Kids Birthday Cake!

We made this cake for my little one's Bday recently who turned 4!!! Yes a Train Cake - This is one of the easiest yet cutest cakes I have ever made. It involves minimal exercise and the decoration can also be done easily with the sweeties you get in any Supermarket. Involving kids in decorating the cake is a challenging job; of-course its up to you to take the call - but slightly older children will definitely like decorating their own cake. Here its just arranging the readily available items to your choice and I think it helps kids to be a bit creative too! But don't be surprised if you run short of smarties or white buttons etc....you know where it would have gone ;)

Here's how we made our Train Cake.

You need
Train shaped Non stick baking tray - 1
Self Raising Flour - 225g
Unsalted Butter at room temperature  - 225g
Caster Sugar - 225g
Eggs - 4
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

What you have to do is

• Pre heat the Oven to 170C.
• Grease the Train Cake baking tray with Butter and then dust it with Flour.
• Place the Caster Sugar and Butter into a bowl. Mix together with a an electric blender until it is creamy consistency.
• Beat the Eggs in a bowl and then add this to the creamed Butter and Sugar. Continue mixing well.
• Now fold in the Flour carefully with a spoon. Add the Vanilla essence and mix well.
• Spoon this mixture into the Train Cake baking tray, fill only half the carriage ( the mixture will raise in the Oven)
• Place in the centre of the Oven for about 25-30 minutes.
• To check if the Cake is done, insert a skewer into the centre of each Cake then remove. If the skewer comes out clean then the Cake is cooked.
• Turn out onto a cooling rack. Cake is ready for decorating.

To decorate the Train Cake you can use your imagination and the ingredients available nearby.


Here I have used :
Smarties for the cargo
White Buttons for the steam
Writing Icing tubes for emphasising on the detail
Fruit Leather for tracks
Mixed sweeties for wheels

The fun is making your own which gives immense satisfaction for parents and above all when kids love it - it becomes a super hit!!!

Corn Boondi Bhel

As we all know that 'we' drool over chaat items irrespective of which part of the globe we are living :-p. For people who doesn't know about Chaat items (poor them) - 'Chaat' is a collective noun used for many spicy Indian snack items like Bhel Puri, Pani Puri, Masala Puri, Samosa, Cutlet, Dahi Puri, Papdi Chaat, Sev Puri, Aloo Tikki, Dahi Vada...........now how can anyone resist from this list :-p

Well as I said earlier never will Chaats get boring but still wanted to try something new. Corn Boondi Bhel is one such item which was as tasty as it looks :). Yes its a strange combination of crispy spicy Boondi with fresh Sweet Corn kernels. It might turn out a bit fiery for young kids. In that case, what you can do is skip the Boondi and Chillies then just mix rest of the ingredients with desired spice levels for a nutritious snack ;). This comes in handy for a post school evening snack, when you have flying visitors at home or justwith friends over for tea or even on a sluggish Sunday afternoons :-p....All said and done I don't need to find any reasons to eat Chaat !

Serves : 4     Preparation time : 10 - 15 minutes     Cooking time : 0

Ingredients:

Spicy Boondi - 2 Cups

Sweet Corn Kernels boiled and drained - 2 Cups

Red Onions finely chopped - 1 Cup

Cucumber chopped - 1 Cup

Tomato chopped - 1 Cup

Green Chillies finely chopped - 1

Roasted Peanuts - 1/2 Cup ( could be peeled or with the skin)

Chaat Masala to sprinkle

Handful of Coriander Leaves finely chopped

Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp

Sweet Chutney - 1/4 Cup

Salt if required

Method :

• Firstly place Onions, Tomato, Cucumber in a large mixing bowl.
• Add Corn, Boondi, roasted Peanuts, Green Chillies, Chaat Masala, Coriander Leaves, Lemon Juice and Sweet Chutney (here add some Salt if required).
• Mix well and serve immediately.

Enjoy this spicy Sweet Corn Chaat with some hot Tea !!!