TurtleCraftyGirl

Monday, February 14, 2011

Valentines Cake & Paper Cones



Happy Valentine's Day to all, especially to my husband and my little son. I feel so blessed to have them. Not one day goes by when I have not thanked God for my beautiful family. People often ask me how I manage to spend time on my crafts and baking, with a full time job and a little boy. Normally, I would just smile or give some vague answer, but the real answer is my sweet little family that enables me. My son, who gives me motivation for all that I do, and my husband who gives me all the space and time for my hobbies. Without making any mention of it, he takes up the daily chores when I am working on some project. He'll do the dishes without saying once that he did it whole of last week as well. He'll cook on the days I am baking. He'll put our son to sleep if I am in the middle of my craft projects. And he does all this not once making me feel that he did most of the essential things of the household whereas I was working on my hobbies. He totally spoils me. 



Now, about the cake I made for Valentines. Its a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I wanted to try something different and healthy, so opted for this cake flavour. And guess what, Kabir likes it more than the chocolate cake. He gobbled it up pretty fast and asked for more. I used the recipe my Mamiji(aunt) gave me a while back. I have modified it a little to add some pineapple and brown sugar. 

Carrot Cake

4 eggs very well beaten
2 cups flour
Total 2 cups sugar : 1 cup white sugar, 1 cup brown sugar(I use total of 1 3/4 cup of sugar only)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp sodium bicarbonate
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped walnut
1 cup corn oil
2 cups grated carrot
0.8 oz crushed pineapple

1)Preheat oven to 350 F (325 F if convection oven) and grease the pan. 
2)In a bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, mix sugar and oil very well, until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs to it slowly. 
3)In another bowl mix rest of the ingredients. Then slowly add it to sugar and oil mixture. 
4) Pour the mixture in greased pans, and bake for around 45 minutes. Be sure to do a toothpick check after 30 minutes. 
5)Allow cake to cool completely before frosting. Frost with buttercream or cream cheese icing (recipe below). 

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened 8 ounces cream cheese softened
sifted 2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts

With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Turn mixer to low speed and blend in powdered sugar and vanilla extract.  Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. Stir in chopped walnuts and use immediately or refrigerate, covered, until ready to use. If refrigerated, the frosting will need to be brought to room temperature before using (after frosting softens up, beat with mixer until smooth). 

I omitted the walnuts in the icing because of the look I was aiming for. Made the roses to go on top from rolled fondant. It was my first attempt on making these roses. Still need a lot of practice before I can get then right. 

Heart shaped cake bites 




I used some of the cake mixture for these heart shaped cake bites. I think it makes it easier for kids to eat. I was planning to send these out to Kabir's daycare. But on the pretext of tasting, Kabir and Rohit ate enough to mess up my count. I didn't have enough left for the kids at daycare, so I guess they will be eating the rest as well. 

Instead, I got dinosaur fruit snack for the kids and packed it in these paper cones. I got the idea of paper cones from the this site.



Happy Valentines Day! 

9 comments:

Henna Tangri said...

Cake has turned out beautiful Didi :)
May you have loads and loads of love and happiness always...Love you very much my TEEDI:)

Unknown said...

Hey Tania, you don't know me (I am Rohit's classmate from school) but all I can say is that both of you are lucky to have each other....Rohit is super lucky by the way... and really I am happy that he is the human being that you describe because being a caring human is very important in a marriage! Congratulations!!
And I love your crafty things!

Anonymous said...

Tania congratulations for your blessed life and totally impressive crafty vein.
Bhuia and mama

Yamini Kaur said...

Awesome post Tania.. and I am so glad for you guys. I know Rohit is a great guy and I am sure he's there for you coz you are a great gal too !! God bless you both. Always make all the occasions as memorable as you can.

Tania Tangri said...

Thanks Henna.
Thanks for you kind comment Priya..
Thank you Bhuiya and Mama.. Special thanks to mama for passing her crafty side to me.
Thanks Mini Didi.Henna and Didi, I did not mention in the post, but I feel lucky to have you both as well- my dear sisters.So many ppl have told me that they have not seen so much love between 2 sisters/cousins. Love you.

Nitika said...

OMG Tania!! What are you doing in the IT field, I am telling you this is your calling - you should open a fancy bakery or move somewhere closer and I ll open sth for you :-) You are sitting on a money mine. And, the write-up about Rohit is so sweet - I am sure he will appreciate your acknowledgment. :-)

Tania Tangri said...

Thanks Nitika.. Someday, I might take you up on the offer to open the bakery for me.. lol

Divya Malhotra said...

Nikita, you have written it so wonderfully. I just Loved your work. Order valentines cake to impress your loved ones.

Arihant Gifts said...

Thanks for sharing informative Blog..

Look below at our Latest product..

Affordable Water Bottle Manufacturer

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...