Broodilicious pickings!

Chocoban pancakes by Armaan Malhotra

This six-year-old student of Baldwin Boys High School is quite a chef. The little culinary enthusiast loves getting into the kitchen on Sunday mornings to roll out the family’s favourite breakfast, chocolate banana pancakes.

Ingredients
Filling: Chocolate — half bar of any sweet chocolate, One banana — small, two tablespoons butter
Pancake: I cup wheat flour, 1 whole egg, half cup milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tsp Vanilla essence

Method
Whisk it all together to make the batter. Mummy will heat a non-stick pan so do not touch it yourself! Add two blobs of butter and then add the batter to the pan. Flip on both sides till golden brown.

Garnishing
Put it on a plate and smear chocolate till it melts and small pieces of banana. ROLL IT TIGHT. Yummy! The Choc-Ban pancake is ready to gorge on.

Apple Crumble by Purvi Shenoy

The 12-year-old in seventh Standard loves baking with her dad and her favourite recipe is the Apple Crumble.

Recipe for the crumble
300 gm plain flour with a pinch of salt, 175 gm unrefined brown sugar, 200 gm unsalted butter, a knob of butter for greasing.

For the filling
450 gm apples, peeled and cut into pieces, 50 gm unrefined brown sugar, 1 tbsp plain flour, 1 pinch ground cinnamon.

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Place flour and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Add butter and keep rubbing until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Place apples in a large bowl and sprinkle sugar, flour and cinnamon. Stir well.
Butter an ovenproof dish and fill the fruit mixture and then sprinkle the crumble on top.
Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until the crumble is brown and the fruit mixture is bubbling.
Serve with thick cream or custard.

Eggless Sponge Cake by Surabhi Jain

The 13-year-old, eighth standard, student of National Public School, Koramangala likes to get her hands into the dough and makes colourful cakes.

Dry ingredients: 2 cups maida, 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder
Wet ingredients: 100 gm Amul salted butter, 1 tin Milkmaid, 2 tsp vanilla essence, 1 tsp white vinegar, 1 cup milk

Method
Cream butter with a hand blender. Add milkmaid and blend. Now add the rest of the wet ingredients and blend them in.
Sift all dry ingredients together and add them slowly to the wet ingredients mixing them well. Preheat oven at 180 degree C.
Grease a tin with oil and pour batter. Bake for 30 minutes. Insert toothpick in the centre of the cake, to check if it is baked evenly. It should come out clean.

Vanilla cake by Sanjana Sanjeev

Aged just eight, this little chef from Lion’s Sevaniketan School loves to create her own portions of sweet tidings.

Ingredients
1 cup curd, 1-1/2 cup flour, ½ cup oil, ¾ cup sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, 1 and a half tsp vanilla essence.

Method
Mix oil, curd, sugar, vanilla, baking soda and powder and keep it for three minutes. It will foam. Add this liquid mixture to the flour. Give it to your mummy to bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Add any fruit — dry fruit, tutti fruity or rainbow sprinkles to the flour. You can use any flour, maida, wheat, ragi or maize.

Chocolate cake by Veda Rao

This tenth standard student from Vidyashilp Academy loves to bake chocolate cakes. A Nigella Lawson fan, she spends a lot of time cooking her famed desserts or taking lessons on the Net to perfect her culinary skills.

First butter and flour the pan and line the bottom with a piece of parchment or wax paper.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (195 gm) all purpose flour
1 cup (200 gm) granulated white sugar
1/4 cup (25 gm) unsweetened cocoa powder (sifted)
1 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/3 cup (75 gm) unsalted butter, melted, 1 cup (240 ml) warm water, 1 tbsp lemon juice (or vinegar), 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting: 6 ounces (170 gm) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped, 3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy cream (35 per cent butterfat), 1 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

Method: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack at the center of the oven. In an ungreased 8 inch (20 cm) square cake pan, stir together the flour, sugar, sifted cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add melted butter, water, lemon juice, and vanilla extract. With a fork, mix ingredients well. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and place to cool.

For the frosting: Place chopped chocolate, cream, and butter in a heatproof bowl. Place over a saucepan of simmering water and melt until smooth. Remove from heat and let stand at room temperature until it is of pouring consistency. Then pour the frosting over the cooled cake. Let it stand till frosting has thickened. Once baked, frost it with Ganache.