Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake - Going C agian for Christmas

So Christmas is finally here..Merry Christmas to all my family, relatives back home and my friends, my blog viewers and readers across the globe. May the joy and peace of Christmas fill your hearts and overflow abundantly. Though we miss a full white Christmas here in Toronto we are happy that we have clear roads to drive back and forth for Church services...

Being Christmas, I'm still continuing the sugar rush here on my blog. As promised, here is the Chocolate Chip cake which was made by default by using chocolate chips as excuse for raisins or other dried fruits...To my surprise the day i was baking i ran out of raisins in my pantry. Then suddenly i remembered that i had this small packet of semi sweet chocolate chips lying in one of the shelves for a long time..I actually bought them to bake some chocolate chip cookies for my kids who just luv them. But when we get PC's chocolate chip cookies for just $1.99, its easier to pick them up and treat kids rather invest my precious time on baking them. So this unused pkt of choco chips came to my rescue that day, also making me create a cake which i had never baked before.

I also noticed that my kids never do like raisins added in cakes, cookies or bread..they prefer to eat them just like that. So when i declared to them that i was baking chocolate chip cake, they were overjoyed so much that they even wanted to be a part of the picture I wanted to click to post here.

So going beyond the idea of using chocolate chips in cookies and muffins, this chocolate chip pound cake is born.

Ingredients250 gms butter(softened)
1 cup white or brown sugar
3-4 eggs
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup all-purpose flour or use whole wheat flour for healthier choice
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp nut meg powder
1/4 cup Cocoa powder if you want color and cocoa flavour(I used very sparlingly, cause i had only unsweetened one)
A pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup frozen juice of ur choice( I used orange and passion fruit)
1/2 cup Evaporated milk to adjust the consistency of the cake batter.

Procedure:
Cut the portion of butter required and place it out of fridge before an hour to soften it.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour your desired cake pan.

Measure all ingredients and keep them ready,

Beat butter, sugar in a large bowl until they turn creamy. Add eggs one by one and beat on low speed of electric mixer until blended, then on high speed for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Combine and swift together flour, nutmeg, baking powder cocoa powder(if using)and salt in a separate bowl, and fold these dry ingredients alternately with orange juice and evaporated milk to the batter mixture. Keep mixing while adding. add the milk only if necessary.

Mix half of the chocolate chips with a little flour and add to the cake mixture. Gently mix..Do not to over-mix.

Pour into Prepared greased pan/pans.

Add a layer of chocolate chips on the top

Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes

As the cake rises fully and gets its shape, remove from the oven and add the last layer of chips. Return to the oven.

Once the cake gets a golden brown color, cover it with foil, shiny side up, and bake for the remaining time or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely

Raisin Walnut Coconut Cake

Ingredients
To Beat
400 gms butter(softened)
2 cups white sugar
5-6 eggs
To Combine
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 pinch salt
To Add
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp almond extract
1 tbsp lime juice
Add some color to get a marble effect if desired.

Dried Fruit and Nut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup Walnuts
1/2 cup Sweetened Crated Coconut

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour your desired cake pans.

Measure all ingredients and keep them ready, Take
butter out of fridge before an hour to soften it.

Beat butter, sugar in a large bowl until they turn creamy Add in eggs. Beat on low speed of electric mixer until blended, then on high speed for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Combine and swift together flour, allspice, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, and fold these dry ingredients alternately with liquid ingredients to be added to the batter mixture. Keep mixing while adding.

Add half of the raisins,walnuts and coconut. Do not to over-mix.

Pour into Prepared greased pan/pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes

Once the cake rises and gets the shape then remove from the oven and add the remaining raisins,walnuts and coconut on the top, cover it with foil,
shiny side up, and bake for the remaining time or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Chocolate Cups Cakes

Celebrating my second Son's second Birthday on Dec 20th, here are some Chocolate Cup Cakes.
Following the instructions on the Cake mix box these cakes were baked and then topped them with Chocolate cream and decorated with some sprinkles...
Did you check for the Galore of christmas Trees here.

And here is how the vitual tour in the making of the cup cakes...

May be I can send this as an enrty for the Chocolate food event.

Caribbean Fruit and Nut Cake - My Version

This is a Caribbean style Fruit and Nut Cake with Spices. The variation is that the fruit is marinated/soaked in Red Wine/Rum/Brandy and ground corsely into a paste and added into the batter apart from adding the dry fruits & nuts.

For my cake I soaked the dried fruits in Red wine and ground them along with some fruit punch and molasses and preserved it for a year. Yes, I did this last christmas and used that fruit mixture for this year's christmas cake.

The result was obvious...Though I and hubby identified some minors corrections, this tasted good.
Soaking the fruit for a few weeks and baking this cake any where from 2 weeks to 2 months before the occasion and moistening it regularly with a coat of wine, rum etc would do justice for this dark cake.

My cake may not have the exact carribbean recipe, but the concept is very much borrowed(grinding the fruit). Tailored to my taste buds.....hence this is my version of the Dark fruit and Nut cake
Here are the digital steps...


Ingredients:
To Beat
2 cups butter(softened)
2 cups white sugar
6 eggs(Increase to 8 if desired)
To Combine
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch salt
To Add
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp almond extract
1 tbsp lime juice
1 grated zest of that lime
1/4 cup white rum (optional)
1 cup red wine
1/2- 1 cup dark molasses
Dried Fruits and Nuts
1 cup dried fruit(raisins, currants, Sultanas) 1 cup Cake fruits + Cherries
1 cup Nuts(Almonds, Walnuts, Cashew, Pecan)

1/2 cup chopped Dates To Grind
1 cup Dried fruits raisins, currants, Sultanas)
1/2 cup chopped Dates
1 cup red wine
1/2 cup frozen Fruit punch

Procedure:
Soak the ingredients to be ground a week before or alteast overnight and grind them coarse add a little fruit punch.
This mixture can be frozen or even just refridgerated well in advance(1 day to 1 year) In my case I had prepared this last christmas. For best results, fruits should be soaked in wine for at least 3 weeks, or boiled in the wine.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 - 9 inch cake pans.

Measure all ingredients and keep them ready, Take
butter out of fridge before an hour to soften it.

Beat butter, sugar in a large bowl until they turn creamy Add in eggs. Beat on low speed of electric mixer until blended, then on high speed for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Combine and sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl, and fold these dry ingredients alternately with liquid ingredients to be added
to the batter mixture. Keep mixing while adding.

Add the ground mixture so fruits and wine. Do not to over-mix. Add all the dried fruits and nuts.

Pour into prepared pans.

Bake in preheated oven for 80 to 90 minutes

Once the cake rises and gets the shape and is almost hard, cover it with foil,
shiny side up, and bake for the remaining time or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
Additional wine or rum can be brushed onto cake as needed to keep moist.

This is my entry for
Think Spice - Cinnamon, created and hosted by Sunitha of Sunitha's world.
A Fruit a Month (AFAM) Event started by Maheshwari of Beyond the Usual, this month.
AFAM - Dried Fruits is hosted by Lathaji of The Yum Blog
Click - Nuts created and hosted by Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi.
Did you check for the Galore of christmas Trees here