Jam Studded Cake

Everyone expects fruit cake at Christmas time but that takes a long time and a lot of effort to make. This Jam Studded Cake technically has fruit in it by way of the strawberry jam. This cake is unusual in using vegetable oil instead of butter and the large number of eggs used. It can be served without accompaniment as a snack, or with ice cream as an after-dinner dessert. You can use either pineapple jam or marmalade if you do not like strawberry jam, in which case you will need to use pineapple or orange essence instead of strawberry essence.

Jam Studded Cake

Steamed Chocolate Pudding for Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! I always wanted to have pudding for Christmas. Indians enjoy having a sweet as dessert after a fine meal, so I wanted it to be a chocolate pudding and it also had to be a steamed pudding because most Indians do not have a baking oven at home. I combined features from various recipes to arrive at an easy-to-make pudding in an Indian kitchen. I serve it with Vanilla Ice Cream or gelato, but you can use any flavour of your choice. Combined with ice cream, this makes an ideal dessert to end an Indian Christmas feast, because we have a fairly warm December. You can also pour chocolate sauce over the pudding if you do not want to serve the pudding with ice cream.

Steamed Chocolate Pudding for Christmas

Halloween Treat – Nut-Free Chocolate Brownies

Introduction

Halloween is a great time to be a kid – so much candy! But if your child is allergic to nuts, many of the treats are off limits. I have developed this brownie recipe for my son who dislikes nuts of any kind. I use white chocolate instead, which gives it richness and a brownie-like appearance even without the nuts.

Nut-free Chocolate Brownies

Sweet Potato Dessert (with Maple Syrup)

One evening when my son returned from work he handed me a parcel saying his friend from Canada brought it for him, but actually it was for me. When I opened it I found a beautiful glass bottle of maple syrup, with a maple leaf engraved on it. Manoj had brought this for me seeing my cookery posts, and had this lovely thought of bringing this present.

Beautiful bottle of maple syrup

I was totally new to maple syrup, and was surprised by its mild sweetness and woody flavour. I was not familiar with recipes using maple syrup and again Manoj sent an outline of a recipe that he uses. I found that the maple syrup is not strong enough to overpower the distinct flavour of the Indian sweet potato. I have standardised the recipe but I have not used dates or dried fruits as suggested by Manoj as my son does not like them.

Sweet Potato Dessert with Maple Syrup