Celebrating my 29th birthday today with this fresh peach icecream. It is a no churn treat and quite easy to whip up. Making icecream at home takes more time but most of it is not an active time plus all the steps are very easy to follow and the end result makes it totally worth it.
This icecream is a peach lover’s dream with peach chunks in every bite. Peaches cooked with brown sugar lends a caramelized taste to the icecream which I love! It freezes well and is quite easy to scoop too. I photographed it for the blog on the 3rd day of making it and it still scooped perfectly, just like a store-bought or a churned variety!! Plus, it is eggless. So indulge in this perfect summer treat over the weekend.
More update on birthday later!
Happy weekend you all!!
xx
No Churn Fresh Peach Icecream
Yields: 2 liters | Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 20 minutes | Chill time: 6-7 hours or overnight | Total time: About 7-8 hours
Ingredients:
6 medium ripe yet firm peach, peeled, pitted and cubed
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 can (400 gm) sweetened condensed milk
600 ml medium-fat fresh cream (I used 25% fat Milkymist Cream)
Directions:
In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the peaches, brown sugar and salt. Cook until the peaches have softened and the mixture is thick and jam-like, about 17-20 minutes. Mash with a potato masher, stir in the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and condensed milk, and set aside to cool completely.
With the hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream until stiff peaks form, about 2-3 minutes. Gently fold the cooled peach mixture into the whipped cream until just combined. Transfer the mixture to two lidded liter containers (Do not pack it tightly). Freeze for at least 6-7 hours before serving.
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My blog officially turns 1 today! Woohoooo!! Last year today I created and set up this blog and published my first blog-post the next day. For about 2 months before starting this space, I used to publish my recipes and pictures on my Facebook page but later I realized I wanted to share more than just a picture and a recipe with you all, in a more customized manner. That’s how this blog was born. It feels just like yesterday but time really flies when you blog. Blogging has taught me so much. Food photography and food styling is what I’ve become totally obsessed with! It is such a great way to connect with like-minded people all around the world and learn about their culture through food. I have made some awesome new friends!
I owe it all to you gorgeous readers! Thank you for making this past year so fulfilling, from having less than 5 to 500+ followers and many more on social media, I’m very grateful for all the support and love so far. Whether it is just a comment, an email or a follow, I want to thank you for all the amazing gestures that has made blogging so so incredible for me!
I’m so so so happy, totally in celebratory mood! Throwing a party kinda mood. When I’m happy, I bake. So I baked a cake for this virtual party. It’s a party essential after all. Also, it is neither healthy nor low-fat. It’s buttery, sugary deliciousness. Pure vanilla goodness completely covered in pink whipped cream frosting. Yes! Today I’m sharing a classic vanilla cake which is sturdy in layer-cakes but moist and tender at the same time. A cake you can always depend upon. Make this your go-to recipe for anytime layer-cake requirements. Birthdays, Anniversaries or Weddings. An all-occasion versatile cake.
I am no professional at frosting/decorating cakes but I’ve tried my best! Also, I did not have time to make frosting from scratch so I used packaged instant whipped cream, flavored it with 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and colored it with a drop of pink food color. It tasted pretty good too. I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I, husband, a friend, neighbors and my house-help enjoyed! Yes, I believe in sharing the goodness. Always! 🙂
A little less than 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (about 100 gm)
1 and 1/4 cups white granulated sugar*
Seeds scraped from 1/2 vanilla bean
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 cup milk
*If you like your baked goods on a sweeter side, use 1 and 1/2 cups sugar instead.
Directions:
Preheat the oven at 170ºC / 340ºF. Butter and flour two 7-inch (5-inch or 6-inch works too) baking pans and set aside.
In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a bowl of your electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until pale and creamy, about 3-4 minutes. Add vanilla bean seeds, vanilla extract and egg whites and mix until smooth.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients alternating with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients.
Gently stir all ingredients until well combined. Stop mixer and scrape down sides and bottom of the bowl, making sure to have all ingredients mixed well.
Divide batter among baking pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a center comes out clean. Remove and let cool slightly in baking pans for about 5 minutes, then invert on a wire rack and let cool completely.
Frost cakes as desired. Use this Vanilla Bean Frosting recipe and instructions on how-to-frost-a-layered-cake. I colored the frosting with a drop of rose pink food color.
Note: If cakes are baked in 6-inch baking pans, you may cut them so that you have four layers altogether and if cakes are baked in 5-inch baking pans, you may cut them so that you have six layers altogether. This way you can make 4-layer or 6-layer cake using the same recipe.
I hope to write a small post! Is that even possible? Humph.. Let’s try and see..
I’m writing about this easiest dessert ever today… It is an English classic! I’m talking about Strawberry Fool.. The name says it all! It is so simple that any fool should be able to make it! No kidding 😀
The fool ~ this dessert is nothing but sweetened fruit folded into stiffly peaked and slightly sweetened whipped cream. THAT IS IT! Berries work perfectly for this dessert, especially strawberries. Kiwi and rhubarb would be a nice twist too.
For serving my fool, I made heart-shaped chocolate cups! Do you remember my post “Brownie Bombs“? I had mentioned in that post that even after coating all the cake pops generously I still had some left-over melted chocolate. I had to think on my feet… How to turn this left-over melted chocolate into something amazing and this impromptu idea came to my mind. Very easy to make. All you need is silicone cupcake liners.
Chocolate cups are so easy to make that once you’ve started, it is difficult to stop. You’ll find yourself stuffing them with all sorta yumminess out there! Imagine your favorite peanut butter, ice-creams, mousse and cheesecake served in these edible chocolate cups. Now no need to lick the plate!
DIY chocolate cup seated on my DIY cupcake stand!
Don’t overfill the cups with fool like I did! 😛
Chocolate and strawberries are match made in heaven. So serving strawberry fool in a chocolate cup makes for a perfect and elegant party-dessert. Chocolate cups can be made ahead and stored in refrigerator for months and strawberry fool is a no-cook, no-nonsense dessert. Perfect for last-minute dessert-fix or midnight-cravings!
P.S. I’m sorry but I do not have step-by-step photos for chocolate cups. As you can imagine my kitchen and hands were covered in chocolate. 😛 But do not worry. These are easy-peesy to make and you will not require my horrible photographic skills to show you that.
DIY Chocolate Cups:
Yields: 4 cups
Ingredients:
50 gm dark chocolate*, melted
4 silicone cupcake liners, frozen for 5 minutes
small sheet of grease-proof baking paper
Directions:
For detailed information on how to melt chocolate: Refer to this post
Method-1:
Dip the outer surface of the silicone liner into the melted chocolate. Remove the excess chocolate by giving the liner a slight shake. Ensure that the chocolate coats the liner evenly. Upturn the liner and place it on grease-proof baking paper. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
Dip the liner again in the melted chocolate to get a thicker layer of chocolate and refrigerate again. Repeat these steps to make 3 more cups.
Once cool, separate the chocolate cups from silicone liners slowly and carefully. Refrigerate till the time of use. Method-2: For this method a small paint brush will be required.
Paint a thin layer of chocolate onto the inside of each cupcake liner. Refrigerate them for 10 minutes.
Paint a second thin layer of chocolate on top of the first layer and refrigerate for another 10 minutes.
Carefully pop the chocolate cups out of the liners. Refrigerate till the time of use.
* Feel free to use white chocolate or mix of dark and white chocolate.
Strawberry Fool:
Yields: 4 servings | Prep time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
6 large frozen strawberries, hulled and thawed
3 Tbsp caster sugar
1 cup fresh cream (medium fat 40%), chilled
For garnish: 2-3 strawberries, sliced or any cookie of your choice, crumbled
Directions:
Chill mixing bowl and beater in freezer for 5 minutes.
In a food processor, blend strawberries to a smooth puree. Mix 2 Tbsp sugar in the puree and set aside.
Remove mixing bowl and beater from freezer. Add fresh cream to the mixing bowl and whisk. Gradually add 1 Tbsp sugar to the cream and whip till you get stiff peaks.
Fold the strawberry puree in to a whipped cream until nearly incorporated, leaving a few streaks of whipped cream and strawberry puree. Divide the mixture among 4-chocolate cups. Serve immediately garnished with strawberry slices/cookie crumble or refrigerate for up to 2-3 hours.
P.S. Writing a short post requires a skill I don’t seem to possess! Have a happy weekend! 🙂
Yesterday was a National Cheesecake Day and this is my 50th post on the blog! So let’s combine this two very important occasions of my life and celebrate! With cheesecake!! Now you’re talking! 😉
I have a confession to make! I made this cheesecake more than a month ago and totally forgot to blog about them.. Yesterday when National Cheesecake Day tweet was doing rounds, this is the cheesecake which came to my mind instantly… and this too! Sincere apologies for forgetting such an important thing.
Now that this is off my chest let’s move on..
So let’s talk about cheesecake! Cheesecake!! You want it! Really really crave it and then you think of all the extra calories eating one slice or half slice of it entail and then you either eat it anyway and feel guilty or don’t eat it and deprive yourself from this decadence.
I say you can not be making such appalling sacrifices. It’s against the law, you see! So being a smart one here always presenting you guys with skinny treats, I have a solution. Simple… Make mini-cheesecake!!! I’m on a mini-dessert frenzy nowadays… I simply adore them. One thing they are too cute and another is the amazing portion-control you get without making yourself or others feeling culpable for the indulgence.
So here I present you today kiwi cheesecake with Oreo crust… I have tried and kept the sugar as less as possible. The cream used here is not full-fat whipping cream instead I have used medium fat cream. So I have done my best to bring you a slightly low-cal version.
Hubby & I got to eat cheesecake for 3 days in a row. So we were a happy bunch! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.
No-Bake Kiwi Cheesecake with Oreo Crust
Yields: 6 mini cheesecakes
Ingredients:
For Oreo crust:
6-7 Chocolate Oreos
1 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
For the cheesecake:
1/3 cup fresh cream (medium fat 40%), chilled
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened at room temperature
1/4 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 kiwi, peeled and diced
For kiwi jelly:
1 Tbsp agar agar
1/4 cup hot water
1 kiwi, peeled and smoothly pureed
1 Tbsp caster sugar
For garnishing: Sliced or diced fresh Kiwi fruit
Directions:
Blend Oreos and melted butter in a food processor till fine crumbs form. Place 1 Tbsp of crumb at the base of the each shot glasses and press down firmly. Place glasses in refrigerator till you prepare cheesecake filling.
Whip cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract till soft peaks form. Whip the cream in a separate bowl till the soft peaks form. Fold in together gently.
Remove shot glasses from the refrigerator. Equally divide cheesecake filling in all the glasses throwing in 2-3 pieces of diced kiwi in between the layers. Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours.
In a microwave safe bowl, heat the water for 30 seconds and add agar agar to it. Mix thoroughly till agar agar dissolves completely. Add sugar and kiwi puree. Whisk till a thick paste forms. Top the shot glasses with approximately 1 Tbsp of jelly mixture and chill again for 2-3 hours or till jelly has set completely.
Serve chilled, each glass garnished with sliced or 2-3 diced cubes of fresh kiwi.
