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 !