Christmas 2011 - Limited Edition Honey Cardamom Fudge

Hello Everyone - we've been a bit quiet on the blog the last few weeks as we've been busy carefully creating a brand new product especially for Christmas - presenting Devnaa's Honey & Cardamom Fudge!

A beautifully creamy white chocolate fudge enriched with distinct notes of honey and the heady aroma of freshly ground cardamom, enrobed in silky smooth dark chocolate.

Cardamom, sometimes referred to as the Queen of Spices, is one of the most favoured spices used throughout Indian cuisine - in savoury dishes as well as sweet ones. Honey is also considered to be a luxury ingredient and in Hindu culture is said to be one of the five 'elixirs of immortality' (panchamrita') alongside ghee, milk, sugar and yoghurt.

This year we have exclusively produced 100 boxes of this regal fudge especially for the Christmas season. Each 16 piece box comes with a unique tag stating it's ID number so you know just how authentic it really is! Presented in a special purple edition of our award nominated 'tiffin' style packaging this fudge makes a unique Christmas gift that has it all.

We hope those of you that get a chance to taste our honey and cardamom fudge enjoy it as much as we have loved every second of creating it - from carefully developing the exciting flavour to lovingly wrapping it up in our tiffin boxes to present to you! :) xx

Recipe: Fragrant & Chocolatey Mousse Desserts!

Hello Everyone! I'd like to start today by wishing everybody a very happy Diwali & Eid  - you guys kept us rushed off our feet during the festive period and we were really honoured by how many of you chose to include Devnaa as part of your gifts and celebrations - we hope that our sweets and chocolates added the perfect sweet touch to your festivities!

On with today's blog - having consumed endless amounts of delicious sweets and desserts over the last few weeks I have been inspired! The latest invention in our kitchen is this gorgeous chocolate, pistachio, cardamom and rose flavoured mousse cake which makes a stunning dessert, perfect for impressive dinner parties and is relatively really easy to make! For this recipe we're using a chocolate sponge which can be easily made or purchased with or without eggs but for a variation packed with more pistachio flavour, try making a pistachio sponge or joconde and using that instead.

Ingredients:
100g Shelled Pistachio Nuts
1 x 9" Square Chocolate Sponge Cake
600ml Double Cream
150g Caster Sugar
1/2 tsp Ground Cardamom
60ml Rose Water

You will need 6 x 2.5" Mousse Rings or Dariole Moulds

Method:

• Place the pistachio nuts in a frying pan and dry roast over a medium heat, tossing occasionally until green and fragrant (about 5 minutes)
• Leave aside until cool and then grind into a fine powder
• Carefully slice the chocolate sponge cake into 4 thin layers
• Cut 2 of the layers into 18 circles the same size as your moulds
• Cut the remaining 2 layers into 3" x 8" strips
• Press 6 of the sponge discs into the bottoms of the moulds and line the sides of each mould with the strips of sponge, trim to fit perfectly
• Sprinkle about half of the rose water over the sponge in the moulds
• Whisk the sugar and cream together until just past the soft peak consistency
• fold in the pistachio powder and cardamom
• Set aside 6 heaped tablespoons of the cream mixture
• Divide half of the remaining mixture between the sponge lined moulds and tap to level
• Place another disc of sponge on top of the cream in the mould and drizzle with half of the remaining rose water
• Divide the rest of the cream between the moulds, level and top with the last discs of sponge and drizzle with the rose water
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hours
• To demould - run a palette knife around each cake and carefully remove from the mould
• Use dessert spoons to make 6 'quenelles' of the reserved cream and place on top of each dessert (or just decoratively arrange the cream on top!)
• Garnish with rose petals and pistachio nuts and serve chilled.
• Pictures to follow soon - the layers look amazing when cut into! :)

Now Available at Heathrow T4!!!!!!

Hello everyone! It's been a couple of weeks since our last entry and we're back with some fantastic news!!!! Devnaa Signature Chocolate Tiffins, Chocolate Bars and Drinking Chocolate are now available at the Simply Chocolate shop in Heathrow Terminal 4 Duty Free, just in time for those of you who are travelling abroad for the festive season - Diwali in 3 weeks, eeek!!!
Not only will the chocolates be available to purchase but during the month of October there will be a tasting booth at the front of the shop allowing you to sample some of the goodies and if you're travelling via first or business class you'll also be treated to some samples in the lounges!

If you are passing through that way please stop by and take a look and don't forget to tell a friend to tell a friend to do the same! Lol! In all seriousness - thank you all for your support, hopefully we can continue to grow Devnaa together and make it much more widely available! :) xx

Rainbow Cupcakes!!! A Bright End To Cupcake Week :)

Ok, so we cheated a little but what's cheating if it means you get extra cake? LOL! I'm going to excuse myself with the fact that it's Friday, it's fun and it's the last day of cupcake week! After all the hard baking work the Devnaa team have been doing I thought they deserved a treat (plus my inner child has been dying to make these for aaaaaages!), so Rainbow Cupcakes it is!

They are in fact just a batch of basic vanilla cupcakes, divided by 7 (I have been singing the 'Rainbow Song' to myself all day!), each bowl of batter was coloured and then a spoonful of each colour per cupcake case - simples! The flavour is not so much Indian but again - excuse at the ready(!) - the vibrant colours are so representative of Indian culture it just naturally fit!

Use whatever vanilla cake recipe you like with whichever colours please you, these are by far the happiest cupcakes I have ever baked, putting a smile on everyone's faces! :)

Cupcake Week Day 5 - Chocolate, Coconut & Cardamom Cupcakes

Hello All! For the last blog of cupcake week the Devnaa team thought that we'd quite like to base a cupcake on one of our signature chocolates - chai masala has been done before (by us and many others!), pisatchio and saffron.... Well, we did the pistachio thing on day 1 and so - Coconut & Cardamom it was! Yes we've used coconut icing on our gingerbread cupcakes (day 2) but this is a full on, chocolate cupcake with coconut filling (baked inside, not poured in after!) and coconut and cardamom icing, topped of course with a Devnaa Coconut & Cardamom Signature Caramel. We hope you like it as much as we do :)

Chocolate, Coconut & Cardamom Cupcakes (makes 12)

Ingredients for Filling:
100g Cream Cheese
25g Fine Desiccated Coconut
25g Caster Sugar

Method

• Simply beat the cream cheese until smooth, beat in the desiccated coconut and sugar until well mixed and leave aside until needed

Ingredients for Chocolate Sponge:
200g Butter
200g Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
150g Self Raising Flour
50g Cocoa Poder
100ml Soured Cream

Method:

• Pre heat oven to gas mark 4/180C/350F and linbe a cupcake tin with cases
• Cream the butter and sugar until white and fluffy
• Beat in the vanilla extract
• Scrape down the sides of your bowl and beat in the eggs one by one until you have a smooth mixture
• Sift together the flour and cocoa powder and then slowly beat into the creamed mixture a little at atime, adding the soured cream as and when you need it until you have used all the dry ingredients and the batter is of a smooth and creamy dropping consistency
• Divide half of the batter between all 12 cupcake cases
• Now, using a teaspoon, divide the coconut filling between all 12 cupcakes, carefully placing it in the center of each cake
• Top the filling in each cake with the remaining chocolate batter and then bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
• Cool completely on a wire rack.

Ingredients for Coconut & Cardamom Buttercream:
200g Butter
350g Icing Sugar
4 tblsp Coconut Powder
1/2 tsp Coconut Extract (if you have it otherwise add more coconut powder until the taste is right for you)
1/4 tsp Powdered Cardamom (grind it up as fine as you can - nobody wants to bite on a stony chunk, it can be really bitter!)

Method:

• Beat the butter until soft and creamy and then beat in the cardamom and extract (if using)
• Sift together the icing sugar and coconut powder and gradually beat into the butter, ensuring your icing remains smooth and creamy
• Add a little more coconut powder if required and then swirl onto each cupcake
• Top with a Devnaa Coconut and Cardamom truffle if you wish!
• Enjoy :)

Cupcake Week Day 4 - Mint Chocolate Mango Cupcakes

Ok, so we know we're starting to deviate a lot now from the Indian inspiration but after 3 days without it, we were craving chocolate sponge!!! Plus we had a little mango left over from yesterday and we thought why not be different and go with mint? Although it is quite surprisingly not used much in Indian cuisine, mint is used in India as more of a medicinal herb and is often brewed alongside black tea to produce a stomach relaxing brew.

Mint and mango are sometimes paired to make a savoury dressing or condiment but today, we at Devnaa quite liked the sound of this mint chocolate mango cupcake and it has turned out to be our favourite so far this week! Chocolate and mint are of course a classic combination and the mango comes through right at the end providing a delicate tang that fits in perfectly.

Mint Chocolate Mango Cupcakes (makes 12)

Ingredients for Chocolate Sponge:
200g Butter
200g Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
150g Self Raising Flour
50g Cocoa Powder
100ml Soured Cream

Method:

• Pre heat oven to gas mark 4/180C/350F and line a cupcake tin with cases
• Cream the butter and sugar together until white and fluffy
• Beat in the vanilla extract followed by the eggs, one at a time
• Scrape down the sides of your bowl and beat well until smooth
• Sift together the flour and cocoa powder then slowly beat into the creamed mixture, adding the soured cream as needed until you have used up all of the dry ingredients and have reached a smooth creamy, dropping consistency batter
• Divide batter between the cupcake cases and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
• Cool completely on a wire rack

Ingredients for Mango Filling:
2 tblsp Dulce de Leche (only if you have it)
2 tblsp Mango Puree
2 tblsp Cream Cheese (4 tblsp if not using Dulce de Leche)
1 tblsp Sugar (only if not using Dulce de Leche)

Method:

• Mix together the dulce de leche (if using) and mango pulp until smooth
• Beat the cream cheese until smooth and then beat in the mango mixture
• Sweeten with sugar if using and keep refrigerated for about 30 minutes

Ingredients for Mint Buttercream:
200g Butter
350g Icing Sugar
1 tsp Peppermint Extract
Green Food Colouring (optional)

Method:

• Beat the cream until smooth and then beat in the peppermint extract
• Sift the icing sugar and gradually into the butter, a little at a time, making sugar it is completely incorporated and you have a smooth icing
• Mix in a little green food colouring if you like, just enough to get a light green peppermint shade.

Assembly:

• create a hole in the top of each cupcake using your finger to push the surface about half way down the cake
• Fill each hole with the mango filling until oozing generously over the top
• Allow to set in a cool place for 10 minutes
• Pipe or spoon your mint buttercream on top and sprinkle with a little grated or finely chopped dark chocolate
• Enjoy! :)

Cupcake Week Day 3: Mango & Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

For today's tribute to cupcake week the Devnaa team decided that we really wanted to create a recipe using mangoes. Widely referred to as the national fruit of India, mangoes are cultivated there in masses - however our favourite variety - the Kesar Mango - is only available ripe for a very short period of time between May and July every year. Kesar mangoes have an incredibly intense, rich mango flavour and are so lovely and sweet. The colour is a vibrant orange, hence the name 'Kesar' referring to saffron. You can however buy tinned Kesar Mango Pulp throughout the year from most Indian grocery stores.

The cupcakes we created today were our first attempt at using mango in anything baked and as we read from a lot of bloggers who have tried this before, mango pulp just doesn't provide a strong hit of flavour when baked or even folded into icing. This can be remedied by using mango extract which is available on the internet and in some health food stores but this tends to be the flavour of West Indian mangoes and so we opted out, thinking lets see how we go. The result was a lovely soft cupcake, a beautiful bright yellow in colour with a light fragrance of mango. The addition of the dulce de leche lends a nice caramelly flavour which helps to lift the mango slightly.

Mango & Dulce de Leche Cupcakes (makes 12)

Ingredients for Dulce de Leche:
400g tin Sweetened Condensed Milk
Pinch of Salt

Method:

• Start this recipe with the dulce de leche as it takes a while and then even longer to cool - pre heat your oven to gas mark 7/220C/425F and set your kettle to boil
• Pour the condensed milk into a 25cm (approximately) baking dish and sprinkle on the salt
• Set this baking dish into a larger one and fill the larger dish with hot water until it reaches half way up the sides of the smaller dish
• Cover with foil and carefully place in the oven
• Allow to bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, checking every 30 minutes or so and replenishing the water if necessary
• When ready the condensed milk should look nice and golden and caramelly
• Remove from the oven and carefully take the smaller dish out of the larger one
• Allow to come to room temperature giving it a good stir every now and again to help it along and stop a skin from forming on top
• Once you have finished with the dulce de leche in this recipe you can store it in the fridge, just warm it slightly whenever you want to use it

Ingredients for Mango Sponge:
120g Butter
150g Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
185g Self Raising Flour
150ml Mango Pulp

Method:

• Pre heat oven to gas mark 4/180C/350F and line cupcake tin with cases
• Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy and then beat in the vanilla extract (and mango extract if using)
• Scrape down the sides of your bowl and beat in the eggs, one at a time
• Slowly beat in a third of the flour followed by half of the mango pulp, followed by another third of the flour and then the rest of the mango pulp ending with the last of the flour
• Beat well to create a thick, smooth batter
• Divide between the cupcake cases and bake for around 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
• Cool on a wire rack

Ingredients for Mango Whipped Cream
200ml Whipping Cream
50g Caster Sugar
100ml Mango Pulp

Method:

• Whip the cream until it is thick and holding it's shape well
• Fold in the sugar and mango pulp carefully - the mango pulp will make the cream slightly loose again
• Refrigerate until required

Assembly:

• Poke a hole into each cupcake, going about two thirds down but not too wide
• Fill a piping bag with dulce de leche and pipe into each hole until it oozes out
• Top each cupcake with a swirl of the mango whipped cream
• Drizzle with more dulce de leche and even some mango pulp if you like (we sprinkled some edible gold glitter on ours)
• Best served immediately otherwise keep refrigerated until dessert!

Gingerbread and Coconut Cupcakes for Cupcake Week 2011 (Egg Free Recipe)

Ginger and coconut may be more widely regarded as West Indian flavours but they are just as prominent in India proper, especially in the South of the country where coconuts grow in abundance and are used in almost every local dish with ginger playing a strong complimentary flavour. Tea brewed from coconut water and whole ginger is one of the most invigorating, refreshing drinks one can have and is a specialty in South Indian states like Kerala, which is coincidentally on India's West coast!

Today in the Devnaa kitchen we thought we'd try and pair these two great flavours together in a cupcake for everybody to enjoy during cupcake week. The light, ginger sponge is delicately spiced and the addition of yoghurt means that this recipe requires no eggs, perfect for any vegetarians out there! The coconut icing is creamy and lightly flavoured - in fact although it tastes great on it's own, paired with the ginger sponge you do lose the coconut a bit so feel free to add a little more if you wish or do as we've done and add some coconut to decorate.

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Icing
(makes 12 small cupcakes, for big ones just double the recipe)

Ingredients for the sponge:
55g Butter
100g Golden Syrup
130ml Plain Yoghurt
200g Plain Flour
1/4 tsp (heaped) Bicarbonate of Soda
1 tsp Ground Ginger
3/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
A pinch of Ground Cloves
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tblsp Finely Chopped Stem Ginger (from syrup)

Method:

• Pre heat oven to gas mark 4/180C/350F and line a cupcake tin with cases
• Place the butter and golden syrup together in a saucepan over a medium heat
• Stir constantly until it comes to the boil and then transfer the mixture straight to a mixing bowl and leave aside to cool for 5 minutes
• In the meantime, sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt into a separate bowl and mix together to combine
• Stir the yoghurt into the butter mixture
• Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until you have a smooth batter
• Fold in the stem ginger
• Divide the batter equally between the 12 cupcake cases and bake in the centre of your oven for 15 - 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean (leave for 25 - 30 minutes if making double quantity)
• Cool on a wire rack before icing.

Ingredients for icing:
60g Butter
115g Cream Cheese
130g Icing Sugar
4 tblsp Powdered Coconut

Method:

• Beat the butter until creamy
• Add the cream cheese and beat well until combined and smooth
• Sift together the icing sugar and coconut powder and gradually beat into the butter mixture until all of the ingredients have combined and you have a smooth, creamy, coconutty icing
• Swirl or spoon atop your cupcakes.

You can then decorate your cupcakes with more coconut - fresh or dried if desired, here we've used dried coconut and some heart shaped gingerbread cookies. Enjoy! :)

Pistachio, Almond & Rose Cupcakes for Cupcake Week

Hello all!

It's been a while I know but national cupcake week has inspired me to kick start my blogging once again and hopefully, fingers crossed I am going to stick with it this time!

To start me off - I'm going to create a fabulous new cupcake for each day this week to help celebrate cupcake week. In true Devnaa fashion the aim is to create a selection of Indian inspired flavours that look as good as they taste and then share the recipe and some pictures here with you at the end of the day.

Today's recipe is a new take on our classic Pistachio & Rose cupcake. We've pumped up the flavour by adding an almond cream filling for an extra dimension of scrumptiousness! The Devnaa crew seem to like it - I left one aside and came back 5 minutes later to find it had vanished! Give it a go and let us know what you think. Happy Baking :)

Pistachio, Almond & Rose Cupcakes (makes 12)

Ingredients for the sponge base:
100g Shelled Pistachio Nuts
200g Butter
200g Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
200g Self Raising Flour
125ml Milk

Method:

• Start by pre heating your oven to gas mark 4/350F/180C and line your cupcake tin
• Place the pistachio nuts in a frying pan and dry roast over a medium heat until fragrant, about 5 minutes, then switch off the heat and leave the nuts aside to cool
• Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fuffy
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly between each addition and scraping the edges of your bowl as required
• Add half of the sifted flour and gently fold it in until fully incorporated
• Add one third of the milk and fold this in too
• Add the remaining flour and fold in completely
• Add the remaining milk as required, a little at a time until your batter becomes smooth and is of dropping consistency
• Quickly grind up the pistachio nuts and fold them into the mixture
• Divide the cupcake batter equally between the cupcake cases
• Bake in the centre of your oven for about 20 minutes or until lightly golden, springy and the skewer test comes out clean
• Cool on a wire rack.

Ingredients for almond cream:
100ml Whipping Cream
2 tblsp Caster Sugar
2 tblsp Almond Powder (lightly roast some almonds and grind down into a powder)
1/4 tsp Almond Extract

Method:

• Whip the cream together with the sugar until it reaches a soft peak consistency
• Fold in the almond powder and extract

Ingredients for rose buttercream:
175g Butter
300g Icing sugar (sifted)
1 tblsp Rose Extract (the better the quality, the better the flavour!)
Food colouring if desired

Method:

• Beat the butter until soft and creamy
• beat in the rose extract
• Slowly beat in the icing sugar making sure it combines well

Assembly:

• Using your thumb, poke a hole into the top of each cupcake, pressing until about hal way down (if you prefer you can cut a small disc out instead of pushing it down but this way is easier and less wasteful)
• Place the almond cream into a piping bag and fill the craters in the cupcakes until just oozing over the top
• Fill a piping bag with the rose buttercream and swirl on top as you wish (if you don't have a piping bag you can use spoons just as well to fill and swirl!)
• Voila!

(Excuse the poor quality of the images, Jay and his SLR aren't here!!! Lol!)

Chai Masala Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe

The perfect way to welcome summer, our uber cool chai masala chocolate cheesecake...

Ingredients

Base:

200g Ginger Biscuits

100g Butter

Filling:

600g Full Fat Cream Cheese

150ml Soured Cream

175g Icing Sugar

½ tsp Vanilla Extract

100ml Double cream

75g Devnaa Chai Masala Drinking Chocolate

Method:

·         Start by greasing and lining a 20cm (8”) spring form cake tin

·         Finely crush the ginger biscuits and then gently melt the butter and stir it into the crushed biscuits

·         Using the back of a spoon press the biscuit mixture into the base of the cake tin – try and keep it as level as you can

·         Place in the refrigerator to firm up whilst you prepare the filling

·         For the filling place the cream cheese and soured cream into a large mixing bowl

·         Beat together until smooth and well combined

·         Sift the icing sugar into the cream cheese mixture, add the vanilla extract and mix to combine

·         In a separate bowl whisk the double cream until thick and billowy

·         Add the Devnaa Chai Masala Drinking Chocolate to the cream and continue to whip for a few more seconds until soft peaks form

·         Gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture until well combined

·         Pour the filling over the base and level the surface using a palette knife or the back of a spoon

·         Leave to set in the refrigerator overnight

·         To serve, run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake to separate it from the cake tin

·         Unclip the spring form tin and ease the cake out gently

·         Use a knife dipped in hot water to cut the slices and serve sprinkled with grated chocolate or drizzled with melted chocolate.

 

Secret Sale!

With a very special event coming up shortly in the UK I just thought I'd drop everyone a quick whisper about a sale we're planning. Your favourite Devnaa sweets and chocolates in lovely gift boxes, at special prices, especially for the leading lady in your life (you know who she is!) Sssshhhhh....!!!! :)

Pancake Recipe 2: Chocolate Ganache Filled Pancake Cake (Egg Free!)

Here's the second offering from Devnaa's Pancake Day Kitchen - a chocoholics delight filled with yummy chocolate ganache and cheeky hint of Nutella :) once again, feel free to substitute the batter with a regular 'egg full' one if you prefer and we have used a small 15cm frying pan so if you want to make a bigger pancake cake just double the recipe. Enjoy :)

Chocolate Ganache Filled Pancake Cake:
For the pancakes:
200g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
25g Butter (melted)
400ml Milk

For the chocolate ganache:
200g Dark Chocolate, broken into pieces
50g Butter (at room temperature)
100ml Double Cream
3 tblsp Nutella

• Start by making the ganache


• Place the broken chocolate in a large bowl


• Place the bowl over a saucepan over simmering water and allow the chocolate to gently melt, stir occasionally (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't come into contact with the water)


• Once the chocolate has melted remove the bowl from the heat and carefully dry the bottom to remove any vapour


• Gently stir the butter into the chocolate, a little at a time making sure each bit is fully incorporated before adding the next


• Once all the butter is in pour in the cream and stir to combine


• Fold in the Nutella


• Leave aside to cool and thicken while you make the pancakes


• Lightly brush your frying pan with oil and allow to heat up over a medium high setting


• Once your pan is hot (and not a second before!) pour in some of your batter and swirl to thinly coat the pan - I found that using a 5cm ice cream scoop provided the perfect measure for this but if you don't have one - all in all you should get about 12 pancakes out of this batter (egg free pancakes will generally be slightly thicker than regular ones)


• Once the edges of the pancake start to shrink inwards and the base is lightly golden you can flip it over, yay!!


• Cook until golden (the egg free pancakes will need to be a little more on the browner side to make sure they are cooked through)


• Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat the entire process (including brushing your pan with a little oil) until you have used up all your batter


• By now the ganache should be cool enough to spread (if for any reason its not put your oven on a low setting, cover pancakes with foil and place on the bottom shelf to keep warm while your ganache cools)


• Place 2 pancakes on a plate, apply a generously thick layer of ganache (at this stage you can sprinkle on some ground nuts if you like) and repeat until you have used up your pancakes or the cake is as tall as you want it


• Leave the top layer plain and cut into slices using a sharp knife


• Serve warm (microwave for a few seconds if the cake has cooled too much during the assembly procedure) accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream and scattered with nuts (or in our case - pieces of honeycomb!) if you have them handy

These pancake cakes are so different and so versatile - you can stack with jam and top with cream and fruit or for a celebration - top with fresh sweetened whipped cream, lots of fruit and/or chocolate, add some candles and if it's really special, pipe on a message and make someone's day!

Pancake Recipe 1: Baklava Inspired Pancake Cake (Egg Free!)

Happy Pancake Day Everybody!!!! This is one of our favourite days in the Devnaa kitchen as I don't think we ever otherwise make pancakes and yet today we eat them endlessly!

As ever, we've jazzed up our pancakes by taking inspiration from some of our other favourite sweets and desserts and today is a double blog treat as I post our two best pancake recipes for Shrove Tuesday 2011. As an extra bonus both the recipes are created using an egg free batter (although you can easily substitute this with a regular batter if you prefer). To start with, here's the recipe for our Baklava inspired Pancake Layer Cake:
(FYI we used a small, 15cm frying pan to make the pancakes as the slices can become quite rich and filling - especially if you're making lots of different types! Feel free to double the batter mix to make larger pancakes x)

Baklava Pancake Layer Cake:
For the pancakes:
200g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
25g Butter (melted)
400ml Milk

For the Honey Syrup:
80ml Water
85g Honey
50g Caster Sugar
1/2 tsp Rose Water
1/4 tsp Ground Cardamom
A few strands of saffron

25g Shelled Pistachio Nuts

• Start by pre heating your oven to gas mark 4 (350F/180C)


• Now place the pistachio nuts in a frying pan and dry roast over a medium heat until aromatic, you will notice that they also become much more vividly green (you can do this in the oven but as it's just a few and you're using the pan anyway it only takes a minute or two this way)


• Transfer the nuts to a plate to cool and rinse out the pan. Dry thoroughly and place ready for action on the cooker!


• Prepare your pancake batter by sifting the flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl


• Pour in the butter followed by the (cold) milk and whisk until completely smooth


• Lightly brush your pan with oil and set over a medium high heat


• Once your pan is hot (and not a second before!) pour in some of your batter and swirl to thinly coat the pan - I found that using a 5cm ice cream scoop provided the perfect measure for this but if you don't have one - all in all you should get about 12 pancakes out of this batter (egg free pancakes will generally be slightly thicker than regular ones)


• Once the edges of the pancake start to shrink inwards and the base is lightly golden you can flip the pancake over, yay!!


• Cook until golden (the egg free ones will need to be a little more on the browner side to make sure they are cooked through)


• Transfer to a baking sheet and repeat the entire process (including brushing the pan with a little oil) until you have used up all your batter


• Cover your stack of pancakes with foil to keep them warm while you prepare the syrup


• Place the sugar, water, honey, rose water and saffron strands in a small saucepan over a high heat


• Stir until the sugar has dissolved and then allow to come to the boil


• Once boiling, leave to simmer for about 6-8 minutes, stirring ocassionally, until slightly thickened


• Turn off the heat, stir in the cardamom and allow the syrup to cool a little


• In the meantime grind the pistachio nuts


• When the syrup is cool enough to handle you can start assembling the baklava


• Unwrap your pancakes from the foil and place the stack on a plate


• Line your baking sheet with the foil and place a pancake in the middle


• Drizzle some syrup over and place a second pancake on top


• Generously scatter with ground pistachio nuts and lots more syrup


• Repeat the process - pancake/syrup/pancake/pistachio & syrup until you have used all your pancakes (or until your pancake cake is as tall as you like)


• Leave the top pancake plain without any syrup or pistachios


• Wrap in the foil and bake in your pre heated oven for 25 minutes


• Allow to cool slightly on a rack

Slice using a sharp knife and serve warm alongside a scoop of your favourite ice cream, drizzle with any remaining syrup and scatter on any extra pistachio nuts.

:) xx

Devnaa In Dubai!!!

Phew! Last week was manic here at Devnaa whilst we helped Jay prepare to exhibit at one of the world's largest food and drink shows that takes place annually - all the way out in Dubai!!!

Gulfood is possibly even the world's largest hospitality event attracting around 60,000 visitors over 4 days to see 3,200 exhibitors and in all of that, this year Devnaa is the only UK based confectioner taking part! Jay is the only member of our team that was able to go out there and host our stand so Jay - if you're reading this - all of us back at home are wishing you lots of luck and super leg strength to get you through the next few days!!

Here's hoping the exhibition goes really well so we can get Devnaa products out to even more of you and make it even easier for you to get them! :) x

I Lychee!

This week in the Devnaa kitchen we've gone completely crazy over Lychees! Having picked up a large crateful of the delicately perfumed sweet fruit on a trip down to our grocer's we've since been trying to put them in absolutely everything! From a lychee cake with coconut and rosewater buttercream to a strawberry and lychee panna cotta, lychee and pistachio kheer, a subtle key lime pie with lychee and coconut whipped cream, and lychee and ginger sorbet - you name it we've tried it!!!!

More oriental than Indian , the lychee was originally cultivated in Southern parts of China. From there it travelled to Burma in the 17th century and is said to have arrived in India in the 18th century. Now India is one of the largest producers of lychees even though they are cultivated around the world in places like South Africa, Florida and Hawaii.

Our top tip for serving lychees is to keep them refrigerated or better yet, frozen! Lychees taste amazing when they're icy cold, especially when blitzed up into iced tea or cocktails - on the menu for this afternoon - lychee and ginger fizz and a green tea infusion with lychee and mint. Can't wait!

We'll post some pictures (and recipes!) soon, in the meantime stock up on some of this fantastic fruit! It does come in cans but the fresh fruit is always better if you are able to get hold of it.

:) xx

Happy Valentine's Day 2011!!!

Here's wishing you all a very Happy Valentine's Day from The Devnaa team. Whether you're going to enjoy a meal with your loved one or share a sumptuous box of chocolates, enjoy some sparkling wine and beautiful flowers or just keep it simple with hugs and sweet thoughts we here at Devnaa hope you have a wonderful day. Lots of Love xxx :)

Spice Up Your Valentine's Day!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen - Introducing the Devnaa Valentine's collection 2011!!!! Those of you who haven't had the chance to check out our website recently won't have seen our adorable Valentine's boxes especially created for the big day. Sweet heart shaped boxes filled with some of our favourite spicy caramels from our signature chocolate collection, I think I'm in love! Order by Friday afternoon and we'll make sure your sweetheart receives their box in time for the big day. Love and kisses, the Devnaa team! :) xxx

Wedding Favour Biscuits

New for our 2011 Wedding Collection Devnaa have introduced our unique 'wedding favour biscuits'.

Buttery shortbread spiced with vanilla and cardamom, topped with icing and piped with intricate mehndi patterns and/or the initials of the bride and groom.

My personal favourite is the paisley shaped biscuit filled with tiny little mehndi detail but for a more romantic feel, the heart shaped ones with initials piped in the middle are so cute! Available in a variety of colours and designs these fabulous biscuits really will add that special final touch to your wedding. Contact us for more information.

Devnaa on Facebook

Happy Monday everybody!!!! It might be chilly cold here in London town but at least the sun is out to brighten up our spirits at the start of the week!

For today's blog I'm gonna take a minute to remind you all about the Devnaa Facebook page. Constantly updated with lots of pictures, sweet inspirational thoughts, lots of status updates and best of all - limited Devnaa discount offers especially for our Facebook family!!!! There are lots more images of all of our products as well as all the bespoke boxes and desserts created by us for special events and it's a great way to interact with us for answers to quick questions or to give us general feedback.

If you haven't already done so check us out at www.facebook.com/indiansweets and don't forget we're on Twitter too - www.twitter.com/devnaa

Have a great week :) xx

Happy (belated!) New Year from Devnaa!!!!

I am embarrassed to admit that it's the 28th of January 2011 and I am only just getting around to my first post of the year! My sincerest apologies for my tardiness but rest assured that in our absence the Devnaa team have been busy away from the blog coming up with lots of exciting new treats for the new year.

Since our last post we had a crazy busy Diwali season (Happy Diwali too!) and before I say anything else I'd like to thank you all for making 2010 such a success for Devnaa. The response from all of you as customers and as friends on our social networking pages has been amazing and we hope that we can keep up the fantastic relationship we have with you for the new year and many more to come. Please keep sending in your ideas and requests for you'd like to see us do and we shall continue to do our best to meet and exceed all of your expectations.

As I was saying, last year ended on a particular high with an extremely busy festive season - you guys kept us on our toes over Diwali, Eid, Christmas and New Year and we did our best to overcome the excessive weather conditions and get your orders to you in time for the holidays. We hope you enjoyed all your celebrations and are having a fantastic start to 2011.

So far for the New Year we have just launched our new Weddings and Events brochure - just a little something we put together to showcase all the tasty delights we can create to help put the finishing touches to your perfect occasion.

You can see the brochure here: http://www.devnaa.com/Weddings%25252FEvents.htm?ESCID=53nps7og8lmntn8grtd75aqds5

Don't forget that for further information and to create perfectly matched gifts and favours for your events just call or email us and we'll do our best to put together something special just for you :)

I'm going to end today's blog with my new year's resolution - I pledge to update the Devnaa blog at least twice a week for the duration of 2011!!!! Whether it's updates on what we're getting up to in the kitchen, recipes for you to try out or even something completely tangent that I think you might find interesting, I'll make sure it gets here!

Once again, Happy New Year from all of us at Devnaa :) xxx