Chocolate Coconut Cake Recipe

There is something dark and mysterious about this cake, and the coconut blends perfectly to create a symphony of taste.

There is something dark and mysterious about this cake and the coconut just blends so well to create a perfect symphony of taste. Remember the ratatouille movie rat and the way they show the flavors just mixing and creating a beautiful medley- well that’s exactly what was happening the moment I took a bite and savored the coconut and chocolate flavors that were oozing out of the cake. Now, making it ain’t gonna be a rocket scientist job- Considering, a novice like me can whip up this cake…Some people can just bake a cake  at the spur of a moment. For me, it’s a big deal. I decide on a day (usually sundays), read through the recipe atleast 10 times and shop for the ingredients on saturday. phew…I make it so complicated. but the results have always been good, so I think it is worth the effort.  It’s a moist cake and you can’t simply stop eating it- oops, here goes another bite in my mouth!

Chocolate coconut cake

perfect symphony of coconut and chocolate in a moist cake!


Ingredients

• 150 grams all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 175 grams butter
• 175 grams caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• Icing-
• 50 gram plain chocolate broken in pieces
• 5 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp butter
• 85 grams icing sugar
• about 5-8 tsp desiccated coconut to decorate

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius-
2. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together and keep aside.
3. In a bowl, beat the butter and caster sugar together until light and fluffy.
4. Gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
5. Fold the flour into this mixture and blend well.
6. Pour the mixture into a greased tin.
7. Bake in the oven for around 35-40 minutes-
8. Once baked leave it to cool on a wire rack.
9. To make the icing, place the chocolate, milk and butter in a heatproof bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water.
10. stir until the chocolate melts and blend in the icing sugar and beat till smooth.
11. Leave the icing to cool until it’s thick to spread.
12. Spread the icing on the cake and sprinkle the desiccated coconut on top.

Notes

Lightly toast the coconut in a pan for few minutes before topping the cake. Don’t let it burn.

Roasted Raw Bananas

Potatoes, please step aside- Now, the stage is taken by something that's more delicious and a healthier option. The contender in question is very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Potassium, Manganese, and a very good source of Vitamin B6.

What am I talking about? Raw Bananas... I love them. I always steam them and use the inner pulp to make a stir fry. This time around I tried something different. I cooked the raw bananas on a gas flame and roasted the inner pulp with a touch of coriander seeds and notched the heat with red chillies. Makes a wonderful starter with hot chilli sauce.

Roasted Raw Bananas

Ingredients

• 2 Raw Bananas
• Curry Leaves- a few
• one small onion- sliced
• Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
• oil to fry
• Coriander seeds -2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• dash of asafoetida powder
• Dry red chillies- 3-4 (use more to make it spicier)

Instructions

1. Put the raw Bananas on medium flame and allow the bananas to cook. Cook the bananas till the outer skin is completely charred and the inner portion is soft.
2. Once cooked remove them from flame and allow them to cool.
3. Peel the skin and chop them in cubes.
4. Dry roast the coriander seeds with red chillies on a pan till they become aromatic (don’t burn them)
5. Coarsely grind the coriander seeds with dry red chillies.
6. In a pan add liberal dose of oil and throw in the mustard seeds.
7. As they begin to sputter, add dash of asafoetida powder.
8. Fry the onions on a medium flame till they become golden brown.
9. Add curry leaves and chopped bananas.
10. Roast them in the pan till they start turning golden brown.
11. Adjust salt according to taste and throw in the spice powder.
12. Roast them for another few minutes till the bananas absorb the spices.
13. Enjoy them with spicy sauce!

Cinnamon muffins!

Nothing beats a good, moist, cinnamon flavored muffin. It’s like biting into a piece of cinnamon bliss.

A hardcore fan of cinnamon, I can munch on these goodies day in and out. I sure had fun baking them and it’s pretty easy to make. The recipe came from the blog velvetlava.blogspot.in. I had pinned it long time back and never had a chance to revisit. And when I did revisit, I realised I had all the ingredients to bake them. I was delighted when it came out perfect.

Cinnamon Muffins

Moist Cinnamon Muffins- who wouldn’t love it?

Ingredients

• 1/3 c. butter, melted
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg (preferably room temperature)
• 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 c. milk
• Topping
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• Preheat oven to 350F.

Instructions

1. In a medium-large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients.
2. Add wet ingredients and stir until combined, but still a bit lumpy. (Don’t overmix).
3. Scoop batter into muffin tins or muffin cups.
4. Using a spoon, I got 12 medium muffins out of this batter; I think you could get 8-10 large muffins by distributing the batter generously.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.
6. For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
7. Place melted butter in another small bowl.
8. Dip the warm muffins in melted butter, then dip/roll the muffin in cinnamon sugar.
9. Enjoy with piping hot coffee :)