The Novice Housewife

27Apr 2013

Funfetti Cupcakes

My friend’s daughter got very sick last week. She had to be admitted to the hospital and after four traumatizing days for my friend and her family she was finally released to come back home. She is still under observation but she is a trooper and fighting her way through her sickness with a smile.

Since the poor little girl went through so much, I decided to welcome her back home with cupcakes. I remember when I used to get sick as a child, I would crave for something sweet- anything to get rid of that bitter taste that medicines leave in your mouth.

I knew she loves funfetti, well which kid doesn’t? And, I had recently stumbled upon this recipe by Sally’s Baking Addiction. They seemed the perfect amount of fun to greet a child with.

Sally uses a vanilla buttercream for the frosting and while I am sure that tasted absolute heaven, these days my latest frosting craze is the chocolate malt frosting (originally by Sweetapolita) I used for the five layer cake. And since I love the combination of vanilla with chocolate, you do get the best of both worlds, I paired these fun funfetti cupcakes with the chocolate malt frosting.

The cupcakes are great on their own, and fun to look at with colorful speckles all over the cupcake. So if you do not want the extra calories, skip the frosting and just make the cupcakes.

But, I’d rather you not.

Instead, I would suggest you have only one, or even half but make sure you have it with the frosting since it is so darn good. Since that’s how it is supposed to be. Because that’s what makes these divine. I can not say it enough, but treat yourself with this frosting now!

And, since these were being made for a kid in mind I made sure I topped each cupcake with a LOOOOT of frosting. <3

09Apr 2013

Chocolate and Vanilla Five Layer Cake

Shumaila ⋅ 6 Comments

Today is Tuesday. But today, I am not posting on GMT.

Instead I am posting this.

A vanilla and chocolate layer cake with chocolate malt buttercream filling and an amazing vanilla frosting on top.

Seriously!

And oh my gawd, it was so so so good. So good that I had no cake left to take pictures of how the inside of the cake looked.

Its sad because the layers did cut up real well.

It’s a shame I can’t show it though. Can you just take my word for it?

20Mar 2013

Celebrating the Two Vikrams in my life with Cake!

Shumaila ⋅ 11 Comments

19th March was our anniversary. For my grandparents it falls on 20th. Confused? You can read more about that here.

20th March (today in the US) is my brother’s birthday.

The V in my blog posts stands for my husband’s name Vikram.

My brother’s name is also Vikram. (No, there isn’t a lack of names in India. It just happens to be that the two most important people in my life are named Vikram.)

The similarities don’t just stop in their names. Their heights are comparable. One is 6ft 3 (the husband), the other 6 ft 4. Personality wise they are alike as well. So are their looks. People have actually congratulated me and my brother for a happy married life during my wedding. Its not something every girl wants.

There is a difference though. While the Vikram I am married to will go for a spinach-celery-lettuce smoothie, the brother Vikram would go for a large oreo double chocolate shake with whipped cream on top and shaved chocolate added for good measure. Of course I go after my brother. After all he and I have the same genes- some call it the fat genes, I call it the only-way-to-live-life genes.

Since we are celebrating our anniversary and my brother’s birthday, I thought to write today’s post on the Vikrams in my life.

Actually, I have written before about the brother Vikram, you can check the post here if you want to know just how awesome he is. I might not talk about you today, but I know you know that I love you a lot.

Today, let’s just concentrate on the husband Vikram, or V as he is known on the blog, since I feel that V never gets too much of my attention.

12Feb 2013

Slutty Brownies…..

Shumaila ⋅ 9 Comments

….because well what’s Valentine’s Day (or life) without a little sluttiness.

I keep complaining to V that we do not travel much and though the “we” do not travel much part still stands, I am officially tired of traveling. My 2013 till now has been spent living out of the suitcase, and this is when I don’t even work. Even though its not official traveling I still won’t call it traveling for pleasure any more because honestly I just want to sit at one place and stick to that place for at least a week, if not more!

In my last post I mentioned the places I would be traveling to- from Kolkata to Lucknow to Jaipur to Delhi to Chandigarh to Delhi to Corbett to Allahabad to Delhi to finally Arizona in March. I have already attended four weddings this year (these are the ones that were weddings of close friends- I am not including the other random people’s receptions I have attended in between). I am traveling to Corbett for the fifth wedding (and hopefully the last one for some time) tonight. From there I head to my parents place in Allahabad and will also be attending the Mahakumbh Mela that I talked about in my last post.

I wanted to share my Vipassana and “bharat darshan” experience with all of you, but an hour on the laptop today will not suffice. SO I will leave that for another day.

Today, I want to share these brownies that I had taken on my train ride to Kolkata for my friends who were also traveling with me.

I have no clue why someone decided to name these brownies slutty.

A choc-chip cookie dough layer. Whole oreo cookies layered side by side on top of the cookie dough. A rich chocolatey brownie batter poured on top of the two and a final sprinkle of crushed oreos on top.

Ummm…..I kinda understand the idea behind calling them slutty. Just describing makes them sound like quite a tease! Chocolate chip cookie, brownies, oreos all in one bite- slut galore in your mouth!

13Oct 2012

Going Raw: 5th Day!

Shumaila ⋅ 6 Comments

I survived another coffee get together today. Every Friday, a group of us ladies meet at someone’s place for coffee and treats and general chit chat. Being raw or even gluten free/sugar free means that I can not have any of the goodies my friends make. Today the host had served an apple pie, a pumpkin pie, and a pumpkin bread. None of which I could taste, but from what I heard my friends saying, they were absolutely delicious. I just consoled myself by repeating 3 more days to go every now and then someone took a bite of pie from their plate. And continued chewing on my strawberries and apple. It did help when my friends noticed that going raw/gluten free was suiting me. I do have kind friends and that gave me the nudge I needed!

It’s not all that bad either. Not since I made these bars to treat myself.

These are raw, vegan, gluten free, sugar free, butter or oil free energy bars! And they are pretty good. Well at least the “raw me” who has been deprived of all things indulgent thinks they are pretty good! If you are into raw energy bars maybe you should try these.

They are super healthy too with chia seeds, sunflower seeds and dates instead of sugar for the sweetness.

23Aug 2012

Layer Cake Love: Four layer chocolate cake with oreo cream filling!

Shumaila ⋅ 18 Comments

I started 2012 with a resolve to make more layer cakes.

So, I made the sky high carrot cake for two (which turned out great). Then, I made the momofuku birthday cake (which had a few mishaps but tasted great nonetheless). In between the two, I made the lavender chiffon cake again for my for my friend’s birthday in March. And then there was the mascarpone meringue layer cake thrown in as well.

But, three layers had been the furthest I had gone with my layer cake resolution.

And then came this cake.

The original cake is a two layer cake with oodles of oreo cream cheese frosting in between. But I decided to go big and made a four layer, very chocolatey cake with an oreo cream cheese frosting. Did I hear someone say yum? You betcha, it was!

27Jun 2012

June Daring Bakers’: Battenberg Cake

Shumaila ⋅ 4 Comments

Being Indian I hate wastage. Of any kind. One of the reasons why I gained weight when I came to US (besides, the cliched that I got married) was that I was so used to finish everything on my plate, whenever we went out to eat, I ended up finishing the ridiculously huge portions of food served in restaurants here. Since we stay 4 hours away from all restaurants, doggy pack or to-go was not an option, and since I had the habit of not wasting, I ate everything. That’s why this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenged proved to be double the challenge it was.

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

I have missed the last two challenges. Although I did a part of the April challenge, I could not get it posted because I was busy with my in-laws visit. Hopefully I should be able to post the recipe soon. ( I seriously have huge backlog!)

Now, I have been eyeing this cake- the Battenberg cake for a while now, ever since I was introduced to the Great British Bake Off cookbook. I don’t have it yet, but amazon’s site has a preview of the book and in that they show pictures of the cake. Since then it’s been on my mind. So when I saw this month’s Daring Bakers challenge, I knew come hay or sunshine, I would make it.

And make I did. Not one but two.

13Feb 2012

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Shumaila ⋅ 12 Comments

You know you are doing good with your exercise regime, when instead of avoiding to wash your jeans (since they get tight after a wash and you lose the “loose” fit), you actually prefer washing them so that they fit you better.

And that’s what I had been doing and felt good about my weight loss (of course there is a long way to go, but the jeans are getting looser, so I was happy).

But all this happy feeling went down the drain this past weekend.

All because of these damn browned butter chocolate chip cookies.

(I know I shouldn’t swear, but these damn cookies, they are just so good that they are no good!)

19Jan 2012

The Follow Up to The Most Dangerous Chocolate Cake

Shumaila ⋅ 12 Comments

Yes, I know I missed another GMT this week. And I also know most of you would have not noticed, but I will still give an explanation for the absence!

I have such a backlog of recipes, that I thought I would attend to those first. Also, I was waiting for WordPress support to answer a query of mine before posting anything. But since they do not seem to be replying anytime soon (Hello, WordPress support, are you listening?), I thought I will post anyway.

And I am not lying when I say I have a backlog of recipes- there’s today’s post, Chipotle’s Burrito Bowl Copycat recipe, Tomatillo Salsa, Bbq Chicken Tacos, Apple Pie Tartlets and a Cottage Cheese Cake recipe in the pipeline. Not to mention a zafrani chicken recipe one of V’s colleagues requested me to try. Yes, some one has been busy in the kitchen.

16Jan 2012