Thursday 21 March 2013

Ombre Cake for 1st Blog Anniversary and 3 Giveaways!!


Celebrations!!
We turn 1.
20 March 2012, Vishal came back home and told me that he has created the blog we have been thinking and talking about. Our first post was up, an introduction to our passion. After much discussion and thinking, we decided to name our blog Sweet'n'Savoury...a journey of my sweet trials and Vishal's savoury experiments. The blog soon became  a stage to share our love of cooking/baking, inventing and experimenting. 
Though I always wanted to start our blog on a sweet note, Vishal jumped on the blog bandwagon with his post on a Seafood soup experiment where he made the very flavourful broth at home. I gave a sweet start with a cake that I have grown up smelling like heaven in the kitchen, and I named it Comfort food-Chocolate cake.
There was no stopping since then. Me and Vishal shared all kinds of dishes that we love to cook and serve. Blogging has become our way of life and we enjoy every bit of it, learning new techniques, new flavors and new joy. 
We want to thank all our readers for the tremendous support and love. All of you who have tried our recipes and loved it, we want to thank you for believing us(esp my friend Minu Agarwal Bhargava). Since a Celebration is all about sharing, we very happily announce a  3 Giveaways!! Me and Vishal have personally bought these 3 amazing books for all you lovely people. Read the end of the post for more details.



Ingredients: For a 4 layered 5" round cake. Recipe source : Passionate about Baking
  •  80 gms all purpose flour
  •  25 gms almond meal
  •  110 gms sugar, powdered
  •  4 eggs
  •  1 tsp baking powder
  •  1 tsp vanilla extract
  •  2 tsp olive oil
  •  Pink food colour
Note:
  • This recipe is for all the 4 layers. 
  • I used half of this recipe to make 2 cake layers at one time and used the other half to make the last 2 layers.
  • Make almond meal by simply putting almonds in boiling water for 5 mins. Drain and peel the skin. Dry completely on a kitchen towel or toss them on a heated saucepan to remove all the moisture. Grind with little sugar to get your homemade almond meal.

  
Filling and Frosting:
  •  250 gms unsalted butter, at room temperature
  •  250 gms icing/powdered sugar
  •  1 tbsp milk
  •  1 tsp vanilla extract
  •  pink food colour


Procedure:

Cake: (I used half of the recipe to make 2 layers at one go)
Grease and line 2 5" round cake tins.
Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.
Sift flour, almond meal, baking powder and keep aside.
Take a pot and add water. Let it simmer. 
Add eggs and sugar in a bowl and put this on the pot of simmering water. Beat this mixture for 5-10 mins till it becomes thick and triples in volume. 
Take off the water and add vanilla extract. Beat for 3-4 mins till the mixture cools down a bit. 
Gently fold in the flour mixture in 2-3 batches. Fold in the olive oil.
Divide batter in 2 parts. Pour the plain batter in 1 cake tin. Add few drops of red food colour in the rest of the batter and pour in the other tin.
Bake for 25-30 mins or till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool and slice off the tops to get cleaner edges.

Repeat the same process for the other 2 layers. Remember to add a bit more of the food colour to get darker shades for the next layers.    



Filling and Frosting:
Whip butter till pale and creamy. Add sugar, milk and vanilla extract and beat well. 
Spread on each layer of cake and sandwich them. Refrigerate to set.
Divide the remaining frosting in 4 parts.  
Put the white part in a plastic cone. Add red food colour to the other parts to get the desired shades. Fill them in different cones. You will have 4 cones of frosting. 
Starting from the bottom layer of the cake, pipe little balls and spread them with the cone or use a small spoon. Use different shades in layers to frost the sides and top of the cake.

Pic from 'Butter hearts sugar' blog


The cake was super scrumptious and was an excellent way to celebrate a journey that me and Vishal have nurtured and enjoyed. 



Giveaway:
Since these books are bought with a lot of love and joy, we have kept some simple rules for eligibility. 

  1. Like us on Facebook
  2. Become our follower on Google friend connect (find it on our sidebar)
  3. Tell us one dish from our recipe list that you love the most and would want to try and (most importantly) why. Leave a comment on that recipe post
The wonderful giveaway books are



Three winners will be chosen on the best creative answers by me and Vishal. 
The Giveaway is valid for anyone with an Indian address. For people who do not have an Indian address, have a Big heart, participate and win the book for a friend of yours who has an Indian address!!
Giveaway is valid till midnight of 20 April, 2013, IST(Indian Standard time)

Sending this bake to Bake Fest#17 brainchild of Vardhini

Happy Celebrating 1 year
Amrita and Vishal

33 comments:

  1. congrats amrita vishal on your blogs first anniversary.........


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  2. liked your fb page and following thru gfc - sharanya palanisshami

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  3. I like most of your recipes. as you asked for a recipe , i like your dark chocolate strawberry panacotta , it was on my to do list. I liked the presentation a lot...........It was so appealing to eyes......

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  4. Happy Birthday Sweet n Savoury :) Loved the cake Amrita... and that cute little banner :D lovely colours!

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  5. Wow Amrita and Vishal the cake looks stunning. Congratulations for completing one year of your beautiful journey of experimenting, enjoying and sharing such fantastic recipes and such wonderful write ups. I have started following your blog only recently and I really appreciate your passion and enthusiasm of which this blog is the outcome.
    Happy Anniversary! and yes, will surely be a part of the celebration.

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  6. Congrats and perfect cake for the celebration.

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  7. wow!! congrats on ur anniversary and superb looking cake!!!

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  8. happy blog anniversary dear...Cake looks simply superb!!

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  9. congrates, now following you and FB too.

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  10. Hi Amrita once again congrats on your 1 year blogversary! I have enjoyed following your blog these past few months and gaining your friendship. Very beautiful cake, and I think it's wonderful that you and your husband share the same passion to cook/bake in the kitchen ;)

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  11. Multi layer cake with ascending the colors! novel idea!! Perfect for the Perfect Occasion!

    latest

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  12. Happy birthday to this little blog baby that turned one :) so happy for you Amrita... what a cute cake to celebrate the occasion :) you have made it so well and neat too.. wishing you many more milestones your way :) congrats once again

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  13. Happy Blog Anniversary,perfect way to celebrate,gorgeous cake.

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  14. An luvely cake and wonderful description... congrauts..

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  15. Thanks Amrita and Vishal for giving me such special status :-)

    Actually i love all recipes that i have taken from here but my most favourite in sweet category is the gooey chocolate Brownie Cake...i just loved it...

    And in the savoury category it has to be the chicken and cheese kebabs...they were till date the most professional kebabs i have made :-)

    I love these recipes because they have simple ingredients which can be easily arranged at home...and they are also not super time consuming from my point of view. And the best reason why i love them is that they taste so heavenly...my husband loves me more because i make these yummy things for him...thanks to ur recipes :-)

    Cheers
    Minu

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  16. Happy birthday to ur blog baby,congrats Amrita, way to go..

    Mindblowing cake and loads of efforts dear, wishing you many more years of success in this bloggy world.

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  17. congrats on the blog anniversary. you are an amazing girl doing so much with your handsfull and I wish you many such years of fulfilment through your blog posts.
    am already a follower on FB and now I want the good house keeping mag.

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  18. What a beautiful cake! very apt for celebrations! Happy Blog Anniversary:)

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  19. Congrats dear..Cake looks so cute perfect for Birthday baby(blog)...

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  20. Happy Anniversary, Sweet n Savory!! :) The cake looks awesome. I made one for my friend's kid last year, but used whipped cream and fondant for icing. Great going, dost!

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  21. Lovely cake, and fabulous pictures:) Happy Anniversary Sweet n Savory :)

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  22. Congrats Amrita :) Cake looks super cute !!

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  23. Awesome looking cake.. simply superb..

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  24. liked your fb page and following via gfc ..

    Fb name : manjula kanted
    GFC name : manjula bharath
    I love your "dark chocolate strawberry panna cotta" and left a comment there :)

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  25. Congrats Amrita and Vishal...Keep going....Cake looks so great.....

    Liked ur FB page and following u thru GFC.....

    FB & GFC Name : Tamilarasi Sasikumar

    I liked your Mutton Briyani Amma's recipe and commented there ...

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  26. Congrats Amrita for ur succss and wishing you many more years of success in this bloggy world. Cake really looks very attractive and delicious. I liked ur FB page and following u GFC.

    FB & GFC Name : Chandrani Banerjee

    I liked your Melting Moments-My Foodie Ode to Masterchef and commented there.


    Cuisine Delights
    "My Monthly Event - Spotlight: Show Your Best Creation "


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  27. I wonder how I missed this post dear, Congrats and wish you many more years of blogging,loved the clicks and beautiful cake

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  28. Congratulations Amrita and Vishal for completing one year of blogging and wish you many many more years to come!
    I have followed you on the listed social media mentioned!
    As for the favourite post and why - I am a HUGE fan of Master Chef Australia and have only been 'thinking' of trying out the 8 textured chocolate cake by Peter Gilmore and here you have already attempted it! Kudos to you, I hope to follow you suit! Now I am waiting for the results eagerly! Cheers!

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  29. You have done so well Amrita-Vishal over the year that it gives me a lot of joy to wish to well today and forever. Have a blessed year ahead. Love.

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  30. Wow! What a find! I am so delighted to see such a passionate couple in the quest of perfection! I am going to follow you... :)

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