Red Love ~ Happy Valentines

For once, I'm at a loss for words.... this picture says it all... Love, Strawberries, Chocolate and everything RED.... :)

She came, She saw, She Conquered......

Thanks for taking this Picture, Diya :)

Strawberry Peppermint Brownies ~ Sharing Some Sisterly Love, Happy Valentine's Day

Love… love… love….. it’s in the air…. Can something express more love than chocolates and strawberries…. A love fresher than mint…. So let’s put them together…. And we have Strawberry Peppermint Brownies…..

I had done cherry brownies sometime ago... but with strawberries calling out to me from the stands.... How could I not put Chocolate and Strawberries together. The Sun must rise on these yummy brownies made as cupcakes....

Diya and mamu were here for a few days... So let the professionals get to work while I work in the kitchen....

Strawberry Brownies

Ingredients:
100 gms Chocolate
1 cup Flour (minus 1 heaped tsp)
1 heaped tsp Cocoa Powder
3/4 cup Castor Sugar
3/4 cup softened Butter
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
4 Eggs
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup chopped Fresh Strawberries + extra for decoration[optional]
Crushed peppermint for garnishing

Method:
1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees. Prepare the cupcake moulds by linking with parchment paper, I used ready made butter paper cups.
2. Place the chopped
Strawberries in a cup and add 1/2 the Sugar to them, set aside for them to macerate.
3. In a double boiler{over hot water} melt the chocolate and butter. Mix well till both are melted and incorporated.
4. Cool to slightly higher than room temperature.
5. Stir in rest of the sugar and vanilla.
6. Stir in chopped strawberries in the above mixture and let them sit for a bit. In the mean time beat the eggs.
7. Add lightly beaten eggs slowly to the above mixture, while mixing.
8. Stir in the sifted flour and salt. mix very lightly till incorporated.
9. Pour mixture evenly in the tray.
10. Garnish with some peppermint on top.
11. Bake in the pre-heated oven, reducing temperature to 180 degrees.
12. Bake for about 30-40 minutes till skewer come clean. [Watch the crust, it burns fast...]
13. Sprinkle with rest of the crushed peppermint after it cools

Diya and I had a glorious time with these soft moist n flavourful brownies in a cupcake..... I sent some over for my sister[she's someone who doesn't enjoy desserts... yeah we're poles apart n She's stick thin ;)] in Mumbai.... She loved them.... That's 1 big test passed for these yummy babies cause she wants M-O-R-E and says 'the strawberry cup cake was awsome...'

Measuring Up Limitless Love in Hearts

There are some friends who just K-N-O-W..... one such is Shuchi, She has this 'Never-Say-Never' spirit and is a very very dedicated and loyal friend who'll show me the mirror, pamper me, spoil me, set-me-straight, inspire me whenever I need whichever. She just Knows... I don't need to tell her, 1 phone call n she knows.... perceptive little jerry mouse she is.

Shuchi got me these measuring spoons from Singapore along with some other things[coming up in a separate post].... This song 'Secret' by Seal remind me uncannily of Shuchi... :) It's quite repetitive but comfortingly so... just like her.... She K-N-O-W-S.... and we B-E-L-O-N-G....

Thanks so much for the lovely pictures Diya :)

Happy Valentines Girls :)

Chocolate... Will you be my Valentine?

It's that time of the year when love is in the air.... well... quite literally....... can see baloons flying everywhere.... so how can my baking be far behind.....

My friends showed me some love.... n for the first time... I was gonna be baking cakes to order, for Valentine's... so what is it that they want?

CHOCOLATE..... Pat came the reply....

Ok then, Hearts n Chocolate you will get... :-)

Bhaskar flying out to meet Onu.... 1 flight pack, heart shape cake coming up.....

Gunjan n Sahil fly out for a trip to Goa.... Another flight pack coming up... [even though i couldn't make it, atleast my cake went to Goa...]

Valentine's morning.... Anuj n Amit arive to pick up their cakes...

Anuj wanted to surprise his wife Sheetal.... Cup cakes for them and their 2 lovely girls....

Amit picked up the cake topped with Nutella for Amrita....

Are you in love yet... Nutella is the perfect answer.....

Nikhil's parents celebrated their anniversary a day later with a surprise cake......

My sister's birthday is on the 15th... some valentine love for her and the kids.....

The kids wanted to blow the candles n eat the cake before we could say C-A-K-E.

After all that cake, we had to peel the kids off the wall with all that sugar in them... they were bouncing off the walls... :-)

That's little kanaav with his mommy, masi n big sisters...

Off this post goes to a Valentine’s Day Special event, by Nina of Confessions of a Bake-a-holic!. The recipe for the 'Chocolate Black out Cake' I made for Valentine's is here....

Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) in Star Trek(The Next Generation) echoes me, when she said 'I never met a chocolate I didn't like.'

Update: nina's round up of 'Bake-a-Cake Event' is posted on her blog.