A Special Occasion

Today feels like the beginning of the end. Or maybe…the end of the beginning!

The murtis imported from India for our Mayfair Mandir Mahotsav have been resting quietly, packed tightly in secure , sealed crates in my garage for a few weeks now.

Today is a very special day. Our team of dedicated volunteers arrived at our house early this morning to open every crate. They were shut so tight, with nails, staples and a thick hard aerated substance that makes human skin itch!

These guys were working at it in our garage till about 10am, when two sadhus came to join them. After lots of hammering, bashing, knocking, and wrenching, the boxes were finally opened. The murtis are now sleeping sweetly in my mandir room. The curtains are drawn, and the door gently shut. They will wake up on the day of the Pratishta- April 27th!

Late last night, I decided that the volunteers deserved a sweet treat to celebrate. My kitchen became a red velvet factory! There is nothing like Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting to celebrate the beginning of the end!

Mayfair Mandir Mahotsav ni Jai!

!

Eggless Red Velvet:

2 cups self raising flour

1 1/3 cup castor sugar

1 tbsp maizena

1/2 tbsp custard powder

4 tbsp cocoa powder  ( i like to throw in a tad more sometimes)

a pinch of salt

2/3 cup oil

1 1/2 tsp vinegar

1 tbsp vanilla

Super Red gel food colour

2 cups milk

Sift all the dry ingredients together. If you want your cake to be nice and fluffy, make sure you sift the flour 2 – 3 times.

Mix all the liquid ingredients ( dont forget the gel) in a bowl, and pour into the dry mixture. Mix lightly with a whisk – I use a whisk because it helps in smoothing all the lumps out.

If you feel like it’s not red enough, or not chocolatey enough, add more gel or cocoa! for me, a few drops of gel does the trick!

Time for filling the pan – make sure each cupcake mould is filled  up to atleast 2/3 of its capacity.

Bake at 180 for about 20 mins. Prick with a skewer to double check that the cupcakes are done. The skewer should come out nice and clean:)

The best part: Icing

50g softened butter

250g Philadelphia cream cheese

2 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

With a mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese together. Sometimes it helps to chop the block of cream cheese up into little pieces before hand.

Add the vanilla, and blend once again.

Sift 1 cup of icing sugar at a time. Blend between each cup.

Stick your finger in and get a goooooood taste of that cream cheese mix!

Keep this special icing in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

I sprinkled coconut on some cupcakes – it goes so well with the cream cheese icing and the chocolatey red velvet!