'Struck by an arrow' Heart shaped Boozy Cake-pops

Sometimes experiments can take you for a ride, I mean the good way. The little cake hearts I made were so little in quantity that they got over in no time. So I had to kick my 'nowadays laziest' self and make something on similar lines. With just 2 days to go to our Anniversary, I thought these cute 'Struck by an arrow' heart shaped cake pops that I had eyed on Pinterest shall be a good idea. A perfect treat for the 2 Valentine's of my life, my husband Vishal and our darling daughter, Vaanya. 

For me and Vishal, I decided to go the boozy way and added some dark rum to the cake crumbs. And for our daughter, I made some non alcoholic cake pops in her favourite colour Pink. 

Cake pops have been a rage in the world of confection for some years now. In simple words, it is cake shaped as lollipops. The credit goes to Angie Dudley, a food blogger who runs a blog called Bakerella. On February 1, 2008, she posted something on her blog that literally changed her life. She posted these cupcake pops 

Image from Bakerella

These cupcake pops became so popular that they paved her way to a new chapter of life. A month after she posted these adorable treats , she was invited to the Martha Stewart show. She went on to write a book and is recognized worldwide as the inventor of cake pops. For more details about her journey read here. 

Ingredients : No particular measurements here. I made my favourite Comfort Chocolate cake  with a little more cocoa powder and used it. You may use any cake recipe. 

• about 1 1/2 cups cake crumbs (just crumble the cake with hands)
• 1-2 tbsp dark rum (you may use vodka,wine or make them non boozy with some orange juice) I made half batch boozy and another non alcoholic for my daughter
• about 1/2 cup Melted white chocolate(done on a double boiler)
• red food colouring

Procedure: 

Take cake crumbs in a bowl and mix rum/vodka/wine a little at a time. Take a little mixture in your fingers and see if you can bind it. 

If apprehensive to use alcohol, leave it altogether and use some melted butter, chocolate ganache, some cream or orange juice for binding. Remember to use a little at a time because you just need to bind the cake crumbs together and not make a gloopy glue :)

Take a little mixture at a time and shape them in hearts. Keep them on a greased plate and refrigerate.

Take melted chocolate and dip one end of the lollipop sticks (you can use the wooden ones like I did or stick to the plastic ones) Insert that end to the cake hearts from one side and leave it to set. If you want, you may also insert the lollipop stick at the bottom of the cake heart.
Dip half of the hearts in the white melted chocolate and keep aside to set. Remember to keep them on a piece of parchment/butter paper. Once set, you will need to dip them again to give a second coating as the chocolate cake will see through white chocolate coating. Once done keep a spoonful of the melted white chocolate in a piping bag.
To the remaining white chocolate, add a drop of the red food colour. Ideally gel based, but I did mine with the regular liquid food colour. Add drops and mix till you get the desired pink colour.
Now dip the remaining cake pops in the pink coloured chocolate and repeat the same process as done with white chocolate coated cake pops. After the second coating is dried, take a spoonful of pink coloured melted chocolate in a piping bag. 
At any point of time if the chocolate gets hard, put it back on double boiler.
Now just drizzle randomly pink coloured chocolate on the white cake pops and white one on the pink cake pops. 
Allow to set.

Vaanya, my daughter, enjoyed the non alcoholic heart shaped cake pops I made with half the batch. Her thumbs up to my bakes is my biggest reward. 

Happy Cake pop eating

and Happy Anniversary to us :)

Amrita

Tres leches Cake-the Indian way

 

Daring Baker's challenge for this month was hosted by Inma from la Galletika who challenged us with a very popular Central and South American cake called Tres Leches (pronounced tres ley-chays) A Tres leches cake is a basic sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk- evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream/milk. It is a very light cake with air bubbles which comes from the beating of egg whites. This cake has no butter/oil and rises without the use of baking powder. This distinct texture is why it does not have a soggy consistency, despite being soaked in a mixture of three types of milk. Traditionally it is garnished with whipped cream and fresh fruits.

A Tres leces was on my list for a long time and I was really happy to see it as this month's challenge. The three milk concept sounded very Indian to me like the Rabri we use. I decided to make it myself and chose a fairly simple way to do so. I decided to opt the Indian way of garnishing it and did so with the use of edible silver sheets, chopped pista and rose petals, just as how we see it done on Indian sweets. The sponge cake was such a winner. The soaking part left me in doubts about the cake getting soggy but its surprising the way this cake holds it shape. 

The cake was declared a winner in terms of texture, taste and presentation by my family. A keeper recipe for sure and a must try for the coming festive season.

Ingredients : Serves 5-6. I halved the recipe and modified it

Sponge cake

• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup sugar, powdered
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour

Three milk syrup (Tres leches)

• 5 cups milk, divided 2+2+1
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 small stick cinnamon
• 1 tsp rum (optional)

For Garnish :

• Edible Silver sheets/Silver Warq
• Red rose petals
• Chopped Pistachio

Procedure:

Three milk syrup(Tres leches)-homemade

Take milk in a thick bottomed pan and boil it. 

Remove 1 cup and keep aside. This is the boiled milk.

Let the remaining milk simmer on low heat for 20-25 mins till the quantity is reduced to half and water has evaporated from the milk. This is the evaporated milk.

Remove half the quantity of this evaporated milk and keep aside.

Add 2 tbsp sugar into the remaining milk and let it simmer for 10-15 mins till you see the colour changing to light brown. This is the condensed milk. 

Now add the evaporated milk and boiled milk to the pan with cinnamon and let it simmer for 4-5 mins. 
Allow to cool. Scoop out the cinnamon stick and add rum(optional)

Sponge cake

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Grease and line a 6x6" square pan. 

Take egg whites in a clean bowl and whip with an electrical beater for 3-5 mins till you get soft peaks. Now add sugar in batches and keep whipping till stiff peaks form(5 mins). 

Take egg yolks in another clean bowl and whip for 5 mins till they are pale coloured. I used the same electrical beater. Stir in vanilla essence. 

Pour egg yolks over the egg whites and very gently fold them in till just combined. Do not beat vigorously as that will remove all the air bubbles from the eggs.

Fold in flour little by little in the form of rain and gently incorporate in the batter till just combined. 

Pour batter in the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 mins or till a toothpick inserted in the middle come out clean.

Allow the cake to cool.

Poke all over the cake with a fork to make holes.

Pour the prepared three milk syrup all over the cake. I put my cake back in the same pan and poured the syrup for the cake to absorb. Take care to pour on the sides too. 

Refrigerate overnight (preferably) or for 2 hours. Do not worry the cake will not get soggy.

Slice and serve.
Traditionally garnished with a layer of whipped cream and fresh fruits, I did mine the Indian way and put a layer of edible silver sheet and sprinkled chopped pistachio and rose petals. 

My Darling daughter at help

Happy Tres leches cake eating

Amrita