Ever wished someone would surprise you with something totally unexpected (in a good unexpected) way? I wish… a lot of times…when I have a bad cold, I wish someone would knock my door and offer me strong ginger tea….at work I wish someone sent me flowers (k wooed me with this trick)…a surprise trip, tickets to a movie….anything…something to brighten me when I am feeling low…or take my high to the next level when I am anyways happy….
Then one day I thought, instead of waiting for someone to surprise me…why not I do it for others? I know its better said than done…..so food gifts for friends….handmade and handwritten cards….chocolates by the kilo (but naturally!! For a chocolatier this is expected!!)…keeps me happy and believing that what goes around, comes around!! (Eventually at least!!)
P: who taught me to make Punjabi chole, was having a bad week….her one year old was sick for weeks and people with kids will know what a toll it takes on the parents….just watching her care for a crying, clinging baby gave me the shivers…worse still she got sick…..the same week, was her Wedding Anniversary….what looked like a quiet celebration for two, quickly went down the drain….and she was just happy to be able to have a quick bath that day!! So I decided to make a small cake and surprise her…I had no idea how it would turn out and decided to take a call once I made it….to say that I agonized over it…is an understatement……because I had planned on icing it…and after many near misses, ended up with this!! Lets just say that visually there was a long way for me to go…the taste and texture of the cake was great…but the frosting got the better of me!! I used milk chocolate instead of dark / bitter chocolate and didn’t end up with the colour that I wanted….
P and her hubby were really surprised and I think the look on their faces totally made my day……
The Cake recipe is from Tarla Dalal’s book / website and can be found here. I made one cake in an 7 inch round tin. Once the cake was cooled on a wire rack, I sliced the cake into 3 slices.
I used the recipe from the same site to make whipped cream, but made only half the quantity.
Reserving half the whipped cream for chocolate icing, spread the plain whipped cream onto the layers and sandwich them together.
Melt about ½ cup of grated or finely chopped dark chocolate in a double boiler or microwave ( I didn’t have dark chocolate so I used milk chocolate, hence the lighter colour). Stir to remove any lumps. Cool for 5-7 minutes. Fold into the whipped cream. Spread it over the cake, on the outside and on top. Decorate as desired.
I tried out some greetings in script with the same chocolate whipped cream…it was very pale and to highlight it, I dusted the cake with powdered sugar.
Chill atleast an hour to set. Remove from the fridge atleast 15 mins before serving.
other chocolate recipes from this blog you may like
