All Oats Low Fat Pizza Muffins

Okay, so weight has finally caught up with me.

All my life I was the stick thin girl. For the first about 14 years of my life, I never ate so I was a stick figure. The I moved to Delhi, grew up and put on a little bit, but stayed at a healthy weight. Post 19, I ate and ate. And ate some more. And a bit more. And stayed steady, with absolutely no exercise. And I had people saying "You always eat, but you never gain weight". I laughed at Aunty Acid pictures of Pinterest that said "That one friend who eats and eats and never gains weight". I connected with it, because seriously, that was true. I never put on weight. And I was so happy! Little did I know, what came next.

Then struck the job where my parked myself in a chair for 10 hours at a time. The so-called nazar of all the people struck me down. Ate nonsense food whenever the mood struck. 3 cakes in one week of birthdays in office. Bhujia and Maggi and ice creams every day. What would that result in? Glad you asked. It results in tighter clothes and pretty dresses we keep back on the racks sadly, because it doesn't fit us.

Now no matter how much we exercise, a tighter (hehe) control on food has to be done. I don't mean cut it out of your life. I mean eat whatever you want. But portion controlled, and larger amounts of fruits and vegetables. More juices, more water. Never cut your happy foods out, because absence of that will firstly, show on your face, and secondly, induce binging. Not a good idea. Eat more fibres, cucumbers, salads, bran, oats, etc.

Speaking of oats, let me be up front. I hate oats. Not my first, nor my last choice, nor anything in between. But I had no choice. All grilled cheese sandwiches had to go. All chocolate brownies had to go. All cakes and pastries had to be cut down. No pizzas. I had to think of a way I could remix oats and bran and all those healthy things. I had a huge lot of Saffola Masala Oats leftover, and I needed to use it.

In comes my All-Oats Unbelievably Low-Fat Pizza Muffins. It's a must-have for anybody who needs to eat well, but can't stand the taste of oats and you know, anything healthy.

These are soft, spongy yet crumbly, with lots of vegetables and for your indulgence, a core of Mozzarella. These are super tasty, super quick and seriously easy! These are also great snacks, you know maybe an after-school, or after dance/ swimming snack. Trust me you'll love these!

All-Oats Low-Fat Pizza Muffins (6 standard size muffins)

You need:

• 3 single-use packs of Saffola Masala Oats (any flavour)
• Cut a thick slice off a block of Amul Mozzarella, cut into 6 cubes. set aside. And grate a bit more to spread on top.
• 2 eggs
• 31/2 tbsp of oil + a bit to grease the mould
• A bit of milk
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Any vegetables, maybe corn kernels, tiny diced capsicum, sliced and blanched mushrooms, soya pieces, even pieces of chicken

For the pizza sauce:

• Oregano, chilli flakes and fried garlic bits if you have
• Tomato ketchup/ sauce

The How:

• First grind the oats into a fine powder in a mixer. We need to emulate the texture of flour.
• Beat the 2 eggs and the milk well. Add the oil and beat well.
• Add the powdered oats. Mix well so that there are no lumps.
• Mix in the vegetables and some of the oregano and chilli flakes.
• In a separate bowl, take about 3 tablespoons of tomato ketchup. Add some of the oregano and chilli flakes, mix well.
• Add this mixture to the oats batter. Mix really well.
• Put your oven for preheating.
• Grease a muffin tin.
• Scoop halfway through each mould.
• Place one cheese cube in each mould. Finish off with remaining batter.

• Spread grated cheese on each one. Sprinkle more oregano on top if you want.

• Bake on convection mode at 180 celsius for 12 minutes or till a toothpick runs clear.

And that's it!

Serve with a nice cold glass of coffee. Since this is almost completely oil and fat free, a little bit of a milkshake is okay ;)

'Til the next time!

The Saffola Masala Oats event: "The Other Side"

I'll be up front. I don't like oats. Not because of anything else. But simply because they're positioned as "health food". By anyone. Including our moms.

Oats is supposed to be this magical health food that takes away cholesterol, reduces fat, makes you all healthy and running. But one question here. How do I eat it, when it's so yuck? 

Similarly bran, brown rice and wild rice. Okay bran. Bran biscuits taste like there's hey in my cookie. Brown rice isn't that bad. And wild rice. Oh don't get me started on wild rice. The one time I tried to have it, I spent 15 minutes trying to chew this unchewable enigma. And didn't succeed.

Don;t get me wrong, I would love it if healthy food didn't taste so bad. Or at the very least, edible. When a Subway sandwich comes with yummy-nummy sauces, you don't see me complaining. I'm all for tasty healthy food.

Which is why, when Saffola gives us options like fruity and nutty muesli, oats with curry leaves, and tomatoey oats, I feel happy because that stuff is yum. Saffola Masala Oats recently had an event for bloggers on June 8th, one of the largest for a repositioning, which was all about how Healthy is Tasty too. The invitation was the cutest I've seen ever. This pretty yellow box, with the invitation inside, and, get this, tiny brinjals, karelas and a tiny tinda packed in hay. Okay cute or what! 

The event, titled "The Other Side" by Saffola was a success, primarily thanks to the presence of the ever so charming, Michelin starred Chef Vikas Khanna. 

Participants had to create healthy and tasty snacks with Saffola products in 20 minutes, and boy did we see some creativity there!

We also received this massive tokri full of Saffola goodies, like Muesli, Oats and what not. But the cherry on the cake. Literally and figuratively. The whole hamper was topped with Chef Vikas' book, Khanna Sutra. If that doesn't make you jealous of me, I don't know what will!

So off I am, to prepare something I've thought of with the oats, now that I'm all for health. Keep your eyes on this page, it's coming soon!

Seriously, healthy can be so tasty!

*This is a part of the Saffola Masala Oats event "The Other Side".

Two-tiered Vanilla Cherry Buttercream Birthday Cake Part III: Vanilla Buttercream & Assembly

A serial post about my many firsts for a birthday cake.

You've read about the first time I made Cherry Compote.

You've read about the first time I made Vanilla Cake.

Now on to the last and final component: Vanilla Buttercream frosting.

There is something about frosting that was like a horror story to me.

Don't get me wrong. I love it. There's something so lush, so smooth and if from a baker who cares, such a delicious addition to a dessert. As if that wasn't enough, it has got so much decorative capacity! It adds their beautiful little happiness to a dessert, and lifts it on to become a such a happy play on the tongue. I like to taste the frosting on my cupcake, and then taste it as part of a larger dessert.

But when it comes to making it, my knees knock together, and I don't even know why. I've made frosting before, a cream cheese frosting for a carrot cake. It was a disaster, and pushed down my confidence in making frosting even further down the pole. Homemade cream cheese, since we only get Cream cheese at EXORBITANT prices here in Delhi. Firstly, it tasted of chhana, or paneer. Mixed the sugar in, and beat it. And oh God, the entire frosting became as liquid as olive oil. So ultimately, my first attempt at making Cream Cheese frosting resulted in a sweet paneer soup. Nope. Didn't help my confidence!

For this particular request however, I needed a fail proof Buttercream Icing. I referred to what feels like a million blogs out of foodgawker, Pinterest and what not. I found the same 1-cup-butter-4-cups-sugar in it. FOUR cups of sugar, in ONE cup of butter? I could taste the grains of sugar just reading them. I may be wrong, because hey, the only time I made frosting it resulted in a disaster. But it felt..not quite what I was wanting. So I fell back on the one and only, Joy the Baker.

And did that pay off, or what.

Light, fluffy, mildly sweet buttercream with that touch of vanilla that seems to make life smile. Not to mention stable! In Delhi's heat, if a frosting made primarily out of butter can stay stable without any preservatives or additives, I'm sold!

So here it is. The very basic Vanilla Buttercream:

Vanilla Buttercream from Joy the Baker

(Makes enough to fill and frost a two-tier 8-inch cake not very thickly, and enough leftover to eat with a spoon for about two days)

You need:

• 200 gms, that's two packs of Amul butter, bought to almost room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• A good bit of vanilla and vanilla sugar, if you have it
• 1 cup milk, cold
• 1/4 cup flour
• About 20-25 cherries, pitted and halved

The How:

• In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup milk with the flour and vanilla (and the vanilla sugar if you have it). Whisk till there are no lumps.
• Over medium heat, gently add the remaining milk and keep stirring to avoid lumps, till it comes to a boil.
• Reduce heat to low and continue mixing. The mix will begin to thicken. It's a pretty fast process.
• When it starts to get thick, take it off immediately.
• Allow the mix to cool in room temperature. You can place it in the fridge or a cold water bath. Take care to not let a skin form on top. Have someone stir it once in a while.
• While it cools, beat the butter with a mixer at medium speed, 3-5 minutes.
• Add the sugar, and beat away happily about 5-7 minutes. Be sure to scrape the sides often.
• With the mixer on low, pour in the milk mix and continue to beat till light and fluffy.
• Feel free to taste it as much as you can!
• Place it in the fridge when you're done, and you're still waiting for the cake to cool.

The Assembly
What you need: A turntable if you have it, or the largest flattest plate you own, a board base (in case you're transporting this), an offset spatula.

• If you have a turntable, you're blessed. I did not, so I took the flattest, largest plate I had, placing the board base on it.
• Turn out the COMPLETELY cool cakes in two separate plates. Ignore mom's warning to stop occupying half the kitchen's utensils.
• If you want, you can trim the tops of the cakes to make them perfectly flat on both ends. We'll do something about those extra bits of the cake, don't worry! ;)
• Place the slightly larger, or not so good looking cake on the board base. Spread a light layer of frosting on top. Seal in all the crumbs. And DO NOT wipe your crumby spatula in your bowl of frosting.
• Spread out fresh pitted cherries on the layer of frosting. Layer another light layer of frosting on it.
• Place the second layer of cake on this.
• Now just like the first cake top, crumb coat the entire side of this double layer. Put a dollop of it, and push it till the side gets coated very lightly, sealing in all the crumbs. Turn the plate around to get to the sides.
• Similarly, coat the top of the cake very well.

This is what my crumb-coated cake looked like

• Coat the cake, sides and top once more with frosting, this time smoothening it out as much as you can, because this is the exterior of your prized cake.
• Now you need your piping bag. You can use a taped together piece of parchment paper, rolled into a fool's cap shape, with a opening at the tip. You can also use proper piping bags and tips. I had neither, so I used a tiny ziploc pouch and cut a tiny hole in one corner.
• Fill this with the frosting, and make a boundary wall around the top edge of the cake, around the top. we're doing this to essentially hold on to the compote. You would not do this, if you want your compote to drip down the sides artistically. Pipe about three lines on the edge.
• Spoon the cold compote into this area. Don't pour it, it may get out of hand.
• What I did next was to decorate it. I piped zigzags on the top edge, and squeezed out pearls of frosting on the base edge.

• This is essentially the cake in it's original form. If you want, complete this with chocolate sticks, chocolate accents (liquid chocolate piped out onto a baking sheet in your choice of design then frozen and taken off).
• Chuck it into the fridge till about an hour before you need to pack it and deliver it.

That's it!

I really hope you enjoyed this three part series on my epic birthday cake making experience. Let me know if you have any issues with any part of this. Would love to help!

Two-tiered Vanilla Cherry Buttercream Birthday Cake Part II: Vanilla Cake

You've already read the story of the Fresh Cherry Compote in part one of this epic series of firsts!

The second step to this entire assembly of this Two-tiered Vanilla cake, frosted with Vanilla Buttercream, filled with Buttercream and fresh Macerated Cherries and topped with Home-made Cherry Compote, is the Vanilla Cake. Simply because it needs time to cool, before we can put the buttercream on it. Frosting on even a warm cake will result in oily, runny frosting. None of those words are happy.

This cake is not supposed to be the showstopper on its own. It is supposed to work with the fresh pitted cherries, a lighter than clouds Vanilla buttercream (in the next post of this series) and the Cherry Compote (the first in the series). It's supposed to be fairy-light, but it should be a bit squidgy, so that if the craving strikes at midnight to have a bite of it from the fridge, it should not crumble as you bite it. No. It has to sink between your teeth. So it's a tricky game.

The Vanilla Cake (makes 2 8-inch round cakes) adapted from Amita's Mocha Cake

You need:

• 1.75 cups of flour
• 1/2 cup warm milk
• 1 cup sugar,
• Vanilla essence
• 100 gms butter, I'm using regular Amul salted butter, softened till a finger pressed just leaves an impression, and doesn't mess up the kitchen slab.
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 3 eggs

The How:

• If you're using a stand mixer, get it off its stand, and tilt the bowl, using the mixer by hand. It makes a massive difference.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into a bowl.
• Whip the butter till light and airy, a good 2 odd minutes at least on medium speed.
• Separate the eggs. Add the whites to the butter and whip like anything till it's almost white and frothy.
• Add the yolks, and continue beating for another 2-3 minutes.
• Sieve  the sugar into the eggs and whip thoroughly. Remember to scrape down the sides often, so that you actually use all the sugar called for. When it reaches a white ribbon like stage, you'll know you're done.
• Add the vanilla essence into it. If you have some vanilla sugar, put a bit of that in too. It won't increase the sweetness, but will give a lovely flavour and those black specks of vanilla bean. Mix thoroughly.
• Now add the flour-baking powder mix and mix until just incorporated. Do not over beat; over beating leads to flour developing glutens, and that's what makes cakes go tough when we thought we're beating it so well to add air into it. Been there, done that!
• Add the warm milk to the mix. Mix it up till incorporated.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 celsius. Grease two 8-inch oven tins and line with parchment.
• Pour the batter in, and bake for 35-40 minutes at 180 celsius. The batter may be a bit runny, but don't worry about that. Mine was more liquid that pancake batter, and it was the moistest cake I've had.
• When done, let rest in the oven for about 15 minutes at least, then test for doneness. If need be, bake for another 5-7 minutes, or as need  be. Always let rest before testing, a lot of cooking is done within these few precious warm minutes!
• When done, let cool in the pan till room temperature or a bit warmer. Flip out on to a plate and let it cool there. Please let it cool completely. Buttercream on even a warm cake will lead to runny oily frosting. So be warned!

When it's fairly warm, a finger pressed to it should have the surface of the cake springing back, saying "Eat me!"

Look at that!

Next up: The Vanilla Buttercream and the Assembly of this epic cake!

See you there!

Two-tiered Vanilla Cherry Buttercream Birthday Cake Part I: Cherry Compote

This is the first in a series of posts, that showcases an experience I had, that taught me more than anything, and is something I am very grateful for.

This time of the year, you know. There are certain fruits that just about come and go before you get to even taste them. Lychees. Sweet almonds. Strawberries. And cherries. Oh cherries how I love you. That sweet tart ruby red goodness! When I split it to make my cherry jam, my fingers stain with the red juice, and never quite leave my hands till about 10 days later. The precious ruby like gemstones, sweet and sour at the same time, bursting with juices that just crave to be popped in the mouth!

So when a colleague asked for a birthday cake for his wonderful wife, specifically simple and fresh, the only (and winning) combination that came to my mind was a Two-tiered Vanilla cake, frosted with Vanilla Buttercream, filled with Buttercream and fresh Macerated Cherries and topped with Home-made Cherry Compote.

The cake was soft, buttery, fluffy yet squidgy. The cherry compote was sweet, jammy and cinnamony. The buttercream was beyond light, totally not oily, and just a hint of sweet, unlike store bought frosting, where sugar is all there is. I realized, even though it may become expensive, it is more than worth using the real stuff, no substitutions (in some cases). It shines through, and makes your product so so much better.

As promised, first #1: This was my first time ever making buttercream, or any kind of frosting whatsoever. I am too afraid to venture into that direction. Not anymore. I am so in love with buttercream, that it took all I could to not start having it with a spoon before I frosted it. And it's so easy-peasy!

First #2: I do not know how to do the lifelike piping work that so many of my more experienced (and patient) home-baker friends do on their cakes. On this cake, I did it. I did piping work! Can you believe that? I still don't!

And first #3: I separated eggs. With my own hands. Something I NEVER thought I'd do. First time for everything folks!

It is a huge difference between baking for family, and baking for someone, who had requested for my creation to be a part of their celebration. It's a huge responsibility, and I take this space to thank him very earnestly for this, for giving a fledgling home-baker a chance. Your trust means a lot, and am thankful for it!

So how do we go about this? I'll tell you about the components and my experience in chronological order. Whatever should be made first and kept ready, shall come first.

So this is about the Cherry Compote, step #1. A syrupy, yet not so liquid, almost jammy spread of cherries in their juices. This goes as the topping to the cake, on the frosting. It is cinnamony, and adds a lovely fruit preserve feel to the cake. It makes you feel, "I'm having fruits, so I can have an extra bit of cake. Yeah."

The Cherry Compote
(Makes enough to top a 8-inch cake and enough leftover to have many happy sandwiches with)

You need:

• 300 grams pitted cherries (Leave out about 25-30 cherries for the filling. Wash and keep dry in the fridge)
• 1 cup of sugar
• a healthy squeeze of lemon
• 3-ish tsp cornflour/ cornstarch
• 1.5 teaspoons of cinnamon powder
• 3/4 cup water + 2 tbsp

The How:

• Combine the water and the sugar. Bring to a simmer, stir till sugar dissolves. 
• Add the cherries and the lemon juice.
• Bring the liquid to a simmer till the cherries are tender. Tip in the cinnamon and mix.
• Stir together 2 Tbsp water and the cornstarch together.
• Mix this into the cherry mix and stir till the mix is thick and jelly-like. This is a fast process.
• Once done, put into a glass bowl and let cool.
• Refrigerate till it is to be used.

This is the topping for the cake, and the first step in assembling this cake. It can be made easily a week in advance, but needs to be kept in the fridge till it has to be used. You can use this as a good spread for toast as well.

Next up: The Vanilla Cake!

Escoffier Era French Cuisine @ IICA, Delhi: Bloggers' Table

Have you ever followed any dream? Any dream? A dream of swimming one full lap. Of getting a 20 on 20 in maths. Of determinedly making that dish that you forever screw up, one way or the other. Of having a perfect relationship. Of finally learning everything about that one passion that you were forever putting off, in favour of a more stable job, or "when do I have the time?" or "I'm too old for this now."

We at the Bloggers' Table, were invited to International Institution of Culinary Arts, Delhi, to sample what following a dream can be like. A bunch of talented culinary students, under the guidance of so many talented chefs, cooked for us and served us Food of the Escoffier Era. That sounds too awesome for me to even process. To say it one line: some of the best food I've had, from one of the sweetest hosts. So worth it.

A little about IICA here. As a lay person, what I liked the best about IICA, associated with the Indian Culinary Forum, is that there is no age limit. See that's what. That's what passion is all about. Founded by The accomplished Chef VS Datta of Oberoi Sheraton Hotels, ITC Hotels, Fortune Park Hotels, individual courses are accredited by Edexcel and City & Guilds. Some of the awesome courses on offer are Hotel Management, Culinary Arts. And courses for Hobby chefs in international cuisine, chocolate making and patisserie!

Sid, Charis, Mukta, Tanya, Himanshu and I took a tour of the campus, peeked into the kitchens and saw our meal being prepared. Ample stomach rumblings ensued. We were greeted by the chefs at a beautifully set table with cold lemonade. Look, when a set menu greets us, and tells us what delicious awesomeness awaits us, it makes me happy. Not to mention hungry in anticipation. We started with house baked breads rolls, lavash and focaccia and pats of herbed butters.

For La Salade, Salade Nicoise: quarters of boiled eggs and potatoes, chunks of tuna, fresh tomatoes, blanched green beans and a dollop of anchovies, dressed in a French vinaigrette on a bed of green and purple lettuce. The beans were crunchy, the vinaigrette light, the tuna solid and the anchovies- a solid hit of that salty fish got me on the way to an appetizing start!

We followed it up with a Soupe a l' Oignon, which was an onion soup, garnished with a gratinated baguette topped with Gruyere. Arjun Datta, the COO of IICA informed us that replacing the beef broth of the onion soup was a more considerate chicken broth. As appreciative as we were about that, I think the chicken broth lightened the soup, where it should be creamy and rich. I feel the baguette slice was also soaked for too long in the soup; it had becomes bloated and almost disintegrated, not having been held together with enough cheese.

For our entree, we had the famed Sole Meuniere. Fillet of sole dredged in milk and flour, pan fried in butter, served with wilted spinach and a lemon butter sauce. It was, to say it in one word, the highlight of the meal.  The fish was butter soft, yet firm. The flouring was just there, not forming a bread pakora like layer, yet there. The wilted spinach still had the green taste there, yet was not grassy. There was a beautiful wedge of lemon on the side, and a slice of a black olive hanging on to a tiny little horn from the lemon peel. Adorable and so so SO delicious.

For the main course, or Le Plat Principal, there was Poulet Saute Chasseur. This was hunter style butterflied chicken with a bundle of vegetables and chateau potatoes and a hearty mushroom sauce. I got my favourite portions, a leg and a thigh. There's something about that portion that is so soft and melty, layers and layers of dark meat that has more flavour than the rest of the chicken combined! On this too, the flouring was fabulous, just melded together with the crispy skin. The chicken was tender and easily maneuverable with a regular fork and knife, which is saying something, since it was bone-in. (I was in absolute chicken heaven at this point). Yellow zucchini, cauliflower and carrots were bundled like a yakhni. The high point? The potatoes. The outside was crispy, and the inside was like starchy buttery clouds. It was so fluffy, I don't even have words to describe it. Me being me, I layered with herbed butters and noshed it down. Worth it.

By this time, we were seriously full, but not heavy. This was debunking French food myths! Anyway, we were then served our dessert, a cold and dewy Mangue Romanoff. A cross between a trifle and a Dilli-wala fruit cream, it had chunks of sweet mango and quenelles of mango gelee swimming in lighter than air cream. This, was summer in a bowl. Everyone looked at peace again, simply because it was heavenly. Heavenly heavenly heavenly.

And here's the catch. It was topped with two beautiful pieces of caramel. One was a long thin, VERY DELICATE stick of caramel, ascending vertically from a round shell of caramel. The other was a crispy, rather prickly nest of caramel strands. We witnessed the creation of both, and safe to say, creation of this requires a lot of hand control, control over caramel consistency and so much courage. And patience. Take a look!

Our dessert goblets were licked clean, honestly. We were served tea or coffee, with the cutest petit fours I've seen. Tiny slices of cheesecake, garnished with three different grapes. They didn't taste much different to me. Even though I wanted to chomp up more of those, I just didn't have tummy real estate left anymore.

This entire course was cooked and served by the first years students of IICA, who are just four months in. Safe to say, and I know I speak for everyone else in our group, that this was one of the most worth-it Bloggers' Tables we've had.

The whole team of IICA and the Bloggers' Table

Follow your dreams, those are some of the few things that belong solely to you, and we must let our dreams get the better of us. Make a bucket list. Aim on completing them. One by one. One satisfied smile at a time.

'Til he next time!

Oreo Victoria Sponge Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Birthdays

It's R's birthday! My beloved R, and the joy of my life, Happy Birthday you beautiful wonderful man!

Well, it was, this month. Birthdays is this day you know, the day when you set out to achieve your purpose in life, dressed in your finest birthday suit. The day when years later, you realize the love with which you were created, lovingly and fearfully carried, and raised to be what you are today. The day when one day, much later, you'll go up to your mom, and say, "How did you do it?!"

It's a beginning of a new year. You almost recreate yourself. Tell yourself, this, THIS year is gonna be it. May be you settle down the next day with a "May be the birthday dinner was too heavy, still can't move."  And it's okay.Tell yourself that this is the year that matters, you'll finally take it in your hands. Your career. Your relationships. Your hobbies. The blog that you started a couple of years ago, and are yet to update. The camera you so lovingly bought, but just didn't find the time to capture what you once saw you could. Your life.

Birthdays are also awesome, primarily because there's a lot of cake involved. And it's all for you. You get to eat it all. Well some of it at least. At 12 midnight, you are smooshed with cake by your friends, joined in by family. In the afternoon, should you take the day off work, you are smooshed by another cake by another group of friends. Should you not take the day off work, there's officemates. They'll smoosh you. And may be, a super awesome friend will bake you a Oreo Victoria Sponge Cake topped with Chocolate Cranberry Ganache.

Which I did.

A dense yet light Victoria Sponge, with black crumbs of Oreo cookies mushed with that magic frosting between them, coated with Rich Dark Chocolate Cranberry Ganache and a little extra dripping off. It was beautiful. It was just beautiful. May be because it was baked with a lot of love. May be because it had Oreos and Chocolate Ganache. C'mon now that'll make anything beautiful.

Oreo Victoria Sponge Cake topped with Chocolate Cranberry Ganache

Makes one 8-inch round cake, plus enough leftover for 6 muffins

You need:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• One package of Oreos
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2.5 cups granulated sugar + 0,5 cup more for the frosting
• A bit more than 3/4 cup butter
• 1+1 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• A bit of vanilla extract
• 1 small carton of Amul cream
• 2 large bars of Bournville Dark Chocolate. I used the Cranberry version. So worth it.

The How:

Make the frosting first:

• Mix together the cream, sugar, vanilla and salt.
• Heat till the mixture boils.
• Turn the heat down to low, and add the chopped up chocolate.
• Let that stay, stirring it infrequently.
• Turn off the heat when the chocolate is all melted.
• Mix well, and put in a glass bowl.
• Let it cool, then refrigerate.
• Your frosting is ready. It's totally okay to "taste" it. By taste, I mean eat spoonfuls.

Now for the cake!

• Cream the butter and sugar.
• Add the eggs. Add the vanilla.
• The trick to a perfect Victoria Sponge is the fluffiness. So beat the hell out of it. Use an stand mixer. Beat it for a good 4-5 minutes on medium speed.
• While that's happening, remember what Nigella does. Put the Oreos into a bag, and crush it with a rolling pin. Just hammer away till there are no chunks left.
• Add the cookie crumbs to the batter.
• Sift together the flour, salt and the baking powder.
• Put in one spoonful at a time. Turn the speed down.
• Add the milk and incorporate it well.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven.
• Put this mix in a greased tin, and bake at 160 celsius for about 40 minutes.
• Once the oven pings, just let it be. Let it rest in the heat.
• After at least 15 minutes, check with a toothpick. If need be, bake for another 5-10 minutes.
• Your house at this time should smell of dreams, hope and happiness.
• Take it out of the oven, and let it cool. Turn it out onto a rack or a plate. Let it cool completely there. Because if it doesn't, the frosting you so lovingly thickened by cooling will melt on the cake itself.
• You may have extra batter left, so spoon that into the muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes.
• The next day, coat the entire cake in the ganache, by spooning it out, and smoothing it. Reserve the rest of it. Refrigerate the cake of the rest of the day.

The cake, frosted once, about to be chucked into the fridge again

• That evening, or the next day, give the final coating of the ganache. Refrigerate till you serve it.
• Your absolutely gorgeous birthday cake is ready!

Serve, slice it and eat it. (Or have the frosted muffins, if you gave the cake away). You'll love it.

And thank your mum and dad :)