Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Happy Easter everyone !

Hope everybody is doing good at the respective places that you are at. We are doing fine too. Before you start asking if I made it today, the answer is No, I didn't. This time we had a very minimalistic Easter celebration. Just because we have the groceries for the next two weeks stocked up, due to lock down, we didn't want to use it all up in a day. But, wanted to celebrate it in a simple way with so much thanksgiving for all that we have for today.

This cake reminded me of how simple things can also be made more special. With minimal ingredients this cake was made to happen in a matter of an hour or less, but was very yum and appreciated far better than the cakes that would have involved too much effort. You don't have to make things complicated or put in extra efforts to make it special. Simple things can also make it to your memories. Such was this year's Easter. No potlucks or family visits or get togethers but still it shall be in our memories with the simple menu and a lot of catch up with family and friends over video chats :).

Tutti Fruiti Cake

I know I know.... I have been missing in action for a while now right? I did not post even during the holiday season, when the cooking actually takes its peak, with all the baking, parties and potlucks. Last year, we had been facing a lot of health issues and it was so hard to keep up with everything, that I thought, may be, keeping it slow would be one way to get through it. So after a break, last weekend, I thought to get back but then the flu hit the entire family and the blogging went down to square one. Guess this year too, would be no different. While we are still recovering from flu, I wanted to post something colourful and hence this post.

It is so hard to start again from where you stopped. I have been thinking for a while to get back. But I still was not able to get through my laziness. Finally after all the push from all who told me to start again, here I am. I hope to keep up with your expectations and also to find that same energy to keep blogging. Today's post is a simple but feel good cake - both in its taste as well as looks. If you are among the lucky ones to have got a long weekend, then do bake it and enjoy it with your family and friends.

Cherry Loaf

One good thing about summer is the cheeries . We cannot have enough of them. Even though we don't mind having it raw; trying different and variety desserts out of them is fun. This cherry loaf was just an outcome of a such a trial and we loved it. The bite into a juicy piece of cherry within the loaf piece is so refreshing.

The loaf is very easy to put together. At the same time, it is so addictive and gets over really quickly that you may want to bake more than a loaf at a time if you would want them to last more than a day :). Here is the recipe for the cherry loaf.

Chocolate Cake ~ with minimal butter

Chocolate cakes, leave me tempting every single time I see them. I had tried different versions of it in the past. But the amount of butter or oil and sugar, that goes into it, held me back from making it often. My kido loves chocolate cake, so to make it for him would mean, we would end up eating it too. Who can resist the temptation of having a slice from such a delicious and chocolatey cake, right?

When I came across this recipe, it was hard to believe how little butter could yield such a delicious and soft cake. I was not so thrilled to try it first, thinking, it wouldn't turn up as I expected. But I must tell you, there was no delay in trying it the second time and then the third time and then multiple times that we have made this cake. 

Lemon Poppyseed Cake

How many of you associate lemon with summer? For me, I have some wonderful memories associated with, being served with lemon juice during my summer vacations. Well, who can forget the chilled lemon juice served to the very thirsty and tired kids after having run and play in the sun. Somedays we were given the task to make it by ourselves. It was so funny to see the younger ones wait for the elder ones to make the lemon juice. We, the elder ones would be stirring it for some time to get the sugar dissolved and younger ones would get impatient while waiting for the juice with the empty glasses in hand :).

Well, this summer we wanted to bake something with lemon and we chose to bake this Lemon PoppySeed and I am so glad we chose it. And my kido did most part of it. He thoroughly enjoyed making and eating it as well. And when Big J got back from work, little J with great enthusiasm served it to him saying he made it :). We would be cooking together as one of the activities for this summer. And by the way, I must share it here. For moms of picky eater, engage them in the cooking process of the the food that they hate. In our case, it has really helped us in bringing about a liking towards food that he used to hate.

Steamed Beetroot Cake

Today marks the 5th Anniversary of my dear blog, Palaharam. I never imagined it to be coming this far. But now I guess, it is a part of my life - something that would define me and keep me occupied by doing something that I love. This is not just the celebration of having started the blog but also the celebration of having made some good friends over the span of these last 5 years, whom I have not even met in person. I thought I should make something sweet to mark this milestone and nothing better than this beetroot steamed cake to make this moment absolutely perfect. A BIG thank you to all my supporters for always being there to motivate me, to blog. No words can suffice my gratitude towards each one of you.

It was only recently that I started to fall for Beetroot. Since then, it has been appearing in my kitchen often, either in a savory or sweet form. This beetroot cake was made as a tea time snack one day and it was so much in demand that we have repeated it couple of times. They are amazing in taste and healthy too.

Marble cake (No butter - No egg)

I have never tried eggless cakes before. When I came across this recipe, I was so glad to have found something which is butterless and eggless. I had to give it a try.

Now it being the lent season, I finally tried it. These were good and did serve well to calm down our craving to have cakes during lent. They definitely do differ from cakes that include eggs, taste wise and texture wise. But if you don't eat eggs or are on a diet, then this recipe is something that you must try. The guilt of stuffing up too much calories keeps me away from having multiple pieces of cakes at one go. But this cake being butterless too did vanish from my snack box in no time. Here is the recipe for this cake.

Carrot cake

Carrot cake brings back memories from Bangalore. This cake was not my favorite untill I had it from the church that I used to go to, while in Bangalore. It was the Parish priest's birthday and his friend from Kerala had send across carrot cake for all who come to that church. How sweet right? Actually it is not just one time that he did that. Every year for this parish priest's birthday, the carrot cake arrives. Atleast, I was lucky to have it twice :).

Anyways, since then, I had been in search of a carrot cake that would taste atleast somewhat close to what I had at the church if not exactly like it. Finally I came across this recipe and I am happy how it turned out. 

Peach Upside Down Cake

I am not into eating peach raw. They just don't taste appealing to me. However, if cooked I love it. 

We usually don't buy it as they always go waste, as neither of us like it. One day while I was blog hopping I landed on this recipe. Now, I am allergic to pineapples but the post left me drooling with the glazed pineapple and peach. I was like, what if I am allergic to pineapple, I could make the same with peaches and see if I could have a positive attitude towards cooked peaches. That is how I ended up making it and I am so glad that I did give a try. I have a sweet tooth but Jacob is not into desserts. Still he kept opening the refrigerator every now and then to cut out a piece and have it, that we both scrapped off the last bit of it and the cake didn't make it to the next day :). He keeps telling me every now and then how he dreamt about having that cake or he just felt a sudden craving to have it (I have never heard him crave for something sweet), that's when I know its time to make the next batch of this cake :).

Ombre cake ~ 3 layers for 3 years !

I have been seeing the pictures of beautiful ombre cakes floating through in Pinterest. I could never control myself drooling over the pictures.

All said, I must admit that I am not a fan of frosting but I love the way the cakes are decorated. When it comes to eating a cake with frosting, I feel a huge sugar rush after having it and don't even ask me about the guilt that grows in me for having had all that cream, butter and sugar that I imagine myself to be inflating like a balloon. So when it comes to frosting a cake at home, I hesitate, because both of us don't prefer frosting and more over I run short of ideas how to decorate it (Honestly...I am bad at frosting).

Checkerboard cake for Palaharam that turned 1 !

It seems ages since I have blogged or been on the blogger, blog hopping. I had been missing it so badly and so wished to get back to it, as soon as I can. And yes, Palaharam turned one(a month back) and I still can't digest the fact that my blog survived one whole year :). I know its a bit too late for celebration of my blog anniversary, but better late than never, right? It had been a wonderful journey all throughout. I just can't thank enough the supporters of Palaharam and all the wonderful bloggers out there who eventually turned out to be my friends, for all the support and encouragement that you have been pouring over. Its needless to say that without you guys, my blog would not have survived.

Has it ever happened to you that you had taken a leave from the daily routine and when you are back to normal, the so called laziness hits you delaying the process of return to the normal life. Well, I had been hit by it badly. Every once in a while when I got to FB, there would be a message from my blogger friends, some enquiring where I had disappeared or some rechecking on my health. While I was sick, each message made me feel I was getting better and after I got well, these messages made me give up my laziness to come back quickly :). I just feel so lucky to have gained so many amazing friends through blogosphere.

Cherry Cake for The Big Sweet Tooth !

Few weeks back when I saw a message from Rafeeda asking, if I would like to do a guest post for her, I didn't think 'No' as an answer. Well why would I , since this is my first guest post ever and all the more when it is being asked by a such a sweetheart like Rafeeda, you cannot deny it :). Thank you Rafeeda for this opportunity.

I have known Rafeeda through the blogging world. A person who is so active, friendly and an interactive blogger. I sometimes wonder how she finds time to manage a job and a blog along with her family of sweet little kids.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

We had a small get together of college friends living in Phoenix, the other day. It was just three of us. All of us were not that close to each other, while in college. All of us had different gangs of friends and were used to having a hi-bye-hello relationship. But when we met, we hardly had our tongue resting for a while. We kept on chit chatting till it got dark and we had to return to our own homes. It was fun to have met them after so long and we hope to meet more often :).

While we planned to meet, I was wondering what to make, to serve something sweet. Has it happened to you that the days when your snack box is full, you end up having all of it by yourselves and when someone pays you an unplanned visit, you panic when you see the snack box empty and clueless what to serve them ? Happens with me quite frequently. Since this time we were just back from a trip, the snack box was empty and to add to it, the house was also in a mess.

Pound Cake

Yesterday when I opened our snack box, it was almost empty. Cake was something that had not been at our home for some time now. So I revisited the bake section in my to-bake list. The pound cake - yes, it had been something that I wanted to try for a while, being the most simplest cake ever and our favourite too. These remind me of the tea cakes that we used to get at Tom & Jerry Bakery in Bangalore. Hmm...I loved it.

Traditionally pound cakes were named so, because most of the ingredients that go into it were measured in pounds. But these days people don't usually go by that measure as the cakes get heavier. To make it light and spongy, some alteration needs to be made in the proportion of ingredients.

Tiramisu Charlotte Cake

Who does not like surprises? Well I know one person, and that is my husband. Knowing the fact, I kept him informed that he could expect a Tiramisu on his birthday. Who would want to annoy him on his birthday by doing what he does not like(surprise).

We both are not a fan of Italian. However, surprisingly he is very fond of Tiramisu. I remember our courtship days when we used to chat to get to know of our likes/dislikes. Every time while the conversation moved into the dessert section, his favorite would turn out to be Tiramisu. And he once actually asked me if I knew to make it. I was like - hello, you would be grateful to me if I cook you proper rice and dal :). It took me 2 years to give it a try.

Black Forest Gateau

I loooove Black Forest. We used to have these available at the snack kiosk at college. My friend, Divya and I used to be the greatest addicts of black forest, in our gang. We tried controlling ourselves from not having it but no luck. Finally they stopped getting it which did help us to cut down our consumption of this cake. This cake had been on my to-bake list for so long. But I was just waiting for a reason to make it. And so our second wedding anniversary arrives giving me a reason to try it and stop procrastinating it.

I had been in a hunt to figure out the perfect recipe, stores to get fresh cherries etc. for some time now, which luckily got unnoticed by my husband and hence helped me keep it a secret. I shopped the ingredients and baked the cake while he was away for work. When he got back, I tried hard to keep my enthusiasm low which in fact failed. I won't blame myself. Who wouldn't get super excited about their first so called decoration cake.

X'mas special - Fruit cake

It's the most wonderful time of the year

There'll be parties for hosting

Marshmallows for toasting

And caroling out in the snow

There'll be scary ghost stories

And tales of the glories of 

Christmases long, long ago....

                               - Andy Williams

Ho ho ho...it's X'mas time :).

Who doesn't love X'mas season? Its the most happiest time in the entire year, having got time-off from work, vacations, getting together for feasts, lights and decorations all around you etc. This time we are having a white christmas and so the best activity to indulge in, is to arrange feasts. But any feast would be incomplete without a fruit cake, accompanied with wine.

Zebra cake

Baking was considered by me, to be a tedious task. I guess, it was just a matter of getting used to. Once you start loving it, it gives you ample opportunity to bring out the artist in you :). And, for me and my husband, the very smell of the bakery is tempting and leaves us mouth watering.

We have a grocery store next to our apartment. They have their bakery/deli located right at their entrance. Now, that is the strategy, you see, to make people buy their products. Today, while I went out for the weekly grocery shopping, I went so crazy at the smell of the bakery, that I made up my mind to bake a cake today - a quick but a special one. I had gone through this recipe quite a long time back, but had given up the thought of trying it, as it seemed complicated. But trust me, after trying it, it turned out to be the simplest among all the complicated cake recipes in my to-bake list. Okay, now lets get to business. So, here is the recipe for it.