Fudgy Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting

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Fudgy Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting | The Novice HousewifeA conversation with one of my friends who is an excellent baker herself led to the discovery of this rich, fudgy chocolate cupcake recipe that I am sharing today. She swears by Martha Stewart’s ultimate chocolate cake recipe and told me to try it out as well. With Martha Stewarts ultimate chocolate frosting recipe on top.

Since I wanted to give the cake to a few people, I thought it would be best to make cupcakes out of the recipe, since they are always more easy to share.

Most cake recipes can be successfully converted to cupcakes without changing anything except their baking times (and of course the pan you using to bake). Cupcakes generally take lesser time to bake than cakes. According to the recipe instructions the cakes take 35 minutes to bake, but my cupcakes were done in 20 minutes, and might even take 18 minutes for you, so check for doneness around that time. They will be done when a tester comes out clean.

This recipe yielded 32 cupcakes for me, but depending on how you fill your cupcake pans you could get more or less. The frosting was enough to frost 32 cupcakes, with some frosting still leftover.

Fudgy Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Fudge Frosting | The Novice Housewife

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Mango Lime Tart

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Mango Lime Tart | The Novice Housewife

Mangoes are the most beloved fruit in India and thus hold the proud title of India’s national fruit. You can find mango trees by the dozen in most places in India and gorging on the sweet and aromatic juices of a mango is one of the few pluses of this scorching Indian heat (temperature are almost touching 49°C/ 120 ° F!!).

Even though mangoes are grown in several places across the globe, Indian varieties are the most sought after with Alphonso (or Hapuz as known by Indians) topping the list.

Come April, and roadside vendors, fruit and vegetable markets are all flocked with this juicy fruit. And with the recent EU ban on Indian mangoes till December 2015 (seriously, what’s wrong with these people to ban such a popular fruit! ), prices of premium mangoes have decreased in local markets which is a sweet welcome for us mango lovers.

So its only fair that most is made of this green and yellow fruit while its season lasts till July and this Mango and Lime Tart gives this fruit absolute justice.

Mango Lime Tart | The Novice Housewife

Mango Lime Tart | The Novice Housewife

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Croque Madame Muffins (or my version of it)

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French cheesy-sauced eggs baked in toast muffins | The Novice Housewife

While I do have a recipe for this french lunch time snack of a bread muffin cup with a cheesy egg filling- to share today, I also have some news. The reason for my absence after my last post.

Two weeks back I lost my grandmother. Even though she was old and had not been keeping that well for years, the news of the death was unexpected. I was to visit her on the 20th and had my travel planned and tickets booked accordingly. Now I wish I had first come to her and then gone to visit my brother, but I guess that’s how it was supposed to be.

My grandmother loved and took care of all of us the best she could, and believe me she could.

For her, feeding us was the best way to show her affection, and she thought us polishing off everything she made was the best way we could return ours. And since most of my summer vacations during my school years were spent at my grandparents place, in two months of our stay it was a norm that my brother and I would at the least gain 10 kgs; the highest for me being about 18 kgs and and an increase in jean size from a respectable 27 to a not so healthy 36 inches. No doubt my grand mother was a great cook. I had plans during this visit to learn from her her chocolate ice cream (made from bottle gourd/ giya ), her sesame seed potatoes and her lip-smacking pickles. She had given me the recipes for all on the phone, but I thought I will ask her to show me once as well. But I guess that too was not meant to be.

Her recipe for dal paranthas is my go-to recipe when I can not think of anything better to make for V and me. And it will always remind me of her now.

Although growing up, my grandmother showed a slight preference towards my elder brother, once I was in college both of us became closer. The 6 months I spent trying to set up a baking venture, living at my grandparents place before I got married, got the two of us even more close. So when I got married she did not like that I was staying so far away and would constantly be worried and checking whether I was happy in the US, telling me that I have gone too far away.

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