What Does Baking Powder Do

Recipe of the Week: Custard Cake

This recipe is a little challenging to make only because it requires a lot of patience. But, if you are a fan of flan you will definitely enjoy this dessert. It encompasses two very different consistencies, allowing you to enjoy custard and cake together. This recipe also allows you to learn and showcase different cooking techniques such as making caramel.

Ingredients 

For caramel:

1 cup white sugar    1/4 cup minus 1 tbsp. of white sugar

Directions:

For caramel:

First, place the sugar and water in a thick bottomed pan. For about half a cup of caramel, use 1 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of water. Just place them in the pan and don’t stir. Turn the heat to high and bring the water and sugar to the boil without stirring. Then, lower the heat to medium-high and continue boiling. After about 8 minutes, the mixture will start to brown. If the mixture along the edges of the pan brown much faster, swirl the pan to even out the coloring. Continue boiling until the liquid is the color of amber. Pour into buttered cake pan. 

For the custard:

Place all ingredients into a bowl. Mix until the sugar is completely dissolved. Do not beat as you do not want air bubbles in the mixture. Place a strainer over the baking pan and pour in the custard mixture. 

For the cake:

Sift together the cake flour and baking powder. Place the 1/4 cup minus 1 tbsp. of sugar and egg yolks in a bowl. Beat until smooth and lemon colored. Add the flour mixture and milk alternately, mixing after each addition. After all the flour and milk have been added, mix until the batter is smooth. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the second 1/4 cup minus 1 tbsp. of sugar little by little while beating continuously. Continue beating until the egg white mixture is stiff. Now you mix the egg yolk and egg white mixtures together. Remember that the reason you beat the egg white to stiff peaks is to create all those tiny air bubbles. Work carefully so as not to break them. Add half of the egg white mixture to the egg yolk mixture and, using a rubber scraper and the cut and fold technique, blend the two mixtures together. Remember to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Then, add this blended mixture to the remaining half of the egg white mixture, and continue cutting and folding until the mixture is well blended and the color is even. Again, remember to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. No streaks of white nor yellow should be visible.

US Masala: US Masala turns One! Celebrating with Nutella Donuts ...

I like to think of my work as a child that I have seen be born, grow up and mature - through different templates, colors, picture sizes, fonts, gadgets - all within the past three hundred and sixty five days. Besides the obvious benefit of keeping me busy, giving me a chance to experiment and learn new recipes, US Masala has given me the unmistakable opportunity of knowing a large number of wonderful people throughout the world - yes all of you my readers. It would not be unreasonable to say that food blogging has changed my life in ways I never imagined. It has taught me is to follow my passion and to admire and enjoy the simple things in life - a food-photo that comes out well, an experiment that succeeds, a thoughtful comment left on a post. The creativity, thinking, writing, history, everything.  Where I come from, special events are always celebrated with sweets. These are delicious little treats, fried dough balls filled with Nutella, how can you argue with that. Hot out of the fryer, you blow on them (yes its okay to blow on your food in privacy :) till they cool down just enough and then chomp away... yes you can close your eyes to when you eat, it adds to the pleasure.  Do not make the doughnuts too big as the outside will brown too quickly and they won’t cook through. Don’t overcrowd the pot - you will probably need to fry the doughnuts in three batches. Cut one doughnut open to make sure it’s cooked through before removing the rest of the batch from the oil. When the doughnuts are cooked, scoop them out and allow them to drain on paper towels. Repeat with remaining batter. Now for the prize. Yes its a cookbook. But not any cookbook. Its a cookbook by the chef that I have revered and followed for over a decade now. I am sure you have heard about Sanjeev Kapoor (google him if you haven't :)) who is one of the most celebrated chefs of Indian cooking. This is one of his latest cookbooks that compiles over 500 of his favorite recipes that are most suited for the modern kitchen of today.

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