THREE TIER CAKE - EASY STRAWBERRY CAKE

Here is an easy and simple strawberry cake recipe to enlighten your loved ones birthday or any special occasions. This is my first attempt on three tiered cakes, which i made for my daughter on her birthday. January 2nd, my little naughty babe is now three years old!!!! The best part of being a mother is enjoying that beautiful smile of our little ones, which can be achieved by preparing their favorite dishes every day. Strawberry is my kids favorite fruit and they love anything made of strawberry. So i just thought of making a special strawberry cake for them. As it is her third birthday, just for a change i thought of making this wonderful treat as a surprise. That really works . My mind was full of queries regarding the whole process of  tiered cakes. Since this is my first tiered cake / stack cake recipe, i enjoyed the whole process resignedly. Here is the recipe showing how to make stack cake / 2 tier cake / recipes for strawberries /strawberry birthday cake.

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INGREDIENTS (1 cup = 210 ml)

All purpose flour / maida                    - 2 cups

Baking powder                                    - 1 tsp

Baking soda                                         - half tsp

Eggs                                                     - 3 nos

Sugar                                                    - 1 cup

Vegetable oil                                         - half a cup

Strawberry jam                                      - 2 tbsp

Strawberry puree                                   - less than half a cup

Vanilla essence                                       - 1 tsp

Pink food color if required                      - few drops

Butter unsalted                                         - for greasing the pan

FOR FROSTING 

Whipping powder                                      - 2 sachet

Cold milk                                                   - 1 cup

Pink food color,  strawberry flavored 

Nutella frosting

Choco holo wafer sticks

Fresh strawberry

PREPARATION

• Preheat the oven to 180 degree C. Grease the pan with butter and dust with flour and tap out the excess flour. Set aside. OR after greasing the pan line the bottom and sides with butter paper. This avoids sticking the cake to the bottom of the pan.
• Sift together All purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder. Set  it aside.
• Now lets start....add the eggs in a bowl, whisk it.
• To this, add sugar and whisk well until  fluffy.
• Add oil and whisk well.
• Then add strawberry puree (chop 6 strawberries and grind it without adding water). Whisk well.
• Then add, vanilla essence and pink food color (optional). Whisk it.
• Now fold in the sifted flour mixture little by little and fold them well. Do not use the whisker. 
• Finally add the strawberry jam paste (add the jam in the grinder and make paste without adding water). Mix well using spatula.
• Pour it into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 30 - 35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
• I made two cakes. One medium sized cake and one small sized cake. 
• Remove from the oven, let it cool completely before frosting the cake.

FROSTING

• Keep the mixing bowl, wire whiskers  in the freezer for 20 - 30 minutes before making the cream. It is optional only.
• Now lets start. Add  whipping powder in the chilled bowl.  To this add cold milk little by little .Whisk with an electric whiskers  until soft peaks are formed( it will take around 3 minutes). Whisk over a high speed, off the whisker. Again whisk over a medium speed, off the whisker. Like so, repeat until soft stiff peaks are formed. Finally add few drops of pink food color and whisk.
• Make designs with nutella using piping bag. 
• Decorate with wafer sticks and fresh strawberries.

NOTES

• Here i made two cakes. And for the third cake, i sliced the top of those cakes and made the third cake layers with  that slice using a round cookie cutter or any lid. 
• For spreading between layers, i used a creamy whipped cream which gives the cake more moist.
• Frost each cakes separately and then top one over the other.

GOBI MANCHURIAN GRAVY - RECIPES WITH CAULIFLOWER

For those who are in search of good recipes for cauliflower, do check this post. Whenever i get bored of having chicken recipes, i just run into cauliflower recipes. Cauliflower, one of the few vegetables which is liked by all age groups. Especially kids, they give more preference to this veggie when fried or roasted. Roasted cauliflower is my favorite recipe which pairs best with hot steamed rice. 

Cauliflower manchurian recipe, which is popularly known as Gobi manchurian is an Indo - Chinese recipe. An adaption of Chinese cooking and seasoning technique to suit Indian tastes. You can make gobi manchurian dry or gravy version. Most of the Chinese dishes calls for Ajinomoto, and like so restaurant version of gobi manchurian also includes this ingredient to enhance the taste. As i am not preferred in such unhealthy  taste enhancer, i skipped that ingredient in my recipe. So for a cauliflower healthy recipes, do avoid food colors and taste enhancer.  The spice level vary from mild to hot and fiery depending upon the personal preference only. This is the best cauliflower recipe along with Ghee rice or fried rice. So here is the recipe showing how to make cauliflower manchurian recipe .

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INGREDIENTS

Cauliflower florets     - 1 small cauliflower, cut into medium florets

Garlic                          - 2 tsp, chopped

Bell peppers                - chopped as required, some for garnishing

Onion                          - 1, chopped finely 

Spring onion               - 3 nos, chopped (i used white part only )

Cornflour                    - half a tsp

Salt

Oil

For cauliflower marination

Soy sauce                  - 2 tsp

Garlic paste               - 1 tsp

All purpose flour / maida  - 5 tbsp

Cornflour                           - 5 tbsp 

Black pepper                      - half tsp

Salt

For sauce

Tomato sauce                        - 4 tbsp

Red chili sauce                      - 3 tbsp (i soaked 5 dried red chili and 2 garlic cloves in hot water along with a tsp of vinegar....and then made a thick paste...add less if less heat preferred)

Soy sauce                               - 2 tbsp

Vinegar                                   - 1 tbsp

PREPARATION

• Wash and add the cauliflower florets in a bowl. Drain it well. Set it aside.
• Combine together all the ingredients given under for marination with little water to make a thick paste. Do not make a watery batter. 
• Add the drained florets to this thick batter and coat the cauliflower florets well with this batter. Always prefer less salt in batter for marination.
• Heat oil in a wok or non stick frying pan and fry this cauliflower florets until crisp. Better fry in batches. When done, drain to a paper towel and set aside.
• Meanwhile we can prepare the gravy. For that, heat oil in a non stick wok and saute garlic over a medium low flame. Then add spring onion and onion chopped. Saute for few minutes on high flame.  
• Then add bell peppers chopped and saute for a minute. Reduce the flame. 
• Now combine the ingredients give under ' for sauce ' in a bowl. Mix them well. Pour this sauce mixture to the sauteed onion gravy and mix well along with quarter cup of water (if you need a gravy consistency). Add salt and cook until the sauce thickens.
• Then add fried cauliflower florets to the sauce and combine well in the gravy.
• Mix well, half a teaspoon of cornflour  in half a cup of water  and pour this over the prepared gravy. Cook until it thickens. 
• Finally add a teaspoon of tomato sauce and few bell peppers chopped . Mix gently and remove from flame.
• Garnish with ginger julienne or spring onion greens and serve hot. This dish tastes best when served hot only.