Strawberry Mousse Cake

        

   
     I was tempted to make this cake after I saw it in one of my buddy blogger's blog, Full Scoops. The procedures proved to be easy and the cake looked too beautiful. It was loaded with strawberry flavour and my kids quite loved it. I used a vanilla sponge cake as base instead of chocolate cake, but made the strawberry mousse from fresh ripe strawberries and the cake became history in no time :)

Strawberry Mousse Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• Cake - one 9" vanilla cake
• Heavy Whipping Cream - 1.5 cups
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Strawberry puree - 1.5 cups
• Granulated sugar - 2 tbsp (or to taste)
• Icing Sugar - 1 tbsp (for the whipped cream)
• Lemon juice - 1 tsp
• Gelatin - 3 tsp
• Cold Water - 3 tbsp
• Strawberries - to decorate (optional)

Method:

Prepare the vanilla cake in a 9" spring form pan. I made it using the same recipe of vanilla cup cake. but halved the ingredients and poured the batter in a 9" pan and baked for 1/2 an hour. When the cake was done, let it cool in the pan itself.

For the mousse

1. Place  1.5 cups of heavy whipping cream in a large bowl. Leave the bowl (with the cream) and beaters in the fridge and freezer respectively.

2. Add 3 tsp gelatin to 3 tbsp water and let it bloom for 5 minutes. Then heat the gelatin in a microwave or saucepan for 30 seconds. Set this aside to cool completely.

3. You will need about 30-35 strawberries. Roughly chop the berries add the strawberries to the blender or food processor and puree without adding water.

4. Transfer the puree to a saucepan and add 2 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp lemon juice and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the cooled jelatin to it and stir the puree for 3-5 minutes until it's slightly thickened.

5. While the puree cools prepare the cream. Make sure the bowl, beaters and the cream is chilled.

5. Add the vanilla extract and 1 tbsp sugar to the cream and whip for about 7-8 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Do not overbeat.

6. As you beat the cream, about 5 minutes into beating, you will start seeing beater marks .At this stage add the cooled strawberry puree with gelatin and fold gently. Set this aside

7. Place parchment paper around the spring form pan over the sponge cake to line the sides of the pan. Pour the cooled strawberry cream into the pan over the cake.

8. Cover the cake pan and let it set in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours.

9. Once the mousse sets, remove the ring of the spring form pan gently and top with some strawberries.
10. Cut and serve the cake in individual serving plates. Enjoy!!

Moist Chocolate Mug Cake

           

               Easy recipes  have their own beauty. They are more so, for super busy moms like me. Believe it or not, this recipe was so easy that I hadn't expected it to turn out good, when I first saw it in this gorgeous blog. I had never guessed there was an easy way to make a chocolate cake; without all those whipping, beating and folding processes. And I was not so optimistic as to the outcome of a cake in the microwave, as the one time I had attempted it before had given me something like a sweet spongy dough.

            But  Julie's  words as well as her pictures tempted me enough to try it out. After all it was just a matter of 5 minutes. Amazing enough, incredible enough, so unbelievable, it turned out to be a moist soft chocolate cake, which the boys fought over. I have made it again 3 or 4 times, since the first attempt. It has become one of my latest time saver desserts. Try this out for your kids and you wouldn't be disappointed.

Moist Chocolate Mug Cake
(Recipe adapted from Table for two)

1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp powdered sugar
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp veg.oil
1 tbsp Nutella

Method:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
2. Whisk in the milk and oil and mix well until well combined and no clumps are seen.
3. Pour batter into a micro wave safe large coffee mug.
4. Drop 1 tablespoon of  Nutella or any other chocolate spread in the middle of the batter. No need to push it down.
5. Microwave mug cake for 1 minute on high.
6. Remove from microwave and serve hot or cold. Enjoy!

Gajar ka Halwa/ Carrot Halwa- the easy way

                      The temperature is climbing down very reluctantly. It's almost the end of December and still not so cold. I have never seen  December this pleasant and tolerable here before. It is the first time it seems, I don't have to pray for the month to end; dreading the knawing cold which freeze you to inaction. Well.. it's almost pleasant.( I can't believe it's really December) :)

                      So, making sweets in the kitchen is in vogue. Or, should I say the boys made it a vogue to pester me into making something sweet for them everyday; as they are still having the hunger pangs they usually get in the cold season, although it is not as cold as it used to be...?
              Well.. these growing kids!! They have the appetite to eat an army.LOL!! But the army must be sweet and junk. Nothing near to normal food. So, almost everyday; I find myself giving into their nagging and making something sweet in the kitchen. Poor me and my dieting plans!! These kids you know...Sigh!!

                        This time I decided to make Gajar ka Halwa. It somewhat looked like it would help me fight the guilt I felt for making the sweets somehow. After all it's carrots.Right? Loaded with vitamins and beta carotines. Let's forget about the loads of sugar in the condensed milk and tones of calories in the clarified butter, for the time being.The thought can wait, until the dessert is safe in your stomach... WOL!(Wheeping Out Loud)... ;)

                          This recipe using condensed milk is easier and faster than the traditional one where in you use whole milk and have to wait for ages to get the halwa thickened. Handy for superfast moms like me..

Off to the recipe..

Chocolate Mousse

         

                 In the month of Ramadan, I was busy like a bee. Of course I missed the blogosphere, entirely. Now, I have to begin from the beginning all over again. To add to the no blogging month, here comes the next. I am going to India for a month's vacation, and blogging rarely comes in the list of priorities during this time. So yes! you would probably see the space stagnant for another month. So, In between, I thought of posting this one dessert which is in fact enough for a months duration of devouring. Yep! You would most probably make it again n again, even if your are not much of a chocolate lover.

    So, how do I explain this 'must have once in a while dessert', in simple terms?

               It is decadent, sinful
                              Obviously flavourful..
               Made to win, make u fall in love
                               Head over heels, LOL!!
               Creamy, silky, bittersweet
                               What more?It's chocolate.
               So get to work. Whip it up
                                You are gonna lick it up!

Actually I took the pictures a few months back when I had made it the third time. It was so creamy and had a 'melt in the mouth' kinda texture that the kids called it 'chocolate ice cream which was not that cold' :)
Here is the recipe...

Kaya Pola/ Mutta Marichathu - Plantain Egg Cake

                             

 

              Ramadan is around the corner and it's time to post some Ifthar dishes. Kayappola is an Ifthar dish from Malabar, which you can easily make with in a short span of time. No much plannings and preparations needed. Everything could be whipped up in a few minutes if you have ripe plantains and eggs at hand. And it only takes about twenty minutes in low heat on the stove top to get it done (Did I mention that you actually don't need an oven to prepare it?) Yep! All  you need is a stove and a sauce pan.. Go ahead, and make it today.. As it contains plantains and eggs, it's good for kids . They would love this soft n flavourful cake.Good to make as a tea time snack for kids.

Here you go...

Zucchini Cupcake

 

            It was one of the busiest weeks in my life. I was on a roller coaster ride of life where you literally forget to breath. After all life could never be so idle when you have three kids (Well, I mean four!! Grown up ones can  be more insisting) around. Juggling between cooking, sewing, blogging, reading and lot more kids stuff which you would probably not find in the dictionaries; is what recently life is like. I call myself lazy no more. You just don't have space for that word in my 60 miles/hr marathon life. Aaah!! I think you can of course hear me panting.. just halting a bit to take breath!!

            Still!! I am enjoying it on the go!! I seriously can't imagine life with a lower pace. I guess it's all part of the fun. I am just trying to enjoy an ice lolly on the ride... After all roller coaster rides are meant to be fun. And of course it is!! If you take it in the positive sense :)

           So, I'm posting the recipe of Zucchini cupcake I had made a few months back. It is one of the latest additions to my kids menu,which helps me sneak in veggies to their veggie resistant tummies. Gosh! The boys never suspected, their enemies were hiding right under their noses; and the cakes were gone, before I even knew it. Try this for your kids, if yours are Yuck! Yuck! towards veggies too.. A sure shot to success; believe me;)

Here is the recipe...

Easy Pistachio Kulfi / Indian Pistachio Ice cream

        

 

  Temperature is climbing up steadily and it's almost summer here. It's not that easy to sit on  a park bench watching kids play while the sun is up, though the kids never seem to notice. After sitting there for half an hour in the afternoons, I  somehow crave for the shade of a tree or the coolness of our flat. Maybe, I am growing old ;)

                 Watching the kids, I slowly get carried away into the unlimited exuberance of my own childhood. I was a 'play crazy girl'. That's what my mom used to say. So crazy about it, that I hardly had time for food or sleep.. or to sit in the shade for a while as the elders used to command. So obsessed with it, that the thought of the school reopening after the summer vacation, used to reduce me into tears. In the tired sleeps, I used to dream that my school had collapsed in an earth quake and my teachers were all under the earth. Yes! It was one of the happiest dreams of those days!

               So, when I watch my kids playing in the sun as if there is no tomorrow, I don't feel like stopping them. I enjoy watching them enjoying..And after the games, they return literally exhausted. No wonder, the ice cream man in the park has so much business. These days, no visit to the park ends without an ice lolly for each of the boys. They simply love them and think it their right to have one after play time. Even at home, they ask for ice lollies and ice creams now n then, ever since the temperature began climbing up. So I have made it  a habit  of making those cold treats at home every now n then.

             This time I thought, I must make 'kulfi' the Indian ice cream which sweetly cools the inside with memories of childhood. Yes, kulfi was an integral part of those memories; though we were seldom allowed to buy them as other children in our village used to do. The elders used to terrorize us with stories of how it's made with contaminated water and how it causes diarrhoea and sickness. Nevertheless, we kids always longed for the day when we would get those simply alluring kulfis and looked at the kulfi carts with longing.To compensate the hurt of not buying us kulfis, mom used to make ice lollies for us by freezing orange squash in the ice tray with small 'irkilis'(needle like parts of coconut leaves) immersed in it. We enjoyed it then more than the 'Baskin n Robbins'  of this time.

          Ahem!! So where did we stop? I just got carried away..
        Oh! Yes! Kulfi....the home made Indian ice cream to welcome the summer.
                 Pistachio kulfi is my favourite..
            Let's delve into the recipe right away...

Lemon Cake with Lemon Glaze

   
              Kids can be really fussy when they are hungry. And they decline to eat whatever we offer during such tantrums. They prefer something sweet and junk. Most of the time we cannot give in to their persistence and the situation need to be tackled with diplomacy. But there are times when you have to do some misgivings, if you really like to have a calm atmosphere in the home.

             Nowadays whenever my elder one gets such hunger pangs in the evenings, all he prefer is cakes,cup cakes and nothing else. He is so much fond of cakes; big or small, iced or not, that I find myself baking cakes every now n then. As it is much easier to bake and serve cup cakes that most of the time cup cakes is that which blooms in my oven. But they get finished off too quickly that you hardly get anything left to store for future use.

            In fact, the Zucchini cup cakes I baked last week got polished off pretty fast that I thought it would be wise to bake a large cake so that  the boys would have enough for three to four days. This time I tried a cake of very different flavour.. Lemon Cake! Tangy, sweet and impressive.. it was devoured by the whole family. I iced it with lemon glaze, which complimented well with the cakes flavour; though the son didn't much like it due to its tanginess. But he loved the cake nevertheless and ate it scraping off the glaze. The cake was a little tart on the first day, but the next day it tasted  perfect. The tanginess had thankfully subsided and the cake was soft and flavourful.

You would like to see the Recipe? Go ahead.

Andipputtu- A traditional malabar cashewnut palaharam

                     Another episode of Sinusitis,and I was off from the blogosphere and everything I loved, to fight it with all my might. Alhamdulillah! Allah has cured me like always.. But during the course, I have learned a few tips to tackle it.
  One of the most effective things I found was drinking water; and plenty of it.It is more effective than any mucolyte available on earth! When the mucolytes and antibiotics didn't give any apparent comfort from the gnawing headache, I googled for what else to do. The answer was,'Drink plenty of water'.And I began filling myself with water like a water tank from dawn to dusk :)
  But it worked like wonder!
The headache began to subside slowly and I felt more at ease and energetic.
If you guys have any other tips to fight recurrent sinusitis, please let me know.. I'm all ears!!

              So what did I do when I had these attacks! I got involved in making some traditional goodies to take my mind away from the hurting head. Andipputtu is a 'palaharam' which I grew up with right from my early childhood. Those days, when it was vacation time in the summer, we kids used to go picking the cashew nuts from the trees in our ancestral orchard. We would have our fill of munching the sweet and tart cashew fruits and after that collect the cashew nuts from under the ripe fruits. We used to bring them to our granny, who after drying them in shade for a few days would eventually roast them in the firewood oven. I still remember that sweet aroma which wafts up into the air while the cashew nuts are being roasted. And we kids used to look in awe keeping a distance from the mud oven as the cashew nuts make cracking sounds from inside and a few would come flying out as it burst.

      After they get fully roasted, granny would call us to help her crack open the shells of the cashews. We would take some rounded stones and start smashing the shells with them and pick the nuts carefully from inside the cracked shells. Many of the nuts collected thus would go into our tummys there and then because they were so irresistible. The leftover nuts would be used for making 'andipputtu' which was a masterpiece in itself.
               Granny  and her helpers used to grind them with roasted rice grains, 'sharkkara' and grated coconut in an 'ural' which was the food processor of that time. I'm sure, our kids would never know what it is, if they saw one in any of the old 'tharavadus'.

             Nowadays everything is made easy with our gadgets. Not to mention the food processor. I wonder how those old ladies had so much time to do all these from scratch while we have scarcely any free time even with all our sophisticated gadgets! It was my mom who showed me how to make 'andipputtu' in a mixer grinder / food processor. It is quite easy.

            To get that authentic taste of home roasted cashews, dry roast the nuts in a cast iron wok, till they turn slightly brown and aromatic, stirring constantly on medium heat.
      Here is how you make it....

Avil milk - My first Guest Post

 

                     This is one of the comfort foods which you can categorize into desserts or breakfast drink or even a dinner drink (if such a drink exists) ;) In fact, we often have it for dinner when we are not in the mood for a heavy meaty meal. Though it is more like a dessert, it's quite filling and a whole food with less sugar.Rice flakes, banana and milk makes it a healthy alternative for other high fat high sugar desserts. I made this as a guest post for Rafeeda's blog, 'The Big Sweet Tooth'. It surprize me that after all these years of blogging it's the first time I am doing a guest post.

 

                         I felt honoured and was really happy when Rafeeda of 'The Big Sweet Tooth' asked me to do a guest post for her. Though it is from the blogosphere that I came to know about Rafeeda, our mutual acquaintance made us realize that both of us hailed from nearby places from the same district in Kerala.So being of the common ancestry, I thought I would share a recipe which was regional to our place, The Avil milk. To see more about the post, recipe and pictures, please hop over to Rafee's space 'The Big Sweet Tooth'. She has got a great space with lot of mouth watering recipes to try...

Strawberry Cake with Cream cheese frosting

                                           

 

            We had plenty of strawberries from the market and they were so ripe that they couldn't be stored for long. Apart from giving to the kids to munch, I had to do something about them, fast. It nagged me that it has been a long time since I made a real frosted cake. In fact I hadn't even used the turn table and offset spatula which Mr. KB gifted me last year. He had begun throwing comments into the air that there was no sign of any cake nor of his presents anywhere. And the elder boy was always complaining that I don't make him cakes as I used to be.. So I decided to give it a go as I couldn't tarnish my image with a few jibes of the males in the family; if I could help it. I was going to prove that after all it's just a piece of cake ;)

                 When I suggested strawberry cake, the son was more than happy. He loves frosted cakes like anything and he loves strawberries too. Often we get him frosted cakes from the nearby confectionery and when he is told that the cakes at the confectioneries are not good,he would reply, "Then you better make them at home because I'm gonna need them very often". So I knew I wouldn't be able to get way without baking cakes for them for long...

                Of course Mr.KB's presents were a great help. If you have the necessary stuff, frosting cake is a cake walk. I really enjoyed doing it this time unlike older times when I would start sweating over just the thought of frosting a real cake. I made a medium cake, cut it into three equal layers with a long serrated knife (which comes really handy while layering a cake) and frosted with cream cheese..

                   It's better not to mention the fights between the boys to lick the spatula in between frosting! Well, I must warn all mothers with little kids around, who plans to frost a cake. This is the most common technical difficulty you are going to encounter while frosting a cake!!

                The boys were somewhat pacified by the promise that the spatula would be given to one and the bowl to the other, to lick ;after I am done with frosting.

            And you are not actually human if you don't dip your finger in the bowl of cream cheese yourself and  put it in your mouth at least once while you frost the cake !! So you get the other technical difficulties!! Keep these in mind and you shall frost your cake with great zeal...Good luck ;)

Baklava

                               " I want to have a good body, but not as much as I want dessert. "

                                                               ~Jason Love

                I have dreamt of making Baklava ever since I had one. It is one of the sweets in middle east which I fell head over heels in love with.. Baklava is a rich crispy dessert made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey which was characteristic of former Ottoman empire( Turkey).

        But more than after meals, it is munched with Turkish coffee or Kava. The unsweetened kava compliments the sweetness of the dessert perfectly.. Nuts, sugar and butter! Oh yes! It's gonna add loads of calories to your tummy..but who can resist two or three pieces of this aromatic crunchy sweetness once in a while.. ;)

           But I had put off the attempt at making it until I could gather enough  courage.. I don't pretend that Baklava doesn't take planning, time and fiddly work.Talk about cowards! I really am one when it comes to intimidating or intriguing procedures..

            Of course the process is straight forward. But working with filo pastry can be tricky. When I read how disastrous it could be if you do not give the filo pastry its desired respect, I was kind of scared..But I hung on for inspiration. And that is exactly what I got from Joe Pastry, which describes the procedure with clear step by step pictures.It made me think that after all.... it is doable :)

            And yes! It was not that difficult as anticipated... if you stick to the instructions word by word. The only thing you have to plan in advance is keep the filo pastry out of refrigerator to thaw overnight or it would screw things up. Thinking of all those advance plannings and time spend, it would be wise to make a really big batch as it keeps well for up to 10 days (covered tightly with foil) at room temperature or up to two weeks in the refrigerator.

But we didn't have much left for storage...You know my boys!!

Managed to pack a few pieces for our friends, though.... AND my Baklava is now history ;)

Still, I plan to make another batch soon. Sure the work is worth it!!

I basically adopted the recipe from Joe Pastry, but made a few changes according to my preferences. Instead of All spice powder, I used powdered cardamom and cinnamon. The flavour was fantastic..

And instead of eight layers of pastry on the top and bottom, I made it with four layers of pastry,then nuts,then again 4 layers..and I made 3 layers of nuts in total...   

Mmmm.. It was one of the best Baklavas I ever tasted!!!

    You can make it into any shape you desire. Even roll it into fingers with nuts inside..That way it is more easier to make. But this is the most common form of Baklava you get from confectioneries around the middle east.

Tiramisu without Alcohol

"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first."

~Ernestine Ulmer

 

                 It has been a while since I posted any dessert recipes on the blog. It is not that I seldom make any desserts. In fact, desserts are one of the frequently made items in my kitchen nowadays. But they get polished off pretty fast that nothing would be leftover  for me to photograph after the onslaught. And hence this long interval before posting an actual dessert recipe..

         Tiramisu is a popular coffee flavoured Italian dessert,  made by layering ladies finger biscuits( savoiardi) dipped in Strong coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, egg whites, mascarpone cheese and cream. Usually alcohol like rum is used in the mixture. But as I wanted an alcohol free version, I made it without alcohol.

                 This time I made Tiramisu when the boys were busy with their games. I whipped up everything almost in a daze and shoved it off into the fridge to set, with a secret smile of triumph. But it was not long before the boys smelled something was up and came straight for it, digging into the fridge. So I had to dish out the dessert prematurely and was at a loss when they insisted at having it right then before photographing.

               As it was weekend, the husband came to the rescue and offered to take the snaps while I dealt with the boys... So each one was given a piece of Tiramisu on the condition that they wouldn't ask for more until their father was done with photographing.
       And whoever said pricky preschoolers are killjoy, boy! I am with you ;)
 And don't tell me, the husband's clicks are 'far better than mine' and has a 'tinge of creativity n commitment'... blah blah.. because, I have heard that before ;)

        As the dessert was not given enough time to set,the pieces were a bit distorted with the filling slipping out in places when cut. But who cares! The minute, the dad was done with the shots, the boys digged in and the dessert was gone even before the lunch was served.
   Guess what! The ten month old girl is already dessert crazy and had a piece all by herself!
Later, I was caught musing aloud...'Boy! Did I ever thought I could store half of it for the next day or so...? Well! No way! What a strange notion!

Chocolate Doughnuts

               
                        " Don't wreck a sublime chocolate experience by feeling guilty. "
                                                                 ~Lora Brody

              I had been holding back on serious baking ever since the fifth member of the family came home. Or   should I say all the four members where holding me back (utilizing all my free time)? Well, but you cannot afford to be inactive for so long. Some or other events spring up in life to make you find time to do the pushed back experiments and make you more and more prone to multitasking.

              It was chocolate day in the elder one's school and I had to make something chocolaty. I asked him what he wanted and the reply was pert. Chocolate Doughnuts! Boy! Isn't it yummy? For just once, I had to forget about those warning signs like 'high carb', 'high fat' and 'junk'. Caving into pressure (or was it caving into temptation?) I decided to make a batch of simply scrumptious doughnuts topped with chocolate glaze. I adopted the recipe from here and it turned out great. The only change I made to the recipe was added a pinch of salt too.

            I preferred baking to deep frying, but unfortunately I didn't have a doughnut pan. So decided to try my luck at deep frying. It was not that easy to maintain the shapes of the doughnuts. Even after reading a lot about the technique, I was quite on the edge while frying them as many lost their exact circular shapes. I stored the distorted ones for home use and send the pretty ones to school. Needless to say, the son was all smiles when he left for school with a bunch of glazing yummy doughnuts packed securely in his bag. Usually it's hard to wake him up in the morning and while dressing up, he would find all the excuses in the world to suggest that he should bunk the classes; of which some of the popular ones are like..'he is sick of hearing the teacher's crass voice all day' or 'he is gonna miss me all the morning' :)

               So it was great to see him up like lightning, dress up with zeal and cheerfully get into the school bus with his proud accomplishment in the back pack. And I must confess that I forgot all about 'healthy eating habits' when I had all those leftover doughnuts at home. But who am I to  resist such tremendous temptations? ;) The chocolates in the fridge where all eaten up by the boys. They dig into the fridge whenever I forget to lock it, and hence there was very little chocolate left over. As I had no time for shopping, I had to make the glaze with the available chocolate. So my glaze got a little thinned out as you can see from the pictures.

Doughnut Recipe 

To make Doughnuts:
(Makes 30 standard sized Doughnuts)

4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 cup lukewarm milk
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
100g butter, melted
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
Vegetable oil for deep frying.

      Place the yeast, water,milk and 1 tbsp sugar in a bowl. Close with a lid and set aside for 10 minutes to rise.
     Sieve the flour into a wide bowl and add butter, eggs, remaining sugar and the yeast mixture into it and mix with a butter knife until a sticky dough forms.
     Bring the dough together by kneading on a lightly floured surface. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cower with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for one hour or until double in size.
     Knead the dough and de airate it on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes or until it feels smooth and elastic.
     Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to 1 inch thick. Cut 3 1/4 inches rounds with a cutter. You can use the mouth of a glass or cap of a jar to do it. Cut 11/4 inches rounds from the middle of it.

     Place the dough rings carefully on a tray lined with non stick baking paper, cover with a damp cloth and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until risen.

     Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook the doughnuts a few at a time for 1 minute on each side or until golden. For tips on how to handle the dough to retain the shapes of doughnuts please refer here.
     Drain briefly on paper towels.
To make Chocolate glaze:

   2 cups confectioners sugar/icing sugar, sifted
   1/2 cup unsalted butter
   1/4 cup whole milk, warmed
   1 tbsp light corn syrup
   2 tsp pure vanilla extract
   4 ounces( 120g)  bitter sweet chocolate, chopped

     Sift icing sugar into a small bowl through a fine mesh sieve and set aside.
     Combine butter,milk, corn syrup and vanilla in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until butter is melted.
     Decrease the heat to low, add chocolate and whisk until melted.
     Turn off heat, add the confectioners sugar and whisk until smooth.

Assembling the Doughnuts:

   Place the chocolate glaze over a bowl of warm water.
   Dip the doughnuts immediately.
   Place on wire racks to cool completely and allow the glaze to set for 30 min before serving.
   Enjoy!