Christmas Cheer

Christmas baking is a tradition that has been around for the longest time. The last month of the year is also a great time to catch up with friends and party hard. And of course, when it comes to food, cakes and bakes top the list. We speak to home bakers across the country who share their Christmas recipes. So, what are you waiting for? Get baking.

Spiced Carrot Cake by Guneet Kaur, Big Momma’s Kitchen

Spiced Carrot Cake
Ingredients
For Carrot cake
l 2 eggs
l 200 g granulated sugar / or light brown sugar
l 200 g grated carrots
l 125 g flour
l 120 g any vegetable oil
l ½ teaspoon baking powder
l ½ teaspoon baking soda
l 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
l 1 tablespoon cinnamon powder
l ½ teaspoon All spice powder
l 75g Pecans (chopped (optional)
l 75g pecans halves for decoration

Frosting
l 225g full-fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
l 60g butter at room temperature
l 250g confectioners’ sugar
l 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
l Whisk the sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla together in a large bowl until combined well and no lumps remain.
l In another large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and all spice powders together.
l Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and using a rubber spatula fold the ingredients together until combined.
l Fold in the carrots and the chopped toasted pecans. (The rest of the pecans are for the garnish). Pour the batter into the cake pan.
l Bake for 50 minutes or until done. Test the center with a toothpick. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan and set on a wire rack. The cake must be completely cool before frosting and garnishing
l Frosting:  In a large bowl using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the softened cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed until smooth about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed for three minutes until completely combined. Frosting should be soft but not runny.
l For the final assembly using a large knife slice the cake in the center and divide into two. Place one cake layer on your cake stand. Evenly coat the top with half the frosting. Top with the other layer of cake and add the remaining frosting. Spread frosting all over the top and sides. Decorate the sides and top of the cake with the remaining toasted pecans. Refrigerate cake for at least half an hour before slicing. This helps the cake hold its shape when cutting.
Recipe by Guneet Kaur, Big Momma’s Kitchen (Instagram:
bigmommas.kitchen)

Rum and mixed spice chocolate balls

Ingredients
For the Chocolate Cake
l Maida 200 grams
l Cocoa Powder 28 grams
l Salt a pinch
l Baking Soda 1 Tsp
l Castor Sugar 200 grams
l Vegetable oil 120 ml
l Warm Water 240 ml
l Vinegar 1 tbsp
l Vanilla Essence 1 tsp

For the balls
l Dark rum 4 tbsp
l Cinnamon Powder ¼ tsp
l Dry ginger powder ¼ tsp
l Nutmeg powder 1/8 tsp
l Cocoa Powder for dusting/coating 4 tbsp
l Dark chocolate 200 grams

Method
l In a large bowl sieve maida, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt and castor sugar and set aside.
l In another large bowl mix warm water, oil, vinegar and vanilla essence.
l Combine the wet ingredients to dry ingredients with the help of a balloon whisk to form a batter.
l Transfer the batter into a pan and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 170C or till a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

For the Rum Balls
l Once the cake has cooled, crumble the cake in a large bowl and add rum+ spice powders and knead gently to form a single lump.
l Scoop 1 tablespoon of the rum, spice chocolate cake mixture and form a ball. Dip the balls in melted chocolate to coat them or roll them over sifted cocoa powder for a darker and richer flavor. Decorate them with fondant leave or sprinkles or as you desire.
Recipe by Bhargavi Bhaskar, Buttercup Bakes (Instagram: bhargavi_buttercupbakes)

Apple Cranberry Cake with Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
Note 1 cup = 240ml (American standard cup measure used)

For the Cake
l Wheat Flour ¾ cup
l Brown Sugar ¼ cup + 1 tbsp for the cake; additional 1 tbsp to coat the apples and cranberries
l Milk ¼ cup (+ 1 tbsp in case you need to use if batter is thick)
l Oil or melted butter 2 tbsp
l Baking powder ½ tsp
l Baking soda ¼ + 1/8 tsp
l Salt ¼ tsp
l Cinnamon powder ½ tsp
l Dry Ginger Powder ¼ tsp
l Nutmeg powder ¼ tsp
l Vanilla Essence ½ tsp
l Peeled and finely chopped apples ½ cup (about 1 medium sized apple)
l Dried cranberries ¼ cup

For Garnishing
l 1 medium Apple - thinly sliced (no need to peel)
l 1 tbsp cranberries
l For the Cranberry Sauce
l Dried Cranberries ¼ cup
l Sugar 2 tbsp
l Lemon juice ½ tbsp
l Water ¾ cup
l Corn flour ½ tbsp
l Water (to make corn flour slurry) 2 tbsp
l Red food colour (optional)1 drop

l Prepare a 6-inch cake tin by greasing the tin with butter and dusting with flour. Also line the bottom of the tin with parchment paper. Pre-heat your oven to 180 C.
l Heat the milk and sugar just until the sugar dissolves (no need to boil the milk, just warm it up to quickly dissolve the sugar). Let it cool down.
l Until the milk cools down, combine and sieve all the dry ingredients together – flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, spices (cinnamon, dry ginger, and nutmeg powder). Keep it aside.
l Rub the additional brown sugar and some of the spices to the apples and cranberries as well as to the sliced apples that are to be used for garnishing.
l To the milk and sugar mixture, add oil and vanilla essence and mix well.
l Now add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in two batches. Mix well using cut and fold method. Do not over mix otherwise the cake will become tough.
l Add the chopped apples and cranberries to the batter and mix well. This batter is thick and of dropping consistency. However, if you feel it is too thick, then add extra 1 or 2 tbsp of milk.
l Drop the batter into the prepared 6-inch pan. Nicely level the batter in the pan. Garnish
with the sliced apples and few cranberries.
l Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 180C for about 30 minutes. Insert a toothpick or skewer inside to check if done.
l Let the cake cool in the tin for 5-7 minutes before de-moulding and place on a cooling rack to cool.

Cranberry Sauce
l Add the dried cranberries, water, lemon juice and sugar to a saucepan and let it come to a boil. Keep stirring from time to time.
l You will see that slowly the water starts to thicken and become like a syrup. Takes about 5 to 7 minutes. At this stage make a slurry of the corn flour and water and add it to the mixture.
l Let the mixture come to a boil and thicken well. The mixture should be thick but still have a flowing consistency. It will thicken a little bit more as it cools down.
l Switch off the flame and let the mixture cool down. Once cooled, add the red food colour if you wish to so the sauce gets a nice red colour.
l Warm a slice of the cake, top it with some vanilla ice-cream and cranberry sauce.
Recipe by Pritam Hemnani, The Bake Junction (Instagram: thebakejunctionbypritam)

Gingerbread biscuits
Ingredients
l 350g all-purpose flour
l 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
l 1 tbsp ground ginger
l 1 tsp ground cinnamon
l 1 egg, beaten
l 175g muscovado sugar or you can also use dark brown sugar with 1 tbsp of molasses
l 85g golden syrup
l 100g butter

Method
l Place the sugar, syrup, butter, and a pinch of salt into a pan. Let it come to a bubble for 2 minutes, keep stirring to combine. Now set aside to cool.
l Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground spices in a bowl, add the warm syrup mixture and the egg, and stir to combine to a soft dough. Cover the bowl tightly with cling film and chill for 25-30 minutes. Pre-heat your oven to 200C and line your baking trays with butter paper.
l After the dough has chilled, dust your work surface with some flour, then roll out the dough to the thickness of 5mm. You can be creative at this point and use your choice of cookie cutters to shape the cookies.
l Cut out as cookies as you can and place on the trays, then bake for 12 to 15 minutes until slightly risen and golden brown.
l Cool on a wire rack. You can either have them as is or you can decorate them with melted chocolate or royal icing and can add colorful sprinkles to give them a Christmas-y look.

Recipe by Shweta Andrews, Bakes Ahoy
(Instagram: bakesahoy)

Chocolate Gingerbrea Minicakes
Ingredients
l 95g brown rice flour (¾ cup)
l 70g buckwheat flour (½ cup)
l 70g sunflower seeds (½ cup), ground into flour consistency
l 30g tapioca flour (¼ cup)
l 30g cocoa powder (¼ cup)
l 100g brown sugar (¾ cup)
l 1 ½ tsp baking powder
l 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
l 2tsp grated ginger
l 1tsp cinnamon
l 1/8 tsp nutmeg powder
l 1/8 tsp ground cloves
l Pinch sea salt
l 3tbsp ground flaxseed + 9tbsp water
l 80ml apple sauce (1/3 cup)
l 80ml vegetable oil (1/3 cup)
l 60ml prepared coffee (¼ cup)
l 2tsp apple cider vinegar
l 60ml hot water (¼ cup) + more as needed

Chocolate Ganache, prepare the night before
l 220g dark chocolate I’ve used 54% Callebeaut
l 240ml coconut cream (1 cup)
l 1tbsp maple syrup (optional)

Method
l Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F). Grease and line a 25 x 35cm tin with baking paper.
l Mix 3tbsp ground flaxseed with 9tbsp water and set aside to thicken.
l In a large bowl whisk together brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, ground sunflower seeds, tapioca flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves and salt.
l In a small bowl whisk together flax eggs, apple sauce, olive oil, prepared coffee, apple
cider vinegar and water.
l Add the wet mix to the dry mix and mix until well combined. Add extra water 1tbsp at
the time to achieve pourable muffin consistency.
l Pour the mixture onto the lined tin and smooth out the surface. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Try not to over-bake it. Remove from the oven and leave to cool down.
l Once cooled using a round cookie cutter cut out 25 shapes. Spoon ganache into a piping bag fitted with large star nozzle, pipe on top of the cakes and layer them on top of each other. You can create two or three layer cakes or a mix of both.

Chocolate ganache
l Roughly chop the chocolate for the chocolate ganache and place into a medium bowl. Place the coconut cream and maple syrup into a small pot and gently heat until boiling point. Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir until completely melted and smooth. Leave to cool down before placing into a fridge to set overnight into a pipeable consistency. It should be perfect consistency for piping but if it is too hard leave it at room temperature for a little while to soften.
l Decorate with strawberries or cranberries and rosemary sprigs.
l Blend some desiccated coconut.

Recipe by Kajal Karni Bajaj, Sugar Blossoms Cake Studio
(Instagram: sugarblossomscakestudio)