Dessert

Caramel-Mocha Raspberry Mousse

April 4, 2017 By Asha Shivakumar

Here’s my simple way to make this Mocha-Caramel Raspberry Mousse, using Werther’s caramel candies, and it’s all dressed up. Sweet treat Ker-uh-muhl or Kar-muhl, how do you pronounce it? What ever it might be, we love Caramel. This silky smooth Caramel mousse, layered with Mocha cream and raspberry mousse, altogether making it an indulgent beautiful Spring/Summer Dessert.

As the afternoon sun cast shadows of the trees in my garden on my dining floor, I suddenly had the urge to have something cool, creamy and rich. I opened the refrigerator just to find few eggs staring back at me. It’s almost like they were calling me to be used. I had guests 2 days later, so why not?, I thought to myself. Taking my steel bowl to break open the eggs, I stared at the egg shells and back to the most prettiest separated yellow yolks. This is where I belong, the kitchen, Waffles by me waiting for a spill, and a cookie if he got lucky. I took a sip of my coconut water and got out my double boiler and added water. I decided I was going to make a creme anglaise. Slowly whipping the eggs and the moment I added it to the cream, a perfume surrounded the kitchen.…

Matcha No-bake Cheesecake bars flavored with cardamom

February 24, 2017 By Asha Shivakumar

This time it’s this beautiful, luscious, simply easy, smooth cheesecake with a hint of this naturally enhancing matcha and a rich cardamom flavor hidden. Add the Toffifay, the caramel hazelnut chocolate treat to elevate the dessert. One bite of this will make you want to stop and think of every little thing you have just experienced. Then you might not want to stop at one slice:)

For the love of chocolate, Matcha and all things pretty.

For me the end of winter is all about open windows, fresh chilly air, full of grassy smell and leaves scattered everywhere. The mild heat from the fireplace spreading around, and snow on the mountain tops slowly melting away. Water dripping from the windowsill, a strong desire to wear a lacy dress and wander the vintage streets, camera in one hand to take pictures of the beautiful green mountains. A hope for something new, something fresh and something beautiful.

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Malpua (Sweet Pancake) Stuffed With Ricotta-Coconut Rum Cream

October 24, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

“Alcohol and desserts are pretty great on their own. When combined, the results are often epic”. – Ash

Diwali is right out the corner. Colors, lights, fireworks, clothes, family, friends, parties, dancing, and, of course, we can’t forget about the food. There is so much food and sweets. I love the spirit of this festival. It has the spirit of coming together, laughing over mugs of coffee and tea, snacking, and just relaxing. One of the specialties of Diwali is the snacks that are prepared days before the actual festival…

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No-churn Pistachio-Coconut Cardamom Ice Cream with Chocolate

July 13, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

This deliciously easy ice cream is full of flavor and has coconut and pistachios that make it nutty and crunchy. Make this no churn pistachio icecream and you’ll love.

It’s summer here, and it’s monsoon season in India where I am right now. Monsoon in Bangalore is beautiful. The weather is quite perfect, not too cold or chilly. It rains, but not crazily. Being here, travelling around, and trying different foods is an amazing feeling.

There’s a huge selection of food here. From the authentic Karnataka Ragi Roti (finger millet tortilla) to a Belgian waffle flavored with rich Indian spices, everything is easily accessible.

The palette right now is wide. The ice cream flavors are numerous, with wine ice cream, cherry-mango ice cream, and butterscotch pistachio ice cream. Throughout my childhood years, I don’t remember having fruit based ice creams or desserts at all. It wasn’t that popular then. The ice cream that were fruit based were probably artificially flavored, so it was a natural instinct to go for the nutty cardamom or saffron ones, but a no churn pistachio icecream. It’s all so different now.

Although I do like the fruit ones, I still have a strong bond to the ones I grew up with. This is one of them., the no churn pistachio icecream.

Who wouldn’t like a luscious, smooth, sweet nutty ice cream? We Indians have a strong relationship with cardamom. The no churn was a popular method to make ice cream, since regular households didn’t have an ice cream machine then. I stuck to that method with slight changes after seeing Nigella Lawson’s Popular No-Churn Ice Cream.

This is one of our favorite flavors and it works so well together. I made cones using my recipe for Pizzelle.

If you make this no churn pistachio icecream, tag me on social media.

Have a lovely week my friends!!

Asha

5.0 from 3 reviews

Pistachio-Coconut Cardamom Icecream with Chocolate

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

The easiest no churn icecream is perfect for the summer days and these flavors are classic and delicious.

Author: Ash

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 10-12

Ingredients

4 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream chilled
1 can condensed milk
⅓ cup coconut cream
½ cup pistachio coarse paste
½ tsp green cardamom powder or powder for 3-4 cardamom pods
Semi sweet melted chocolate
2 tbsp coconut oil
Cones to serve in

Instructions

Clean the whipping bowl and the whisk very well and dry it. You can leave the bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes before whipping the cream.
Add the condensed milk, coconut cream and the chilled whipping cream and whip it on low speed, around 3 for 3 minutes so it can slowly whip. Then whip it on medium high for another 5 minutes at high speed until it is almost to a stiff peak stage. Stop the machine and add the pistachio paste and whip it for another 30 seconds to a minute until stiff peak and stop immediately. Pour in a ice cream pan or box and chill overnight.
Melt the chocolate on double broiler, add coconut oil in it and drizzle on the icecream once it is completely chilled.
Enjoy

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Nectarine Pistachio Frangipane Cake / Tart

June 22, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

Happy Summer my friends!!

I am looking forward to those summer cool night walks.

The foraging we do on our hikes.

The warmish sea that we can dip our feet in.

The late mornings.

The late nights.

Movies, Books and Cooking with boys.

We really do have so much to celebrate. The beautiful shining sun, the cool shade, the long talks with friends. Vacations and family.

The fresh bounty in the markets. The trees all showering us with their fruits. All the summer picnics, the gallons of lemonade, and beautiful summer cakes.

Let’s celebrate summer with this beautiful cake/torte/tart.

This definitely is a denser tart kind of a cake because it is baked twice. It’s quite an easy cake, but packs a huge presence.

The frangipane makes it rich, while the fruits make it fresh and summery. The cake base is my basic Orange cake that I used, and it works great every time.

Hope you get to make this beautiful cake this summer.

I will be in Indian this summer and can’t wait to write about it in future posts. I might do a post dedicated to Bangalore..

What are your plans?

HAPPY SUMMER!! Sending you all hugs.

Ash

5.0 from 1 reviews

Orange-Nectarine Cake with Pistachio Frangipane

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

1 hour 30 mins

Total time

1 hour 45 mins

Author: Ash

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

1¼ cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Powdered sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
3 large eggs separated
5 tbsp vegetable oil
6 tbsp Orange Juice
Zest of one whole orange
pinch of salt

for the pistachio frangipane:

4 ounces shelled raw unsalted pistachios
¼ cup sugar
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (½ stick)
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 large egg
1 Tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour

to top the cake

1 tbsp sugar
Garnish with berries

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line the base and sides of a 20cm square or round baking tin.
Sift All Purpose Flour+baking powder+salt+ powdered sugar
Beat egg whites to soft peaks
Mix oil+yolks+orange juice+zest.
Add the dry ingredients, all purpose flour and everything with the oil, yolks, orange juice and zest. Mix well to incorporate everything.
Then fold in the egg white in 3 parts to incorporate well.
Pour in round pan and bake for about 30 minutes in a 325 degree oven or until it golden brown, will be not be cooked through. Let cool for 20 minutes until you can proceed.

For the Frangipane.

In your food processor, grind the pistachios, flour, salt, and sugar to a powder (or as fine as you can make it!). Add the butter and process until no longer visible. Add egg and vanilla, blending until it forms a smooth paste.
Spread the filling over the cooked base. To decorate like I have in the photos, cut the nectarines/apricots into diagonal strips, then slide each half onto a knife and fan over the pistachio frangipane. Alternatively, you could put the halves straight on or cut the stone fruits into slices and decorate as you wish.
Bake the cake in a 325 degree oven for 45- 50 minutes, or until they are golden and a skewer inserted into the pistachio comes out clean.Around mid point of the bake, turn the cake pan and sprinkle some sugar for the extra caramalised bits.
Leave in pan to cool.
Decorate with more berries and serve with some Ice cream.

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ALL IMAGES AND POST COPYRIGHT PROTECTED. Do NOT copy it, do not use it anywhere without our consent. PLEASE give due credit if you do recreate it for your blog with your own special touches.

5 Deliciously EASY CAKES for Mother’s Day

May 3, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

Hi my friends,

Some parts of the world celebrate Mother’s Day this weekend.

“What do you want for Mother’s Day?” asked my little one. To that I thought for a few minutes, and responded, “Nothing, I just want to sit at home, on my couch, in my pajamas, all day, watching movies, eating junk, and most of all, no one asking me anything. Lastly, I don’t want a messy kitchen!” I added quite sternly.

He looked at me like, I just wanted to know what to make for you. Oh, well.

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Pineapple-Almond-Coconut Honey Syrup Cake

April 16, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

Happy April!!

I can’t believe we’re in mid April already!

Four years! It’s been four years and two days since I published my first post.

It is a relationship. A bond between the writer/creator, blog space and readers/friends. A relationship I take quite seriously and cherish every bit of it….

Red Rice Sweet Paniyaarm/fritters stuffed with Coconut and Palm Sugar

March 22, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

It’s that time again for Indians to slap colors on each other. A festival which brings people together, a festival of camaraderie and jollity. Holi – the festival of COLORS.

India does have a lot of festivals, and the whole country turns into a colorful atmosphere. Among these festivals, some are religious, some are based on seasons, and some are of national importance. I consider this festival in particular to be a more free spirited, joyous occasion for the young and old and everyone in between. It’s a festival where people forget anger, sadness and join in for a day of fun, food and become kids at heart.

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Almond-Cardamom Cream stuffed Apple Tarts

February 19, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

I wonder how the days were when there was no puff pastry in the freezer.

Making a puff pastry is an art, an art of being patient. The dough is breathtakingly soft and pliable. There is an aura of romantacism while you handle the dough and roll carefully, quarter turns and striping/dotting The ingredients are just a few, but so many small details go into making the dough. I had little clue until then about the process, and how amazingly flaky, pure buttery it would be. The first bite I took after we baked one batch just blew my socks off. I instinctively remember closing my eyes and tasting the butter, the flakiness and the gazillion layers so thin and crispy. The effort paid off….

Melon Noodles-Blueberry Sorbet Float

February 12, 2016 By Asha Shivakumar

Do you bookmark and pin a lot of recipes to try?

A few days ago, I saw an Indonesian Melon drink posted by the very talented Lorraine from Not Quite Nigella. It looked so fancy, simple and so different, I couldn’t wait to make my version and it went right on top of my ‘to-make’ list. I am sure most of you know her by now, if not please do check her out, you will love her. I am always amazed at how much great food she puts out on her blog. Apart from her fabulous food, I admire her sense of humor and she is such wonderful person.

I am a big fan of fancy looking food, which requires less fussing around and this cocktail/dessert is just that. So here is an inspired float. Simple, stunning and bombdiggity, if I may say so myself:).

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