Super Easy 5 Minute Eggless Microwave Oreo Biscuit Cake

[Video update on 22/02/2016

 ]

Hungry for a cake, but lazy to make an elaborate one? Here's a quick and easy recipe for a semi-homemade cake, so to speak.

Ingredients :
1 large packet and 1 small packet of oreo biscuits (19 pairs. 38 biscuits in total)
1 cup milk (240 ml)

¾ tsp baking powder OR ¾ tsp Eno

3 tbsp sugar


Method:
Crush the biscuits roughly.  [Do not remove the cream]. Transfer to a blender. Add the other ingredients and blend into a smooth paste.
Grease a microwave safe dish liberally with butter, oil or ghee. [You can also line the base with parchment paper/ butter paper to get a clean top while inverting. Please use good quality parchment paper. I first greased the bottom and sides and placed the parchment paper like so:









]

Transfer the cake batter into the dish. Microwave for 5 minutes [in regular microwave mode]. You will see some moist spots on the top and sides. That's fine.
Do not touch the cake for atleast another 15 minutes, you want to let it cook with the heat trapped inside.

[If you wish to invert the cake, let it cool for 30 minutes. Check this post for more tips. If you have used parchment paper to line the base, you can invert it in lesser time. ]

You can top the cake with sugar powder. Just take some powdered sugar in a strainer and splash it all over the cake.

Perfect for a last minute (oops last 5 minute) snack! Happy New Year!

Update : Made this with Oreo orange creme biscuits.  Loved the subtle orange flavour. This time, I used baking powder instead of eno. And the lines on top - that's Nutella!

Thanks to the internet for letting me know you can make cakes with biscuits! I experimented with my favourite Oreo cookies and now I have a quick cake recipe.

A couple more eggless microwave cake recipes -
Eggless Microwave Chocolate Cake
Eggless Microwave Coffee Cake

Easy Microwave Kalakand

Remember the incredible 3-ingredient dessert I posted sometime back? An easy version of Mishti Doi which is still one of my favourite desserts to make and eat, specially considering a prep time of under 5 minutes.
So here's one more. Just two major ingredients that come together in under 20 minutes to create a delicious sweet that unmistakably reminds you of your local sweet shop back in India. A couple more added ingredients for flavour and appeal and you are dun duna dun done.

I first came across this recipe on Sandeepa's blog when I was blog-hopping about 3 years back, and marvelled at how easy things could be, if you wanted them to. My husband loves Kalakand and he was the one who introduced it to me, soon after we got married. There was a sweet shop close to our place in Malleswaram, and whenever we would visit someone in B'lore we would drive a mile down the road, I would hop into this store and order a pound or two of Kalakand to go. So when I saw the recipe, trying it out sounded like fun. No kids or worries then, and I had nothing much to do anyway.

So I went to the nearest Safeway and got some ricotta cheese, without having any idea what it was. Turned out to be our very own paneer with a creamy consistency packaged in a cool container. Really?? And all this while I thought 'cottage cheese' was paneer. (Cottage cheese doesn't taste anything like paneer, btw). I guess you could substitute crumbled paneer if ricotta isn't available, but I haven't tried.

The experiment turned out fine and luckily for me, my microwave is on a table and not above the stove like you see in most kitchens here, so I did not have to stretch while stirring. If your microwave is on top, be careful while stirring or just use your oven-mitts to bring the vessel to the counter-top to mix it each time.

Recently a friend of mine, Keerthi, made this sweet using low-fat condensed milk and part-skim ricotta cheese (plus some milk powder) so if you want to feel less guilty, that works as well.

Ingredients:
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 container (15 oz) ricotta cheese
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
About 2 tbsp chopped almonds / pistachios

Method:
In a large bowl empty out the can of condensed milk. Add ricotta cheese little by little and mix well with a whisk.
Lightly grease a large microwave safe dish [preferably rectagular] with ghee. Pour the mixture into this.

Microwave (uncovered) as per below :

Microwave for 5 minutes. Stir well.
Microwave 5 more minutes. Stir well.
Microwave 2 more minutes. Stir well.
Microwave 2 more minutes. Stir well.
Microwave 1 more minute. Stir well.
Microwave 1 more minute. Stir well.
Microwave an additional 1 or 2 minutes, stirring after every minute.

[So totally, microwave for 17 to 18 minutes. The time may vary depending on your microwave and the type of container you use].

The reason you keep stirring in between is that the sides can get burnt  because of uneven heating in the microwave. Specially towards the end, stir every minute. The mixture should appear dry, but still have some moisture.

After removing from the microwave, sprinkle cardamom powder, mix well and spread the mixture across the dish. With the back of a spatula, press it down. Allow to cool for atleast half an hour. Cut into squares / rectangles/ diamonds [do not remove yet]. Leave aside for another 30 to 50 mts, till it sets well. Remove, transfer to a container and refrigerate.

Before serving, sprinkle chopped nuts on top. Tastes great without nuts  too!

Easy to make, easy to transport, a great solution if you have to return someone's container (exactly the reason why I made it this time) - with Diwali not too far away, this sweet deserves a shot, what say!?

This goes to bookmarked recipes.

Eggless Microwave Chocolate Cake

So you always wanted to bake a cake, but do not have a convection oven. You do have a microwave oven but you never thought of making a cake in it. Wait. Look at this cake.

Soft, spongy and super-easy to make. Take a deep breath. And get started.

Ingredients :
 1 cup all purpose flour (maida)
¼ cup cocoa powder
¾  tsp baking soda
½  cup oil
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla essence
1 cup milk (room temperature)
2 tbsp water

Method:

In a small bowl, add all purpose flour, cocoa powder and baking soda and mix well. [Make sure the flour and cocoa powder do not have lumps. If they do, then using a large sieve, sift them first].

In a large bowl, with a manual whisk or large fork, mix oil, sugar and vanilla. Add milk and whisk thoroughly into  a smooth solution [get rid of all the lumps. Scrape the sides as well].

To this, add the flour mixture little by little whisking as you add. Add water and mix thoroughly (scraping the sides) for 10 to 15 seconds to form a smooth cake batter.

Grease the insides of a large microwave safe round bowl with oil or cooking spray liberally. Pour the cake batter into the bowl. The cake batter should fill half (or less than half) of the bowl. Otherwise it will spill out.

Microwave for 6 to 7 minutes in regular microwave mode (NOT convection mode).
You will see moist spots in the center and sides of the cake. No worries.
Switch the microwave off and let the cake remain untouched for another 10 to 15 minutes. This is the standing time where the cake will continue to cook even after you turn the microwave off, with the heat generated within it.
[If you wait for the cake to cook completely before you turn the microwave off, the cake will continue to cook during the standing time and will become rubbery].

If you plan to invert the cake, allow to cool for another 20 to 25 minutes. [The bottom of the bowl should not be hot.] Then place a large plate or cake board on top of the cake bowl. Turn the bowl upside down and tap the bottom (which is now on top). The cake will slowly slide onto your cake board/ plate. Remove the bowl carefully.

You will not get beautiful neat sides like oven baked cakes. You can cover this up with a chocolate glaze. A quicker solution would be to frost the cake with Nutella like I have done here.


Chocolate Glaze :
In a saucepan or microwave, melt 2oz (57g) chopped baking chocolate (or chocolate chips) with 1 tbsp milk. Remove, mix well and add 4 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp water and 3/4 tsp vanilla essence. Mix well.
[Amount of sugar depends on whether you use semi-sweet or milk chocolate (I used semi-sweet), so adjust accordingly. Add more water if you prefer a thinner glaze.].
[I actually used 3 oz chocolate, which gave me too much glaze, so I scaled down the proportion in the recipe. Feel free to adjust your glaze the way you like it]. Cool.

Pour the glaze on top of the cake and watch it as it slides down the sides and oozes onto the bottom.
Refrigerate the cake for an hour or two to let the glaze set.

So what did I do with the extra glaze? See for yourself.

Go ahead, give it a try. Who knows, for the next birthday in your family, your cake may be sitting at the centre-table!

Check my Eggless Microwave Coffee Cake.

Carrot Pepper Rice (Microwaved)

Sometimes I wish there were 25 hours in a day so that I could devote a whole hour to my blog. But if I were granted even 30 hours a day, I'm sure I'd need just one more!

I'm typing out this post at 1 in the morning, after putting my son to bed a couple of hours ago and folding a truck load of clothes while watching my favourite show - Food Network Challenge. I find folding clothes one of the most boring things you could ever do and keep myself happy by watching something fun on TV.

Coming back to my post, this recipe is from Nita Mehta's Vegetarian Microwave Cookbook. The book was gifted to me by a friend (whose first name incidently happens to be Neeta. Not Mehta, Pai.) The dish is a quick solution to those busy days when you have neither time nor energy to cook anything elaborate.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice (uncooked)
3 tbsp oil
1 onion
1 capsicum
1 carrot
1 tsp salt,
1/2 tsp pepper powder
1/2 tsp soy sauce

Method:
Soak rice for 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile chop onions, carrots and capsicum.

In a large microwave safe bowl (take the largest you have) mix oil, capsicum and carrot and microwave for 3 minutes. (I found the rice slightly oily so next time I will reduce the oil by a tablespoon)

Drain out all the water from the rice. Add this rice to the vegetables. Pour two cups water, salt, pepper and soy sauce.

Mix a bit and microwave covered for 13 minutes. Stir once in between.
This is what your rice will look like -

Leave untouched for 5 minutes. Mix well and serve hot.

Eggless Microwave Coffee Cake

This coffee cake actually has coffee in it. If you are wondering what I mean, Wikipedia will tell you that 'the term coffee cake can refer to a class of cakes intended to be served with coffee or for similar breaks and snacks. Under this definition, a coffee cake does not need to contain coffee'

Wikipedia also tells you that a coffee cake can also be a sponge cake, which is made with coffee or has a coffee flavour. Now I would never have guessed that!

All this reading up on coffee cake made me want to make some! After my earlier experiment with microwave apple cake, I thought of further coming out of my comfort zone and whipping up an eggless coffee cake in the microwave. I'm not really a big fan of hot coffee but I love the flavour of coffee in desserts. I did not want any icing on the cake, instead I wanted it to be flavoured with honey. Somehow I'm not yet comfortable about using eggs in my microwave cakes, so I thought of omitting them. I also used oil instead of butter which gives some sort of richness to the strong coffee flavour in this delicious cake.

[Update : Someone I know tried this cake with melted butter instead of oil. I was curious to see how it turned out so I made it again with melted butter. The result was pretty good.]

Ingredients :
1 ½  tbsp instant coffee powder*
¼  cup boiling water
1 cup all purpose flour (maida)
½  tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 cup sugar
½  cup oil (OR ½ cup melted butter)
2 tbsp honey
1 ½ tsp vanilla essence
1 cup milk (room temperature)

*If you are using 100% pure coffee powder like Nescafé Classico, use 1½ tbsp. However if you are using a coffee-chicory blend like Nescafé Sunrise Premium instant coffee powder, use 3 tbsp, since it is milder than pure coffee.

Method:
Dissolve coffee powder in boiling water and keep aside.
In a bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt.
In a separate large bowl, mix sugar and oil. Add the coffee solution, honey and vanilla and mix well. Add flour mixture little by little and mix well. Pour milk a little at a time into this and mix thoroughly making sure no lumps are formed. [If you are using melted butter instead of oil you will have to mix harder. You can use a handheld electric mixer if you can't get rid of the lumps].

Grease a large microwave safe bowl  liberally (or line with parchment paper) and pour the batter in it, such that it fills 2/3rd of the dish or less. Microwave uncovered for 8 to 9 minutes. [The cake will not be completely baked but will have moist spots all over].
Switch the microwave off and leave the cake untouched for 10 to 15 minutes. If you want to invert the cake, let the cake cool for another 30 mts.

Note :
1. Cooking time may vary depending on the microwave.
2. There will be moist spots specially in the center, which will be taken care of during the standing time. If you wait till the cake becomes completely dry before turning the microwave off, then the cake may become rubbery. This is because the cake continues to cook even after you turn the microwave off, by the heat generated within it.
3. If you store the cake for a few days, it may turn dry and hard. If that happens, just microwave the slice of cake for a few seconds and consume immediately.
4.If you are using melted butter instead of oil, the cake may need an additional minute of baking.

Sprinkle powdered sugar on top or enjoy with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

The cake exudes a wonderful aroma when it's being cooked in the microwave. Coffee-lovers are so going to love this smell!

More egg-less microwave cake recipe -
Eggless Microwave Chocolate Cake.
5 Minute Microwave Oreo Cake

Eggless Microwave Apple Walnut Cake

This is definitely not the best apple cake recipe. But I still love it. Because this is my first real experiment with a cake!

I have baked a few cakes till date. I have followed the recipes from books or blogs, usually to a T, and even if I did make changes, they were minor ones, like excluding nuts, replacing maida with whole wheat, halving the quantity or even combining two recipes to get the best out of them.

This cake however was something I suddenly thought of making. After making Apple Kheer in the microwave, I thought, why not make apple cake! I have eaten apple cakes before and have always enjoyed their combination with nuts, specially walnuts. This thought and my 'No Bake Cake 'event, along with my little experience of baking, urged me to try my hand at making this cake. I just went on mixing the ingredients - tasting and adjusting as I brought each of them together, wondering if they would do their job. I dumped the fairly runny concoction into the microwave and waited with bated breath for those 5 minutes to pass. I probably did not take my eyes off the microwave for even a second (thank God my son was asleep!) And I literally jumped with joy when I saw that a cake was actually being formed! Yay!
The ten-minute wait for the cake to cool down was even harder. Finally when I tasted the cake, I felt good! Mind you, the cake is not crusty and soft and moist as an oven-baked one - after all, convection ovens are always the preferred way of cake making. But it sure is edible and is worth a try.

Ingredients :
1 apple
1 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp chopped walnuts

Method :
Peel and grate the apple and microwave uncovered for 3 minutes.
In a large bowl pour milk (room temperature). Add oil and with a whisk, beat well. Add sugar and beat further. Add maida and baking soda and mix thoroughly, making sure no lumps are formed. Add the microwaved apple, nuts and mix well.

Liberally grease a large microwave safe bowl. (I used a rectangular glass vessel). Pour the batter. Make sure it is less than 2/3rds full.

Microwave uncovered for 5 to 6 minutes. Leave untouched for another 10 minutes. Let the cake cool down completely before you invert it onto a plate.

You could either ice the cake or bite into it just like that!

This post goes to my events :

1. My Favourite Recipe

2. No Bake Cake

Also sending this to Two for Tuesdays  and BSI - Milk

Apple Kheer (Microwaved)

My son loves fruits. Apple is among his favorites. When I came across this website, I was motivated to make Apple Kheer. However I had neither apple butter nor applesauce at home. So I referred to this website, combined the two recipes and came up with the following recipe. The result was not too bad. Also, I had just one apple at home. If you want a stronger apple flavor, you could try using 1 and 1/2, adjusting sugar accordingly.

Ingredients :

1 apple, grated.

2 cups milk

1/2 cup condensed milk

3 to 4 tbsp brown sugar (as per taste)

1 pinch cardamom powder

1 pinch nutmeg powder

A few strands of saffron

1 pinch salt

1 tsp ghee

2 tsps cashewnut pieces

Microwave the grated apple in a microwave safe bowl for 3 mts on high. Allow to cool. Take half the quantity and blend with  a few spoons of milk to form a paste.

Mix remaining milk, condensed milk and sugar and microwave on high for 5minutes (keep stirring). Add saffron strands, grated apple, apple paste and microwave for another 2 minutes.

Remove from microwave, add cardamom, nutmeg and salt and mix well.

In a small microwave safe bowl mix 1 tsp ghee with the cashewnuts and microwave for 1 minute. Pour on the kheer. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Sending this to MEC - Favorites hosted by PJ, started by Srivalli, to EFM- Sweets and Savories for Diwali, to Akila's Dish name starts with an A and to Microwave Easy Cooking - Potluck Party by Srivalli.