A birthday to me is the one day in the year when I feel like a princess. The scores of phone calls and messages just make me feel so special. And of course the day is incomplete without a gathering of family and friends. That means great food on the table.
So here I am, sharing a few of my favourites that I love to eat and serve not only on birthdays but also for any special occasion at home.
What’s a birthday without a cake? So that is where we will start from. This is one of my absolute favourites.
Chocolate Orange Marble Cake
(For a 700g sponge cake)
For the sponge :-
• Butter - 100g
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Eggs - 3
• Vanilla essence - 1tsp
• Refined flour - 1 cup and 1 tbsp
• Cocoa powder - 1tbsp
• Baking powder - 1tsp
• Baking soda - ½tsp
• One malta orange
Zest the orange, chop the peel finely and keep aside. Cream the butter and sugar till pale and fluffy. Add in the eggs one by one, whisking in between so that each egg is absorbed before the next one is added. Add in the vanilla and orange zest and mix well. Now add in the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix gently with a spoon till lump-free. Now remove half the batter into another bowl and add in the cocoa powder and again mix well.
You can use an eight inch tin or a 9 inch bundt pan. Butter and flour your choice of cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Now drop spoonfuls of chocolate batter and vanilla batter, alternating between the two. Once the batter is finished, using a toothpick draw swirls through the cake.
Preheat your oven at 180°C for 15 minutes. Place your cake inside and set to bake for 35 minutes till a skewer inserted in the cake comes out clean. Leave it on a wire rack to cool before decorating. This is delicious as it is. But a birthday cake without some decadent icing seems incomplete, right?
Chocolate ganache
• Good quality dark chocolate - 50g
• Fresh cream - 50g
• Pinch of salt
Melt the chocolate in the microwave or a double boiler along with the cream and salt. Let it cool slightly before piping the ganache along the border of the cake. Garnish with cherries and orange slices.
This decadent and delicious cake is now ready to impress you and your guests.
Open Mango Sandwich
(Makes 6)
• White bread slices - 6
• Cream cheese - ½ cup
• Mangoes cut into cubes - 2 cups
• Salt to taste (use very little)
• Basil leaves - 6-10 leaves
• chiffonade (cut into thin strips)
• Chilli flakes - 1tsp
Using a ring cutter or a sharp metal glass, cut rounds from the breads.
Now gently toast them on a tawa or in an oven till slightly crisp and golden.
Whip the cream cheese till soft and spread a tablespoon of it on each of the breads. Top generously with the cubed mangoes.
Sprinkle over the basil leaves and chilli flakes and add salt to taste. Serve immediately.
Gondhoraj Chicken Skewers
Another finger food I love to serve on my birthday is in a skewer form. Makes it easy to pick up and eat while keeping the fingers clean. You can grill this in an oven, air fry, barbecue or cook on a tawa. In all forms, it is super delicious and will have your guests salivating for more. And guess what? It is made with gondhoraj lebu, a Bengali favourite.
Serves 3-4
• Chicken breast fillet - 250g cut into long strips
• Zest of one gondhoraj lemon
• Juice of ½ gondhoraj lemon
• Onion- 1 (medium-sized)
• Garlic (minced)- 2tbsp
• Ginger (minced)- 1tbsp
• Refined oil-2tbsp
• Green chillies-4
• Coriander leaves- 3tbsp
• Water-1tbsp
• Salt to taste
Make a smooth paste of all the ingredients apart from the chicken. Marinate the chicken in the gondhoraj marinade for 3-4 hours or overnight. (The longer you marinate, the more tender the chicken gets). Insert skewers lengthwise into the chicken strips. Heat a non-stick tawa and simply place the skewers on it and cook for 3-4 minutes each side on medium high heat till both sides are slightly golden. Serve hot with a wedge of gondhoraj.
Olive tomato cheese puffs
The next recipe is a winner among party picks! It looks and tastes like it belongs on the tables at the parties of the rich and famous, but it is so easy to make, that a child could do it and it takes all of five minutes to throw together.
(Makes 24)
• Amul cheese slices - 6 (stick to Amul; a couple of other brands did not work)
• Sundried tomato slices - 12 pieces cut into halves (or substitute with cherry tomato)
• Whole olives - 8-10 cut into 3 slices
• Basil leaves - 12 (medium) cut into half
Simply take the cheese slices and cut them into four pieces each. Now put them on a microwave-proof dish (lined with parchment paper) at least 1 inch apart. Microwave for 1-1.5 minutes at full power till the cheese slices puff up. Be careful not to brown them too much. Let the puffs cool before removing them and arranging them on a serving platter. Top each puff with a piece of the tomato, olive and a basil leaf. Serve with drinks and wine as delicious appetisers.
No-bake Cherry Nutella Tart
To end the birthday party on a sweet note, here is a super decadent dessert.
(Makes one 8 inch tart)
• Digestive or Marie biscuit - 150g
• Cocoa powder - 1tbsp
• Butter melted -¼cup
• Nutella - 1 cup
• Cherries fresh or tinned - 1.5 cup pitted and ½ cup not pitted
Grind up the biscuits to coarse crumbs using a mixer pulse function or a food processor or simply put the biscuits in a bag and whack it with a rolling pin till it becomes a smooth crumb (suggested as a great anger therapy!) Add in the cocoa and melted butter and mix till it resembles wet sand.
Take an 8 inch pie tin with a removable base. Line the tart tin with the biscuit mix pressing down firmly all over including the sides. Now add in the pitted cherries and spread all over. Slightly melt the nutella and pour over the cherries and smoothen the top with a spatula.
Refrigerate it for two hours before taking it out of the tart mould. Top with the remaining cherries and enjoy!!
Try out these recipes and send your feedback to saltlake@abp.in