Bottle Gourd Chocolate Cake

New Year...new outlook towards life...new resolutions...and a new you...is what we all have in our minds. But do we need excuse of new year to start something which is good for us...No... Each day is a new day which brings lots of hopes, promises and good things in life, and the resolutions are meant to be broken..so do not make resolutions but make good choices and take decisions which have positive effect in life. 

I used to make resolutions every year but now have stopped making them cause I know I will not be able to stick on even a single of those. But I have promised myself to try to live each day to its fullest, to spend more quality time with my DH, play lot more with my daughter and make more new friends but cherish the old ones for ever :)

I am a big fan of veggies in baked goodies, earlier I have made a beet bundt, carrot muffins and even a savoury pumpkin scone, so now this time I sneaked bottle gourd in chocolate cake. The cake turned out to be super moist and no body could guess that bottle gourd was in it..hehe (evil smile).

I dressed up the cake with chocolate sauce and it was divine.

( Recipe inspired from goshthatssovegan)

Ingredients:

For the Cake-

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 6 Tbsps

Sugar- 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsps

Baking Soda-1 Tsp

Instant Coffee Powder- 1 Tsp

Salt- 1/8 Tsp

Canola Oil- 1/4 Cup

White Distilled Vinegar- 1 Tsp

Vanilla Extract- 1 Tsp

Water- 3/4 Cup (Approx)

Bottle Gourd- 1 Cup grated and packed

For Chocolate Sauce-

Sugar- 1/2 Cup

Soy Milk or Dairy Milk- 1/2 Cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 1/2 Tbsp

Salt- A Pinch

Vanilla extract- 1/4 Tsp

All Purpose Flour- 2 Tsp

Procedure:

For The Cake-

• Preheat the oven at 180 Degrees C for 10-15 minutes.
• Grease a cake tin with oil and line up with a parchment paper then grease the top of the paper with oil and keep aside.
• Grate the bottle gourd and measure 1 cup packed and keep separate.
• Sift all the dry ingredients ( flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, coffee, salt) together in a large bowl.
• Make a well in the centre and pour the wet ingredients ( oil, vinegar, vanilla, water) in it.
• Mix all the ingredients together. 
• Squeeze out water from the gourd and mix the grated gourd in the prepared cake mixture. Stir gently till everything is combined.
• Pour the batter in prepared cake tin. Choose a cake tin so that batter is more than 1/2 in the tin.
• Bake the cake in the preheated oven at 180 Degrees for 35-38 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. I baked the last 10 minutes with the top of the cake covered with aluminium foil.

For Chocolate Sauce-

Combine all the ingredients together in a saucepan and mix well so that there are no lumps. Boil the sauce for   

about 2 minutes in slow heat. Remove from heat. The sauce thickens as it cools. If the sauce gets too thick then add in more milk and heat it up a bit.

Pour the sauce on the cake and serve warm.

Sending this cake to Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Bottle Gourd which is a brainchild of Priya of Mharo Rajasthan and currently being hosted at my space.

Also linking this to Cooking Concept's Chocolate Fest.

Vardhini's Bake Fest #3 hosted at Pumpkin Farm.

Srivalli's Chocolate Mela

Vardhini's NewU event

Suma at Veggie Platter's Cook Eat Delicious Desserts event.

Vegan Carrot And Cranberry Breakfast Muffins

Muffins for breakfast...mmm...who would not love them and they are great for lazy and cool weekend mornings when I wake up late and drag myself to the kitchen to make my cuppa and then again curl on the couch trying to steal some more minutes of sleep. On the other hand my DH wakes up at 6 even on weekends and is already finished with his gym and tea even before I get out of my dreams, then he looks at me with a smile expecting to get breakfast soon and I set off to the kitchen to whip up something quick for him. To save my husband from the misery of waiting for his breakfast on weekend,  I made these muffins a day before and refrigerated them to be used for next mornings breakfast.

So the result...a happy husband and a happy me.

When I was clicking the pictures my daughter came back from school and wanted to lend her hands for the shot resulting in this picture.

These muffins stay good for 2-3 days when stored in refrigerator. Just microwave them for a minute and they will be ready for tasty breakfast.

I was inspired by Sukaina of Sips And Spoonfuls to create recipe card.

Click on the recipe card to print the recipe

Oats And Carrot Kheer

Happy Dussehra....celebrate the festival with this heart friendly but at the same time delicious kheer. My family enjoyed this kheer a lot and it's not very time consuming to make. 

I have used only saffron and cardamom for the flavouring. Nuts can be added to make the kheer more rich and flavourful.

Ingredients:

Milk- 3 Cups ( I have used half cream milk)

Carrot- 1 medium (grated)

Oats- 2 tbsp

Sugar- 4 tbsp( or more)

Saffron- A pinch soaked in a tbsp of warm milk

Cardamom Powder- A pinch

Procedure:

• Dry roast the oats for 2-3 minutes. Keep aside.
• Boil the milk in a pan and add the grated carrots.
• Once the carrots get cooked add in the oats.
• Continue boiling and keep stirring in between.
• The oats will cook in around 5 minutes. 
• Once the oats have cooked add in the sugar and soaked saffron. Boil for another 5 minutes and add in the cardamom powder.
• Remove from heat and serve hot.

Sending this kheer to Diwali Special-Sweets & Savouries, Serve it- Festival Potluck, Diwali Sweet Recipes- Festival recipes-Indian sweet recipes, Diwali- Festival of Lights, My Diwali My Way

Also sending this to Pari's Only-Sweets and Dessert event hosted by Gayathri.

Caramel Mango Pudding

Holidays are here and my daughter is at home keeping me on my toes throughout the day, I am bending down to meet all her requests and giving her company to play as well. Also I am counting days to leave for India...yippee...I am just so much excited to see everybody.

My DH loves pudding so I thought of making pudding with mangoes and caramelised sugar for additional sweet punch. This eggless pudding was a great hit with my folks. The recipe is loosely adapted from Anushruti's space.

I hope to post next something from my mil's and my mom's kitchen. I have been enjoying seeing all my fellow bloggers wonderful posts and I hope I will be able to keep in touch with all once I return from vacations. Till then do drop in at my space and forget me not.

Ingredients:

Whole Milk- 2 Cups
Pulp of 1 large Alphonso Mango
Cream- 1/4 Cup
Sugar- 4 tbsp
Cornstarch- 3 tsp
Agar Agar Flakes- 5gms
Water- 1/2 Cup
Butter- 2 tbsp

For Almond Praline:

Sugar- 3 tbsp
Almonds- 3 tbsp( Chopped)

Procedure:

• Out of the 2 cups of milk take 1/4 cup of milk and mix cornstarch in it and keep aside.
• Meanwhile tear agar agar in small bits and soak it in 1/2 cup water for 1/2 an hour to soften it.
• Blend milk, cream and mango pulp together and keep aside.
• Heat butter and add sugar together in a pan in medium heat and don't stir the pan, the sugar will start to caramelize and turn golden brown in colour.
• Add in the blended milk and mango mix and stir to combine everything nicely. Keep it for boiling. 
• While the milk is boiling in a separate pan take agar agar along with the soaked water and keep it to heat on medium flame and cook until agar agar melts.
• Once the milk comes to boil stir in the cornstarch and cook till mixture thickens.. Now add in the melted agar agar and stir. 
• Cook for another 3-4 minutes and switch off the gas.
• Pour the mix in a dish and allow it to come to room temperature. Once the mixture is cool transfer the dish to the refrigerator and chill for at least 3-4 hours before serving.

Almond Praline:

Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil and keep aside. Heat the sugar in a pan along with 1 tbsp of water and let the sugar caramelize without stirring the pan. Once the sugar turns golden brown in colour immediately add in the chopped almonds and stir. Transfer the mixture to the lined baking sheet and spread as much as thin as possible. Once the mixture is cool break the praline into small pieces.

Serve the chilled pudding topped with praline.

Sending this to my dear friend Meghna's Healthy Cooking Challenge Event- Desserts, originally started by Smita
Also sending this to Priya and Aipi's bookmarked recipes every tuesday event

Nutella Rice Pudding

Nutella is my family favourite... we can never say no to this delicious spread. So I made this delicious rice pudding which gets ready in very less time and tastes yummilicious.

Ingredients:

Whole Milk- 1 Cup

Condensed Milk- 2 tbsp

Fresh Cream- 1 tbsp + little more for topping

Sugar- 2 or 3 tbsp

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 1 tbsp

Nutella- 2 tbsp

Cooked Rice- 1 Cup

Cardamom Powder- 1/4 tsp

Procedure:

Combine everything except rice and cardamom powder and bring to boil. Once a boil comes then add the cooked rice and continue to cook till most of the milk is absorbed and a thick consistency is achieved. Add cardamom powder and mix well then switch off the gas.

Serve with a dollop of fresh cream.

Sending this to Pari's- ONLY Original Recipe event hosted by Nivedita of Nivedita's Kitchen.

Torview's Food Palette Series- Brown event.