Chocolate Ring Cake with ice-cream and watermelon

"All the world's a birthday cake, so take a piece but not too much." George Harrison.

My grand-daughter, Molly, loves to play Housie –house in her fairly large toy kitchen. She cooks up muffins, sunny –side up eggs, steak and her favourite peanut butter sandwiches with lettuce.  To be a part of her world, I bought a cake mould in the shape of a ring and involved her in the entire process. What fun we both had! The child in me got the upper hand and we became messy together. She picked up culinary terms which would baffle many of her friends I’m sure. But the end product was a delight!!  

So here we go:

Ingredients

100 grams sugar                                                      to decorate: 

100 grams flour                                                       1 brick Ice-cream

100 grams butter                                                      1 cup watermelon balls

4 eggs                                                                       1/3 cup cooking chocolate

30 grams cocoa powder                                           ½ cup cream

1 level tsp. baking powder

Pinch of soda-bicarbonate

Pinch of salt

A few drops of Vanilla essence

Method

1.Grease an 8”ring- cake tin. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and soda bi-carbonate together twice.

2.Beat the sugar and butter. Add the egg yolks and beat into the butter mixture.  Keep it aside.

3.Beat the egg whites till fluffy.  Fold the egg whites into the sugar-butter mixture till smooth.

4.Fold in the flour with the rest of the ingredients raising the ladle high to let in air.

5.Stir in the vanilla essence.

6.Pour into the greased tin and bake for 30 minutes in a pre-heated oven of 180 degrees.

7.Remove and let it cool.

Decorations:

1.Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Add cream. Stir till smooth and shiny. (Chocolate ganache) 

2.Pour over cake evenly.

3.Fill the centre of the ring with ice-cream and melon balls.Sprinkle coloured sugar balls all around       to give the final touch.

4. Serves 6 to 8 people.


Note: I love traveling but I enjoy making desserts too.

Russia : land of the onion -domed churches

     "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." St. Augustine

Russia has a distinct character, very original and varied. You have to see it to believe. It is neither European nor Asian. It is Russian. European Russia makes it the biggest country in Europe and the Asian part makes it the largest in Asia. The nation is mysteriously enormous, covering almost 11%of the land mass with 11 time zones, 25 official languages and more than 110 unofficial ones.

We decided to fly into Sheremetyevo last March with apprehensions of what to expect of a country which Churchill described as a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”. We were taken in for a surprise at what we found –the people, the terrain and cuisine were fascinating .We flew Aeroflot where the crew was polite, professional and pretty. It’s a great airline for the price you pay.

March is a good month to visit Moscow. Not very cold, no rains either and fewer ant-like tourist groups. Consequently queues are shorter at the visitor’s counters, buses are less crowded but metros are not. You might miss out on the street food because the food stalls were few and far between. Trees are bare but beautiful and flowers are just about coming out of their hibernation.   

Bare and beautiful

The gentleman from Angel Taxi Agency was on the spot at the dot of time as we came out of the airport foyer. Most amiable, we handed him the address of our hotel neatly written in Russia and he very politely ushered us into the car. It was a strange situation where he understood English but couldn’t speak and we could read the Russian script, Cyrillic, but couldn’t speak except for a smattering of phrases with a strange accent which no Russian could understand. The day was cloudy and a little dreary but, Yuri,   our chauffer, made it the most delightful trip by pointing out landmarks and cracking jokes which he only understood but we laughed along. The grandeur of the baroque buildings left by the Tsarist regimes stood side by side with the Soviet-era blocks, interspersed by malls and a few high-rise buildings. Traffic, like every capital in the world was nothing to write about and you do notice a few jumping lines and taking a turn when you shouldn’t. If you want to see sky-scrappers and all the modern trappings that go with them, go to New Moscow.

Kremlin

Yuri drove us into Nastasyinsky Perulok Street in Tverskoy to our hotel Pushkin. The proximity of the hotel to three metro stations, Trevaskaya, Chekovskaya and Pushkinskaya made it very convenient to for us to reach all corners of Moscow. The Red square and the Kremlin were within walking distance. We were well received by two pretty girls who spoke English and didn’t waste time with inane niceties. Our room was small but convenient, clean and modern. Hot water and ice was available just across the room. The dining space was artistically done up, keeping the writer Pushkin, in mind. The complimentary breakfast was well laid out. The minus point of the hotel was the shower –cubicle which was tiny and would well make it difficult for a fat man to manoeuvre. But would I stay here again? Definitely.

Chicken Kiev at Hotel Pushkin

Armed with a few Russian phrases like”Da”,”Nyet” “Spa-see-ba” we began our march into the land of Lenin, Stalin and Putin . Russians have been storied and parodied as unsmiling, stern-lipped vodka-drinkers but they turned out to be friendly and helpful. Nothing appeared intimidating; there was no cold-sweat seeing the Lubyanka building, HQ of the erstwhile KGB now known as FSB. There are more channels on TV than the propaganda channel. You are not under surveillance as we were made to believe. The only time I did feel uneasy was when burly Russians were trying to sell us tickets outside the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, at an astronomical price. With a burgeoning middle-class with growing purchasing and a new generation of ambitious youngsters who are keen to learn, Russia has come out of the Cold.  And this I’m talking about is urban Russia (St, Petersburg and Moscow) not the rural areas. Perhaps it would be different.

 More of Russia in my next blog. Yes , I could go on ……

St.Petersburg ....my travelling companion ,Bee

"If you don't know how great this country is, I know someone who does; Russia."Robert Frost


Note: We do not go through any travel agent . All bookings are through the net.......thats the marvel of the Virtual world........