Autumnal Birthday cupcake..or is it a muffin?

Is it a cupcake or is it a muffin? Personally I don't mind eating either - I'd happily shove either (or both) of them with my beloved morning tea/coffee or even after a meal. But there is a difference afterall. Think of cupcakes as mini cakes that are made fancy with some icing on top. Muffins on the other hand are a more healthy, dense, and less fancy cousin. They are typically sans icing, and have fruits and/or nuts as well. Or if it is me, I'd also add in some wheat bran, maybe some
oats or some shredded wheat, maybe some ground flax!

Not today though. Today is one of those days when I cook without all
these goodies. Its just all purpose flour, refined sugar, eggs, and
butter. Yep, all the ingredients for a good and not-so-healthy cupcake.
This is inspired by Nigella Lawson's Autumnal Birthday cake from "How to be a Domestic Goddess". Actually it is exactly the same - but there is no icing, and I put the batter in my muffin tin, rather than a cake pan - simply because it looked better with a cup of afternoon tea.


I had a lot of maple syrup lying which I hadnt quite used up yet. I love maple syrup, but this one was a cheap version - very runny and not the dark amber colour that defines a good maple syrup. But this was all that I could find at my local Migros, and when it is hidden inside a dark brown bottle, you cant really guess what you are gonna get! But with so much of maple syrup in the recipe, and no other flavouring (read icing), these babies tasted a lot like pancakes! And who's complaining. I, for one, love pancakes

Here is the recipe

175 g butter, softened
100 g sugar
3 large eggs
350 ml maple syrup
500 g all purpose flour
175 ml hot water

If you are used to the cups and tablespoon measurements, here is a wonderful link from Diana's Desserts I use all the time! To prepare, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with paper liners or spray with non-stick spray.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Beat in the maple syrup gradually. Alternate adding flour and hot water, and beat until smooth.

Divide into cupcake tins, about 3/4 of the way up for each. Bake for 14 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack (20 minutes if you use non-stick spray instead of liners).

I sprinkled some chocolate shavings and some chocolate syrup. But they were lovely just on their own. Share

Life after coffee

Because there is no life before coffee!

True isn't it? I think I wouldn't be wrong if I say I sleep just to wake up for coffee! (Oh what a loser that makes me!)
But seriously, how many of us can wake up without our caffeine kick? Anyone, anyone?
Yeah, I thought as much.

Some of my fondest memories of college are just hanging around at the coffee shop and chat away into the evenings like nobody's business. It is no different now - I usually go for at least 2 coffee breaks during the day. After all without coffee breaks, there will be no accomplishments now, would there?

I can't even imagine to start writing on the options or preferences to making the perfect cuppa. Automatic drip or French press? Ground or whole bean? Fiery or frosty? Regular or decaf? Americano, cappuccino, espresso, macchiato, mocha, or latte?

For me the type of coffee depends on the mood and the time of the day. A strong espresso does it for the morning, a mild sweet one after a meal and a cold one for those rare hot afternoons. Here is my version of Iced coffee, which I make using the cold brew method which also is less acidic.

I will not touch on the various methods, beans, ways, machines to make coffee. A single post would never really be enough for it all - and it wouldn't be fair either to this elixir. More posts to come in the future. Share

Orange, Almond and Fennel cookies

Our vacation was almost 2 weeks ago, and I am already hoping we had another one! You know the first thing I did the day I returned to work? There were some 1500 e-mails staring at me, and my colleagues had already given me a low down on the umpteen number of items waiting for my attention! I looked for the holiday calender, and counted the number of days to the next long weekend! :-)
We were spoilt my our moms and grandmoms! I was off my usual "Eat healthy" ramble, and made sure I ate everything that is deep-fried, unhealthy and fatty. As long it tasted great, I was fine!

So coming home was a bit of a wake-up. These cookies are a healthy version - it uses whole wheat flour, and some oil. Here is the recipe - inspired from Sunita's post



2 cups whole wheat flour
3 tblsp of ground almonds
1 tsp of ground fennel seeds
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tblsp of orange zest
5 tblsp of sunflower or vegetable oil
5 tblsp of icing sugar
1/2 C of milk

Some slivered almonds, and fennel seeds for topping.
Mix together the flour, soda, almonds, icing sugar, orange zest, powdered fennel with your fingers until they resemble fine crumbs.
Mix together the milk and oil. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and tip in the milk mixture.
Fold in quickly, with a rubber spatula or fingertips, till just mixed.
Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven at 180 deg c and line a baking tray.
With slightly damp hands, make 25 balls of the dough and arrange them on the tray, a little apart from each other. Flatten the balls a little with the fingertips and press an almond sliver on top. I placed fennel seeds as well - to kind of make a face, but a lot of them fell off :-(
Place the tray in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 22-25 minutes or till the tops are light golden.
Cool on the tray for a couple of seconds and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Reminder - The DMBLGIT for February 2010 is currently on. Please send me your entries Share