The festive season anticipating the arrival of Christmas has been one of the most awaited periods for many chefs, bakers, pastry chefs and culinary enthusiasts. This festival with a rich food history allows one to revive the old recipes while also letting one tweak the classic Christmas sweet delicacies. Spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, vanilla, loads of dry fruits, dates, and a few select alcohols often are the favoured ingredients for culinary experts to cook decadent Christmas cakes and desserts for the festival.
We reached out to Chef Deepak Kashyap, Chef Sasha Wadhwa and Sous Chef Akash Khandelwal, who shared recipes of sweet something for the festive season.
1. Chef Deepak Kashyap, Executive Chef, Welcomhotel Jim Corbett, with over 15 years of experience in the culinary field, feels Christmas dessert is incomplete without a serving of pudding. Thus, he chooses to share the recipe for sticky dates pudding which is filled with the goodness of dates.
Sticky Dates Pudding
Tempting sticky date pudding
Ingredients
For Baked Cake
- 200 gms dates
- 20 gm sultana
- 10 gms Glazed Red Cherry
- 20 gms dry apricots
- 20 gms walnut
- 20 gms prunes
- 20 gms Ginger Candy
- 20 gms citrus peeled
- 10 gms black currant
- 20 gms blueberry
- 10 gram ginger powder
- 2 gms nutmeg powder
- 5 gms cinnamon powder
- 100 gms baking flour
- 2 eggs
- 3 gm baking powder
- 70 ml rum
- 70 ml whiskey
For Toffee Sauce
- 200 gm sugar
- 125 gm unsalted butter
- 5ml vanilla essence
Method
- Mixed all the fruit and soak them for at least 15 to 20 days to ferment in brandy or rum
- On the other side clean the dates and pass-through mincer to make a fine smooth paste
- Mixed soaked fruits and dates paste, egg and flour with other ingredients.
- Put the mixture in a greased mould or paper mould and bake at 180 for 22-25 minutes.
Serve with toffee sauce after demolding sticky date pudding
2. Chef Sasha Wadhwa believes that spices-infused foods and drinks are integral to the Christmas menu. A perfect example is mulled wine. In my seven years journey of studying baking, I have realized how different spices, especially cinnamon, can enhance baked goodies. Thus, I am sharing the recipe for Cinnamon based eggless cake.
Eggless Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cake
Baking Temperature – 150°C
Baking time – 35-40 minutes
Serves 4-6 people
Pan size – 7 inches (greased and lined with butter paper)
Ingredients
- 120 gms softened butter
- 50 gms brown sugar
- 60 gms caster sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 140 gms all-purpose flour (maida)
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 120 ml milk
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 150 gms 55%-60% Couverture Chocolate Callets (or any good quality dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks)
Method
- Preheat your oven to 150°C
- Add vinegar to the milk and set aside.
- With an electric handheld mixer, or a whisk or spatula, beat the butter, brown sugar, and caster sugar until the mixture turns fluffy and brown sugar crystals almost dissolve. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.
- Sift the maida, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and a separate bowl and set aside.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the creamed butter and sugar, a little at a time, alternating with the milk + vinegar mixture.
- Once the batter has come together, fold in the chocolate callets.
- Pour the batter into a well-greased and lined pan, and bake at 150°C for 35-40 minutes, until the top and edges are golden brown, and a skewer inserted to check doneness comes out clean
Once your cake is ready and cooled, demould from the pan and serve with any toppings of your choice. Enjoy!
3. Christmas is a perfect occasion to make some exotic cakes and baked goodies, says Akash Khandelwal, Sous Chef, Pastry & Bakery, Welcomhotel Sheraton. With over 8 years of experience with leading hospitality brands, Chef Akash Khandelwal now helming the responsibility as a Sous Chef, taking care of Pastry and Bakery Operations. Akash picks the classic French Christmas cake, Mont Blanc and shares the recipe.
Mont Blanc
Delicious Mont Blanc cake
Ingredients
Meringue Swiss
- 150 g egg white
- 300 g powder sugar
Custard
- 1/4 litre of milk
- 1/2 vanilla pod
- 3 egg yolks
- 50 g powdered sugar
- 20 g corn flour
- 25 g butter
X-mas cake
- 60 g butter
- 60 g icing sugar
- 60 g almond powder
- 55 g flour T45
- 10 whole egg
- 7 g baking powder
- 5 cl brown rum
- 100g Mix nuts
Milk Chocolate Vermicelli
- 200 g milk chocolate
- 200 g cream
Method
Meringue Swiss:
- Take a heavy bottom pan and pour the water; let it acts as a hot water bath
- Combine egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer
- Set over steaming water, stirring and constantly scraping with a flexible spatula until egg whites hold steady at 175°F (79°C), between 8 and 10 minutes
- Transfer to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and whip at high speed until the meringue is glossy and beginning to ball up inside the whisk, about 5 minutes
- Using a plain nozzle, pipe the meringue over a hemisphere silicon mould or any round hemisphere surface and let it dry in a hot area or closed oven. This will act as a base for Mont Blanc.
Custard:
- Put the milk into a large pan and gently bring it to below boiling point Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the yolks, corn flour, sugar and vanilla Gradually pour the hot milk mixture onto the sugar mixture, whisking constantly
- Put the mixture back into it. Heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon, until the custard is thickened
- This will act as a filling inside the meringue dome which we created before
X-Mas cake
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond powder, salt and baking powder, and then set aside
- Cream the butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment until light and fluffy
- Add the eggs one at a time while mixing at medium speed
- Scrape the bowl down and beat until fully incorporated
- Mix until incorporated. Add the flour mixture and mixed nuts and mix until combined
- Bake at 160c for 30-35mins and apply rum directly after baking out from the oven
Milk chocolate vermicelli
Take a heavy bottom pan, boil the full-fat cream, and pour over the milk chocolate. Cover it using a cling film and use it the next day and after whipping using a whisk attachment or hand whisk.
Assemble
- Take a base of dried and fill it with the custard
- Baked x-mas cake should be cut in a 5cm ring and placed on the top of the previous base of meringue & custard
- To cover the prepared cake
- Pipe the whipped chocolate vermicelli using a vermicelli nozzle
Garnish with candied Christmas fruits.