BAKING

PEACHES & CREAM…The peach monster turns 10!

“There’s your karma ripe as peaches.”
Jack Kerouacrohan+bday+3 1who…rohan+bday+1 1
Got back recently from a short sojourn in a the hills with a veritable peach monster…LOL! I have never seen any kid eating as many peaches as this guy did. It’s his birthday today so I decided to make him a cake using peaches…

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The filling partly inspired by a Bavarian cream from Helen @ Tartlette which used pears. I love hanging around her blog. It’s inspirational!! I used the Bavarian cream part of Helen’s recipe, substituted the pears for peeled & chopped peaches. We shall know how good it tastes later tonight, but it was wonderful to unmold the cake this morning to find a well set Bavarian … with peaches peeking out! YAY!! Ramgarh50

Time flies & how. Our baby boy turned 10 today. It’s amazing how soon the years pass you by. We shifted into our house when he was 2 weeks old. He’s a happy kid, always ready to oblige with a smile. A foodie through & through, will sniff his way into the kitchen always! He lives to eat & begins his morning with – ‘Can I have cornflakes with lots of milk, & then a hot-house egg please?‘… predictably followed by, ‘What’s for lunch Mama?’ School days find him eating lunch in school, so the first word as he steps off the school bus is,‘What did you make today?’… trying to figure out if if there’s some delicious dessert in the offing! Food blogging has made a world of a difference here…rhn+101He’s quite hysterically funny, an out-of-the box thinker, & keeps us in splits! Was a very cute little baby, as was his sister, who he follows around like a pup, & she, much to her teenage horror, can barely tolerate it. Yet, every bit of silly news must get to her first, every cookie must be shared with her, a call from me after dinner for whichever reason results in a loud yell…’Run Meher, there must be dessert!!”KIDS+1
He had a million plans for today. Everything was stage managed … what time he would get up & find me sitting on the computer. If not, then he would wake his sis up, the time the ‘birthday gifts’ were to be given, where he would sitye gads, he drove me bonkers. As luck would have it, his dear dad & sis didn’t get up until 8am; he was up since 5.30am, giddy with excitement. “This is the moment I’ve been waiting for for the past 10 days”, he announced. I almost wept. I had snuck out of bed early to get the cake etc done before he emerged … bad timing, & nothing got done. He showered & still no sign of an ‘awakening‘, so I took him out to take a picture. He kept himself busy by taking some of me too … results of the morning session below!rohan+bday+2
Thankfully his world woke up, by which time the sun was up too, & very hot. The cake had to have chilled butter cream & that was near impossible to achieve. I did some doodling on the top & hated it. Then scraped it off & had another go to make it look decent. Will dress it up with some cake toppings I made with the daughters help. rohan+bday+4I baked 2 sponges – one a vanilla-almond sponge & the other a chocolate sponge, from a recipe I use often, this one here. It’s a bit like a genoise sponge, but uses oil rather than melted butter to keep it moist. I split each cake into 2 horizontally to get 4 layers.

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Layered it like this…base of a vanilla-almond, some thick chocolate ganache, a layer of chocolate sponge, a thick layer of Bavarian cream with chopped peaches. Each layer was first spread with some Peach-Rosemary Jam that I recently made. rohan+bday+11The cake was then left in the fridge overnight held closely by a spring form cake tin, to give time for the Bavarian cream to get set. Covered the cake with a butter cream this morning…rohan+bday+28

He’s had a good day so far with his best friend over for the day. Enjoyed a meal of chicken burgers. Even luckily got huge thumbs up from the hub. Bought the buns from the market, but made the patties at home. rohan+bday+22

Used a very simple, basic kebab mixture for the patties, flavoured with Italian spices & chili flakes, flattened them out in bread crumbs & shallow fried them. Once the patties were ready, I smoked them with a piece of hot caol for about 20 minutes. YUM!! A beautiful flavour…

What followed was a round of cookies & vanilla ice-cream which was hungrily lapped up too. I did a batch of oatmeal cookies with walnuts & chocolate chips the other day, & made a few flat ones in tartlet moulds for dessert. The kids enjoyed this too…Collages85

That’s been the day so far… Happy Birthday Rohan!!rohan+bday+cake1

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

53 Comments

  • Nicisme

    I have no idea where you get the time to do all this!!
    Looks like a fantastic spread, one lucky 10yr old!
    Birthday wishes headed to your son!

  • Gloria

    Happy birthday dear Rohan!! I love your kids are wonderful.
    And love your cake my dear is awesome how all you make. My kids (twins) have birthday this Saturday! Yes they gemenis too, and Im a gemenis, I was birthday in June 9, so this month is full!!! huggs and kisses, Gloria

  • Aparna

    Like I said, it is beautiful. You've managed to p[ost too, in the middle of everything. I would have been tired! 🙂

    Rohan's a Taurean, right? Of course he loves good food. Hope he had a great day.

  • Happy cook

    Did i tell you in my last comment that you son loves life with full passion.
    I think he is comming to be my favourite day by day even more that the baking. You have real competion there:-)
    Wish him a very happy brithday from me.
    Love the cake, good that he has a mom who bakes will.
    I had to laught when i read he sinffs his way to the kitchen.

  • Angry Asian

    happy birthday dear Rohan! (btw, i adore his name!)
    this cake is just to die for and the fact that it was made with such love makes it all the more special.
    sounds like he had quite the day to celebrate his first decade. many many more to come! 🙂

  • Reeni♥

    Happy Birthday Rohan!! I hope you are enjoying every minute of it. The cake is beautiful and I bet so delicious with those fresh peaches!

  • Manggy

    Happy birthday Rohan! I hope you will always be the smiling soul in the family and you'll always look forward to your mum's cooking (well, that goes without saying).

  • Curry Leaf

    Happy Birthday Rohan.cutest peach monster.I am amazed that you managed everything including the post!!!.Wow

  • MeetaK

    happy birthday to the young man. i can tell how proud you are of him! the cake is exclusive and wish i was able to have a piece. you rock deeba!

  • Snooky doodle

    Hope your son has a nice birthday. the cake looks great! yummy such nice flavours 🙂

  • Nachiketa

    Hey rohan,

    Happy birthday!!!!!
    3 cheers for you peachy boy….
    [any one notice… rohan has his mom's peachy complexion too…….]

    ure just so cute…

    wish my younger bro was even a tad bit as cute as you….

    hope u had a great day n wish u a yummylicious year ahead…. 🙂

  • Mrs. L

    Happy Birthday to the Peach Monster. For that cake? I'd turn into a Peach Monster if it meant having a slice, it looks wonderful!

  • Poornima Nair

    Rohan had such a wonderful day, thanks to his mom…Lucky Boy! That cake sounds divine, great flavors.
    Rohan following his sis around like a pup and her irritation, bought back fond memories of my childhood, how time flies.

  • Stephcookie

    Happy Birthday Peach Monster! He's so lucky to get such a delicious looking cake and such cute oatmeal cookies!

  • Bunny

    Happy Birthday to your young man! I wish I could have a slice of that birthday cake!! it looks divine!

  • Kerstin

    Happy Birthday to your peach monster! Beautiful cake and I really enjoyed all the pictures 🙂

  • Pari

    A wonderful post Deeba . It just moved me while reading, probably as I am passing through the same emotional feeling as urs …My son turns 9 tomorrow and has asked for a Chocolate fudge cake. And the worst thing to happen ..I am not well. Lets see what I can do to cheer him up tomorrow.

  • http://melanger.wordpress.com

    Birthday cheer from Australia! Wow, this looks so incredibly rich but also light because of the peaches. Absolutely amazing. As always. 🙂

  • Purnima

    Deeba,
    Firstly Hugs n Wishes of the day for Li'l Rohan! The Cake ROCKS..the pics are awesome wt Rohan's bright smile, spreading warmth here! And the burger n other dishes mentioned oooh so very explicit –a brilliant day for a Bday Boy! (Must say here, as the other blog makes u feel, inspirational, so does urs make me feel! Lovvvvve to hang around PAB anynumber of times ! 😀 )

  • Sakshi

    Rohan's bday proved to be a visual treat for us too…Loved all the pics especially the morning ones and yup the cake will make anyone jealous…sad you didn't send out an invitation this way??

  • Miakoda

    I loved the baby pics! 🙂 And the cake looks awesome. It must be wonderful to have someone at home who makes stuff like that for you…truly a blessing.

  • Hanaâ

    Happy birthday to the "baby" :o) What a sweet mom you are to bake all these goodies for him!!!

  • Gera @ SweetsFoods

    Happy belated Birthday to your kid!!!.

    So lucky to have a mom that bake all these deliciousness Deeba!

    No doubt that you've a great talent for sweeties 🙂

    Cheers!

    Gera

  • MyKitchenInHalfCups

    Oh Deeba that should be a party and a cake to remember. Happy days and years for your Peach Monster!!

  • Peter M

    I would like a cake like this for my birthday. I would also like to be 10 yrs. old again!

    Wish your son a Happy Birthday for me.

  • Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

    Happy Birthday to him! What a fantastic sounding cake and I like how you smoked the burger patties at the end! I bet it's the little details like that that count 🙂

  • Komal-Nishka

    Deeba, how lucky is Rohan to hv his mum bake such delicious cakes, ur raising the bar way tooooooooo high for his wife.. hehe.. long way i know..

    Happy B'day to him and looking fwd to many more brilliant cakes.. 🙂

  • Soma

    I am late late.. Happy Birthday to Rohan. I think the last one always remains a baby! What a cute baby picture & what a handsome kid now.

    That cake is to die for, & what a lucky kid he is to have brilliant mom like you:-)

  • Shari@Whisk: a food blog

    A beautiful cake for a beautiful child! i hope he enjoys the peaches in the cake! It looks both beautiful and delicious!!

  • Natashya

    Happy Birthday Rohan, what a beautiful cake you have there! Love the photos of you and your mom.

  • Arwen from Hoglet K

    Wow, layers of beautiful flavours! A layer of peaches make it so summery. A perfect birthday treat.

  • chakhlere

    Many Many Happy Birthday to Rohan!!
    Wish You all the happiness in the life!!
    And How lucky Rohan is, His mom is amazing!!
    What lovely post and cake and burger!!
    I am so touched by the lovely way of celebrating Birthday!!

  • Hummer Middle East

    Belated happy returns to the cute, smart,small man!!!!!!!And the cake is gorgeous!!!!!!!!!Looks great!!

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