Customizing a Store-Bought cake

Yesterday our little darling turned 12. We didn't plan a party as we already had one celebrating her upcoming birthday with her grandparents while we were vacationing in India. We gave her a surprise party on 12th which was 12 days before her real birthday and the party was at 12.00 clock. But we couldn't let her birthday pass without any celebration. As we are still in the middle of getting back to our normal routine after the trip, I thought of passing up this opportunity to whip up a cake.  For all her birthdays except the first one I had baked the birthday cake; so it was a bit difficult not to do it this time. I had to hold myself back to be practical so I went and bought a German chocolate cake (I didn't have enough time to order for a custom one at a short notice). Then to personalize it I made a paper Tardis for my die hard Whovian and placed it over the cake. If I had planned ahead I could have ordered some Dr Who merchendise and customized it but as Dr.Who  stuff is not available in the shops near where we live I had to resort to paper tardis.
Aishwarya was surprised that she got one more cake for her birthday and was all smiles when she saw how I had personalized it. She had  a lot of fun playing with the tardis after finishing with the cake ( She is still a little girl when it comes to playing with Tardis).  What I learned from this experiance is that with a little imagination it is easy to customize a store bought cake for whatever occasion you want.
Just to show how much of a Whovian she is I have included some of her sketches/paintings - these days, she eats, breaths and dreams Dr.Who trivia and bores us to death with it.

Peaches & Cream Jello

I am in the middle of shopping, packing and re-packing for my upcoming trip to India. In the midst of all this I had not been keeping track of how fast the days are passing by, especially so since it is the summer holidays for Aishwarya. I know, I had been slacking on my blog posts, but wanted to post something to keep this alive. I am not sure how much of blogging I would be able to do while I am on vacation.
The last week was a very hot one in the Bay Area. This is a dessert that I made to cool us down a little so as to give us a break from ice-creams and popsicles that we were gulping down to keep us cold.
Recipe source: Jello mold mistress
Ingredients:
For the Peach jello
2 tablespoons (2 envelopes) of unflavored gelatin powder
1/2 cup cold water
3/4 cup boiling water
1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 tablespoons of honey
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup and 3/4 peach nectar (I used Goya brand)
1 cup fresh or canned peeled, chopped peaches
Food color of your choice, if required

Method:
In a bowl, sprinkle gelatin evenly over cold water and allow the gelatin to absorb the water for two minutes. Stir boiling water  mixed with color into gelatin until gelatin is fully dissolved. Whisk in cinnamon, honey, and sugar. Allow to cool and stir in peach nectar. Refrigerate until thickened to the consistency of a gel. Fold in peaches. Spoon into the mold or into brownie  pan. Refrigerate .

For cream jello
2 packages of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups boiling water
Method:
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, sprinkle 2 packages of unflavored gelatin  over 1/2 cup cold water and allow the gelatin to absorb the water. Stir in 1 1/2 cups boiling water for 2 minutes until gelatin is fully dissolved. Stir in sweetened condensed milk until the mixture is smooth.Pour this over the peach flavored almost set jello.Refrigerate overnight or until firm. Unmold it to do so fill a sink or basin with warm water. Dip the mold or pan just to the rim in the warm water for about 10 seconds. Lift from water, hold upright, and shake slightly to loosen the gelatin from mold. Place a cold, moistened plate over the top of the mold and invert the plate and mold together. Carefully lift the mold, if gelatin does not release dip the mold in warm water and try again.

Waffle (Make-ahead Waffle Batter) 'N Blueberry Syrup

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers of the world!
Aishwarya told me that a very good dad like her's deserved a berry good breakfast. So a berry filled breakfast was what we planned; raspberry smoothies by Aishwarya and waffles with blueberry syrup by me. But as you may already know, I am one person who loves to get up late, especially on a weekend. So I wanted it in such a way that the most of the items can be made ahead. My search for a perfect make-ahead waffles ended with this recipe from Betty Crocker's Hostess Cookbook. The blueberry syrup is a standard syrup recipe I uses for whichever berries that are in season and can be made ahead too.
I never expected the waffles to turn out this good - they were crispy on the outside and with a perfect texture inside; and waffles tasted delicious with the syrup and some whipped cream. We had one happy and contented father.
Ingredients:
1 pkg or  2 and 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 c. warm milk
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 c. butter
2 c. flour
Method:
The night before: In a mixing bowl dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add remaining ingredients. Mix with an electric mixer. Cover and let rise. Mine was about to overflow from the bowl at about an hour and half . Stir down; cover and refrigerate overnight or until ready to use.Bake the next day in a waffle maker as per the instruction

Ingredients for the Blueberry syrup
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 tbs lemon juice
Method:
Place ingredients in a small saucepan and stir well.Cook over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar, and pressing berries against the side of pan to crush slightly, until berries get slightly soft and mixture gets syrupy, 10-12 minutes.
Can serve warm or cool.

Cashew Date Balls/Bars

If you are a fan of Larabars, this is a copy-cat of those famous and delicious health bars. This is a very easy one to make and as it uses all natural ingredients is a guilt free snack. What I like best about this is that it is so filling that you won't feel like reaching out to any of the other snacks.
When I had the Larabar the first time, it reminded me so much about the Andi unda (cashew balls) that I love so much. This is a traditional Kerala snack made with cashew, roasted rice, jaggery and coconuts. But when I tasted the Larabars I realized that I could have almost the same taste with lesser number of ingredients and a lot less effort.
If you want to have the exact taste of the Larabars, just avoid adding cardamom and don't dry roast the nuts. I made these changes to make this taste as close to the Andi unda as I can.

Ingredients:
8 oz seedless/pitted whole dates
1/2 cup whole raw unsalted cashews (dry roasted)
3 cardamom powdered (optional)
Method:
Measure out the dates and cashews and set aside. In the food processor, pulse the cashews until it turns to bite size pieces  Empty cashews into a big bowl.Pulse dates until there are no chunks left. Mix dates  with the cashews  along with  cardamom until all the nuts have been incorporated. The ball should be stiff. Now take a hand full and roll into smooth balls or you can  flatten to about 11/2 inch thickness with a rolling pin and cut it into little bars.