were seriously elegant

Disaster Cake

2008-08-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

This is what i call my Disaster Cake. My very first Birthday cake order and my most traumatic caking experience to date. a very ambitious 3 kg cake!! for a big birthday bash with hordes of folks....talk about pressure n performance anxiety!
First i bake 2 cakes fine and for the next 2 i goofed up n used Baking powder instead of Baking soda! so i had to make them again, for which i ran outta ingredients! n had to stop n shop for supplies. then the cakes turn out soooooo moist they literally start cracking up! n then when i put buttercream it, huge chunks from the sides start falling off due to the weight!!!! help ! i got sooo paranoid, i kept running into the meditation/puja room to pray to God to rescue me from this nightmare n to fast forward me to a happier time! was palpitating ( i think...in fact m pretty sure) my hands were shaking soo bad, i cud'nt hold the damn icing bag steady! breathe ...breathe...to top it all the guy comes 4 hours too early to pick it up! jeeeez.....

After all that grief n some major reconstruction surgery it turned out pretty amazing (i have only God to thank for pulling me out of that one!) - a 2 tier chocolate vegan cake with frosting & swirls in buttercream frosting n choc-dipped strawberries...yeah,baby,yeah...i lurve strawberries..they jus add soo much of color and easy charm to a cake

Castle Cake

2008-08-12T23:54:00.000-07:00

A real simple birthday cake for the kids ...twas for our family dinner

Cupcakes with Sprinkles

2008-08-12T23:48:00.000-07:00

Good ol chocolate cupcakes with fluffy white frosting n sprinkles n strawberries...made for Priya's ( my sis-in-laws )family when they came visiting to Chennai en masse to chk out vg's n pri's fancy new dwellings

My First Spiderman Cake!

2008-08-12T23:12:00.000-07:00

Did this for a lil boy turning 9...vegan chocolate cake with buttercream frosting

Bundt Cake

2008-08-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

A little chocolate bundt cake with fluffy white frosting n strawberries drizzled over with chocolate...my mother wanted me to do something small n cute to give to her friend over christmas

Mummy's Birthday Cake 08

2008-08-12T22:05:00.000-07:00

Made this for mummy's birthday this year, "Is there a cake under all that chocolate?"- Mummy... chocolate vegan cake soaked in rum & syrup with pure dark chocolate {imported from Qatar - courtesy Reji aka Mr Fantastic (self-proclaimed title,of course (-:) mallu kokonut bro in the gelf! !} frosting... the strawberries add a lovely contrast n wholesomeness ...twas moist n chocolaty and outta tha world!

Barbie Sisters Cake

2008-08-12T21:39:00.000-07:00

jus getting started...thanks Kaykat for the inspiration...i hope i do u proud...having a helluva time finding my feet though...attempting to post some of the nicer cakes i've done over the last coupla years

Oh pl pl double click on the pic, verily i do declare tis my magnum opus! Was made for a combined birthday party for both my daughters Isha(4) & Shradha(1) - they're born 3 years & 10 days apart

made it a sisters theme with 2 Barbies on the cake and 60 matching chocolate cupcakes with co-ordinated pink n white frosting.....the main cake was totally six large cakes in all with 7-min frosting

now, the setting i'm rather proud of...every step was improvisation...was a hindu holiday of some kind the day before, so all the shops were closed, had to run across to Amijikarai ( !!! ) and source the pink and satin from a Bhai's shop! .......bought strands of imitation white n pink pearls too with the silver ribbon n jus plain forgot to use them! personally, i can't stand Barbie!! n don't get them any, cos m on a never-ending crusade to convince Isha that Barbie is a sissy girl n a silly goose! thas not the way if u wanna be a tough chick like mama, baby...