Hydrangea Cup Cakes

My sister, the eldest of our family is a strong character, can be easily mistaken for my mum. She is full of values and love for the whole family.

We all adore her and I have a special place for her in my heart, just her presence can make us all elated.

With due respect and love for her gardening, I have managed to create some mocha flavaured cup cakes mmm...pot cakes:-)

My favourite flower of this season is Hydrangea, there's a mystical feel about hydrangea.

When I was in my teens... I would prefer them over to roses...,I can go truly mad, when I see a bunch of these flowers in a bouquet shop. I have once willingly paid £14 for these flowers and took a lot of pictures and lost every single one of them. This time I'm being more cautious by posting them online so at the least I would manage to preserve some. They have a distinct colour, a mixture, purple, pink, blue, lavender and all the hues of my fascination....Love...love it... I can go forever to describe my love of these colours...let's get on with it...

Recipe for mocha pots...(hydrangea cup cakes)I liked mocha pots better...

Self- raising flour - 225 grams

Eggs -2(large)lightly beaten

Butter - 125 grams(light salted)

Golden caster sugar -250 grams

Water-250 ml

Cocoa powder- 2 tbsp

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tbsp instant coffee granules

Vanilla essence-1/2 tsp

In a saucepan put the water and sugar and heat gently,until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the lightly sated butter, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and coffee granules and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Beat the flour and eggs into the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth. Divide the cake mixture between the pot moulds or muffin cases.

Bake in a preheated oven , 180 degrees C, for 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool.

I used nutella chocolate & hazelnut spread as icing over the tops of the cake and decorated with hand made hydrangea flowers for my sister's birthday.

It took some solid hours to make the Flowers.

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Mango pie with Graham's cracker crust

Another day another new recipe tried, tested and tasted by sunshine B

This time it is a pie with mango again as the pie filling also the best thing about this recipe is it is eggless...

Perfect dessert with the right balance... Not too over powering....

Came across this Easy peasy recipe for the pie crust from
http://mikes-table.themulligans.org

It would be so great to call this my own:-) but unfortunately it's not the case.
Mango pie recipe

Graham cracker crust- (pie base recipe)

Whole wheat flour-1/2 cup
Plain flour-2 cups
Butter-1 cup(at room temperature)
Ground Cinnamon powder-1/4 teaspoon
Granulated sugar-1/4 cup
Dark brown sugar-1/4 cup
Honey-1/4 cup
Salt-1/2teaspoon

In a food processor beat the butter with a paddle attachment in medium setting for about 5 minutes.Add the sugars and beat them for another 2 minutes.Add honey to the mixture and beat thoroughly for a minute.
Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl with a wooden ladle.
Add half the dry mixture into the butter mixture and mix well. Add the rest of the ingredients and scrape down the sides of the bowl and combine the mixture thoroughly untill all lumps have been fully incorporated.

Roll the dough set it on a cling film. Dust the exposed surface of the dough with some flour and put another piece of cling film above it. Roll it to a thin base (1/8 inch)with the rolling pin.

Remove the cling film from the top layer and Put your pie pan upside down on top of the rolled out dough and with a sharp knife, make a circle a little bit wider than the pie pan...and remove the excess with a knife(Store the excess for use later n a tightly wrapped film in the refridgerator). Another way is to remove the extra bit after it has been baked. Gently slide the dough into the pan. Remove the base clingfilm. Prick the pie crust with a fork or knife on the base and refrigerate for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C and blind bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the pie pan from the oven and let it cool. Meanwhile the below pie filling can be prepared.
Mango pie filling

Mangoes - 4 medium-sized
Sugar-1/4 cup
Honey-2 tablespoon
Cinnamon powder-1/2 teaspoon
Nutmeg powder-1/4 teaspoon
Condensed milk(if using sweetened, do not add the 1/4 sugar)
Lemon-1(medium), grate the lemon rind - 1 tablespoon,and juice of the lemon.
Saffron a few strands(soak in 1/4 teaspoon of warm milk)
Pistachios for decoration( optional)( almonds are a good substitute)

Fresh mangoes pulp- wash,peel and pitt the mangoes and cube the mangoes & use a blender to make the mango purée
Or use the extracted mango pulp 1 can(approx...450grams)available in Indian grocery stores.
Add the condensed milk with the purée, also add 1/4 cup granulated sugar,2 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon lemon rind, 2 tablespoon lemon juice, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder,1/4 tsp nutmeg powder and saffron and mix thoroughly with a wooden ladle or food processor in low setting for 30 secs to 1 minutes. Make sure the powders haven't formed a lump.
Mix the cornflour powder(2 tablespoon) with a tablespoon of milk or water and whisk till it is smooth with a spoon and add to the mango purée.

Pour the pie filling into the cooled pie crust and bake for 50 minutes to an hour in a Preheated oven at 180 degrees.
Donot be tempted open the oven door before it is cooked...
Remove the pie pan from the let it cool and decorate with crushed pistachios.
Refrigerate for an hour or two.

Serve with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or on its own.

Squeeze some ripe strawberries or raspberries or coulee...

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Mango pie

 

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Mango Mud Sipper

Mangoes....mmmm....yum yum

When the sun shines you get perfect mangoes... So what better fruit or recipe to go with on the start up page or my firstever recipe on my blog. My kitchen loves fruits tropical, mediterranean,sub- tropical & all different climates produces. My grandma used to say if it rains during the spring when the flowers in the mango tree blooms,then the fruit might have some unwanted guests umm... pests...(it could be true as they didnt use pesticides in those days...everything used to be only Organic!)I'm sure there is no scientific evidence that she had inorder to prove.
Not only is mango a rich fruit with plenty of goodness it is also one of the three main fruits of South Indian Tamils maa - palaa - valazhai( in order of its sweetness).

This is the best season for mangoes and they are at their best... I love mangoes and so does everyone in my family including my son who cut his 2nd Birthday cake last month after an hour of asking me "mum,is that a car...?" after seeing his Lightning McQueen birthday cake that I made for him as he loves his cars like most of the boys. I think I might've helped him love his cars more than ever and he now has a small toy car McQueen (a gift from his dad)and doesnt part away with it day or night. Oh! I was saying mangoes and here it goes my recipe for a perfect indulgent mango recipe. Make sure you buy the best, fresh ones. You could do with the canned or extracted pulp if it is off season. Most of the Indian stores do keep stocks of alphonso mango pulp or kesar mango pulp.
I have used fresh alphonso mangoes for my Mango Mud Sipper... I like giving new names to old recipes, Yes,it is Mango Lassi with a twist (what?) nope... strawberries

MANGO MUD SIPPER

@SunshineB Photography

RECIPE
Ingredients
Mangoes - 2 ( washed, peeled and pitted)
Yoghurt - 1 cup ( or same quantity as the flesh or pulp)
Milk - 1/2 cup ( whole milk/ Semi-skimmed/ water)
Granulated Sugar - 4 tablespoon
Salt, a pinch
Powdered cardamom, a pinch( optional)
Strawberry mashed - 2 ,plus 2 to decorate


Add mango pulp, yoghurt, milk, sugar and salt in a blender and leave till all the ingredients mix well for about 2 minutes. Pour the mix to a serving glass till half way then add strawberry ( mashed) in the middle then pour the rest to fill and add a pinch of cardamom. Refrigerate and serve cold. Decorate with strawberry. If in a hurry, leave it in the freezer for 30-40 minutes... Then back in the fridge for 20 minutes and enjoy the drink. 


Serves 2
Having tried the recipe in my labs(sunshines kitchen), I have been excited and wanted to share it.
Try the recipe and let me know how if you liked it. It tastes great on a hot summer day.
Will post some more mango recipes soon.

To be continued