u/Ok-Cost1232

New to baking and had been ordering her birthday cake till 3 months, but this time I planned to make it myself. I have never done frosting on cakes before, so this was new for me and, honestly, a bit chaotic. It started out as a total mess and I tried to fix it as much as I could. In the end, this is what it ended up as. My daughter is 4 months old today, so she’s not going to eat it.
Note – This ended up wayyyy more expensive than if I had ordered it, and the additional labor on top of that. But all of it is worth it.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I know it’s not a birthday per se, but just wanted to have fun as it’s just me and baby alone at home and I wanted to mark this milestone. Please be kind.

I recently had some guests over, and as a beginner in baking, this was one dessert I had always wanted to make so I prepared this mango flavoured tres leches inspired dessert for them. It was an absolute showstopper of the dinner!
Used plain vanilla cake dipped in mango milk overnight , topped with whipped cream and mango slices. Later added strawberry jelly to give the pink tint on top.

Recipe-
Mango Tres Leches Inspired Dessert
Eggless  |  Serves 4–6  |  5×5 inch container
 
1. Vanilla Cake Base
Ingredients
• 1¼ cup cake flour
• 3 tbsp custard powder
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
• ½ cup plain whole milk yogurt (room temp, whipped before using)
• ⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• ¼ cup whole milk (room temp)
• 1½ tsp vanilla paste
• 1 tsp white vinegar
 
Method

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and line pan with parchment paper.
2. Sift all dry ingredients together twice.
3. Whisk all wet ingredients (except vinegar) until smooth — everything must be at room temp.
4. Fold dry into wet gently in 2 additions. Do not overmix.
5. Add vinegar, fold 3–4 strokes, pour immediately into pan.
6. Bake 28–33 mins until toothpick comes out with moist crumbs.
7. Cool slightly before soaking.

 
2. Mango Milk Soak
Ingredients
• 1 cup whole milk
• ⅓ cup sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• ½ mango, blended and strained
 
Method
8. Blend mango with a splash of milk, strain through sieve.
9. Mix with remaining milk, condensed milk and cream.
10. Poke holes all over warm cake with a fork.
11. Pour soak generously over cake, covering edges too.
12. Cover and refrigerate for minimum 2–3 hours.
 
3. Whipped Cream Topping
Ingredients
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla paste
 
Method
13. Whip chilled cream with sugar and vanilla until soft peaks.
14. Spread loosely over soaked cake.
 
4. Pink Jelly Glaze (optional)
Ingredients
• ½ packet strawberry or raspberry jelly powder
• ¼ cup hot water
 
Method
15. Dissolve jelly powder in hot water, let cool to room temperature.
16. Do not let it set — use while still liquid.
17. Drizzle or lightly spoon over whipped cream for a pink tint.
18. Return to fridge for 15–20 mins to let it settle.
 
5. Final Assembly
Toppings
• 1 mango — half fanned in centre, half cubed around
• Fresh mint to garnish
 
Steps
19. Spread whipped cream over fully soaked and chilled cake.
20. Drizzle pink jelly water on top of the cream.
21. Fan one mango half in the centre.
22. Scatter mango cubes around the edges.
23. Add a mint sprig, serve chilled.  

Not sure how common it is to top cheesecakes with jelly. I thought I would try to give a color pop to the plain white cheesecake. Honestly, it looked great and tasted amazing as well. How do you find this combination though?

It was for guests, so I don’t have photos of it being scooped up! 😅

My first sourdough
Ingredients
• 400g TWF sourdough flour
• 272ml water (autolyse)
• 17ml water (for salt)
• 120g active sourdough starter (rye flour starter- feeding stoneground whole wheat flour)
• 8g salt

Steps
• Fed starter with 50g flour + 50ml water, waited 6 hours until doubled and bubbly
• Mixed 400g flour + 272ml water, covered and rested 1 hour (autolyse)
• Added 120g peaked starter, pinched in, rested 30 mins
• Dissolved 8g salt in 17ml water, worked into dough, rested 30 mins
• Did 4 rounds of stretch and fold, 30 mins apart
• Covered and cold fermented in fridge overnight for 12 hours
• Next day tipped out, folded, shaped, bench rested 20 mins
• Placed seam side up in proofing basket, room temp proofed 2 hours
• Preheated cast iron combo cooker in oven at max temp for 1 full hour
• Dusted pan with fine semolina, dropped dough in, scored one slash at 45°
• Baked 25 mins with lid on, 20 mins lid off — standard bake mode throughout
• Cooled 1 hour before cutting

Note - I misread the original recipe and used additional 17ml water to dissolve salt. This increased my dough hydration by mistake.

I think i need to reduce my off lid bake time to avoid the burn (any thoughts?)
Also after cutting I feel the crumb is bit gummy - how to avoid that?

I have been making protein shakes for a while and got bored with the same peanut butter flavour. Today instead of it I dropped half ripe avocado , 2 small bananas ,1 scoop (24g) unflavoured whey protein, 1 cup milk and voila! This absolutely gem came out of the mix! Sharing in case anyone else might want to try or already tried.

Now the mango season is in here so made this for our guests! Need to work more on the presentation but otherwise I am happy with the result 😄

Hi, Has anyone here tried Rye flour as main ingredient for starter? I know whole wheat flour can also be used for same but I am reading this book( written by a western guy) and he suggests to go with rye for its natural wild yeast. Not sure if it’s directed more towards the people who lives in colder climate as in india fermentation happens quickly. But I am just curious if apart from fermentation speed does it contribute to the success of the starter. Also it’s not a staple in india and not found commonly on quick commerce apps. I found one on amazon by TWF and planning to try using this. I have tried in past using plain wheat flour but it was unsuccessful. If anyone have any tips on this flour for indian climate please do let me know. Thanks!

Live far from the city, not much around to step out to. So ordered a few things, put it together at home. My own little cafe, I guess 🫠

Edit - Except for coffee rest all are ordered from swiggy 🙌 Too lazy to cook also 😂

Hi, 33F here. In my 20s, I had decided not to have children. Got married at 29. Full on girl bossed my career, climbed the corporate ladder, travelled to different countries, and was content in life.

No one pressured us for a baby from either side of the family after 3 years of marriage.

And then… I caught baby fever last year. Not FOMO, just a yearning for a mini version of me and my hubby.

My husband was supportive, family was ecstatic, and I’m wondering now why I didn’t want a child in first place. I know I know, freedom, financial aspect etc. tbh, I think I was not mentally ready before, but something shifted last year. Like a switch flipped. I was ready to take on the responsibility of a baby. This is something not everyone can relate to, as everyone’s life experience is different, but I thought of sharing it here in case a few souls can relate. This feeling is hard to explain 🫠

Note - Pregnancy was easy for me but motherhood is hard.. like really hard. Hence the reason I mentioned mentally prepared. So it’s not all glitters unfortunately. Nothing prepares you for the experience you’ll have after baby arrives. We are navigating through it one day at a time. There are both ups and downs but when I see my baby’s smile.. I know things will get better 🤗