Honey Cake (Video Recipe)

Bangalore Iyengar Bakery style Honey Cake is made by soaking an orange sponge cake with honey syrup and then topping it with a jam-coconut frosting

Flashback to April 2002, 15 years and 1 month ago, I was in Bangalore with my dad, all set to answer the Common Entrance Test (CET) that would give me a chance to study Engineering in Karnataka. Because I took so long to decide that I want to answer CET, all the hotels we knew of were full. My aunt came to our rescue and arranged for us to stay at her sister's place. Her family was extremely hospitable, so before we left, we asked them what their favorite sweet was so we could it buy it for them as a gift. Their response was - Honey Cake, a complete novelty to me. 

Honey Cake is a Bangalore special. It is not something you will get in the gourmet high end bakeries, it is something that is available in the humble Iyengar Bakeries that dot the old city. A simple orange sponge that is soaked in a sweet honey syrup, topped with a jam coconut frosting is what this sweet treat is all about.

I had completely forgotten about this beauty until I went to the bakery randomly to buy some bread and saw them bring out a tray full of fresh honey cake. I had to have it!!! Unfortunately, the cake wasn't eggless and that prevented us from enjoying it then and there. So the food blogger was given the task of making the cake at home so all could enjoy it. I'm happy to say I did not disappoint. The cake was very similar to that memory of 2002. The only little tip I have is let that cake soak for a few hours. The syrup needs to soak up the entire cake and not just the bottom. Eating it immediately (like we impatient bunch did), will not let the honey permeate through the cake.  If you cannot resist the cake (like us, again), just keep a bowl of syrup nearby and just drizzle it over the sides of the piece of cake while you eat.

Soooo, let's break down the Honey Cake:

ORANGE SPONGE CAKE - The base of the whole cake, well, is the cake. This orange sponge was sooo delicious that I could eat it just like that over a cup of tea. In fact, I will, very soon, just when I feel I've denied myself of sufficient number of calories to bake a cake again. Until then, I just live with the memory of this yummy orange sponge. This sponge is so simple to make, you could have a kid do it. No creaming butter until your arm aches. Just 6 simple ingredients, hand whisked until combined. I used freshly squeezed Orange Juice in my cake, 2 not so juicy oranges gave me half a cup of OJ. Use more to get a more pronounced Orange flavor. I know I will. If you dislike oranges, however, just skip it and use water in place of it. 

HONEY SYRUP - This syrup isn't like your regular syrups. It is not boiled until you get a certain thread consistency. Just mix honey in warm water and your syrup is ready. Tastes purely of honey. 

JAM COCONUT FROSTING - Use whichever jam you want. The cake you get in bakeries seem to use mixed fruit, so I used mixed fruit. But I know I would love a mango jam to go with this cake. Heat together the jam and desiccated coconut (dry) along with a little water or honey syrup to make the frosting. The consistency should be slightly loose so it is easy to spread. You can buy desiccated coconut from the supermarket or you can just grate dry coconut using a fine grater to make your own. Top the frosted cake with more of this desiccated coconut to make it more coconut-y.

I have a Video Recipe for you too: 

Video Recipe

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto. 

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If you liked this, you may also like:

• Banana Bread - Eggless banana bread.
• Coffee Walnut Brownies - Vegan coffee flavored brownies with chopped walnuts.
• Almond Chocolate Brownies - Eggless brownies with almonds.

Honey Cake

Bangalore Iyengar Bakery style Honey Cake is made by soaking an orange sponge cake with honey syrup and then topping it with a jam-coconut frosting.

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:            Indian
Prep Time:     15 minutes
Cook time:     60 minutes
Yield:                Serves 5-6

Ingredients:

For the Orange Sponge Cake:

1.5 cup all purpose Flour (Maida)
1 cup + 2 Tbsp sweetened Condensed Milk
0.5 cup fresh Orange Juice
0.5 cup Oil
1 tsp Baking Powder
0.5 tsp Baking Soda

For the Honey Syrup:

0.5 cup Water
3 Tbsp Honey

For the Jam Coconut Frosting:

2 Tbsp mixed fruit Jam
1.5 Tbsp Water or Honey Syrup
3 Tbsp dry desiccated Coconut

Others

3 Tbsp dry desiccated Coconut

Method:

To make the Orange Sponge Cake:

Add baking powder and bakind soda to the flour and mix well.
Add orange juice, oil and sweetened condensed milk and mix until combined and smooth.
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
Grease a cake mould or baking tin and dust it with flour until coated. Remove the excess flour by upturning the tin.
Bake the cake for 30-35 minutes or until done. Test by inserting a toothpick in the center, if it comes out clean, the cake is done, else, let is bake a little longer.

To make the Honey Syrup:

Mix the honey in warm water and keep aside.

To make the Jam-Coconut Frosting:

Heat the jam in a pan and add the desiccated coconut.
Loosen the jam-coconut mixture by adding a little water or honey syrup.
Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes. The frosting should be smooth without any lumps of jam in it.

To assemble the Honey Cake:

Remove from heat and keep aside.
Prick the cake with a toothpick or a fork to create holes.
Pour half to 3/4th of the syrup onto the cake and allow it to soak. You can keep the cake aside at this point for 30-60 minutes and then pour the remaining syrup on the cake.
Spread the jam-coconut frosting on the cake.
Top with more dry desiccated coconut and chill until ready to serve.

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Vegan Coffee Walnut Brownies

This is my LAST post of 2016 and it's been a wonderful year, definitely better than the last 2. The year had me complaining a lot about hectic schedules but it also had me winning an award at work (yay!!), completing 5 years of a wonderful marriage, taking a memorable vacation to Cambodia with the people I love the most in the world. It has also been the year where I have blogged the most. This is my 70th post of the year. It is much less than how often I would like to write but it is a start. So while I sign off this year, I'm leaving you with a little treat to celebrate 2016 and here's wishing you all a very Happy New Year!!

Coffee+Chocolate+Walnuts = AMAZING moist stimulating brownie.

These brownies are good for you, really. Waaah, you think I'm just throwing it around, don't you?

1) Walnuts are good for your brain. They also shaped like them. They help in improving memory, etc etc. Well, point to be noted is they are good for you.

2) These brownies are perfect energy boosters with the added Coffee.Some think that may be bad for you, but we don't associate with coffee haters anyway. I mean, is there a tastier way for you to have coffee, than in a Brownie?

3) Everybody says chocolate is good for you, don't they? Well, here's some nice dark chocolate.   Cheers for our health!!

Have I convinced you? I do hope I have because I wouldn't want you to miss out on this little piece of heaven.

For once, I simply made the brownies. No birthday, no celebration, no potluck, no get together. Just cause I wanted to treat myself, (yes, myself) to a dark moist chocolatey brownie. I've worked hard all year and I deserve it. So do you!! And when something tastes so good, it really does not need excuses or occasions. Of course, I shared this with family, but it was I who cut into them while still warm (not advised, but let's be honest, who can resist warm brownies) and ate to my heart's content before sharing it with anyone.

I feel happy and good when I eat things I love and chocolate usually ranks high on the list of foods that make me happy. What is it that you love to eat? What makes you happy? Let me know, may be I have a recipe just for that.

If you liked this, you may also like:

• Eggless Almond Chocolate Brownies
• 40 minutes Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

Vegan Coffee Walnut Brownies

Vegan Coffee Walnut Brownies are moist cake like brownies made from chocolate, coffee and walnuts.

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     25 minutes
Yield:                Makes 9

Ingredients:

100gms Semi dark vegan Chocolate (grated)
3/4 cup Flour (Maida)
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp Water
3/4 cup Powdered Sugar
8 tsp Oil
2 Tbsp Flour
3 tsp Coffee Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
3 Tbsp chopped Walnuts

Method:

Microwave the grated chocolate and 1/2 cup water on high for 30 seconds until the chocolate is soft. Whisk to combine the chocolate and the water. If doing this on the stove top, do it on low heat.
Add the coffee powder and oil to the chocolate and mix well.
Add 1/2 cup sugar and mix well.
Sift the flour and baking soda together.
Add the flour to the chocolate and mix until combined.
Add more sugar or water as required. The batter should be sticky and thick.
Add half the chopped walnuts and mix.
Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
Grease and line the baking tin with parchment paper.
Pour the batter into the tin and sprinkle the remaining walnuts on top.
Bake for 15-18 minutes.
Remove from the tin after 10-15 minutes and pull out the parchment paper.
Allow it to cool before cutting into squares.

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Eggless Banana Bread Recipe | How to make Banana Bread Without Eggs

Banana Bread recipe without eggs. This banana bread is a dense cake made from ripe bananas and without eggs. It is perfect as a breakfast or a tea time cake.

In a hurry? Jump to Video or Jump to Recipe

This time, my weekend has begun, unlike last week when I had to work a Saturday to make up for an unexpected holiday. I wish every night could be a Friday night when I get to lie down on the sofa and watch TV all night. I rarely cook elaborate meals on Friday night. Bare minimum to stop me from being hungry. So it is usually some kind of pressure cooker rice dish like Mint Pulao or Vangi Bhaat. I don’t like doing dishes either on Friday nights.

This week though, I have an added treat to my Friday night. We bought these large bananas on Sunday that were starting to go all black on the outside and ripe on the inside. I felt my whole house had begun smelling bananas. Usually, overripe banana means making Mangalore Banana Buns for me. But this time, I tried a new way of using them up in this zero effort Banana Bread. It takes like 10 minutes to whip up the batter and then just put it in the oven and allow it to cook while you continue with your other work.

This Banana Bread is dense and moist as any good banana bread is meant to be. It is perfect to eat at tea time as isn’t too sweet. I pretty much ate it for tea, snacks and dessert. So there isn’t a time when it isn’t the right time to eat this Banana Bread.

The Banana Bread has a slight hint of vanilla. I used condensed milk to add liquidity and sugar, and hence did not use sugar in the bread. If you want to skip the condensed milk, just use more of regular milk and sugar. You can also add maple syrup instead.

If you have never baked a cake in your life, then I’d suggest starting out with this Banana Bread, it is a no fail and zero effort recipe.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook,  tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo @oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com I'd love to see what you are up to.

If you like this recipe, do not forget to share it with your friends and family! 

You can follow One Teaspoon Of Life on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest or you can subscribe to One Teaspoon Of Life and receive all the latest updated via Email

Video Recipe

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Eggless Banana Bread Recipe | How to make Banana Bred Without Eggs

Moist Eggless Banana Bread made using ripe bananas, condensed milk and all purpose flour. 

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:            International
Prep Time:     20 minutes
Cook time:     40 minutes
Yield:                1 loaf

Ingredients:

3 ripe Banana
1.5 cups All Purpose Flour (Maida)
100gms sweetened Condensed Milk
1/3 cup Butter (melted and cooled)
1/2 cup powdered Sugar
1/4 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Cinnamon Powder (Optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
2. Brush the bottom and sides of a loaf tin with butter and dust with flour. I used a 9"x 3"x 2.5" loaf tin.
3. In a large bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda and keep aside.
4. Mash the bananas.
5. Add the condensed milk, melted butter or oil, milk and vanilla extract to the mashed bananas and mix until combined.
6. With a wooden spoon or a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients gently into the wet ingredients until you get a thick batter. Do not over mix, else the bread will become hard.
7. Taste the batter and if you feel it needs more sweetness, add in powdered sugar as desired.
8. Scrape the batter into the greased loaf tin.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
10. Remove the bread from the pan after 5-8 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
11. Allow it to cool and then slice it.
12. Serve at room temperature or warm.

If you liked this, you may also like:

Honey Cake

Vegan Date Walnut Cake

Banana Buns / Mangalore Buns

Read more ...

40 minute Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

It was Saturday morning and hubby dearest and my sister’s birthday. Both are currently turned off by big creamy cakes L. So I had all savoury items planned, but fate intervened and we had to change all our plans L . We could all just meet up for breakfast. No cake, no elaborate lunch menu… was enough to get me all upset (They were somehow fine L).  But I’m no quitter, so I decided whether they like it or not, I will go ahead and bake cake for them, only I baked tiny little cupcakes so it wasn’t too much cake but still there was something special. Luckily, both seemed to like it. I usually bake cakes for evenings or nights, when I have all the time in the world to take things slowly.  My first time baking for breakfast, and I had to be quick. So I made these simple 40 minute chocolate cupcakes with things easily available at hand. I hope you enjoy making these when you are starved for time.

40 minute Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

Eggless chocolate cupcakes with choco chips baked in 40 minutes

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:          International
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     30 minutes
Yield:              8

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Whole wheat flour (atta) / Plain flour (maida)
1/4 cup Cocoa powder
¾ tsp Baking powder
A pinch Baking soda
1/2 cup + 3 tsp of Sugar
1/2 cup Milk
1 Tbsp Vinegar
½ tsp Chocolate / Vanilla essence
1/4 cups Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp Water
2 Tbsp Choco chips

Method:

• Sift the dry ingredients together i.e. the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda at least twice. I used whole wheat flour. This can be made with plain flour too.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius
• Add the vinegar to the milk and set aside for 5 mins
• Add the oil and 0.5 cup sugar to the milk and whisk until the sugar has dissolved
• Add the chocolate / vanilla essence
• Add the dry ingredients and the water and whisk for 3-4 mins. Add more sugar if needed. I felt the 0.5 cups was not sufficient so I added the remaining 3 tsp. If you add sugar now, whisk for about 3-4 mins.
• Add the Choco chips and mix
• Line the cupcake tray with liners and spoon the mix into them.
• Bake for 20-22 mins until done. Mine took 22 mins.

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Almond Chocolate Brownie (Eggless)

I absolutely LOVE, LOVE and more LOVE these Eggless Almond Chocolate Brownies. They are chocolate-y (Oh ya!) to the core and they have crunchy Almonds, what's not to love?

I'm definitely a chocoholic at heart, soul, fingers and toes. I've never been able to resist a good piece of chocolate. Dark, Milk, White, I'm game for any type of chocolate. All that talk of chocolate is enough to make me wanna crave one this instant. I wonder how people save their chocolate for later. As for me, if I know there is a chocolate around the house, I can think of at least 10 reasons why it should be in my mouth and not on the shelf.

I'm also totally NUTS about nuts. I'm always stocked with Almonds, Cashew nuts, Pistachios, and sometimes Walnuts. They are the best in-between-meals snacks I can think of. I carry a handful in my bag all the time to munch on in the bus.

They say chocolate is good for you, they say nuts are good for you, I say these Almond Chocolate Brownies are really good for you. May not be calorie wise but spirit wise, big Thumbs up!! Nothing like an awesome brownie to raise your spirits and make you feel like you are flying high up in the sky.

Everyone has their favorite brownie recipe. This recipe is mine. These Eggless Almond Chocolate Brownies have become a birthday regular for me. I've made it twice in a row now and I'm still amazed how something so easy to make can be so wonderful in taste. 

One would think Brownies are for kids, but I feel the older I get, the more I want them. 

This recipe makes cakey brownies that are not sickly sweet. The semi sweet dark chocolate (my favorite kind of chocolate) gives this Brownie that slight bitter darkness and not making it sickly sweet. I'm not really a fudgy sweet brownie kinda girl. 

This recipe is eggless aka vegetarian, however, it is not vegan. The condensed milk replaces the eggs as the wet ingredient. If you can find vegan sweetened condensed milk, then you can make these brownies vegan. To make these brownies, I recommend buying good quality cooking chocolate. If you cannot find it, you can use any dark chocolate bar that has more than 50% chocolate (70% is better). 

I've used wholewheat flour in the brownie, you may replace it with all purpose flour or maida.

Remember not to aerate the batter too much, else, you will end up with a chocolate cake and not a brownie. Also, do not over mix the batter, you will get a tough brownie. 

If you liked this, you may also like:

• 40 minute Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes - Super quick eggless cupcakes.
• Almond Cookies - Almond cookies made with 75% wholewheat flour.

Almond Chocolate Brownie (Eggless)

Eggless chocolate and almond brownies

Recipe Type:  Dessert
Cuisine:          International
Prep Time:     30 minutes
Cook time:     60 minutes
Yield:              9

Ingredients:

1.25 cups Whole Wheat Flour(appx. 160gms)
2 Tbsp Corn Flour
1.5 tsp Baking Powder
0.5 tsp Baking Soda
150 gms semi sweet Dark Chocolate
2 Tbsp Powdered Sugar / Icing Sugar
0.5 tin Milk Maid
50gms Unsalted Butter
0.5 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
10-12 Almonds

Method:

Sift together the whole wheat flour, corn flour, baking powder and baking soda at least twice
In a pan, put in the dark chocolate, broken into pieces and until the chocolate melts.
Add 0.25 cups of  milk to improve the consistency. Stir well to get a smooth sauce and keep aside to cool.
Cream together the butter and the sugar in a bowl. Whisk it for around 3-4 mins.
Add the milkmaid, vanilla essence and the dark chocolate and mix well until combined.
Add the flour in parts and mix well.
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.
Grease a shallow square pan and dust it with flour.
Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle chopped almonds over it.
Bake for 45-50 mins.
Serve with chocolate sauce, ice cream or with Love.

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Mango Cheesecake (Eggless)

Every time I watch that episode from Friends when Chandler and Rachel steal their neighbour’s cheesecake and eat it, I feel like  getting my own. I finally decided to try making one at home. Since it is May and mangoes are abundant, it was an easy choice to make Mango cheesecake. I searched the net for an easy eggless recipe and ended up on this one from Divinetaste. I modified it a little to suit my tin size. I used a 7” loose bottomed cake tin that took me a day to find in Bangalore. I searched high and low for it or for a springform cake tin. Ended up getting it at Ibcablr. Don’t be mistaken, these are available in most places like Hypercity, MK Ahmed, Nilgiris (Brigade road) etc. it was the size I wanted that was missing.

Biscuit base

Ingredients:

Curd – ½ litre (500 ml)

Paneer – 200 gms

Mangoes – 3

China grass –10 gms

Water – 1 cup

Powdered sugar – 1.5 cups

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Butter (unsalted) – 6 tbsp

Digestive biscuits – 8 to 10

Lime juice – 1 tbsp

Method:

Biscuit base:

Crush the digestive biscuits and mix with softened butter until it is evenly mixed. You should be able to hold the mixture in a closed fist and it should not crumble. Add less butter if it achieves the same result.

Spread this on the base of the loose bottomed cake tin or the spring form cake tin and press until it is tight.

Refrigerate for 1-1.5 hrs.

Cheese filling:

8-10 hours prior to making the cheesecake, pour it in a strainer with a bowl underneath it and leave it in the fridge. You can achieve the same results by hanging the curd in a muslin cloth as well.

I made paneer from about 1 L of milk, you can use store bought paneer too. In the mixer, add the paneer and the hung curd and mix until there are no lumps.

Soak the china grass in water for 10 mins.

Peel and puree 2 mangoes.

Heat the china grass until it dissolves in water. Simultaneously heat the mango puree. Do not allow either of the two to boil.

Once the china grass is dissolved, pour it into the mango puree.

Add this mix to the cheese mix.

Add vanilla and sugar. I suggest adding sugar little by little until the desired sweetness is achieved.

Pour this over the biscuit base and refrigerate for half an hour.

Mango glaze:

Peel and puree 1 mango.

Add the lime juice and 1 tbsp of water. Add around 1 tbsp sugar and heat for 5 mins. Keep stirring and do not let it burn. Add more sugar if required.

Pour this over the cheese filling.

Refrigerate for 5-6 hours.

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Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake

I wanted to try this for very long... I've made eggless chocolate cakes but never vanilla. Generally, eggless cakes use condensed milk like Milkmaid to replace the egg, but i did not have Milkmaid at home but I did have curd :)... Below is a very easy recipe for eggless sponge cake using curd. Don't worry about the curd, it does not show up in the taste at all....

Ingredients:

Maida /All purpose flour - 1 cup
Thick curd / Yogurt - 3/4 cup (I used home made curd, but I'm sure Nestle and Britannia will do)
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup  (You can use vegetable oil in case you don't have butter)
Baking powder 1 tsp
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence 1 tsp

Method:

Sift the flour 2-3 times and keep aside.
Add the sugar to the curd and mix until the sugar dissolves.
Add baking soda and baking powder to the curd and keep aside for 5 minutes until the mixture foams.
Baking soda reacts with the curd to produce the bubbles.
Add vanilla essence and melted butter to the curd and mix well.
Add the flour little by little to the curd and keep mixing.
I use an electric hand mixer, so this reduces all my work :)
Preheat the Oven to 220 degree celcius.
Once all the flour is mixed with the curd and enough air is incorporated into the mixture, grease a cake tin and dust it with flour.
Pour the cake mixture into the greased tin.
Bake for 10 minutes at 220 deg. Lower the temperature to 180 deg and bake for another 20-30 mins.
Prick the cake with a toothpick to check if it is cooked after about 20 mins at 180 degrees, if the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done.
Be sure to prick the pick in the centre of the cake and make sure the toothpick goes all the way to the bottom to ensure the cake is cooked all the way through.

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