Five Unique ways to celebrate your birthday

Birthday, the special occasion, on which you get everybody’s attention and blessings. You feel important and get showered with gifts and warm wishes from family and friends. It won’t be wrong to say that you get celebrity treatment from your near and dear ones, on this particular day. 

Nothing can be better than this feeling and you are on cloud nine.

Birthdays are meant to be made memorable. Instead of just partying out with friends, you can try out some unique and offbeat ways to make your birthday memorable. So the list goes on like this:

 1.Get a tattoo:

 

 For Christ's sake get a tattoo on the D day. It can be something related to your passions, any person, idea or whatever you want it to be. The tattoo will remain forever with you and so will your birthday memories.

  2. Plant a tree:

   

   Give birth to a new life on your special day. Plant a tree or sapling and take care of it and see it grow over the period of time. As you will see it evolve and grow, a sense of peace will take over you. This feeling is way better than celebrating in restaurants and big hotels.

  3.  Visit orphanage and do charity:

  

   You can go to an orphanage and celebrate with kids living there. Spread the smile on their faces by showering them with gifts. You are bound to feel happy and satisfied at the end of the day. What a better way to make your birthday memorable. Isn’t it?

 4.Set the caged birds free:

   Birds are born to fly and it is a cruel thing to cage them. Do a good deed on your birthday by setting those poor caged birds free, kept in the market for sale. When you see them fly out of the cage, you will set free a part of your soul too. Isn’t it a wonderful thing to do on your birthday.

5. Adventure sports: 

   Are you an adventure freak who enjoys the adrenaline rush? Then why wait? Try out some really cool adventure sports along with your buddies like bungee jumping, river rafting, rock climbing etc. These activities will provide you birthday memories to relish forever.

Food of Angel’s : Angel Food Cake

If angels ever ate anything then it must be definitely Angel food cake or Angel cake. This unique cake is tasty and healthy at the same time, making it perfect for both humans and angels. Compared to other cakes it has fewer calories, as no butter is used in it.

Its place of origin is United States Of America and it became popular in the 19^th century. It’s light and fluffy texture sets it apart from normal cakes and has made it everybody’s darling.

The main ingredients of this cake are egg whites, sugar, flour and tartar cream. The structure of this cake is given from egg whites. The egg whites are whipped properly to get a protein foam. Cream of tartar is also added to stabilize the egg whites solution.

Angel cake is usually baked in a tube pan, a pan round in shape with a tube shape structure in the middle, to take out cake’s base with ease. This is done due to its delicate structure.

The tube pan is not greased unlike other cake pans as the texture of the cake is very light. This indeed is another unique thing about this cake. The cake is usually drizzled with cake sauce like fruit sauce or a simple glaze. Some chefs use frosting as well.

So don’t wait further and try your hands at this unique and awesome cake which is the food of Angels itself !!

Autobiography of a cake

Life of every celebration is with me. I enjoy the limelight in every event and party as people associate me with joy and happiness. Without any further ado, let me introduce myself. Hi everyone !! I am your beloved cake. I take the opportunity to share the story of my life with you all.

The story of my birth begins when somebody decides to celebrate a certain event like birthday, anniversary, wedding etc. Sometimes people make me just to satiate their cravings as I am very yummy and delicious. I act as a soul food for them. Reasons of my birth are many. The list is very long.

First of all my spongy base is prepared. Its main ingredients are all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, butter and condensed milk. First of all flour, baking soda, baking powder are mixed together in a bowl. Then in another container melted butter, condensed milk, vanilla essence and sugar are mixed together to get a liquid paste. This liquid paste is transferred to a bowl containing mixed dry items and a batter is prepared.

In a greased pan this batter is poured and kept inside in a preheated oven for 35-40 minutes till it is baked properly. A rich aroma of baked flour and vanilla essence fills in your surrounding and gives pleasure to your senses. The process of my birth is half complete when my base gets ready.

My base is taken out of the pan to cool down. Once I cool down, my base is cut into equal layers. These layers are kept one above the other and are frosted with cream. Creams of different flavours can be used to give me variety. My name keeps changing with the change in flavour of the cream. I am created in different shapes, sizes and flavours. It depends upon the creativity of my creator. Once my frosting is done and I am decorated with cream and other elements, I become ready to be taken to the special event for which I was made.

I get placed on a decorated table in the centre of the party hall and receive everybody’s attention and appreciation. And then finally I am cut, with people hooting and cheering in joy. A small part of me is served on everybody’s plate. This is my story in which I witness joy and celebration of life and give people memories of a lifetime to cherish. My life is short but it is worth it. And that’s how it should be.

Eggless Choco Lava Cake Recipe

Have no idea what you are going to do  this weekend? Well, we are here to help you. Try out the eggless Choco lava cake recipe at the comfort of your home and reward yourself with delicious as well as comforting choco lava cake.

What makes it even more special is the chocolate filling inside it, which melts immediately inside your mouth. So let’s get started with our quick and easy recipe.

Preparation Time   10 minutes

Cooking time            40 minutes

Serves                        3               

Ingredients

·      Half cup all-purpose flour

·      3 tablespoon cocoa powder

·      1 pinch salt

·      ¼ teaspoon baking soda

·      ½ cup cold water

·      1/3 cup sugar

·      Two tablespoons edible oil

·      ½ teaspoon vanilla essence

·      ½ teaspoon lemon juice

·      100 grams chocolate

Method

·      In a bowl mix all purpose flour, salt , cocoa powder and baking soda

·      In another bowl mix sugar, cold water, edible oil, lemon juice and vanilla essence properly.

·      Now mix the items of above two bowls together in a proper way.

·      Transfer this batter in greased muffin cups.

·      Next place the chocolate squares in the batter and immerse them inside the batter by gently pressing.

·      Preheat the oven and bake the batter at 200 degree Celsius for 30 minutes

·      Remove the muffin cups from oven and let them cool for 2 to 3 minutes

·      Next invert the muffin cups and let the lava cake fall on a plate.

·      Your choco lava cake is ready to be served !!

·      Now please eat it J

From Where I Can Order Luxury Gift Packs

Gifts are a medium to share love and happiness. They provide us a way to express our feelings and convey our best wishes. Now you can order luxury gift packs online easily from a number of  websites . The limitation of distance doesn’t exist any more. You can send gifts to your desired locations from any part of the world. It is just a few clicks away.

You can order luxury gift packs online at www.avonbakers.com , which provides wide range of enchanting and beautiful gift baskets. These baskets can be customized as per customer’s need with bakery products produced at Avon Bakers like muffins, cookies, dry cakes, home made as well as branded chocolates and beverages.

These baskets prove to be an excellent gift option for your loved ones  and for all kinds of situations. The designs of baskets on website vary from being simple to complex. Designs are available in check print , burberry print, gold theme, block print, wooden pattern etc. Beautifully packed and decorated with glossy ribbons, these gift baskets will be a hit among your loved ones .

These quality gift baskets can be filled with different varieties of muffins like almond muffin, vanilla muffin , blueberry muffin, walnut muffin etc. There is also a huge variety of cookies to choose from. There are red velvet butter cookies, orange velvet  butter cookies ,  butter badam cookies , butter coconut cookies , masala beats,choco fudge walnut cookies, butterscotch butter cookies, savoury mathri etc , to name a few. A good number different dry cakes are available like Honey almond dry cake , walnut honey dry cake, red velvet dry cake etc.

If u know someone who loves chocolate then get these baskets customized with home made as well as branded chocolates. Last but not least, you can also get these baskets filled with beverages of your choice .

So let your loved ones know how much you you love them and order luxury gifts packs online at www.avonbakers.com. From festivals, birthdays, farewell, weddings, retirement party to baby shower , these gift baskets are perfect for every situation. At Avon bakers we just don’t deliver products but we deliver happiness.

BAKED WITH LOVE

Life is a beautiful journey filled with many special moments. These special moments are meant to be celebrated .Here comes the role of cakes into  play. Using  cakes for celebration dates back to ancient times. And even now they haven’t failed to make us happy.

Whatever may be the occasion – be it a birthday , wedding , Anniversary, Baptism – are incomplete without a cake. It is rightly said that  A party without a cake is just a meeting. The positive feelings of Love, Joy , Happiness , Gratitude are connected with cake. It is a symbol of celebration.

These days cakes come in various shapes, sizes and flavours . From a simple round cake to sophisticated multi-layered cake,  we have them all.

 But one ingredient remains constant while baking a cake. It is called Love. A cake which is baked with love is a perfect gift for all the special occasions sealed with innumerable memories.

So keep sharing love by gifting a cake or celebrating an event with it and create immortal memories to be cherished forever. Eat them anytime, anywhere . Anyways, who needs a reason to eat a cake ?? 

( Anjali sharma )

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS RECIPE

We are all familiar with the hunger pangs we experience out of the blue. They may come while working on a project , at the middle of the night , when you are bored to death or maybe when you are upset post  break up. We  all seek comfort food for one reason or the other.

So today we are sharing a simple and real quick recipe of blueberry muffins  . These cute and mouth-watering muffins can be enjoyed at any point of the day over a cup of tea or coffee. Perfect answer to your food  cravings,  these muffins are the ultimate comfort food. So let’s begin right away  !!!

Preparation time : 10 minutes

Cooking time        : 20 minutes

Serves                    : 6

Ingredients

•        1 cup – All purpose flour 
• 
  
•           ½ cup- Blueberry
• 
  
•        1 Teaspoon corn flour
• 
  
•          1 cup – Hot Milk
• 
  
•        ½ cup – Sugar
• 
  
•          ½ Teaspoon Baking powder
• 
  
•          ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 
  
•          ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Essence
• 
  
•    3/4^th  cup vegetable oil

Method 

    1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.

    2. Take small amount of flour in a bowl and add blueberries to it. Coat them with the flour properly.

    3. In a separate bowl mix vegetable oil and sugar together.

    4. Now add milk and vanilla essence to the mixture and stir well.

    5. Sieve all purpose flour , baking powder, baking soda and corn flour in a separate bowl.

    6.  Add all dry mixtures and liquid mixture well.

    7. Add flour coated blueberries to the mixture.

    8. Fill the ¾ of paper cups with this batter.

    9. Bake the muffins for 15 to 20 minutes.

•    And the magical blueberry muffins are ready!!!

Follow our blog http://avonbaker.blogspot.in/ for more interesting articles related to baking world.

You can also order these blueberry muffins from our website www.avonbakers.com or call us at 9997122050.

10 most important baking tools

Baking is an art, which gets perfect with practice. But an artist is nothing without his tools. Likewise art of baking also requires necessary tools. Right instruments and tools can make baking fun , easy and efficient . And the final output can be astonishing !!  Here we are providing the list of the most basic and important baking tools. So bring out the artist in you and surprise the world. Here we go !!

   1. Whisk

                    Whisk is a baking tool which is used to blend baking ingredients together. This process of incorporating air into the mixture is also called whisking or whipping. Whisk is generally made up of stainless steel. These days electric whisks are also available in the market.

      2.   Spatulas

               Spatulas are an invaluable tool in the world of baking. Their use ranges from mixing, spreading , lifting to transferring. Different spatulas are used for different tasks at hand. Metal Spatulas are usually needed for turning and transferring. Their main purposes are to flip, scrape and serve . Rubber spatulas are used for scraping and smoothing purpose. Frosting spatula is used for applying frosting on the cake.

      3. Pastry Bags and Piping Tips

                              

Pastry bags are used for decorating the cake. These are usually cone or triangular shaped , handheld bags made of plastic. you make different decorations depending upon the nozzle you use. There are different type of nozzles like leaf nozzle, flower nozzle , open star, closed star nozzle , Round ,petal, basket, ruffle and multi-hole nozzle.

     4.   Pans

         Pans help in giving shape to the base or sponge of the cake. The cake batter is poured into these pans and then baked. Many different shapes and sizes of pans are available in the idea. There are different kind of pans like baking sheet, loaf pan, pie tin , round cake tin, cupcake and muffin tins , tart pans, fancy pans.

  5.  Mixing Bowls

                  

                       Mixing bowls are used to mix dry and liquid ingredients to prepare the cake batter. They come in different sizes and are made up of ceramic, plastic, glass, copper and stainless steel. Bowls are also used to beat eggs, prepare whipping cream and mix salad and dressing.

      6.  Rolling Pin

                   

                    This tool is used to give shape and flatten the dough. They come in many styles and are made up of different materials. There are 3 types of rolling pins  : Rolling , Rod and textured.

7.    Cooling Racks

                      

                           Cooling racks are used to cool down the cake bases, muffins, cookies and cupcakes once they are baked and removed out of oven.

       8. Pastry Brush

                      Pastry brush is used to spread butter , oil or glaze or egg wash on the food. Bristles of pastry brush are made up of plastic, nylon or silicon.

  9. Standing Mixer

                 Standing mixers are large in size with a more powerful motor . A bowl is attached with the these mixers which is locked in a place while the mixer is operating .It is used for general whipping , mixing and kneading tasks.  

       

10.    Parchment Papers

                                  

It is also known as silicon paper and is used to line the baking tins. This is a non-stick paper which is also grease proof and moisture-proof.

                   

                         

If you are interested in more such interesting blogs please visit our wesite www.avonbakers.com.                

                        

10 Most Basic Baking Ingredients

Here  we present another weekly Blog from Avon Bakers. This article is written especially for the beginners who want to set foot in the world of baking. Stock up these items permanently in your kitchen as you will always need them while baking anything.

   1.    FLOUR

Flour is the most basic ingredient used in all baked goods. There are many varieties of flours available , ranging from cake flour, pastry flour, bread flour to self-rising flour. Choice of a flour, to bake any particular baking item, depends upon protein content , added agents and processes used in making the flour.

Cake flour has less protein and high starch content .It is basically used in making cakes, quick  breads , cookies and muffins.  Bread flour has high protein and gluten content which makes it suited to make yeast products. Pastry flour  is used to make  cookies , biscuits and pie crusts for a tender but crumbly pastry. Self-rising flour has low protein content with added baking powder and salts.

  2.    SUGAR

Sugar plays a very important role in baking process . It not only adds sweetness to the baked item but also adds volume, tenderness, texture, color, and acts as a preservative. Generally four types of sugars are used for baking. They are granulated sugar, confectioners sugar, superfine sugar and brown sugar.

Granulated sugar is also known as white sugar and table sugar. It is widely used sugar which is derived from sugar cane or sugar beets. Confectioner’s sugar is also know as icing sugar or powdered sugar. It is powdered granulated sugar with added cornstarch. Superfine sugar is also known as castor sugar .It has very fine granules. Brown sugar has moist texture and is made by adding molasses to the granulated sugar. Its colour varies from light brown to dark brown depending upon the amount of molasses used.

  3.    BAKING POWDER

Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent which is  used for increasing the volume and lightening the texture of baked goods. It's made up of bicarbonate of soda ,cream of tartar and cornstarch.

  4.    BAKING SODA

Baking soda is also known as bicarbonate of soda or sodium bicarbonate . It is a leavening agent . It is added to baked goods before cooking to produce carbon dioxide and cause them to rise. 

   5.    VANILLA ESSENCE

 Vanilla essence is used as flavoring agents in desserts, breads, cakes, puddings, frostings, etc. 

   6.    YEAST

 Strains of yeast are used as a leavening agent in baking bread and bakery products, where it converts the fermentable sugars present in the dough into carbon dioxide and ethanol. 

7.EGGS

Eggs play a very important function of holding other ingredients while mixing and baking .They maintain the tender structure of the baked product.

8.BUTTER

Another all-round baking ingredient is butter . It not only gives the flavor to the baked good but also makes it light, tender and fluffy. Shelf life of product gets prolonged with this.

9.UNSWEETENED COCOA POWDER

It is used to give intense chocolate flavor to the baked good. It is also used in making chocolate icing and cake fillings.

10. SALT

Salt plays a very important role of controlling the fermentation rate of yeast. It not only adds overall flavor but also strengthens the gluten in the dough making it less sticky.

That’s  it folks !!