This needs a celebration. Almost two full years and it keeps counting

There are 2 inspirations behind Bake Along. The first time I realized there was some place online to rely on baking was Joy Of Baking. I used to be obsessed with the video lessons and I learnt so much of my basic baking with Joyofbaking. I used to be impressed with how each week a new recipe comes up and what energy and hard work lies behind Stephanie. The bg music is so nostalgic and is very pleasant even now when I head back there for something new that comes up. The teaching and learning both are a wonderful experience in the beloved J.O.B

While the weekly release of recipes is an on going process with J.O.B and it keeps going on for so many years together in a row, while something is proven possible already, so why not !?! There is ray of hope!!

Second. Aparna Balasubramanian of My Diverse Kitchen started a group in facebook, a lovely initiative, and I heard something of that sort, for the first time ever. We Knead To Bake, a facebook bread baking group, where Aparna comes up with a bread recipe each month and the members would be baking it during the month. I was totally excited and entered the group and did my first month and then later I realized I had yeastophobia and during the process of fighting with it, I had to quit being a regular there. The ethics in which Aparna worked and how religious she was in trying to teach the members every month taking us forward to next steps in the world of breads was mind blowing and I was totally impressed.

While I realized I couldn’t meld with yeast so early, I was looking around to finding groups that would help me bake cakes and other non-yeast goodies on a regular basis. I found, The Daring Kitchen. It is quite a bit of process to enter in and I finally got into. It looked as if I landed in an island, later when I found few other blogger friends who were part of it and understood how it works and that alone took me few months in a row.

Daring Kitchen again works monthly once. There are key members who will be representatives each month and it is a turn given and the host of each month is being chosen and they will be from any part of the world. They are mostly bloggers and there is extensive enthusiasm with the hosts and the participants and I so wished I jumped into being part of the enthusiasm. But unfortunately the month long period to bake and submit somehow went out of my hands and I had never been able to bake in there even once

But the excitement of going there and checking what recipe was posted each month was very high. I enjoyed doing that each month. I would plan to bake it at any cost, later realize I have missed the date of post and then the following month would come along and it was a cycle.

Such reluctant attitude of not being able to be a regular in We knead to bake, though I blamed my fear of yeast and yet again an exactly similar attitude with the daring kitchen. This totally meant that I cannot be a regular in anything that I intend to do. I have this problem and I know who I am. I cannot have a changed behavior which is expected to be constant.

I would love to grow flowers in my patio garden. I will fill them up with pots and beautiful plants. I will water them for a month regularly and then I will slow down and the plants will worn out. Enough and done. I will move on to kitchen garden, where its the same cycle and unbelievably surprising, I have done gardening from the scratch minimum of 10 times and it was a failure each time. I will switch over to a new regime in any sector of my life and I have never followed it for more than 10 days in a row and it is my behavior and that is how I am. I cannot have a change of regime, to be able to do a new routine continuously for more than a particular period of time.

When I promised one of my students, that I will mentor her and all those who might be benefited out of that, never did I realize I will have to write this post, today I cannot tell why and I am not able to find out what keeps me going. I have not been able to have a peaceful sunday that caters to just my family or my kids. Every time I step out of home on a sunday with my family, my thoughts are back at home with the finished bake along and the pictures in my camera. The thought of how long I should stay back to finish up my post. People called me insane, out of my mind, have no better job and so much more. I trash them all. I might have lost my casual sundays but the end of every sunday had always been a bliss. The stress of what – when – how to bake is still high before I begin to work. The moment I sit down to draft my post when I look at how the whole post turns out to and the sense of accomplishment is boundless. I gear up to get stressed up again in a week.

Why weekly was because of how I waited a month long and missed out on the daring kitchen, I thought weekly was much easy to stick to the schedule. Never did I realize each week is so short and it seems like each sunday falls on every next day

Here is to the 100 weeks of Fondbites, Bake Along and I am yet to find out what keeps me going. I only know, this has turned my life totally upside down in so many ways that I cannot even realize, in both ways possible. Looking forward to many more such hundreds!!

The celebration adds up to the festive mode and nothing like adding Indian Flavors into baking. This combination will take your baking experience to a totally new level. In view of my gratitude to Aparna for being an inspiration to the wonderful initiative and that keeps me going, Mawa Cake – that one which Aparna hosted with The Daring Kitchen during her turn. Elated to bring it back here into bake along. For what I missed being a regular in both those amazing places.

Mawa Cake with Rabri Cream – Totally Indian, Totally Ethnic.
I chose to use ready khoya and rabri, but I am attaching the links to making them at home. I would have loved to make everything from scratch, but pressed for time, still I managed to get the best khoya and rabri in the city. The flavors will knock you down from the time of baking until you take your first bite of the cake. Because after taking a bite you will already be in Heaven

Mawa cake source: MyDiverseKitchen

1. Melt the chopped chocolate in microwave on high power at 30 second bursts. Let cool.1. Line up an 8 inch baking pan with butter paper and butter the same. Pre-heat oven to 160 degree C.

2. Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. Add butter and khoya in the bowl of your electric beater and beat on medium high speed for 3 to 4 minutes until they become light and fluffy.

4. Add sugar and beat again on medium high speed for 5 minutes until the mixture becomes pale, creamy and fluffy.

5. Add cardamom powder and beat just until combined well.

6. Add the eggs one at a time and beat on medium speed for about a minute after the addition of each egg. Only if each egg is beaten well and incorporated properly the cake will have a lovely texture. Do not hurry up with adding the eggs.

7. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat on medium speed until the flour is just incorporated. Do not over beat.

8. Add 1/2 of the milk mixture and beat on medium speed just until incorporated. Do not over beat. Alternate with the flour and milk, beating just until combined after each. Do not over beat.

9. Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan and smooth the top. Tap the pan once or twice and bake in pre-heated oven at 160 degree C for 50 to 60 minutes until the cake is golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

10.Cool cake on wire rack. Cling wrap the cake and refrigerate it until its time to frost your cake

11. Rabri Cream – Add whipping cream in a bowl and beat on medium high speed for 1 to 2 minutes until you have soft peaks.

12. Add rabri and continue beating on medium high speed for 3 to 4 minutes.

13.Once you have stiff peaks, the cream is ready to use.

14. Remove your cake from fridge. Place on the serving tray/board. Torte the cake into 2 or 3 layers depending on your choice. I torted into 2 layers. Spread about 1/2 cup of the rabri cream.

15.Sprinkle over some cashews.

16. Place the top layer of cake, cover up the sides with cream. Try not to take up lot of crumbs into your spatula.

17. While adding cream on top of the cake, add more than what you need on top of your cake. Spread out all over the top of the cake without your spatula touching the cake. This will prevent from taking the crumbs back to your bowl of cream. Smooth out both top and sides. Else never mind, leave it with a rustic finish by cleaning up the board and decorate with cashews.

You could also garnish with the remaining rabri if you might have More than having khoya and rabri all by its original form, this by all means is a deadly combination which by itself is an experience !!