Children's day bake-off

What about this blogpost?

Food. Yes. In the form of baking.

Music. Yes. Because my niece with who I baked this bread with is a student of music, and, sings for her school district choir.

Bonus children's day recipe of a cake. Because, that's the first thing I baked in my childhood. Famously called 'ThumsUp' cake at home. But first, the wool roll. This was a fun activity with my niece as it had some cheese, and some rolling involved. Song choice. Little Miss AP's favorite song.

Cheese wool roll

80ml lukewarm milk

15 gm sugar

15 gm instant yeast

300 gm refined flour

1 egg

100 ml fresh cream

5 gm salt

1 tsp gluten powder

100 gms shredded cheese (we used mozzarella)

sea salt to garnish

oil for greasing & baking parchment

Activate the yeast with sugar and water till it's bloomed. Add to the flour and gluten powder, and knead with a little water and the milk. Add the egg and cream and knead it into a soft dough. Cover the dough and let it proof until double the size. (Approximately 30-40 minutes in a warmer climate and longer in cooler areas. Frease the bake dish and line it with baking sheet. Once the first proofing is done, divide the dough in 5 equal portions. Divide the cheese into 5 portions too.

Roll the dough into an oval shape and give it an insertion in the centre. Cut one side of the rolled dough into strips which are still attached to the centre. Add the cheese on the other side of the rolled dough and fold it into an oval cylinder. Video attached for reference.

Place the rolls in the baking dish as shown in the video. You can also place it as per your creativty in design. Cover and leave it in the baking dish for the second proofing till it's doubled in size. Sprinkle the sea salt on the bread just before baking. Preheat the oven and bake it in 200 degrees till it's golden brown. Best eaten when still warm, or just heat it for 30 seconds in the microwave before serving.

ThumsUp chocolate cake

This is a super easy cake recipe, ready within 45 minutes including baking time. I always get a fuzzy warm feeling having this cake as it's associated with only happy memories. As for the song. Same feeling.

Blue eyed boy meets a brown eyed girl..

Ooh-ooh-ooh the sweetest thing...

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp cocoa powder

250 gm refined flour

100 gm butter

400 ml condensed milk

200 ml cola (we obviously use Thums Up)

Few drops vanilla essense

Sieve all the dry ingredients together. Melt butter and blend with the condensed milk. Mix in the dry ingredients little by little to the milk butter mix followed by some cola. Whisk till there are no lumps left. Ass is the vanilla essence. Mix and pour in a greased baking dish. Bake in 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

The texture of this cake is similar to a pound cake or a tea cake. But you can dress it up by adding sugar syrup to the sponge and icing it with your favorite chocolate ganache. I like to add some orange compound to the ganache, makes it even more old school. This time I just dusted icing sugar and gold dust as I made it in a bundt mould as a tea cake for home.

A little senti sharing this recipe here, as it's being blogged for the first time. I had written this recipe on a notebook given by a friends mom when I was a child. I was just 14.

Happy children's day, to the child in all of us.

Good bye notebook.