HERMOINE CAKE - Harry Potter Character CAKE & HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY To You ALL! :)

Today is my parents Wedding Anniversary too! I hope they live long together happily......

I know everyone who sees this cake name would/may be wondering like I did when I heard about the name from one of my very good friend, her name is Rini. She asked me to help her make this cake for her daughter on her birthday. When she said the name, I said I don't know who she is. Then she explained to me that it was the girl in the Harry Potter movie. I kept thinking as to how would I get a girl's picture on the cake and when I googled for some pictures I could not get any and those I got this looked kinda hard for me.

Then I decided to cheat a little bit :) as there was no much time for me to plan and buy things accordingly. So I got his cute cake picture which I thought of recreating.

So I told her to order a simple white butter cream frosted round cake and buy fondant for me and a color printout of the picture.

So....here it goes.....

I got all already colored fondants, but did a little mix up to get the right colors. Actually i could not capture the right colors of the fondant after I was done. So I thought of mentioning it here...it is a purple dress with pinkish purple shades.

First I got the cake, then I layered the top with white fondant. Then I made the body, dress, flowers and all the leaf shaped dress and hair with little black and brown and brushed with silver glitter to get the shine over the dress.

The best and easy part of the cake was making the face of the girl. I cut only the face from the printout, applied some butter cream icing at the back and stuck it over the fondant. :) Is that not very simple? I didn't have much time to paint myself for the face as I didn't have much time and didn't want to take risk of spoiling the cake. So found a very simple and easy way to do it.

The other best part is that my friend also liked it. After she went home, her daughter called me and said she liked the cake very much. So this is the kind of happiness that gives you when someone really appreciates your work. :)

Tomato Korma - Magic Mingle #2, February 2012

Magic Mingle#2, a Monthly event, hosted by Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds, every month Kalyani will chose 2 different ingredients to be used to together in a Recipe. This Month she gave us Almonds - Ginger.  I tried this Tomato korma, using Badam instead of Cashew nuts. The Gravy tasted so Good and was also Rich. If you are interested in experimenting with taste, do Checkout Sizzling Tastebuds to join this Monthly Magic!!!!

Ingredients

3 Large Tomatoes, chopped

2 Medium Onions,chopped

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 tsbp oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

hing a pinch

To Grind

5 Almonds

2 cloves of Garlic

1 inch ginger

1 green chilli

2 tbsp Freshly grated coconut

1 clove

Method

• Soak Almonds in a cup of Hot water for 10 minutes and peel the skin.Grind it along with other ingredients under "To Grind" to a fine paste using little water.
• Heat oil in  pan, splutter mustard seeds, add hing. Add Onions and Saute till Translucent
• Add Tomatoes and 1/2 cup of water. Add all the masala powders, Let it cook for 5 minutes for the rawness to escape.

• Add Ground Masala to this and another 1/2 cup of water. Add Salt and Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.
• Take it off the stove and Garnish with coriander leaves and Serve Warm as an Accompaniment to Idly/dosa or even mix with steaming hot rice and Dig!!!!

 

Pavlova

Meringue is not hard to make, and Pavlova is mostly meringue, so it too is not difficult. There are a few tips that help to make perfect Pavlova.

• First make sure your bowl is spotlessly clean, any grease and your egg whites will not whisk up nicely.
• Use your eggs at room temperature.
• When separating the eggs make sure not a trace of yoke is in the white, the lipids in the yoke will prevent it from whisking up.
• Add some acid -a little lemon juice or vinegar will do. This helps to stabilise the whites.
• Cornflour is also a useful addition to help keep it stabilised.

Pavlova

Ingredients

4 egg whites

250g caster sugar

pinch salt

2 teaspoons cornflour

1 teaspoon vinegar ( I use raspberry vinegar)

300ml double cream

fruit of choice.

Method

Preheat oven to 200C.

Whisk egg whites and salt to stiff peaks.

Add caster sugar one spoonful at a time and continue whisking until glossy.

Fold in vinegar and cornflour.

Spread mixture onto greaseproof paper in a rough circle, peaking up the edges.

Turn oven down to 150C and bake for 90 minutes.

Turn oven off, leave pavlova in oven until cold.

Remove greaseproof paper, place on serving plate.

Decorate with whipped cream and fruit.