My Grandma's Sweet Tomato Chutney Recipe

My love for cooking definitely stems from my mum. I know everyone says they're mother's the best cook, but I truly haven't tried anyone's cooking that I liked more than my mum's. She learnt through experience, she doesn't really care for measurements and other technicalities, so it feels like cooking is a natural talent for her. But that's far from the truth, she told me how many times she made countless blunders in the kitchen, when as a young girl, her mother (my grandma) told her she should learn proper cooking. 

My mum's experience resonates with mine. I didn't start enjoying cooking until I was well in my twenties! My first tries at baking and cooking were disasters, and I'm the kind of person that gets discouraged quite easily. So I didn't approach cooking again until much later, when I actually needed to know how to cook.

My mum was always patient and understanding throughout my journey, never pushing me to cook, as many other women of brown parents may have experienced. One thing is true though, even if I didn't enjoy cooking back then, I would always watch my mum cook. I may have picked up a thing or two by just watching, but I'm definitely nowhere near her skill level. One of the things I always watched her cook was my favorite sweet tomato chutney. It takes a couple of hours for it to come together, but oh, it is so worth the wait. Sweet and tangy tomato chutney by my mum is heavenly, she learned it from her mother, of course. And finally I have gathered up the courage to make it. It takes only three ingredients, but you'll have to be patient. 

Click image to watch video-recipe on my YouTube channel

Tres Leches Cake (easy recipe)

Tres Leches is a classic cake recipe in some parts of Latin America, specifically in Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, although it seems it originated in Mexico. The cake's name "Tres Leches" refers to the three types of milk the sponge cake is soaked with: regular milk, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. It is a cake that is served chilled in the fridge, eaither with a meringue or whipped cream topping, and it's refreshing for summer time. The great thing about this cake is that it is very easy to make, and it is delicious, impress your family or friends with this people pleasing cake!

Click on the image to watch the video-recipe on my YouTube channel

Cocoa & Cola Cake

I was surprised to find that using Coke in cakes is a fairly common practice in some parts of the US, and before anyone asks, the cake doesn't actually taste of cola, it tastes like a chocolate cake, but with a very strong cocoa taste. So if you're a chocolate cake lover, you definitely need to give this cake a try.

Click on the image to watch video-recipe on my YouTube channel

First of all, you may use any kind of cola-flavored soda, the original recipe from pastry chef Pooja Dhingra uses Thums Up, a popular cola drink in India. It's important that it's a carbonated drink, because this will serve as a leavening agent in the cake. Use it with your favorite, whether it's Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or even Dr Pepper! Varying levels of sweetness of the drink may affect the cake, in my case I used a cola-flavored soda that had 5 gr of sugar per 100 ml, so not too sweet! I also used 100% pure unsweetened cocoa powder, so the cake wasn't very sweet, it had a very deep chocolate taste that you have to savor to get that hint of sweetness. 

Ingredients:

For the cake:

- 125 gr all purpose flour

- 30 gr cocoa powder

- 2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- 60 gr butter (melted)

- 200 gr sweetened condensed milk 

- 125 ml cola-flavored soda

For the glaze:

- 120 gr of bittersweet chocolate

- 200 ml sweetened condensed milk

- 40 ml cola-flavored soda

Procedure:

1. Pour out 165 ml of the cola drink and set aside, you'll need 40 ml to be completely flat for the glaze.

2. Preheat the oven at 180ºC (with top and bottom heat, and fan function).

3. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda with a whisk and set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, mix melted butter and condensed milk.

5. Add half of the dry ingredients into de butter and condensed milk mixture and mix.

6. Add 125 ml of the cola drink into the batter and whisk until well-combined.

7. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients into the batter and mix until there are no lumps.

8. Pour the batter into a lined 18 cm diameter cake pan and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes.

9. For the glaze, melt bittersweet chocolate (either in a waterbath on the stove, or in the microwave) in a heat-proof bowl.

10. Mix condensed milk into the chocolate with a spatula, and finally add in the 40 ml of flat cola drink, and mix well until everything is combined.

11. Once the cake is done, let it cool off at room temperature and then cut off any bumps off the surface.

12. Put the cake on a wire rack, and place a large plate under it, pour the glaze until everything is covered.

13. Let it sit in the frige until the glaze sets, add any toppings you like (I added some star-shaped sprinkles) and enjoy!

As I said, the cake doesn't taste like cola, but the chocolate taste is so deep, and the texture is spongy and fluffy. I don't know if anyone would like to make it taste more of cola, but I would think that brushing some of the drink on the cake before glazing it could do the trick, it would also help moisten it.

Hope you can try this recipe out, and let me know how it goes, I'm tempted to try it with Dr Pepper!

Caramelized Crunchy Mini Pancake Cereal (no eggs!)

Miniature sized foods have been a trend these last few months, with entire channels dedicated to tiny foods, today I'm sharing with you a little pancake recipe that has been very popular on TikTok: mini pancakes, and they can be eaten  in a bowl with milk, as in pancake cereal!

In this recipe I won't be using eggs, since many of my family members have been asking for eggless recipes, so I hope they like this one. Of course, this eggless pancake recipe works for normal-sized pancakes too, so if you have any family member with allergies, or any other dietary restrictions (for vegans, substitute regular milk with any plant-based milk and butter with vegan margarine)

Click here for the video-recipe on YouTube

Perfect Brownies Recipe

There are so many brownie recipes, because of course it's just a baking staple that you should definitely try at home instead of buying a premade mix, homemade brownies taste so much better and you can really add any toppings you like: chocolate chips, Nutella, even almonds or nuts for an added crunch.

Moreover, there always seems to be a battle going on between cakey and fudgy brownies, but in all honesty, I feel like brownies shouldn't be neither too fudgy nor too cakey, they should just be the right texture for a brownie, which is different from that of a cake and the texture of fudge. So here you have this recipe for perfectly balanced brownies that are just right: fudgy in the middle just a slightly cakey bite and 100% chocolatey!

Click image to watch the video-recipe

Just look at that crumbly outside with the OH SO FUDGY center, are you hungry now? If so, let's get started!

No Fail Basque Burnt Cheesecake (one of the Best in Spain!)

#SanSebastianCheesecake has been one of the trending topics in the culinary world for long, and it's all because of a cheesecake served in Restaurante La Viña, in the northern region of Spain, in the city of San Sebastian.

The restaurant is a long-time favorite for locals and tourists alike, but now even more so because of their scrumptious cheesecake: a jiggly cheesecake, creamy in the center, with a caramelized top, with a rich cream cheese taste. Imagine the Japanese cotton cheesecake with a denser cheese ratio, creamier, barely any flour at all, but keeping the jiggly and melt-in-your-mouth sensation. It's such a good cheesecake that it's one of the Best 10 Cheesecakes of Spain. 

Now, many of us aren't able to travel to San Sebastian to enjoy this heavenly cheesecake, so the chefs at Restaurante La Viña have actually shared their original recipe! Some food experts say that the recipe's actual results are very much alike the original cheesecake served at the restaurant. Moreover, it's a very forgiving recipe, with very few ingredients, little preparation time and only 40 minutes of baking.

Click image to watch the video-recipe!

So let's get cheesecaking!

Pumpkin Spice with 4 ingredients

Pumpkin spice is a mix of aromatic spices that you can add to a great variety of dishes; you thought that pumpkin spice is only for Fall and pumpkin pies? Well, think again, and try making a carrot cake with a couple of teaspoons of pumpkin spice! 

Click on the image to watch video-recipe