"Pat a Cake"- Rainbow Zebra Cake with Chocolate Ganache

'A' is already 10 months old! Can't believe how time flies. It won't say that it was just yesterday that she was born and now she is already this old....but even with all the hardships...it really feels that it wasn't long ago that we got her home finally from the hospital...after those long cruel 48 days....
Anyways....All is well in the end.

For her 10 month b'day..I decided to give 'Zebra' cake one more try.But this time is was going to be a  colorful....rainbowy....beautiful ..'RAINBOW ZEBRA CAKE'!!!
 http://www.sailusfood.com/2011/01/03/eggless-rainbow-zebra-cake/

For the  basic recipe,I followed :
http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/

I made little changes...
1) I used Red and green food coloring instead of the cocoa powder
2) Sprayed the cake with 'sugar syrup' for more moisture and 'sweetness'
3) Iced it with 'Chocolate Ganache

Here is how I assembled the cake:
1) Divide the white cake batter made by above recipe into 2 parts. In the 2nd part divide again into 2 parts.Add red coloring to one and green to the other.Mix well.
2) In the buttered 9 in cake pan add 3 tbsp white batter in the 'center' of the pan

3) On that add 2 tbsp of green batter in the center of the white batter

4) Again add 3tbsp of the white batter to the center of green batter.
5) Then add 2tbsp of the red batter to the center of the white batter.

6) Repeat 3tbsp White ..then 2 tbsp colored... then 3 tbsp white...till all the batter is used up.This is how the batter looks after assembly. The batter will spread on it's own.All you need to do is add the measured batter to the exact center of the pan.

7) To get a 'floral' appearance , run a toothpick from the center of the cake to the end on regular intervals.

8) Bake as directed in the recipe(http://www.azcookbook.com/zebra-cake/)
9) After cooling, spray with a 'Spray' bottle the following syrup:
Boil 1/2cup water and 1/4th cup sugar for 7-10 mins.Let it cool Add few drops vanilla essence.
10) Let the cake soak up all the moisture
11) Chocolate Ganache

http://www.joyofbaking.com/ganache.html

12) For decoration, add 'sprinkles' on the edge of the cake.Cut the cake into 'Wedges' to see the dramatic effect of the 'Zebra Cake'

                          
                              Happy 10th month Birthday my beautiful flower 'A'!!!

"For Little Tummies"- Mix Vegetable Tikki/ Vegetable burger/Mix Vegetable Tikki Chaat

When you want to sneak in Veggies into the little tummies, something like this really works for my little guy.
The more 'colorful' (with veggies) you make this tikki the more nutritious it will be.I also add various spices to make it more flavorful and mask the 'sulfurous' odor of cabbage.

I use this recipe for making mix vegetable tikkis, mini burgers with vegetable patties, mix vegetable tikki chat etc etc.The 'Cabbage-Corn-Carrots'  along with Potatoes and Ginger-Garlic paste -combo is my favorite,but I also add spinach, black beans, peas as per availability in my refrigerator.

Ingredients:
1 cup boiled mashed potatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped cabbage
1/4th cup finely chopped carrots
1/4 cup corn kernels
1tbsp boiled black beans
1/4th cup chopped spinach
1tsp Ginger-garlic paste
1/2tsp cumin seeds
1/tsp mustard seeds
1/2tsp fennel seeds
1/4tsp Garam masala
1/4th tsp Turmeric powder
1/4tsp chili powder(use as per desired spiciness)
2tsp oil
salt
Plain bread crumbs for coating
Oil for shallow frying

If making burgers: Burgers buns/bread rolls
If making Mix vegetable Tikki Chaat- all the fixings for chat- Chopped onions,tomatoes,tamarind chutney/yogurt, sev etc

Method:
1) Heat 2 tsp oil,add mustard,cumin seeds. Fry the cabbage, carrots, spinach, corn till tender.Add the Ginger garlic paste,spices, potatoes, black beans, salt and fry for few minutes.
2) After cooling, roll into small 'tikkis/ Cutlets'.
3) Roll into bread crumbs and shallow fry in oil on both sides till golden brown.

4) Kids love it with Ketchup.

Veggie Burgers:
Serve the patties as 'mini veggie burgers' in mini bread rolls/ buns
Add Cheese and sliced cucumbers,tomatoes etc

Mix Vegetable Tikki chat:While Serving the above patties as 'chaat', top them with ketchup/yogurt/ Tamarind chutney, chopped onions, tomatoes, Cilantro and Sev.

"Pat a Cake"- Zebra Cake

Zebra Cake- A 'semi' successful attempt

Lately, some of my friends have been baking 'eggless' and 'vegan' cakes. 'S' is making these amazingly professional looking 'Vegan Chocolate Cakes' and the other day 'R' baked 'Eggless Pineapple Pastries' which all loved at the Potluck. Since I am a non-vegetarian and a 'nervous' baker....I haven't tried my hand on eggless baking.After all the hard work of baking the cake, if it 'fails'....I get really disappointed.
Couple days ago I had seen this 'Zebra Cake' online and really wanted to try the 'technique' myself and I had this recipe for 'Eggless cake with Condensed milk' that I had to try out. I decided to do ' ek teer me do nishane' and bake the zebra cake with the eggless recipe.
The pattern came out really well, but the texture failed miserably:(

So I won't write the recipe here.I am going to try a different cake recipe soon.
But in short all you need is:

1) Cake batter made from 2-3 cups all purpose flour
2) Dark cocoa powder to mix in half the batter.

Divide the batter into 2 parts. Keep one 'white' and add dark cocoa powder to the other (dark cocoa is necessary to get good distinct patterns)

Assemble the cake with your favorite 'cake batter' recipe as follows-
1) 1 scoop white batter in center of the pan

2) Add one scoop 'chocolate' batter on top , in the center

3) Again 1 scoop white batter in the center

4) Repeat the process 'patiently' till all the batter is used up.

5) Bake at 350 F for 40 mins.Let it cool for 20 mins before cutting

6) Sprinkle with powdered sugar