Carrot Cake

My dads finally agreed to us adopting a cat. We finally went in to the veterinary clinic to take a look at the cats and kittens. No more Persians just Omani bin cats, a lot cuter and a lot more fun. Hopefully I shall have new cat by the end of the week :D

In other news my friend Nuzha was in town. We used to bake and cook together a lot when we were younger, so it was nice having her back here. She used to make a mean cookie cake that she seems to have conveniently lost the recipe for :P Stop hiding it from me Nuzha!!

Unfortunately she was not in here for long and we couldn’t really cook together. I did however make her some carrot cake muffins; she always has been the green tea drinking, calorie counting healthy one, so it was appropriate.

Carrot Cake

• 1 cups sugar
• 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups grated carrots
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup dried and chopped prunes
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius

Beat together the sugar, oil and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time.

Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet.

Add the carrots, prunes and hazelnuts to the remaining flour and mix well. Add to the batter and beat slowly till combined.

Scoop the batter into 9 large muffin cups until 3/4 full and bake for 20 mins or until a cake tester comes our clean. Cool on rack before frosting.

Now I know carrot cake is generally frosted with a cream cheese icing but I have been eating A LOT of cream cheese frosting lately. I wanted something lighter. So I decided to make an orange buttermilk frosting.

Orange buttermilk frosting

• 1/4 cup softened butter
• 8 oz. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 Tbsp buttermilk
• 1 Tbsp grated orange zest

Beat butter at medium speed until creamy.

Gradually add add the sugar until blended, followed by vanilla, buttermilk and orange zest.

Increase speed and beat until smooth.

Panna Cotta

It was one of those extremely lazy days; a lot to do but absolutely no mood to do anything. The sister-in-law has been around so we’ve been spending our morning talking and watching TV. The plan is that we cook together from now on. Also since she is around, my brother just might take the initiative to use his hands in the kitchen.

I wanted so desperately to stop idling and make something so I thought Panna Cotta;

Sometimes when I watch cooking shows on TV and I hear of food that I have never made or eaten before, I immediately seem to assume that’s its too exotic or complex for me to create. I think the problem is that I generally over complicate things in my life.

To be honest I thought it would be extremely difficult because it looked so beautiful. Fortunately it was not. Very simple, very tasty. The first day I tried it out I made lavender infused Panna cotta topped with stewed rhubarb.

Lavender Panna Cotta (serves 4)

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tsp lavender buds
• 1 tsp gelatine bloomed in 1 tbsp water

Bring to boil in a saucepan all the ingredients except the gelatine

Remove from heat and let the lavender infuse the mixture

Strain the mixture and add the gelatine to it, stirring quickly

Let the mixture cool for about half an hour (or till lukewarm)

Pour the mixture into ramekins and refrigerate for at least 3 hours

*Make sure you do not pour the hot cream mixture into the ramekins as the gelatine will separate

The first trial run being a success I later made a Coconut Panna Cotta with a strawberry purée. This time I used coconut milk instead of the normal milk and added 1/4 cup of dedicated coconut. Also as an alternative to putting the fruit on top I chilled the strawberry purée at the bottom of the ramekins before pouring the cream mixture on top. The possibilities are endless...