2016

Monday, July 4, 2016

Creamy Mango Crepe Cake


An (early) Eid Mubarak to all of my lovely readers, new and old! If you've been following me for a few years, you may remember Eid Eats 2014 - a virtual Eid party hosted by My Ninja Naan, Flour & Spiceand Chocolate & Chillies. Well, Eid-ul-Fitr 2016 is almost here and it is once again time to join an awesome virtual Eid party full of delicious food items and eye-catching desserts. If you know me, I love to bring a dessert to any gathering. In fact, it is pretty much a tradition for me to bring a dessert every time I visit my in laws. So of course, it was a given that I would bring dessert to this party.

Today, I am sharing the recipe for this dreamy creamy mango crepe cake. Actually, there is a story behind this beautiful, 30 plus layer cake. It's mango season, and chances are, if you're Desi and celebrating Ramadan, you have a huge box full of mangoes sitting in your pantry. With only two adults in the house, and both of us fasting, that meant a surplus of mangoes leftover and not enough mouths to finish them. As the mangoes started to reach their peak ripeness, I really needed to figure out what to do with them, and making them into a dessert seemed like the best option.


Luckily, I was invited to an iftar a few days later so I had the opportunity to give a mango dessert a try and share it with some friends as well. The only problem was that this cake did not fold out exactly as I had planned. The creamy mango filling never set and it turned into a little bit of a lopsided cake when I added whole pieces of mango fruit in the center. The top half of the cake slid right off the bottom half! Nonetheless, the flavor of the crepes and mango cream really was a great combination. While the cake recipe needs to be tweaked a little, I would recommend the filling recipe to anyone. A huge thank you to all my family and friends who support my baking endeavors and are such good sports with my successes and not-so-successful desserts.


I also took a batch of my popular kulfi, on request, and coincidentally, that is the recipe I shared for Eid Eats 2014! Here it is if you would like to take a gander, here is the link: kulfi (Indian ice cream). Without further ado, we revisit this same dish 2 years later for a mango crepe cake.


Here is a crepe cake I have made in the past that turned out beautifully - complete with recipe and steps for assembly. :)

Enjoy and good luck in the kitchen!

Mango Crepes


Make a batch of my classic sweet crepe recipe here

Mango filling:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1 tspn vanilla extract
1 cup fresh mango puree (blended and strained flesh of 2 mangoes)

2 mangoes, diced
1/4 cup mango puree

To make the filling: mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until well combined. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl to ensure that everything is combined. Add in the heavy cream and whip on high speed until medium peaks form. Add in the mango puree and whip till stiff peaks form.

To serve, fill a crepe with a few tablespoons of mango filling and top with mango pieces. Drizzle mango puree on top of the crepe and serve.


Sunday, June 26, 2016

A Lovely Iftar with Friends


Assalamualaikum! I hope your days are going well. The last ten nights of Ramadan are here. The time flies so fast, it feels like we just started fasting yesterday. Alhamdulillah, I was blessed with the opportunity to have a small gathering of friends over for iftar. It was a night filled with conversation, laughter, and fun.

You know you're desi when your invite was for 8pm and people start trickling in around 8:45pm (and you're secretly glad because your prep is also running behind schedule). ;)

Today, I am sharing the iftar and dinner menu of the night for inspiration. With my husband's support and encouragement, I was able to put together this menu. Thanks, once again, to all of my lovely friends for joining us and please keep me and my family in your duas. Please let me know if you would like any of the recipes of the food items below. Enjoy!
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