Christmas Day Celebration 25 12 2011 - Fantastic Response

Hey,

As per my My First Business Venture response, I decided to set up a stall on Christmas Day at my flat for the residents. It was a 5pm - 9pm thing and a Sunday at that. I decided to bake my cup cakes at night because Sundays are usually "Generator ON " day. The load shedding on Sundays is horrible especially because the oven will not work properly. The voltage fluctuations vary so much that it will keep coming and going.

So, I started baking at 1am and finished at around 5am. I baked vanilla and chocolate cupcakes for the occasion. It was already decide in my mind that I would try out different recipes and pick the best two to avoid pricing confusions later on. So after reading and trying, vanilla and chocolate seemed like a safe bet especially since I was strapped for time in the mornings through afternoon. So with the cupcakes cooked and kept to cool, I finished all my other chores and started on my icing at 2pm.

We reached the venue at 6pm and from then on, I was so thrilled and surprised by the response I got. By the time we finished at 9pm, all the cupcakes were sold and people were asking for more. I know! I should have made more! ;)

I was feeling like, YES, this is REAL! and I was so so so happy. Not only did I cover all the expenses, I made a handsome profit as well. Although I could not take pics of the venue as I was too busy and the night time ones I took are no good, I'll share with you all the fruits of my labor here.

Take a look and let me know how you liked them. And Yes, I am working on my website (have not decided on the name yet) for my cupcakes. And these will definitely be there for order. Till then, if you would like custom made cupcakes for any occasion in Bangalore, feel free to drop me a line here with your contacts.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Butter Cream Crush Frosting and Sugar Pearl Topping

Vanilla Cupcakes with Love Pink Butter Cream Frosting and Colored Rice Topping and Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Flavored Light Brown Butter Cream Frosting and Chocolate Rice Topping 

Christmas Special Vanilla Cupcakes with Grass Green Butter Cream & Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting and Colored Rice and Sugar Candy Santa Topping with XMAS lettering

Vanilla Cupcakes with Choco Flavored Butter Cream Frosting and Sugar Pearl Topping

Vanilla Cupcakes with Mango Flavored Butter Cream Frosting and Colored Rice Topping

Vanilla Cupcakes with Choco Flavored Butter Cream Frosting and Sugar Pearls Dipped in Hershes Choco Syrup Topping

Getting Ready at my Dinner Table

All Set and Ready To Go

Venda Masala (Ladies Finger Masala)

This is one of my favorite sabzi(veggies). I eat this with rice, rotis, bread and anything. Venda Masala is so easy to make and it is delicious as well.

Venda Masala Recipe

Ladies Finger - about 250grms
Oil - about 2 Tbsp

Saute Ladies Finger in oil till stickiness of the ladies finger is no more. Keep aside for later use.

Onion - 1 big sliced thinly
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 Tbsp or less according to taste
Salt - as required
Chillies - 3-4pieces (optional if you would like to use more chilly powder instead)
Tomatoes - 2 Medium Sized (qty should be around the same as the onions or slightly more)

Saute Onion, salt and curry leaves till the onion turns pinkish in color
Add ginger garlic paste and stir well to incorporate
Add chillies and tomatoes and mix well.

Chillly Powder - 1 Tbsp or more as per taste
Tumeric Powder - 1 Tsp
Garam Masala - a pinch
Pepper - 1 Tbsp or more as per taste

Add  the above masalas into the pan and mix well

Leave it covered till the tomatoes are cooked thoroughly

Add the ladies finger to the masala and mix well

 

Venda Masala or Ladies Finger Masala is Ready :D

You may garnish this with lemon and coriander leaves if you wish.

Try out and let me know how you liked it :D

Yummy Black Forest Cake Recipe

This is my first attempt at putting together a whole cake with icing, cream etc and basically getting the look of those cakes that I adore at bakeries.

Black Forest Cake

This is a recipe I got from my sis as I was discussing making black forest cup cakes.

Black Forest Cake Recipe

2 -1/8 cups all purpose flour
2 cups powdered white sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder (unsweetened)
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp salt

Combine all the above ingredients and sift them to remove impurities and lumps

In another bowl, whisk
1 cup milk
1/2 cup veg oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs

Now add in the flour mixture slowly, incorporating each time well to form a smooth batter
Should you see lumps, give a quick whisk with an electric beater just enough to remove the lumps.

Cake Batter is ready.

Divide batter equally into 2 tins.

Pre-Heat Oven at 175 deg C or 350 deg F and bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes.

Once the cake is ready, slice the cakes into half

Remove crumbs from the sides and the top for decoration and keep aside

Black Forest Cake Sliced into halves

While the cake is still int he oven, you can prepare your cherry syrup and icing.

Recipe Cherry Syrup for Black Forest Cake

2 Cans cherries (pitted)
1 cup icing sugar or powdered sugar
14 cup cornstarch (if you do not have corn starch, make sugar syrup instead)
1tsp vanilla extract

Combine all the above into a heavy bottomed non stick pan and reduce over medium flame till the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and allow it to cool.

cherries before reduction

cherries after reduction

Recipe for Black Forest Cake Icing

3 cups of heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup icing sugar

 Combine the above in a cold bowl and whisk with an electric beater at high till you get soft high peaks

Now place one layer of the cake on a plate or cake base
Place icing on top and use a palette knife to run over it to get a nice finishing.
Top it with cherry reduction syrup and spread well

Black forest cake layering

Make sure you add only enough icing and cherry reduction on each layer so that you have enough for all layers as well as the final decoration on top of the cake.

Once you have assembled all the layers, you can start decorating your cake.

Almost completed black forest cake... decorated with cherries on each icing circles and cherry reduction sauce

Decoration completed with sprinkled cake crumbs

Time to cut and indulge :D

My piece :D

Institute of Baking and Cake Art Experience Pictures

This Post is all about the experience I had at the Institute of Baking and Cake Art, Bangalore. I took the pics with my phone. The quality is a little compromised but I promise I will share with you good pics when I post the process of making all the stuff I learned. So here goes....

 Fellow Participants. We had some good time together

Our Instructor during class

 

The Process of Creaming Butter and Sugar Manually

Tutti Fruitty Biscuit Mixture

Rolling the Tutti Fruitty mixture into Baking Sheets to be kept in Freezer

Rounding up Daliya Bread Dough

Daliya Bread Kept for Proofing (Shaped into French Loaf

Veg Puff Filling Ready To Use

Cutting Puff Pastry into Squares after sheeting and before filling

Adding Veg Filling

Filling the Cupcake Batter into Moulds

Adding the Chocolate Chips and Strawberry Crush on Cupcakes

Cutting Frozen Biscuit batter into shapes

Finished Products

Veg Puffs

CupCakes

Daliya Bread

Tutti Fruitty Biscuits

There is one more recipe we learnt. However, I do not have the pics for that. The one I had in my phone is not very clear and by the time we were done, my phone went dead.

I had asked another lady who attended the course with me to send me the pics. I will post them up when I have them.

Turn Hobby Into Business - My First Venture in food

I have not posted something in the past few days because I got into something I am really excited about! I am selling cupcakes in my neighborhood! It's been 2 days officially and the satisfaction, apart form the income is tremendous! I was not so lucky on my first day though.

At where I stay, it is difficult to find proper baking items for a start and all the more difficult is to find good packaging items. I had to deliver my cupcakes in a cake box, which I though was a good idea. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about the possibility of the neighborhood ants helping themselves to a serving or two as well. So, finally I went down to the institute and got some cupcake holders. Now, that is going to keep the ant away for good now! Still, I am covering costs and making profits as well.

Here are some pictures of my first business venture :D

Pineapple Cupcakes

 

Plain Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes