Colorful Gumdrops (Jujubes)

Jujubes would be the favorite chewy sweet of everyone. It brings back my sweet childhood memories! When I came across the recipe online, I was surprised that it could be made so easily at home. I immediately tried it and it came out perfect!

Happy News!

It is such an amazing feeling to have my cakes featured in a magazine!!! 
I was surprised when I got a call from the great Smt.Girija Raghavan and that she wanted to publish an article regarding my cakes in her magazine "Ladies special" which strives towards women empowerment! 
Thanks to all my dear ones who have always encouraged and motivated me to work towards my passion! I am now geared up to work harder :-)

Spicy baked paneer - The Perfect Paneer starter!

I am a part of Fondbites Bake Along group in FaceBook, where a group of baking enthusiasts try out a common recipe every week. This week's recipe was crispy baked chicken. Being the veggie that I am, I got upset on seeing the post. But when someone suggested the idea of replacing chicken wings with paneer cubes, I tried it immediately and it turned out to be perfect and absolutely yummy!

"It is like a 5 star restaurant starter" , said my dad!! What else do I need to say?! Gently crisp on the outside, soft in the inside, with an amazing blend of spices.. Yummy yummy!

Choco-Nut spread (Homemade Nutella)

With the high amount of adulteration that is being present in packaged foods these days, I always try to hunt for homemade alternatives. It also works out cheaper and we can have them guilt-free!

I have been hunting for a perfect alternative to a chocolate spread for bread and was so glad to come across the same in gayathriscookspot.com :-) Here blog has been my savior whenever I hunt for eggless recipes!

Hazelnuts are not easily available in India and even if we get them, they are pretty expensive. If you don't mind the high price tag, then go ahead and substitute the peanuts in the below recipe with hazelnuts, to exactly replicate Nutella! But trust me, peanuts added a unique flavor to the spread and the combination with chocolate was amazing. 

You might also check out my Homemade Peanut Butter recipe

Hard Work Pays!

Spending 10 hours on a Saturday, to make a cake, break your back and burn your fingers - Do you think it is worth it??!

My answer is a big YES because it was NOT "just a cake". It was a cake that made me realize that hard work pays!

They called me CRAZY and then blessed me!

They called me CRAZY - 

NOT because

• I decided to bake a cake
• It was the first time I was attempting to create edible bride and groom figurines
• I was working with buttercream icing during peak summer time

BUT because

• I decided to make a cake for my own engagement!
• I spent more hours on planning and executing the cake, than on the time spent for planning my jewels, hairdo, makeup etc
• I started to get ready on the D-Day only after setting up the cake at the right place in the venue
• A bride is not supposed to strain herself
• "Kannu pattudum" (people would be envious)

But when it was the wish of someone special, I didn't mind anyone calling me crazy!

Creating thematic cakes have always been my passion and when my fiance joined me in discussing all aspects of our special cake, right from design, flavor, wordings, color theme etc, my joy grew beyond bounds. 
I decided to give my best right from baking the base cake till packing it and placing it at the right place in the venue. All the effort put in was so worth it when I received an amazing feedback and it made me realize that it is never wrong to treat yourself.

I am happy to share with you all, the sweetest cake till date, from my kitchen. It is an eggless strawberry cake filled with strawberry buttercream. 
And yeah, the edible bride and groom toppers on the cake, were my humble attempt to replicate our look for the D-Day :)

Cheerful n Creative cakes!

I have been crazily held up with some personal commitments and hence have not been able to keep my blog updated with all the cake works that My Cheerful Kitchen has been up to in the past three months!
Happy to share the same with you all :-)

It was a delight to see a dad explaining all the detailing he wanted on a cake, for his little princess' first birthday :-) Right from the colors, dolls, wordings, flavor, design (which represents the little one's birthday dress) all were well explained, which made my job easy!
Here is the special butterscotch cake for daddy's lil girl !

Cheese capsicum paratha

I wanted to prepare something special yet fast for today's lunch. I had come across this recipe in various blogs and decided to alter the ingredients according to my preference and then give it a try! So here is the recipe for an easy and yummy paratha, that can be prepared in a jiffy!

INGREDIENTS:

• Whole wheat flour/Atta - 1 cup
• Water - as needed
• Salt - as needed
• Capsicum - 1 , finely chopped
• Cheese - 1/2 cup, grated (I used mozzarella)
• Onion - 1 small, finely chopped
• Pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Oil - for pan fry

METHOD:

1. Mix whole wheat flour, salt and water and knead into a soft dough. Keep it aside
2. Mix capsicum, onion, grated cheese and pepper powder
3. Divide the dough into equal balls
4. Flatten one ball and fill a teaspoon of the prepared capsicum-cheese mixture, close the ball and roll into thick parathas on a flour dusted surface
5. Heat a pan and cook the parathas evenly on both sides by adding little oil
6. Serve hot with curd and pickle of your choice! 

Note:

• You can replace pepper powder with chilli flakes/chilli powder
• Onion can be omitted
• You can add different colored capsicums

Rose milk flavoured Ice cream

Rose milk is a perfect summer treat that cools our body and pleases our taste buds. 

How about an easy homemade ice cream, that does not require any special ingredients or instruments? Here it is.. Try it out and it will surely be an instant hit with all your loved ones

You might also like to check out another easy ice cream recipe: Mango Ice cream

Choco-Banana Muffins (Low-fat and eggless)

I generally do not eat banana as such, though I like its flavour. There was a big ripe red banana lying at home and I wanted to bake something with it. In general, red bananas are considered to be the most healthiest of all banana varieties and is rich in iron, when that is combined with the goodness of fibre rich oats, the resultant dish is assured to be super healthy and power packed!

These yummy choco banana muffins are eggless, butterless, do not contain maida/refined flour, low fat with just about a tablespoon of oil, 3-4 tablespoons of sugar and honey for 6 regular sized muffins! The result was soft and absolutely delicious muffins :) Let us get right to the recipe

Badam Barfi | Almond Barfi

After a long gap, I got time to post a recipe here in my blog! And when it is after a long gap, it has to be a special sweet right?! So here is a very simple and absolutely delicious recipe that will make you drool over. 

It requires very few easily available ingredients and does not require ghee too. The richness of almonds will reflect in the taste of the dessert. 

Marvelous March Cakes

2015 March has indeed been marvelous! I got the opportunity to make 4 colorful and very differently themed cakes. The feedback received for each and every cake has been fantastic and that has motivated My Cheerful Kitchen a lot :) Thank you all for the wonderful support!


A vanilla BMW that rides on a rich chocolate road! Who wants to taste drive?!

A colorful pineapple cake for a Mawa-Kawa cartoon fan!

The story of my BMW - Where technology meets taste!

How many of you have a BMW in your wishlist? Here is the story of my BMW!
I didn't book or order a new car but instead created one! (Sounds interesting?! ;-) )

Creative Cakes from My Cheerful Kitchen!

It has been an awesome start to the year and I am so glad to share the different theme cake orders that I have got recently. I should thank each and everyone who has given me the opportunity to try out such different and creative themes!

The Royal Beauty:
My most favorite cake till date. A special cake for an engagement function.
Two-tier cake with alternative layers of chocolate and vanilla cakes, filled and frosted with vanilla buttercream and topped with handmade peacock using fondant

Eggless Tutti-Fruiti Biscuits (Karachi Bakery Style)

Karachi bakery at Hyderabad is known for its signature rich fruit & nut butter biscuits, that melt in your mouth. These biscuits are divinely delicious and very addictive too. My colleagues who visit Hyderabad, make sure to get these to office and they'd get over in a jiffy.

When I came across this recipe in Fondbites, Bake Along group, I bookmarked them and was so tempted to try them at home. I had time this weekend and tried these goodies. And the result------- No one can believe that these are homemade! The biscuit just melted in my mouth and everyone at home loved it.

The best compliment was when dad asked me "Who got them from Hyderabad?"

Warning: Try hard to control yourself or be prepared to work out hard ;-)

Surprise hearts inside chocolate cake - For the love of baking!

I did this cake as a part of Fondbites - Bake Along group in facebook. 

With Valentine's day round the corner, I wanted to try something special and when this recipe came along my way, I immediately tried it!!

The original recipe used eggs. I have tried an eggless version and wanted a dash of pink in my cake, hence made cute vanilla-strawberry marble hearts for the surprise center. It is a double process of baking but not difficult at all. Try it out and surprise your near and dear ones, in this season of Love!

With this method, we can vary the flavor combinations according to our choice. A chocolate cake with red-velvet heart, Chocolate cake with vanilla heart or vice-versa and sky is limit for the combinations!!

Wishing you all a very sweet and lovable Valentine's Day!

100% wholewheat bread (With easy step-wise pictures)

Buying a loaf from a bakery is always an easy job. But the happiness of baking it at home from scratch, has some special feeling attached to it, that is hard to explain in words. The aroma that spreads our home while baking goodies, surely creates some positive vibes! This can never be got from a store bought bread. And a feather on the cap would be that you are using healthy ingredients and there are no hidden preservatives in it!

I sincerely followed the recipe from VegRecipesOfIndia and it turned out so well! My dad usually does not prefer to have bread but he too loved the taste and asked for more :) This is what happiness means to me! Try out this recipe and experience the bliss as I did!

You might also like to check out other bread recipes that I have tried before:

• Healthy banana walnut loaf
• Wholewheat honey oats bread
• Wholewheat and oatmeal quick bread

Mixed Vegetable Saagu

A pleasant weather and a simple yet special homemade dinner, along with your family, is surely a moment of bliss! And when it is lovingly prepared by your mom and served hot, it has to be even more special :) Yes, apart from clicking pictures and enjoying the dinner, I did nothing else for this post. It is mom's special in "My Cheerful Kitchen" this week!

Different Themed Cakes from My Cheerful Kitchen

It has been just two months since I started taking up orders for creative cakes and the response has been awesome so far! Those of whom are following my page on Facebook would be aware of the new cakes that I have come up with! I thought I'd include those in my blog too. Here you go.......

An edible handbag! 

Eggless strawberry cake, frosted with dark chocolate ganache and carved into a handbag :) A perfect birthday cake for all the bag crazy girls out there!

Two similarly themed, 1st year birthday cakes with cute baby shoe toppers, designed to match the little princesses' birthday dresses :)

Eggless strawberry cake, frosted with buttercream and decorated with ombre rossette designs

Chocolate cake, frosted with dark chocolate ganache and decorated with ombre ruffles design

Slugterra cake for a naughty little boy!

Natural red velvet cake, frosted with dark chocolate ganache and topped with edible Slugterra characters!

Smoking is injurious to health, but a pineapple cake, imitated as a cigar pack, causes no harm!!

Wishing you all a wonderful New year :)

Yummy butterscotch cake for the New year!

A colorful start to the New Year!
Chocolate cake, with dark chocolate ganache frosting, surrounded by KitKat bars and topped with colorful gems!!

This order came from a loving daughter-in-law to her dear mother-in-law! She was very specific about the green theme and pistachios!

I enjoyed creating the cute birthday queen, her cushion, magic wand and high-heels! The base cake is eggless vanilla sponge cake with buttercream frosting and pistachios

Looking forward to an exciting year with lots more interesting cakes and recipes to try out :)

Paneer Tikka (Both oven and stove-top method included)

After purchasing a new oven, I always wanted to try some grilled dishes. But I only ended up making cakes, cakes and more cakes! Finally I got some time to try out restaurant style paneer tikka and the result was too good. I tried it in my oven but this can easily be done on stove top too. Try them out and let me know the feedback.

Strawberry Yogurt

Hello all! Wish you all a very happy New Year :)

I've been quite held up with lots of cake orders off late and hence have not been able to post recipes quite often. After a long time, I am posting a recipe that does not involve baking ;)

Let's kick start the year on a sweet note!