Because it was a Father’s Day on 15th June, I wanted to surprise hubby with doing whatever little we could. Since we don’t believe in these days being extra special and go out of our way to do something peculiar, I want Little A to understand the meaning of simple pleasures in life. He can form a sentence and wish his papa “Happy Father’s Day” but still very young to understand it’s significance. Moreover, we wanted hubby to know he deserves it and what a great father he is to Little A. Also, to make up for the silly arguements we had over the last week. And for Little A to have abundant memories from childhood when he will look back and reminisce all these days through whatever photographs I am able to gather.
We went ahead with making a sunshine hand painted card which didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to be. As I’ve spoken about it earlier, Little A isn’t much into getting himself dirty or in a messy play anyways. He was all excited when I told him yesterday morning that we will be painiting but moment I dipped his right palm onto the paint in the plate, he started feeling icky. He still held on for sometime till we could do some hand prints on the card paper, and that only lasted for 5 minutes. What I really wanted to show on the card were the sun rays illuminating sunshine. Since he wasn’t showing much interest, I let him pick up the paint brush and do what he felt like doing. He colored most of the paper yellow and went to wash his hands, all by himself. On another note, I have to now get myself accustomed to believe that he really doesn’t want to put himself in the situation where he gets slightly scummy. May be till he joins a play school where he might learn observing other kids that – it is alright to do that. I am still keeping my hopes high! Since we didn’t had much time on hand to start with another project all over again, I blow-dried the card paper and cut out rays so it resembled a half sun. And it still looked worthy of a Father’s Day card hand-painted with all the love by his little son.
No celebration in my house is complete without a cake. So I had to bake after alot of brainstorming in advance because hubby and I are on a conscious effort to lose some extra pounds and trying to keep a hand’s distance from all things sweet! It’s difficult I know, that is why I broke in to the temptation and went ahead with baking nutty vanilla cake with chocolate ganache after tucking LIttle A to sleep in the afternoon. Sinful! It was buttery, soft and very moist. And chocolate ganache did all the justice. Prepare chocolate ganache before starting with the cake and refrigerate so it gets thicker and is easy to spread. Cake recipe is a classic vanilla cake recipe adopted from Joy of Baking but I went ahead and topped with chopped roasted nuts to give it more flavor and crunchiness. Roast the nuts as it makes all the difference. And after you finish licking off the remainings of the cake batter and chocolate ganache from the bowl make sure you do 100 jumping jacks and few extra squats, just so that you don’t feel guilty!
Nutty Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Ganache Recipe -
Nutty Vanilla Cake with Chocolate Ganache
- Servings: 6 pieces
- Time: 1 hour
- Difficulty: Medium
Adopted from Joy of Baking.
Ingredients -
- 1 1/2 cups – sifted all purpose flour
- 1/2 tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup – unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups – granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp – pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup – room temperature milk
- 1/4 cup – Nuts, roasted and chopped (almonds and pistachios is what I used)
Method -
Preheat your oven to 180 Degrees Celcius. Grease your round baking pan and line the bottom with the parchment paper. In a bowl of food processor with whisk attachment or with a hand blender beat the butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar and pulse the processor until it is light and fluffy (about 5 mins). Add in eggs one at a time, while the processor is still running on a medium low speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, as you beat it. Add vanilla extract and mix until well combined. In a bowl sift together flour, salt and baking powder so that it is evenly mixed. With the processor on low speed, alternatively add flour mixture (in 3 additions) and milk (in 2 additions) beginning and ending with flour. Batter will be soft and creamy by the end. Give a nice last stir with a spatula and pop it into the baking pan. Bake on a rack placed in the center of the oven for 30-40 mins (time varies depending on the oven) or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Place the cake on a wire rack to cool completely before you start pouring in the ganache. Cut the cake from the center into two equally round layers. Layer the cake with chocolate ganache in the center and on the top to glaze it well. Sprinkle the roasted nuts on top and it is ready to be served.
Chocolate Ganache -
Ingredients -
- 150 ml – Heavy cream
- 15o gms – chocolate chunks
- 4 tbsp – butter, at room temperature (increase the quantity if you want a shining glaze)
Method -
Heat up the cream on the gas just until the boiling point, where you see bubbles forming on the sides of the pan. Turn off the gas and put in the chocolate. Let it rest for few minutes and then whisk it thouroughly until the chocolate and cream is well combined. Add in the butter and whisk again.
For more on toddler activities check out “Mommy Tales” and on inspiration to cook up a delicious meal in your kitchen, check out a section on “Recipes”.
