Potato Stew aka Kerala’s "Eshtu"

Hailing from God’s own country, CJJ and myself are God’s own kids brought up in two different corners of the same state and hence the differences in usage of certain phrases or names of objects or food and the local slangs, used to sound weird and strange and at the same time, it used to bring smiles on our faces, especially in those days when we were getting to know each other and by the time we presented our marriage proposal to our families, we had become quite fluent in each other’s vocabularies. Indeed, the real fun started after marriage, when my mother got an opportunity to pamper her son-in-law. My mother being a 100% central Kerala product was not at all familiar with the phrases and words CJJ used and it was more or less the same case with CJJ too. Real fun used to happen at the dining table. Since my mother knows that CJJ loves her cooking, she used to whip up a huge spread, with all his favourite dishes and then once we start sharing the food, we saw ourselves breaking into laughter as these two start uttering the names of the dish or the ingredient which would not be familiar to the other. For instance, “kodappan” is the local name for banana-flower in our area but CJJ was familiar with the name, “koombu” and used to find the other name quite hilarious. Similarly, Stew is also known as “Eshtu” in many parts of Kerala, especially on the central regions but somehow CJJ has not been in acceptance of that, so he used to tease my mother and tried to correct her. Next time my mother served the same dish, she used to deliberately use the same name, ”Eshtu” , just to see him doing that “correction-speech” again ; somehow she still finds the whole thing amusing and never misses an opportunity to say “Eshtu” and make him start all over again :)

"Eshtu" aka Stew is traditionally served with Palappam ( Kerala’s laced rice pancakes). Generally carnivores like us don’t prefer the vegetarian version of many of the traditional delicacies but Potato Stew is an exception. It is as good as its opponents like Beef Stew or Chicken Stew or Mutton Stew and the taste and charm of this traditional favorite lies in its simplicity. Cooked potatoes stewed in rich coconut milk and flavored with whole spices is a treat on its own and this is one dish that I prepare confidently whenever we have some vegetarian friends coming home for food and I don’t remember an instance where our friends have left without asking for the recipe or atleast the method of cooking. So here we go:


Ingredients:

• 2 large potatoes
• 3 medium size big onions, thinly sliced (around 3 cups)
• 6-8 Indian green chillies, slit open lengthwise
• 1 small piece of garlic, thinly sliced
• A small piece of ginger ( 1 ½ to 2 inch piece)
• 2 sprigs of curry leaves
• 4-6 small pieces of carrots (Optional)*
• 3-4 small ½ inch pieces of cinnamon
• 3 cloves
• 3 cardamoms
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 ½ cups thin coconut milk/Radaampaal
• ½ cup thick coconut milk/Thanipaal
• 2 tbsp oil, preferably coconut oil.
• Salt to taste

Directions:

• Wash and clean the potatoes thoroughly and cut them into big cubes; pressure cook or microwave the potatoes in enough water with salt, until cooked well. When warm enough to touch, peel off the skin from the potatoes.
• Heat oil, throw in the whole spices like cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaves and let it fry in oil for 30 seconds. Add the thinly sliced big onions, ginger ,garlic and green chillies and cook until they turn soft and transparent. To this add the cooked potatoes and halve each of those cubes with the back of a wooden spoon and mash a portion of the halved ones. (Note: The cubes should not be mashed overly; they should still remain as pieces and at the same time a small portion should be mashed lightly as this adds thickness to the stew). Add the carrot pieces and combine everything well. Add thin coconut milk and salt and let it cook covered in low heat, for around 10-15 minutes. Now add the thick coconut milk and bring it to a boil and immediately reduce the heat, cook uncovered in low heat, until it reaches a creamy and thick stew consistency. Just before turning off the stove, add the curry leaves for the flavour and fragrance and stir well.
• To Serve: Though Appam and Stew is a match made in heaven, Stew served with white bread also makes a great pair.

Notes: * Adding carrot is purely optional; it’s my mother’s suggestion to bring in some colours in the stew and hence make sure that you use very few pieces without adding more carrot flavour to the potato stew. Stew/Eshtu prepared in fresh coconut milk tastes better but I generally use canned coconut milk for the ease of cooking and they taste good. If you are using canned coconut milk, do add water to dilute it, even if you are preparing thick coconut milk. Also I prefer using golden big onions, rather than the red ones; it's a personal choice.

Update: You may try this dish with Paalappam.

UPDATE : More on regional variations and local food habits HERE & HERE.
Luv
Shn

No part of the content ( articles, photographs, recipes) of this blog may be reproduced without my written permission.Copyright © 2007-2010 Kitchenmishmash.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.

Meat cutlet aka Kerala’s meat croquettes.

Growing up in a carnivorous family, meat cutlets were a part of our menu ever since I can remember. I remember both my mother and grandma start the preparations immediately after lunch, allotting one full afternoon, chopping the onions, getting the cooked meat minced and mashing the boiled potatoes without even a small lump, and then patting each of the meat balls again and again until they get firm cutlets. And I have burnt my tongue umpteen times while trying to gobble up those crispy brown beauties as this has been my favourite snack ever since I tasted it the first time, with some “Challas” (pickled onions in vinegar or fresh lemon juice). Something which I cannot resist and something which always tells me “eat me, pleeeaaaase” till the plate is empty, leaving me with an embarrassing smile in front of my host!! I blame it on these brown beauties, none can just stop with 1 or 2, one needs atleast half a dozen, to really get the taste of the cutlets , to get a feel of satisfaction of relishing them. Perhaps cutlet is the first appetizer that comes to the mind of menu planner, if he/she is from Kerala when a dinner party is announced ………A marriage reception is organized and cutlet, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, is first in the list of starter menu………. Friends coming home on short notice, and then you see someone from the family heading towards the bakery to catch hold of some cutlet or meat puffs. …..After a late evening class, going to the bakery nearby the college to grab some cutlets and hot cup of tea or a fresh lemon juice is something most of us have done while studying...... and still, if someone asks me about my favourite snack, it is meat cutlet forever :)

Ingredients: (Approx.) (Yields around 18-20 cutlets)

• 2 ½ cup cooked and minced chicken/beef, loosely filled
• 1 large big onion finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ginger minced
• ½ tsp garlic minced
• 1 tbsp green chillies minced (around 4-5 nos)
• ½ tbsp curry leaves finely chopped
• ½ cup boiled and mashed potato (1 medium potato)
• 1 ½ tsp freshly crushed pepper powder
• ¾ - 1 tsp garam masala
• Salt to taste
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 cup bread crumbs or powdered rusk
• 1 tbsp oil + more for shallow frying.

Directions:

• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a shallow pan, and sauté finely chopped onion and when it turns transparent, add minced ginger, garlic, green chillies and curry leaves and cook until everything is soft, in low flame, without burning any of the ingredients. Add pepper powder and mix well; add garam masala and combine everything together, adding a tinge of salt. Now add the minced meat to this mixture and stir well and thoroughly combine the minced meat with the mixture. Next add the boiled and mashed potatoes and blend well and adjust the salt and if you think, you require more spice, add one or two pinch of pepper powder and masala and mix well and turn off the stove. (Note: For the minced meat, I pressure-cook cubed chicken breast or beef with a simple marinade of salt, pepper powder, a couple of green chillies, ginger and garlic and when cooked and cool enough, mince them in a food processor. For the mashed potatoes, boil and cook the potatoes until they are soft and mash them with a fork.)
• When the mixture is cool enough to touch, divide the mixture into small elongated balls and shape them into a round or oval shapes, patting gently with a flat side of the knife, from all sides of the meat balls, until all the cracks that form in between are sealed well.
• Keep a bowl of bread crumbs and a bowl with beaten egg ready. Dip each of them in beaten egg and then roll them in bread crumbs, coating all the sides evenly. Do this one by one. Once more pat them with the flat side of the knife and remove excess bread crumbs and make them firm.
• Heat oil for frying; when the oil is hot, shallow fry the cutlets, in low-medium heat, until they turn brown as in the picture.
• To serve: Serve warm with ketchup or “challas”. To make challas, chop some fresh big onions and squeeze fresh lemon juice to it and sprinkle with some salt.

NOTE : Making a meat cutlet is a method one masters over the course of time. Even if you follow the recipe thoroughly, sometimes you will be shocked to see your cutlets falling apart or breaking while frying. This happens mainly when the meat and mashed potato is not in the right proportion or when they are not at all moist. Sometimes it could be because of the variety of potato used too; some are overly moist when mashing which causes problem while frying the cutlet. If your mixture or meat balls are too moist and not holding the shape, add some bread crumbs which will help in shaping them. Besides, there should not be any lumps in the mashed potato. Feel free to use your hands if it is necessary to break them. So, even if it is not 100% successful at the first time, this is something you can perfect, if you can figure out the basic problem. Meat cutlets can be made in advance for the party/dinner and refrigerate them or freeze them if it is not going to be used for the next 2 days and when you want to use it, thaw them in the room temperature and fry them just before serving; whether to shallow or deep fry is one’s discretion. I do not like deep fried cutlets, soaked up in oil and hence I like to shallow fry them.

Meet meat Cutlet's cousin Meat Rolls in White sauce.

Luv
Shn

No part of the content ( articles, photographs, recipes) of this blog may be reproduced without my written permission.Copyright © 2007-2010 Kitchenmishmash.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.

Chemmeen Varattiyathu – Spicy Prawn Roast from Kuttanadu & A virtual sneak-peak in to the village!

Sometimes we tend to romanticize a place a lot and it could be because of all the reading we have done or all those documentaries we have seen or it could be because of the food we have tasted or the people we have interacted with. I have been building up such a heightened image of Kuttanadu, “the rice bowl of Kerala” through some of my posts and if you are a regular here, perhaps you already know that it is mainly because I have never been to this place, blessed with natural beauty and known for it simple people and CJJ has the habit of waxing eloquently about its scenic beauty, calm and quiet surroundings and ofcourse the fabulous food he has tasted from his grandma.

Today when we were having our lunch together, I pulled up the topic of Kuttanadu, clearing my doubts as to how they used to visit their maternal home, traversing through those narrow canals in small boats, how the private boat-jetty was used, how the houses were built behind those thin stretches of pavement, built with clay and mud from the canal and so on. He started explaining with a smile on his face, telling me stories and anecdotes from his childhood and teens but slowly I saw him getting wrapped by the clouds of nostalgia. He mirrored some of those cherished moments of his childhood when they used to visit the maternal house traveling 3-4 hours in a public transport bus and then taking the private boat from the jetty and along with his two brothers, climbing on to the top deck of the boat, under the strict supervision of their father….and when they arrived at the village, in their well pressed flashy shorts and T-shirts, wearing black or canvas shoes, CJJ still remembers ,the natural inquisitiveness on the face of the villagers wondering where these “Pattanathile kuttikal” ( city kids) were headed to or to which house they belonged.

During their week long vacation, they made a visit to their paternal house as well and he remembers how they used to play cricket along with their distant cousins in their spacious backyard and those days when they used to go for hunting, with their uncles and coming back with 10-15 birds from crane family and grandma making her signature dish, “Mundi” (from crane family) Roast and all of them relishing the peppery, crispy and roasted bird. Though as kids their main duty was to hold the torch light, the adventurous days of the childhood still holds a special place in his mind. And if it was a Sunday, they used to go to the nearby church, starting 30 minutes early, though it was only 10 minutes walk, so they had time for a casual chit-chat with the locals on the way; and in the evening, his uncles used to take them to the school ground to watch football matches between local clubs and again the kids enjoyed all the attention as the villagers would be curious to see the not-so-familiar kids around. When CJJ started working, he still used to visit his maternal house once in a while and those traveling with him in the boat would be staring at him as he would be in his jean and trendy shoes and carrying a backpack which was again another unfamiliar sight for the villagers and enough to give them an impression that he was a “varathan”, meaning an outsider and then one of them would ask him, “Mon, evidutheya?” meaning “ Honey, Which family are you from ?” and the moment he told them their family name, that triggered another set of enquiries about his parents and their well-being as everyone know each other and that’s the beauty of this village .

One funny incident that’s still tickling CJJ’s memories is his visit during his +2 days and this is how he describes the incident,”….. I was tagging along my father to his ancestral home and I was wearing my ankle shoe which was the IN-style those days, and on the way, there was this pavement work going on with mud taken from the canal. Normally people remove their footwear and walk barefoot. But coming from a city and wearing trendy clothes, my pride didn’t allow me to do so. So by the time we reached home, my shoes were covered with mud, a thick 2 inch layer of heavy mud. I learned the lesson the hard way and on the way back, I walked barefoot :)…It took me couple of days to clean my shoes :) “.

Do you have any idea how I feel when I get mails from my brother-in-law, R with photographs capturing the lush greenery of this place, supplementing CJJ’s stories?? And that’s one of those days, I change my tone of gratefulness, for giving a romantic house-boat ride in the backwaters, to one of complaint, for not taking me to Kainakary, the village where his grandma resides and in his defense, he always has the excuse that the house was locked that day and grandma was not there!! Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to let you have a sneak-peak into the simplicity I keep talking about, before getting into the recipe. These are some of the pictures R sent me, from his last trip to Kuttanadu.

Click on the picture to start your slide show

Chemmeen/Prawns Roast is another Kuttanadan recipe I learned from CJJ’s grandma. In the initial years of my stay here in US of A, I never used to cook prawns much for the simple reason that it did not taste the same like the ones we used to have in Kerala. But ever since I tried this concoction, I am a convert. I generally don’t do a taste-test while cooking, except towards the end to check if the salt is right as I don’t prefer to get used to the taste before it comes to the table but trust me, when I prepare this particular dish, I love to do sampling as the smell is quite irresistible and I keep nibbling them until a good quantity is missing from the pan! CJJ was not a prawn lover until he tried this delicacy and these days I see him walking to the kitchen and taking small bites even before it reaches the table :) This is a hot and spicy seafood preparation, spiced up with the aroma of fennel seeds and pungent black peppercorns, cooked along with small onions which has a distinct taste and wonderful aroma of coconut oil and the enticing fragrance of the curry leaves. I prefer to have this dish with a bowl of warm rice without any other dishes, not to dilute the taste of the dish:) A MUST –TRY for prawn lovers!!


Ingredients:

• 1 lb (approx. ½ kg) prawns or shrimp peeled, deveined and washed thoroughly
• 1 cup red small onions thinly sliced
• ¼ cup garlic minced
• 1- 1 ½ tbsp ginger minced
• 4 green chillies split lengthwise
• 2-3 sprigs of fresh curry leaves
• 1/3 cup small coconut slices/’Thengakothu’
• 1 piece ‘kudam-puli’/Gamboge
• Masala powder (Recipe follows)
• 1 ½ tbsp coriander powder
• 2 tsp red chilly powder
• ¼ tsp +1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp + 1tbsp coconut oil

To make the Masala Powder: (For 1 lb prawns)

• 1 tbsp fennel seeds/’Perinjeerakam’
• ½ tbsp black peppercorns
• 4-5 small ½ inch cinnamon sticks
• 1 clove
• 1 cardamom

Directions:

• Grind and powder the spices, mentioned to make the masala powder. Make a marinade with this masala powder, turmeric, salt and lemon juice and apply it thoroughly on the cleaned prawns, using your hands and leave it in room temperature for around 20 minutes. Soak the kudam-puli in some water to make it soft.
• In the meantime, chop the red small onions, ginger and garlic.
• Heat oil in a big shallow pan , sauté the small onions until they turn pale in low flame; add minced garlic, ginger and green chillies cook until everything turns transparent, At this stage, add turmeric powder, red chilly powder and coriander powder and stir continuously until the raw smell goes, making sure that you don’t burn your onions or spice powders. Now add the coconut slices (coconut slices should be smaller than the prawns) and 2 sprigs of curry leaves and combine well with the base mixture and then add the marinated prawns to this; take out the leftover masala from the bowl by adding a couple of tablespoons of water and pour it to the pan and also the softened kudam-puli (without water) and cook covered, in medium heat, until the prawns changes its colour and is almost cooked. Do not add water to cook the prawns. Once the prawns are almost cooked, remove the lid and roast them, in low flame for 10-15 minutes, until it reaches a brown colour, as in the picture, and fully dried up. Do a taste –test in between and adjust the salt, if needed. Just two minutes before turning off the heat, make a well in the centre of the mixture and add 1 tbsp coconut oil and a sprig of curry leaves and coat the entire dish well with this oil and herb; do not omit this stage of cooking as it really helps the dish to attain a wonderful aroma of the coconut oil and fresh fragrance of the curry leaves.
• Serve warm with rice or chappathi (Indian bread). This dish attains its real flavour after a couple of hours from cooking and tastes the best, the nexy day!!

Note: This Chemmeen/Prawns Roast is a spicy dish and if you are used to medium heat, you may reduce the amount of chilly powder. Please do not substitute small onions with big onions for convenience sake, as it completely changes the taste of the dish. It might be time consuming to clean up and slice the small onions but the taste it produces is worth the effort and time. Some non-Keralites might be hesitant to use coconut oil; yes, you are free to use your preferred oil but I suggest using coconut oil, to all my fellow Keralites, as the taste this particular oil gives is quite unique and very significant in this preparation, for its authentic taste. If you do not have Kudam-puli in your pantry, you may skip it as, in this preparation, it is added mainly to speed up the cooking as well as for easy digestion.

Other Kuttanadan Recipes from this blog:

• Pepper Fish Fry
• Chicken Roast
• Meen Mulakittathu/Fish Curry

Other Chemmeen/Prawn recipe from this blog:

• Chemmeen Vada/Prawn Fritters

Luv
Shn

No part of the content ( articles, photographs, recipes) of this blog may be reproduced without my written permission.Copyright © 2007-2010 Kitchenmishmash.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.

Praline and Buttercream covered Yellow Cake.

Have you ever been in a situation where you learn that someone close to you is celebrating a special day in his/her life and then you make plans to prepare something to give them a sweet surprise… you wait for the day and finally the big day arrives….you roll up the sleeves and knot the apron and wear your chef hat and start whipping up and just when you are halfway through the whole project, your spouse calls up frantically, asking for help , to tag him along to somewhere outside to run some important errands………then you make a treaty with your husband, to drop you back in an hour and throw the whole thing into the refrigerator and tries to get into a decent outfit and leave the house ……and then you get back home just half an hour before you wish to leave for the gathering….. you hysterically run around the place, trying to dress up the whole thing , trying to finish the project as though you are under a time bomb .......grab your tools and accessories, forgetting the fact that your body is not as flexible as the trapeze artist from circus, only to end up with a sprain and pain on your back…….you roll on the floor crying for help, your hubby dear rushes to the place, trying to lift you up, though trying his maximum to control the laughter , seeing your funny facial expressions……finally you try to bring your body in control…..starts styling up the piece of food, only to come to the stark realization that it’s all messed up….try to do a make-over but more mess and finally come up with some last minute damage control techniques and ask your hubby, to receive a confidence boosting comment, ”how does it look….is it ok?” Mr. Husband looks at the beauty you have made, analyses from all the sides and corners and speaks out the unthinkable,” hmm…something is missing….an incomplete feeling…” ….clock is still ticking…….convincing talks go on between Mr & Mrs…..finally you notice that only 5 minutes is left before you pack up and leave the place…...so the selfish blogger in you suddenly pops up its head and compels you to ask your husband, to click some snaps, meanwhile you get ready to go, to meet your friend, and at the end of the day you see your friend’s face brightening up with full of surprise and smiles , eyes showing all that joy and happiness and grabbing you to give a hug….Have you ever been in such a situation, being part of all that happiness ???

Well, that’s pretty much the story behind this cake!! This was made for an elderly friend of mine, D, who was turning 81 last month, whom I got lucky to meet early this spring and she touched my heart and left her handprints, sharing the story of her life and passing a bit of her passion too. D is a cancer survivor; the disease damaged her ability to speak normally and chew properly and to worsen her burden, she also suffers from arthritis and yet she continues her passion in life and earns her livelihood and drives around on her own, without depending anyone and more importantly without complaining about her plight!! Directly or indirectly, she helped me look at life with more hope and positive thoughts…….taught me what independence and self sufficiency really mean……taught me what passions mean to one. Now when I get a minor toothache and am forced to chew with one side, I think of this brave strong woman. Honestly, standing there, looking at the surprise and happiness on D’s face that day, really filled my heart!

Ingredients for Yellow Cake (Makes two 8” inch cakes)
(Recipe Source: “Wedding Cakes You Can Make” by “Dede Wilson”)

• 2 ¼ cups cake flour
• 1tbsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ tsp vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• ¾ cup whole milk, at room temperature

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare cake pan by lining the bottoms with parchment paper and grease the sides and sprinkle lightly with flour.
• Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; Set aside.
• Beat the butter until creamy, about 2 minutes and add sugar and beat until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes ; scrape down the bowl once or twice and then continue beating.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time, allowing each eggs to absorb fully with the mixture; scrape down the bowl a couple of times.
• Add the flour mixture in 4 additions, alternatively with the milk and flour, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and beat until smooth on low –medium speed after each addition.
• Divide the batter evenly into the prepared pan and level the tops with a spatula. Bake for about 23 minutes or until a toothpick inserted shows a few moist crumbs or the sides of the cake have begum to come away from the sides of the pan, showing a very light golden colour. Cool on racks in pans for 8 minutes before unmoulding.

Buttercream Recipe
(Source: Recipe By Tami Smith from www.baking911.com.Click on the link to go to the page for the recipe.)

Note: I halved the original recipe of Tami Smith, to reduce the quantity, so as to avoid refrigerating the leftover and it yields the right quantity for this cake.

Ingredients for Praline

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup dry toasted almonds or cashew nuts
• 1 tbsp water

Direction:

• Prepare caramel by heating and melting sugar along with water, specified in the ingredient list, until they turn medium brown. Keep swirling the pan but do not stir. When sugar is completely melted and bubbles start coming up and if it has reached the colour you want, turn off the stove and add the dry toasted nuts to it, and pour them onto to a non-stick aluminum foil or a lightly oil coated aluminum foil sheet, placed on a cookie sheet and let it set. While pouring the caramel coated nuts, make sure that a thick layer is not created. When completely dry, crush the caramel coated nut sheet using a rolling pin and then powder them in a food processor or in the smallest jar of a mixer/blender. (Note: Hot caramel can create serious burns, so make sure that you play safe and kids are not around while preparing it. The taste of the caramel depends mainly on the intensity of the colour. If the caramel turns too dark brown, then it will be quite bitter and it is better not to use that batch for this particular cake. Target for a medium brown colour.)

Moistening syrup

• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ to ½ tsp vanilla extract or any flavored liquor or citrus juice

Directions:

• Boil water in a pan and add sugar and let it boil until sugar melts. Turn off the stove. Just before assembling the cake, add vanilla essence and mix well to the syrup. (Note: Start adding the vanilla essence in small drops as it can be overpowering; add to taste. If you are using flavored liquor, use 1 tablespoon only, just before assembling the cake.)

Assembling the Cake: When the cakes are completely cool and ready to assemble, get the counter-top ready with baked cakes, buttercream, praline and moistening syrup. Place one round cake on a cake board or a plate and sprinkle about 3 tbsp moistening syrup. Pour some buttercream on top of that and make a thick layer of frosting. Sprinkle praline generously on top of the frosting and then place the second cake and wet the top cake with 3 tbsp moistening syrup. Cover the top and side of the cake with a thin layer of buttercream and chill for 2 hours. This is done mainly to lock the crumbs and to get a smooth surface when you apply the final coating. After this stage, apply the final thick later of buttercream and smoothen the top and sides of the cake quite well with a spatula and immediately after that cover the whole cake with powdered praline. Use your hands to apply the praline.

Baking Schedule I followed:

• Baked the cake one day in advance and when completely cool, double wrapped in a plastic wrap and kept at the room temperature.
• Made buttercream and praline just before assembling everything. You can make the buttercream in advance and refrigerate as well. If you made the frosting in advance make sure that you beat it vigorously with a heavy spoon before using to take away the spongy texture.

VERDICT: This has become one of our family favorites and I have received requests for the recipe after that get-together. I have made this cake twice and from my experience, one good slice is pretty impressive for any informal gathering or small birthday parties or tea-time get-togethers. The cake provides a balanced and neutral platform to absorb the flavour of the buttercream and praline and for the same reason, I feel it will go well with any other more predominant flavours. The yellow cake is soft but it is not extremely moist, like the ready-made cake mix. From my experience, I have noticed that the cake tends to become dry if you overcook the cake even 3 or 4 minutes more but moistening syrup will bring it back to its soft texture. Tamy’s buttercream recipe has been my loyal companion ever since I tried it. I am pretty happy with its consistency and taste. A bite into the soft cake feeling the crunchiness of the caramel and richness of the buttercream is quite satisfying.

Note: If you are not planning to layer the cake, then there is no need for moistening syrup, in which case make sure that cake is not baked more than the specified time.

Luv
Shn

No part of the content ( articles, photographs, recipes) of this blog may be reproduced without my written permission.Copyright © 2007-2010 Kitchenmishmash.blogspot.com. All rights reserved.