Am Back….with a Peach and Almond Cake

It’s been ages since My Foodcourt saw any activity.  Here’s a long post to make up for the absence.

Firstly, Thank you all for your lovely wishes .The little one has settled in perfectly- just like the last piece of our little jig-saw puzzle. It’s a pleasure watching her grow day by day along with her hero- her dada (elder brother).

As you can guess life after the little one has been an exciting roller coaster ride; had not imagined life with 2 very active kids + a full time job would be soooo hectic.

I have been surfing through some of my favourite blogs, have been tweeting sporadically too, but could not find any time to take pictures of the food that I have been dishing out or to blog about it.

From Rainbow cakes for the 6 year old’s birthday to a Peach and Almond cake (recipe follows) for A’s birthday, I have been quite adventurous in the kitchen. But the chaotic schedules did not permit any photography or posts.

2011 also brought a few Foodie adventures for me. In February this year, I visited Sugarland, Houston on a work trip. There I got a chance to meet the Fabulous Indira, of Mahanandi. Indira has been one of my earliest food-blog friends and in ways a trigger for me to start blogging. So it was just like a dream come true for me to meet her and that too my first time meeting any food blogger. We went for a small shopping spree at the Whole foods market in Sugarland, buying foodie things from Macademia nuts to Bamboo steamer to mini ramekins or just chatting over some fabulous Indira- recommended cheese and desserts (tasted the Tres Leches cake for the first time) and coffee.

Another work trip in April took me to Singapore where I met the gorgeous S from Served with love. I had recently discovered her blog. A few tweets and mails to and fro and we met one evening to discover some fabulous foodie things at ‘Cut the Mustard’; the most prized being a lovely bottle of dried Lavender. I also found my way to a tiny little shop (recommended by S) called ‘Bake it yourself’- a paradise for bakers.

Currently I am armed with lots of foodie ingredients and weapons, collected from different continents and hope I find time in my frenzied schedule to blog about recipes using them. July -August bring some blogging inspiration to me (My Foodcourt was started 5 yrs ago in August) and I am hoping they will also bring back my blogging mojo. Fingers crossed.

Here’s a recipe for a simple yet decadent Peach and Almond cake which I made for A’s birthday.

The recipe is from a Book called BAKING-Simple cookery series. I have tweaked the original recipe to accommodate the available ingredients. The original recipe uses Apricots, but I had a can of Peach halves, which was waiting to be used up and so I used peaches instead of Apricots. I also added some in-season fresh cherries to add that extra zing.  Also, I used some Tutti- Frutti instead of chopped dried apricot as recommended in the recipe.

Peach and Almond Cake recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tbsp Demerara Sugar

25g flaked almonds

400 g can peach halves drained (original recipe lists apricots)

225 g butter (I used Amul butter)

225 g caster sugar

4 medium eggs

200 g self-raising flours

25 g ground almonds

½ tsp almond essence

50 g Tutti-Frutti (original recipe lists chopped dried apricots)

3 tbsp clear honey

3 tbsp roughly chopped almonds, toasted (I used almond flakes)

~1/2 cup pitted halved cherries (not listed in the original recipe)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180^oC.

Line a 8 inch square pan with parchment paper or grease with baking spray (am armed now with both these baking must havesJ).

Sprinkle sugar and flaked almonds uniformly in the pan. Then arrange the peach halves, cut side down.

Arrange the cherries in between the peach halves.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl till light and fluffy.

Gradually beat the eggs into the butter mixture, adding a spoonful of flour after each addition of egg.

When all the eggs have been added, stir in the remaining flour and ground almonds and mix properly.

Add the almond essence and Tutti Frutti and stir well.

Spoon the mixture into the pan taking care not to dislodge the peaches.

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until golden and firm to touch (it took about ~ 55 mins for me)

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly for ~ 15-20 mins.

Turn out carefully, discard the lining paper and transfer to a serving dish.

Pour the honey on top of the cake, sprinkle the toasted almond flakes and serve.

Hot Cross Buns

It’s not Easter yet and still I made these delightful Hot Cross Buns! I wanted to use up some left over Tutti Frutti and also the fresh yeast sitting in my refrigerator for quite some time now.

The recipe is from Sanjeevkapoor’s ‘Cakes and Bakes’. My little one was very excited at the mention of Hot Cross Buns; He was delighted that one of his nursery rhymes was in my cookbook too! 🙂

These buns were a delight to make. We enjoyed the soft perfectly crumbed, mildly sweet buns for breakfast with some cinnamon sugar and Lime marmalade.

I followed the recipe like an obedient student except the oven temperature which had to be increased for my convection oven. 

Here’s the recipe for Hot Cross Buns:

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups Refined flour (maida)

2 teaspoons Fresh yeast

3 1/2 tablespoons Sugar

1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk

Salt a pinch

2 tablespoons Butter

1/2 cup Tutti frutti

For glaze

2 tablespoons Sugar

Method
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl.

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and sugar in lukewarm water.

Add it to the sifted flour once it froths and mix.

Add the lukewarm milk, a little at time, till all of it is incorporated into the dough. Add the butter and knead till the dough is soft and smooth. I used a food processor to knead the dough.

Cover with a damp cloth and rest the dough till it doubles in volume.

Preheat oven to 240°C/475°F/Gas9. I baked at 250 °C

Grease a baking tray Knock back the dough and add the tutti frutti.

Shape into ten round buns, marking a cross on the top with the back of a knife. I cut very thin strips of dough and placed them in a cross shape on top of the buns.

Place on the greased tray and set aside to rise for about fifteen minutes.

Bake for ten minutes till well risen and golden brown.

Remove from the oven. To make the glaze, mix the sugar the sugar with one tablespoon of water and heat gently till the sugar dissolves.

Brush the buns with the glaze immediately on taking them out of the oven.

 My Notes:

*Be careful while adding the milk; sudden addition may make the dough very soft .  The dough should be pliable but not very soft.

*I had to bake the buns at 250°C for about 15 minutes.

*Also I brushed some milk on the buns for the 2^nd batch before baking and got a nice golden crust.