Football is an incredible game... So make Football Cake for MAN-U Fan, Karan

Hey!!!! Karan.... Happy birthday....... 2 parties.... what fun.... :-)

“Football is an incredible game. Sometimes it's so incredible, it's unbelievable.” Tom Landry.

Karan is crazy about football and as you would have guessed by now, his favorite team is Manchester United..... His cake had to have a Football on it.....

The cake is the same one these guys had earlier at Tarini's[Karan's sister] birthday... posted here . Karan's friends wiped out the cake really quick....

This cake was humongous effort cause..... I spent the entire night making this cake, started working on the cake at 10pm and finished at 2:35am.... and went to work after sleeping for 5 hours only....

This cake had me weeping over a failed cake for the first time..... Had made a cake the night before and thought will be organised n prepared..... Things don't always go as planned.... after i put the cake in to bake.... the oven stopped heating midway...... 2 such ovens went Kaput the same nite..... I was in tears to see my cake fail for the first time in so long....... Thank god I had a day's extra time at hand.....

Had to inform Vibha at midnight, that I would be able to make only 1 cake instead of 2...... Made me feel really bad..... Just had to make the cake cause Karan was very excited about a football cake......couldn't disappoint him.....

Finally all turned out well..... the cake was a smashing hit..... :-)

SMS from Karan's mom, "Hey Nachi! V late response, but have just wound up the party. The cake as always was amazing! took a few pictures, but not enough cause it got polished off in a jiffy! You surpassed yourself as usual... :-) Thanks a zillion. Can't get over your humongous effort! "

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.

Fruit Pannacotta.... ~ For Tuesdays

This friend of mine loves fruits and fasts on Tuesdays as a health regimen and eats only fruits n curd......
For you.... fruit pannacotta....

Step 1:
Puree the fruits you like in a blender.... I used Sapodilla (Cheeku), Water melon(Tarbooz) and Melon(Kharbooza). Blend 1 fruit at a time.


Step 2:
Add castor sugar to taste depending on the sweetness of the fruits used and mix well in the blender.

Step 3:
To set the fruit, add gelatin (depending on the fruit... Water melon will need more gelatin to set it as compared to cheeku as it's way more watery) and chill till set.

Step 4:
Whip up hung curd and add a layer over the chilled fruit layer.

Step 5:
Decorate with chocolate shavings and thousand island to add some colour.

Step 6:
Enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Hope you had a gr8 time :-)

Happy Birthday to me ~ Cappuccino Tiramisu Cheesecake for Parshad

Wished myself Happy Birthday by making 'Cappuccino Tiramisu Cheesecake' for Parshad.
With babaji, mom and parshad....
The awesome ladies in the kitchen..... Veena didi, Gunu didi, Charu aunty, Meeta didi along with Neha didi, Upma mom and babaji......

My love for coffee reflected in the choice of parshad aswell... It's winters in this part of the world, so I could use loads of hung curd and some whipped cream without the fear of it getting spoilt in the heat... :-)
Coffee Mania, which is why I have a T-shirt that says... "Too much Blood in my Caffeine System"..... and the only thing which wakes me up on a groggy morning is a mommy-made-cold coffee.... an awesome 'pick-me-up'.....

The recipe for this is available at Cappuccino Tiramisu Cheesecake ~Happy Birthday, Baking Queen ~ Deeba
I used loads of Coffee, Kahlua and some coffee flavouring [for the sugar free ones where alcohol couldn't be used]
Ahhhhh... the aroma of coffeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee in the house..........

The soft creamy mixture of hung curd, whipped cream, mascarpone.... so light n heavenly.....

Had cooked for 300 people.... so we had the whole kitchen and room full of stuff for 2 days... The entire bed and then the 2 refrigerators were full of little boxes at various stages of preparation.....

Every body picthed in while making parshad..... mom and the 2 cooks in our house.....

This is one of the cutest kids in mall road... Gunjan.... She's a real imp... She's one bundle of happy energy and bounces off the walls after eating the cakes, sweets n desserts that i get her..... ain't she adorable...

The verdict: Yummy........ lots of people asked for seconds... however, the kids found it a tad bit bitter....

You Dropped Food on The Floor, Do You eat It?

This was just was too good to resist... :-)

Chocolate Tiramisu ~ Amrita's Birthday

Happy Birthday Amrita..... Sisters certainly fall in the A-List of people who I bake for.....

The bon fire gave the evening such warmth.... The girls had a blast..... No chocolate facials this time....
Happy Birthday....

Army of cousins Tushar, Abhimanyu, Nivritti, Amrita and me... Chetan and Akshita... U were missed a lot.... Daksayani sends you her love from the kitchen... Add to this the friend brigade of Bennifer and Sheena...

Me bitten by the Tiramisu bug...... yes.....
Amrita says... but everyone whose coming likes chocolate.....
hmmmm.... adding Chocolate to Tiramisu can't be that tough..... :-)
Chocolate Tiramisu... Here I come..... I added Cocoa to the cream mixture after it reached soft peaks...

Daksayani also wishing Amrita didi while participating in making the Tiramisu..... and naughtily eating up lots of the cake... You can't miss the gleam in her eyes.... :-)
Daksayani polishing away the cake n freaking out at the sight of Cocoa aka Chocolate.... me adding the final touches with cocoa sprinkled on the top....
Find the entire recipe of the Tiramisu here...You Know.... It's For YOU, Tiramisu...
The Verdict:

Have a great time Amrita... Happy Birthday :-)