A year back, I had no plans. I crashed on the sofa one afternoon after a day’s work while Little A cozily took a nap in the bedroom in his two year old cot and it occurred to me that I should have an outlet. I had few things to say. It was nothing to do with food or my son or with anything that this blog is currently known for. Having had a blog before, it looked quite easy. Quite comfortable too. I switched on my laptop, registered a blog address on WordPress, wrote my first ever post without batting an eyelid, bereft of any images and devoid of any knowledge of how much the blogging scene had changed since. And clicked on the bright red publish button. It felt good. REALLY GOOD! The feeling that is a mix of nervousness and wonderful….probably the one that is very tough to explain in words. Next few days, I kept reading that post over and over again until I finally gave up for other thoughts that were brewing in my mind, at a speed I couldn’t curb. Then another two casual posts were sprung in this blogging space in next ten days. Come March, and I kept writing more. It has been very therapeutic for this fatigued stay at home mom or a housewife – whatever people wish to call me. Being an introvert and talking very less in public, slowly and steadily the plan of using this blog was to tell my family and friends about the adventures we are having here in Dubai, share activities I do in the company of my little one and take a little space on the web to write about the experiments in my kitchen.
And is now gradually reaching another level of writing about the recipes I have grown up eating; about the community I come from because I want to give Bohri food as much adulation as it rightfully deserves. I want to show people that food we eat everyday is rich in flavors, has stories from generations and is equally easy to cook; also with meager contribution in sharing the traditions and culture of this close-knit community.
Thoughts Over Chai emerged from utter boredom (the term I don’t like to use anymore) and in search of inner voice on a public platform. A year later, this blog hold as much importance in my heart as I feel for my family. Yes, I don’t have a full-paid job as yet, but it has become a part of my life; a part of my early morning routine to sit in front of the computer for a couple of hours with a cup of tea in my hand checking emails, reading blogs, building ideas for my next blog post, connecting with other bloggers and finding ways in which I can improve this blog. It’s been an incredible year; mainly so because I have a very low patience level and didn’t knew I’d keep it alive for this long. May be a child teaches you a lot about perseverance or may be passion has no boundaries, you see. When I read some of my early posts, I realize I had no idea how quickly the time will pass or how much I will LEARN. A ton of knowledge I am gaining about real food (which inspired me to visit an organic farm in Dubai), see through honesty and dishonesty, become more open-minded, know why it is so important to have good photographs, meet chefs who are passionate about food, romancing with the idea of involving children in the kitchen; are all a part of this breathtaking blogging journey that titillate every sense in my body and is evolving me as a person with each passing day. And even a year after that first blog post, I still get jitters every time I publish a new post. I’ll take that as a good sign!
I am also very blessed in the fact that my husband has been unabashedly supportive – my financier, companion for occasional events after work, an auditor for my new dishes, always putting an arm around me, and a great marketing guy who doesn’t miss a chance to declare to people about my hobby while I’d sheepishly hide behind his back because one thing I am extremely not good at is promoting this blog. All the people who I have virtually or personally met so far in this blogging community have all been wonderful – so welcoming, warm, always ready to share ideas and extremely helpful. I’d be lying if I say I don’t get worried about stats on certain days and had it not been for all those who read this blog (family, friends and readers), I am not sure if I had kept Thoughts Over Chai running for past one year!
A big THANK YOU, guys! You all mean a lot to me and this blog.
So what’s any celebration without a cake, right?! I was very impressed with an image I saw on Instagram for using beets to dye buttercream for a beautiful pink color. What intrigued me more is that it’s all natural and mainly it doesn’t taste like a….salad! I used just 2 teaspoons of cooked and grated beetroot to get this, but you can increase the quantity to around 2 tablespoons for more intense or dark color. And that’s what I was looking for to cover my Chocolate Chiffon Cake for this blog’s first one-year anniversary! I love the fact that the batter for this cake isn’t butter heavy; instead it involves the use of flavorless cooking oil to keep the cake moist and easier to refrigerate, if there are any leftovers. You can keep the cake naked if you want and decorate with fresh fruits or pour chocolate ganache over it, however I decided to layer it with choco whipped cream and frost with butter cream icing; because it is a CELEBRATION after all!
Baking and writing makes me happy!
Recipe.
Ingredients:
Chocolate Chiffon Cake:
- Eggs – 3 large, separated
- Egg White – 1
- White Sugar – 1 cup, divided half and half
- All Purpose Flour – 2 cups
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – 1/3 cup
- Baking Powder – 1 tsp
- Baking Soda – 1 tsp
- Salt – 1/4 tsp
- Vegetable Oil – 1/2 cup, flavorless
- Black Coffee – 1/3 cup, at room temperature
- Vanilla – 1 tsp
- Cream of Tartar – 1/4 tsp
Pink Butter Cream Frosting:
- Beetroot – 1 no.
- Castor Sugar – 3 to 4 cups
- Butter – 1 cup, unsalted at room temperature
- Milk – 2-4 tbsps.
- Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp.
Choco-Whipped Cream:
- Cold Heavy Whipping Cream – 1/2 cup.
- Castor Sugar – 2 tbsp (add more for sweetness)
- Vanilla Extract – 1/4 tsp
- Cocoa Powder – 1 tbsp., sifted.
Method:
Chocolate Chiffon Cake –
Preheat oven to 180 Degrees C. Butter and flour two round 6 inch. cake pans and keep aside. Separate the eggs ( whites and yolk in different bowls) and cover them with a cling film till it reaches at a room temperature. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and baking powder. In a cup mix together coffee and oil. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar. In a slow stream pour the coffee mixture alongwith vanilla and beat until well combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients until incorporated. At this point, the batter will be little tough and dry but don’t attempt to mix more or else the cake will turn hard. With a hand mixer or in a bowl of food processor, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gently pour in the remaining sugar and beat until stiff peaks form (the kind we do for meringues). With a spatula and a light hand, fold egg whites into the batter in 2-3 steps until well blended. Divide the batter equally in the prepared cake pans (being careful not to pour the batter to the top of any pan) and bake for about 40-50 mins. Do a test to see if a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely. Run a butter knife in the sides of the pan to release the cake and invert them onto the wire rack or a plate.
Choco – Whipped Cream :
In a bowl of food processor, beat all the ingredients until the stiff peaks form. Refrigerate till further use.
Pink Butter Cream Frosting:
Wash the beetroot and wrap it with a foil. Throw in the oven along with the cakes so that it is cooked completely. Roast more if required. Peel and grate using the finest holes of the box grater. I used this vanilla buttercream frosting and added grated beets to it while it mixed in the processor. Keep aside.
Assembling the cake :
If your cake has bulged out from top, cut the part with a sharp knife to have a flat surface. Pour the whipped cream at the center of one of the cakes and spread it equally. Place another cake on top of the cream and frost the whole cake with pink butter cream. Decorate as you like. I made two hearts using chocolate sprinklers and my heart-shaped cookie cutter. Messed the design a bit, however, the taste was just spot on.
