Key Lime Pie- Back to School time!!!!!

It's back to school time!!!!  Here I am today with a delicious mouth watering recipe of lime Pie. My daughter who is a big fan of limes and lemon always asks for a key lime pie whenever we go to eat out. For the summer vacations, she was asking me to make one and the time went by doing a lot of things other than this Lime Pie.

On the first day of school, I want to surprise her and so I made this easy, simple pie which can be done within no time. The best key lime pie ever. A bit tart, a bit sweet and an incredibly easy dish which will be your family's favorite.

The buttery graham cracker crumbs is beautifully baked into a crust and filled to the brim with an incredibly creamy filling of a combination of yolks, condensed milk, lime juice and lime zest, that is so quick to make.

A perfect balance of tart and sweet will make this pie an incredible dessert to serve for any occasion. The only hard work involved in making this dish is to squeeze the lime but that's worth. The store bought lime juice, will make the pie loose it's authenticity. Hope you all might like this. Please try this recipe and let me know how it turned out.

Ingredients:
For the base:

1. Graham Crackers- 14 nos
2. Sugar- 1/3 Cup
3. Butter(melted)- 1/2 Cup
4. For the Filling:
5. Egg Yolks- 4 nos
6. Condensed Milk- 14 Oz
7. Lime Juice- 1/2 Cup
8. Lime Zest- 2 lemons
9. Lemon Slices- to garnish

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Crush the graham crackers in a food processor along with sugar and butter. Process for 2- 3 minutes till everything gets well blended.
3. Mix with hand and press the crumb mixture into a greased 8"- 9" spring form pan. Bake for about 8- 10 minutes and let it rest to cool.
4. Meanwhile whisk together egg yolks, condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest in a medium bowl.
5. Pour this into the cooled graham cracker crust and bake for another 10- 15 minutes. 
6. Let the pie cool and chill for 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy a delicious gooey lime pie.

For garnish:

• You can decorate with lemon slices (that's what I did). We can also decorate using whip cream and enjoy.

Tres Leches Layered Cake- An easy cake for any occasion

Tres Leches cake is a Mexican cake which is super moist, delicious and melts in mouth kind. I have seen in almost all the blogs, that this tres leches is a single sheet cake which is soaked in 3 types of milk and topped with whipped cream. I had my doubts regarding making this into a birthday cake as by soaking the cake in the milk mixture will make it pretty heavy and dense. All my doubts got cleared by the outcome of the cake.

I made the sponge cake, layered, soaked with tres leches, filled with frosting over which the sliced strawberries were spread, topped with another half of the soaked cake and covered with whipped cream frosting. At last, I decorated the cake with chocolate covered strawberries. Everything was done within no time. This cake seemed very easy and will take very less time to prepare. It worked out beautifully and would make an excellent cake for any occasion. Kids will enjoy this a lot.

I baked this cake for the first time. Many of my friends have described me about the richness and deliciousness of the scrumptious cake but I never got a chance to taste this before. This time for my husband's birthday I planned to bake this and it came out perfectly.

While whipping the cream, freeze the mixing bowl and the whisk attachments. Instead of whipped cream frosting, you can also use cool whip which is used in no-bake desserts. Try this cake and let me know.
Ingredients:
For the Cake Batter:

1. All-Purpose Cake- 1 1/2 Cups
2. Baking Powder- 1 tbsp
3. Eggs- 4 nos
4. Milk- 1/2 Cup
5. Sugar- 1 cup
6. Vanilla Essence- 2 tsp

Method:

1. Separate the egg whites and yolks in a dry glass bowl.
2. Beat the egg whites till stiff peaks form and keep this aside.
3. In a glass bowl add sugar along with the yolks and beat till well blended. Add the vanilla essence.
4. Drop the milk little by little alternating with the flour and baking powder till it gets finished.
5. In the above batter, gently fold the egg whites until just combined and pour this into the greased baking pan, bake for about 20 minutes. Let it completely cool.

For the milk syrup:

1. Condensed Milk- 1/2 Cup
2. Evaporated Milk- 1/2 Cup
3. Whole Milk- 1/4 Cup

Method:

• Mix together all the ingredients and keep this aside.

For the Whipped Cream Frosting:

1. Whipping Cream- 2 Cups
2. Sugar- 3/4 cup

Method:

• Beat the cold whipping cream along with sugar on high speed until thick. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Assembling the cake:

• Sliced Strawberries

Method

1. Cut the cooled cake in half. Place one half on a cake platter, poke the whole cake with a fork, going all the way to the edges and poke through the depth of the cake. Pour half of the milk mixture on the cake till it absorbs completely.
2. Spread 2- 4 tbsp of whipped frosting on the cake, arrange the sliced strawberries over the top of the frosting.
3. Before placing the other cake half, poke the whole cake with the fork and place the poked cake on top of the sliced strawberries.
4. our the remaining milk mixture on top of the cake and let the cake sit for some time, till it absorbs all the liquid.
5. Frost the top and sides of the cake using a spatula and smooth out. Decorate with sliced strawberries as desired, enjoy.

Mocha Cake with Coffee Mousse topped with a shiny Mirror Glaze- A wedding anniversary delight

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary and to celebrate the occasion I baked this mirror glaze mocha cake for the first time. I was looking for a chance to bake this amazingly scrumptious cake and so I got a reason.

This is the first time I am trying the mirror glaze effect and it came out perfect. I have followed my very own mocha cake recipe, the coffee mousse recipe and mirror glaze recipe I adapted from different blogs.
I choose the coffee flavor for our anniversary cake as we all love the flavor a lot. The glaze came out perfect and so I want to share the recipe with my lovely friends. The creamy white chocolate gives a mirror-like finish when poured over a smoothly frosted cake. The latest craze in this baking is this shiny mirror like a glaze and the glazing effect. I am very happy and excited to share this recipe with all of you. Hope you will try and let me know.

Ingredients:
For Mocha Cake

1. All Purpose Flour- 1 1/2 Cups
2. Sugar- 1 Cup
3. Baking Soda- 1 Tsp
4. Cocoa Powder- 3 tbsp
5. Oil- 1/4 Cup
6. Brewed Coffee- 1 Cup
7. Salt- a pinch
8. Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp
9. Lemon juice- 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees C.
2. Mix brewed coffee, sugar, lemon juice, oil and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl.
3. Sieve the all purpose flour, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder, keep this aside. Mix the dry ingredients along with wet ingredients till everything is well blended.
4. Pour this into a springform baking pan and bake for about 20- 25 minutes or a skewer inserted comes out clean. Let this cool.

For Norwegian Coffee Mousse:

1. Gelatine- 2 tbsp
2. Water- 1/3 Cup
3. Whipping Cream- 2 Cups
4. Sugar- 1/3 Cup
5. Strong Coffee- 3/4 Cup
6. Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp

Method:

1. In a glass bowl, sprinkle the gelatine and pour hot water. Mix until the gelatine dissolves. Let it cool.
2. In another bowl, whip the cream till stiff peaks are formed, add the sugar, strong coffee, vanilla essence and mix well.
3. In this add the cooled gelatine, mix and keep this aside.
4. Take the cooled cake in the springform pan and pour the prepared coffee mousse and level it using a spatula. Keep this refrigerated for 4 hours or overnight.

For the Mirror Glaze:

1. White Chocolate- 2 Cups
2. Condensed Milk- 2/3 Cup
3. Sugar- 1/4 Cup
4. Red color Gel- 4- 5 drops
5. water- 1/2 Cup +1/2 Cup
6. Gelatine- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat the condensed milk, sugar and 1/2 Cup water on a low heat. In the remaining 1/2 cup water add the gelatine and mix until the gelatine gets dissolved.
2. Add this dissolved gelatine in the above made condensed milk mixture and stir until everything gets mixed well.
3. Pour this hot liquid in the white chocolate chips and whisk it slowly until the chocolate has melted well. Let the glaze cool.
4. Assembling the Cake:
5. Remove the cake from refrigerator and take out the springform by running a warm knife around the sides of the cake.
6. Pour the cooled mirror glaze on top of the cake and let it sit for another 2- 3 hours.
7. Half an hour before cutting the cake, take the cake out of the refrigerator and enjoy.