Carrot Cake by Chef Shakti Kumar, Chef De Cuisine, Crowne Plaza New Delhi Mayur Vihar Noida was the response when Today’s Traveller invited the Chef to share his favourite Christmas Delight.
Christmas is the season of joy, of gift-giving, and of family-bonding. Chef De Cuisine, Chef Shakti Kumar showcased a fabulous feast of Poached Pears, Carrot Cake and Plum Cake along with their recipes for our readers to bake in their kitchens for their loved ones.
Carrot Cake
Ingredients
| S. No. | Ingredients | Unit Measure | Quantity |
| 1 | Butter | Kg | 0.5 |
| 2 | Brown Sugar | Kg | 2 |
| 3 | Whole Eggs | No. | 20 |
| 4 | Refined Flour | Kg | 1.8 |
| 5 | Vegetable oil | ml | 1.2 |
| 6 | Baking soda | Kg | 0.044 |
| 7 | Carrot | Kg | 1.5 |
| 8 | Cinnamon powder | Kg | 0.03 |
| 9 | Salt | Kg | 0.02 |
| 10 | Walnut | Kg | 0.5 |
| 11 | Pineapple (crushed) | Kg | 0.2 |
| Serving |
Method
- Take a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon.
- In bowl of your electric stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs until frothy (about 1 minute).
- Add the sugar and vanilla extract and beat, on high speed, until the batter is thick and light colored (about 3 – 4 minutes). With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the oil in a steady stream and then beat until combined. Beat in the crushed pineapple.
Plum Cake
Plum Cake
Ingredients
| S. No. | Ingredients | Unit Measure | Quantity |
| 1 | Butter | Kg | 1 |
| 2 | Sugar | Kg | 1 |
| 3 | Whole Egg | No. | 24 |
| 4 | Refined Flour | Kg | .850 |
| 5 | Cocoa powder | Kg | .150 |
| 6 | Soaked Nuts | Kg | 1.5 |
| 7 | Apple juice | Ml | 200 |
| 8 | Cinnamon powder | Kg | 0.01 |
| 9 | Ginger powder | Kg | 0.01 |
| 10 | Baking powder | Kg | 0.02 |
| 11 | Apple(garted) | Kg | 0.2 |
| Serving |
Method
- Mix the butter and sugar along and beat the vanilla essence in it. Add in the eggs gradually to the vanilla essence mixture and mixing all the while. Then fold in the flour sifted with baking powder and mix in all the soaked ingredients.
- Grease a baking tin with butter and sprinkle a little flour on the surface. Then place a sheet of paraffin paper on the bottom, and pour the cake batter into the tin. Bake the cake at 160 degree Celsius for about 20-25 minutes. Take out the cake from the mould and leave aside to cool it down.
- For the royal icing, make sure the egg whites are at room temperature before beginning. In a clean and dry bowl, place the egg whites, powdered sugar, and yeast. Using a hand whisk beat all together on low speed until combined. Then stop the whisk and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Now, beat the mixture on medium speed until it turns very thick, shiny, stiff and white. The whole process should take not more than 7-10 minutes.
Poached Pears
Poached pears
Ingredients
| S. No. | Ingredients | Unit Measure | Quantity |
| 1 | Red wine | ML | 750 |
| 2 | Pears (big) | Kg | 1 |
| 3 | Whole spices | Kg | 0.1 |
| 4 | Sugar | Kg | 0.2 |
| 5 | Cream | Kg | 0.2 |
| Serving | 20 | ||
Method
- Using a sharp vegetable peeler, peel the pears top to bottom, leaving them whole, with stems attached and the core intact.
- Put the pears in a large, wide nonreactive pot in one layer. Add the wine, sugar and spices. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a very gentle simmer, and cook for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted encounters no resistance. Remove from the heat and transfer the pears to a deep container, leaving the liquid in the pot.
- Heat the poaching liquid over high and boil down until it is reduced by half. Pour syrup over pears, and refrigerate overnight if possible.
- To serve, put each pear in a soup plate and spoon over a little of the red wine syrup. Add a dollop of crème fraiche or a scoop of ice cream, and finish with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds.
- Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. With a rubber spatula fold in the grated carrots and chopped walnut. Evenly divide the batter between the two prepared pans and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let the cakes cool on a wire rack. After 10 minutes invert the cakes onto a wire rack, remove the pans and parchment paper, re-invert, and then cool completely before frosting.
Read more: Food Voyager
