This Triple Layered Chocolate Mousse cake is to die for ....

This is one of my favorite cake recipes. I always wanted to try out an amazing Mousse cake without any disasters and this recipe was just perfect. I make this cake for my husband's birthday every year, just because he loves it, although he isn't much of a dessert fan.

I got this recipe from Martha Stewart's page, however the original recipe was individual mousse servings, while I changed it into a cake. Also in her original recipe, in the milk chocolate mousse layer she didn't add gelatin, but when I tried without gelatin, it didn't hold its shape and looked more like a ganache. So I had to adjust the recipe to add gelatin in only the milk chocolate mousse layer. Dark chocolate mousse layer will hold its shape without gelatin , because of high cocoa content.

A closer look .... yummmm !!! This recipe is slightly time consuming but its worth every single minute.

Triple layered chocolate Mousse Cake (Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart with changes.)

Serves: 10-12 people

Making time: 2hrs
Setting time: 5hrs- overnight

Ingredients:
Dark Chocolate Cake:

Unsalted butter, softened, to grease
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting
2/3 cup (83 g) plain (all-purpose) flour
1/3 cup (39gm) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder or normal cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup(150 g ) caster (superfine granules) sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
¼ cup/4 tablespoons(59ml) whole milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup/4 tablespoons(59ml) water

Method for Dark Chocolate Cake:

• Preheat oven to 180° C (350°). Line a 9” spring form pan with non-stick baking paper. Using a small pastry brush, coat the bottom and sides of the pan with unsalted butter; dust liberally with unsweetened cocoa powder, set-aside.
• Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt into the bowl of electric stand mixer or a standard mixer bowl. Add the sugar; whisk together to well combine.
• Add the egg, milk, oil, vanilla, and water; mix on medium-low speed until combined, about 3 minutes.
• Pour the batter in the pan and bake until a cake tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 18 to 20 minutes.
• Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse:
1 2/3 cups (395ml) whipping cream
4 egg yolks, room temperature
¼ cup caster (superfine granules) sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup or honey
2 tbsp water
198 g (7 ounces) good quality bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 teaspoons vanilla essence
Pinch of salt

Method for Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse Layer

• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat 395 ml (1 2/3 cups) heavy cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 3½-5 minutes.
• Transfer to an airtight container; refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Place 4 egg yolks into the clean bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on high speed until pale and frothy, about 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat, bring ¼ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons corn syrup/honey and 2 tablespoons water to a rolling boil.  Cook until clear, large bubbles form, about 1 minute.
• Reduce mixer speed to medium-low. Carefully and gradually pour hot syrup down side of bowl. Raise speed to medium-high; mix until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
• Remove bowl from mixer; add the melted bittersweet chocolate, 1-teaspoon vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Using a large flexible rubber spatula, stir to well combine.
• Remove the whipped cream from the refrigerator and place into a large-sized bowl. Add one-third of the bittersweet-chocolate mixture to the whipped cream; whisk until well combined. Add remaining bittersweet-chocolate mixture, whisking until well combined. 
• Pour the mousse carefully on the already cooled cake base. Place it in the refrigerator for atleast 20mins to 1 hour. Proceed to making the milk chocolate Mousse layer.

Milk Chocolate Mousse
1 2/3 cups (395ml) whipping cream
4 egg yolks, room temperature
¼ cup caster (superfine granules) sugar
2 tbsp light corn syrup or honey
2 tbsp water
1 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 teaspoon gelatin dissolved in 2 tbsp water
Pinch of salt
198 g (7 ounces) milk chocolate, melted

Method for milk Chocolate Mousse Layer

• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat 395 ml (1 2/3 cups) heavy cream on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 3½ minutes.
• Transfer to an airtight container; refrigerate.
• Place 4 egg yolks into the clean bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on high speed until pale and frothy, about 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over high heat, bring ¼ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons corn syrup/honey and 2 tablespoons water to a rolling boil.  Cook until clear, large bubbles form, about 1 minute.
• Reduce mixer speed to medium-low. Carefully and gradually pour hot syrup down side of bowl. Raise speed to medium-high; mix until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.
• Remove bowl from mixer; add the melted milk chocolate, 1-teaspoon vanilla, and a pinch of salt and gelatin dissolved in water. Using a large flexible rubber spatula, stir to well combine.
• Remove the whipped cream from the refrigerator and place into a large-sized bowl. Add one-third of the milk chocolate mixture to the whipped cream; whisk until well combined. Add remaining milk chocolate mixture, whisking until well combined. 
• Take the cake out of the refrigerator and pour the milk chocolate mousse carefully on top, spread it evenly using an offset spatula or back of the spoon. 
• Place it in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours and up to overnight (I recommend overnight).
• Once set, remove cake from refrigerator  and serve immediately 

Tips:
You can use any GOOD quality dark chocolate for bittersweet mousse. Ive used Hershey’s
bittersweet chocolate chips. Since the cocoa factor is high in bittersweet chocolate, the mousse
will set on its own without gelatin.

However for milk chocolate mousse (it has less cocoa factor), you will have to add gelatin so the
mousse can hold its shape, else it will not set properly. I use Hershey’s milk chocolate chips for
this.

Hope you like this recipe !! Do Share your feedback

The Ultimate Chocolate Brownies ... Gooey, fudgy and yummy!

There are two kinds of people in this world, one who like cakey brownies and other who like fudgy brownies... I fall in the latter kind. Before today, i had never baked brownies, because honestly I can't stand cake like brownies or cake served in square shapes and called brownies. Brownie is brownie and cake is cake! 😂. Two totally different things ! Right?

I was always looking for the perfect Brownies recipe, but most of them felt like square shaped cakes, therefore, after a lot of reading up, comparing recipes, pinterest-ing, i finally decided to follow one recipe which i felt wouldn't go wrong.... And oh boy oh boy... Was i right or what !! I found exactly what I have been looking for since ages. Perfectly fudgy, gooey, cracked tops brownie... Martha Stewart, I love you !. It was sooooo delicious that I couldnt even take a picture of the full ready brownie out of the oven because I was too busy drooling over it and then eating from the pan. Took one pic from my daughter's plate when I served her.

Did I mention how fudgy and gooey this was .... loveeeeeee!!!

And you know the best thing? the recipe is so easy and it is ready in less than 60 mins !

Recipe:
1 stick (113gms) unsalted butter, cut into large pieces
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped. I used semisweet chocolate from Hershey's
1 1/2 cups sugar (if you are using semisweet chocolate you can use 1 cup of sugar only)
3 large eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper
Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, and whisk in sugar.
Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until combined. Whisk in cocoa and salt. Fold in flour until combined.
Pour batter into pan. Bake until set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, 25-30 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes.

Basic difference between a cakey and a fudgy brownie is quantity of flour and butter. if you want cakey, increase the flour and decrease the butter quantity and in fudgy brownies, butter is always more!!

Do try this out and let me know how did it go !!

KitKat & MnMs Chocolate "overdose" cake !

By now many may have guessed how much I love chocolates !! I can have them anytime of the day, in any form, may it be icecream, plain, cake, frozen dessert, in a biscuit etc etc. Has to be CHOCOLATE !

I was in Karachi past two weeks and my cousins were constantly after me to make some desserts for them and honestly, I love baking for them because they are the best and praise generously ! They fight over second helpings and that just made me super happy.

During my stay 12 day stay I made 3 desserts, a triple layered chocolate Mousse cake (will share the recipe in coming weeks), Chocolate Éclair Dessert (Recipe here) and KitKat MnM Chocolate Cake. All of them were super duper hit.

The cake inside is a basic chocolate MALT cake (Recipe here). You can use any chocolate cake recipe you are comfortable with.

After the cake has baked and cooled down. You need to do the frosting. This is my personal favorite Chocolate Frosting recipe which you can follow blindly. Beat well, frosting needs to be thick, not runny.

1/2 cup (1 stick or 100grams) butter (room temp)

2/3 cup Cocoa (I prefer Hershey's)

3 cups Icing sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Beat butter really well until it changes color to off white. Add in cocoa and icing sugar and beat well. Alternately keep adding milk, beating to spreading consistency. It shouldn't be runny. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Spread the frosting in between the cake and cover the whole cake with it. Now carefully press the KitKat bars against the sides of the cake. Cover the entire cake sides with KitKats and tie a ribbon around so it can hold the chocolate bars.

Generously put MnMs (or smarties or local bunties available) on top of the cake in the center. Cover the entire top. Refrigerate and ENJOYYYYYY

Chocolate Malt Cake = Nandos CopyCat

This is one cake that we used to order for every colleague's birthday  back when i was working !! Chocolate Cake from Nandos. I tried a lot of recipes trying to replicate the cake. I will not say i succeeded in doing it, but i can say that i did pretty well, veryy similar to the chocolate cake thats available at Nando's.

I found this recipe on a blog by buddingbaketress. However to achieve icing similar to nandos, i made a few changes.

And if you havent tried Nandos cake yet, dont worry, this one is equally good. You dont need to benchmark this against some other cake. Its great on its own. A very moist, soft and delicious cake.

The major ingredient in this cake is "Malt chocolate powder". Like, Milo, Ovaltine, Horlicks. The packaging will state "malted drink". Unfortunately you cannot use Nesquik, Cadbury drink etc, because they arent MALT. Please dont use Pediasure, Complan etc - lol

I had shared this recipe earlier in one of the very famous Karachi cooking groups on facebook and a lot of ladies tried this out, testifying how similar it is to Nandos or those never tried the nandos one termed it as an amazingly delicious cake! On my own facebook page, a very dear friend, Mehreen, tried this out and was quite delighted with the result

Please do try this out. It is super easy. No rocket science, trust me!

Sour cream is available in big stores in Pakistan, however if you cant find it, you can replace it with yogurt. Serves the same purpose. Or, you can take one cup cream add 1tbsp lemon juice and let it stand for 10-15 mins, sour cream is ready.



RECIPE:

Chocolate Cake:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 cup Chocolate horlicks Or Ovaltine Or Milo or any malted milk powder
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Chocolate Malt Frosting
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup thick cream OR tetra pack cream
1/2 cup malted milk powder
3 cups icing' sugar
4-5 tbsp cream cheese

Preheat oven to 180c. Grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans.

In the bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, combine milk and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve. Add milk mixture, oil, and eggs to flour mixture, beating at medium speed until smooth. Add sour cream and vanilla essence, beating just until combined. Pour batter evenly into prepared pans, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and let cool completely on wire racks.

To make the frosting, in a large bowl, beat butter and cocoa powder at medium speed with a mixer until creamy. combine cream and malted milk powder, Add cream mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed to combine. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar(icing sugar) and cream cheese until smooth.

Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. This cake tastes great when slightly cooled. So do pop in the refrigerator after you have done the icing.

Chocolate Eclair Dessert - heart winning recipe !

Some 2 years back, I was getting super bored and hungry and out of my habit, of being on the phone constantly, I was browsing here n there. One dessert picture caught my eye and it looked super simple, atleast to me.

This Chocolate Éclair Dessert recipe was originally taught by Chef Rida Aftab in one of her shows. I tried it and believe me ... it was outstanding. super duper easy and a very different kind of a meetha. Kids and adults equally love this. This is my one dessert, which I can make for a grand party without any fear.

This dessert is basically, biscuits, pudding and chocolate ganache. That's it ... yup ... that's it. So what all will you need for this is:

A good quality MILK chocolate or a cooking chocolate (any that you can eat by itself). The options are unlimited. No nuts or caramel or wafer chocolate, just simple plain milk chocolate. it can be Dairy Milk, it can be Galaxy, Flakes, Hershey's chocolate bar, Unsweetened cooking chocolate, Milk Chocolate Chips, Semisweet chocolate chips ... ANY MILK CHOCOLATE. Simple...no?

Cream is the other ingredient which will help make ganache. For this recipe you can use any cream BUT not fresh cream (or facial creams - lol). I prefer tetra pack creams (they are also called thick cream)

Pudding sachet, Milk (to cook pudding), coffee and Tea biscuits are the other things that you will need to make this dessert.

First and foremost, you have to LAYER (not crush, no butter, nothing),  simple layer tea biscuits at the base of the dish. I hope you aren't also thinking which tea biscuits. I will say any tea biscuit that's available in your city. It can be Gluco, Marie, Ulker's, Brittania Milky bikis etc. Plain biscuits without any cream, zeera, salt, peanut etc.

After the layering, you need to cook pudding (as per the packet instructions). stir it so it thickens a bit. Simultaneously melt chocolate, cream and coffee together in a heatproof bowl, either in a microwave or a double boiler.

Pour pudding (1/2) slowly and gently, I repeat, very slowly carefully on the biscuits, the biscuits may float, but don't worry, once the pudding sets in, the biscuits will be fine. On top of the pudding mixture pour 1/3rd of the chocolate cream mixture (also called ganache). At this point you can refrigerate for 5 mins so pudding settles in, but you can go ahead without waiting too.

Repeat the same steps. Layer biscuits, pour remaining 1/2 pudding, wait for 5-10 mins and then top the entire top layer with Chocolate Cream mixture. Garnish with cream and chocolate curls etc.

This recipe is super simple and trust me on this when I say everyone will love this !

Do try this out and let me know. Complete recipe with method below.

Ingredients:
Cooking Chocolate or any good quality MILK chocolate - 200gm
Coffee 1tsp
Cream 2cups
Tea Biscuits 2 half rolls (Marie, Gluco, any tea biscuit)
Vanilla or Egg pudding 1 sachet
Milk 2 cups
Cream for topping 1/2cup
Method:
In a heatproof bowl, microwave cream chocolate and coffee for 1-2 mins. Mix
well. Alternately, you can use a double boiler to melt cream, chocolate and
coffee.

Take 2 cups milk and bring it to boil, add pudding sachet and mix well.

In a dish, place a layer of biscuits. Top it up with warm pudding (use ½ pudding
mixture) and top it with 1/3 of the chocolate mixture. In a zig zag pattern

Repeat the above step. Place biscuit, pour remaining pudding.
Completely cover the top with chocolate mixture.
Garnish with extra cream or chocolates or nuts, as desired.
Refrigerate for atleast 4 hours.

o Tips: when you will pour pudding, please make sure that you are pouring with a
very light hand. Don’t pour it altogether. Slowly please
o The biscuits may float when the pudding is poured, don’t worry, it will set when
refrigerated. In case, if you feel too reluctant to handle, at step 3 refrigerate for
10 mins.

Introduction

I am a mother of two super sweet kids 5 and 1.5 yrs old. Born n brought up in the city of lights and food - Karachi, Pakistan. In the past I have worked in a FMCG for 7yrs and then moved to Riyadh in 2012. From writing one pagers to mastering the art of making gol rotis, from the city of lights to the city of sandstorms, I have had a very pleasant journey. Riyadh is beautiful, not as great as my beloved Karachi but still ... its nice.

In my 4 years in the Saudi land, I worked in Riyadh for a year in Harvey Nichols as their marketing leader. But then, as they say, there comes a point in life where personal life takes precedence over professional life, so I quit to be a dedicated mother.

While I sucked at cooking, I was pretty reasonable when it came to making meethas. Then slowly and steadily I improved my cooking, instead of daily kitchen disasters, it improved to just 2 in a week and now twice in a month - quite proud of myself. However, my dear desserts never failed me. I love trying new recipes and sharing them.

So this blog will be full of mayhem, food, Karachi, Riyadh, DIY party ideas (which i throw for my kids) and lots and lots of my tried and tested recipes.

Happy Reading!