Skip to main content

Alice in Wonderland

It's hard to say if Alice in Wonderland is a very popular fairytale written by Lewis Carroll, or the biggest piece of literally nonsense ever written. What's easy to say is that the book has the power to mesmerize all readers, irrespective of their age. I've read it many times over the years, and I enjoyed it all over again as this month's pick for "This Book Makes Me Cook".

Funnily enough, I rarely remember Alice at first when I think of Alice in Wonderland. I always recall Cheshire cat's grin and mad hatter's tea party. And I think of the caterpillar on the mushroom. And the queen saying "Off with their head". It's bizarre, but unforgettably so.

It was the memory of the playing card gardeners painting the roses red, and the image of playing cards parading with the king and queen of hearts that prompted me to make my playing cards cake.



The base for the playing cards is the basic madeira cake. I set oven to preheat at 180C. Beat 120 gms butter and 120 gms caster sugar until it was fluffy. In a separate bowl, I broke two eggs and beat them lightly. Also mixed 160 gms flour with a tsp of baking powder. Then I beat in a tbsp of egg at a time, alternating with a tbsp of flour. Added the rest of the flour and mixed well to form the batter. Added a tsp of vanilla essense and then, I poured the whole mixture into a baking sheet lined with paper and baked for 30 minutes so ended up with a sheet cake.

Once the cake had cooled, I cut it into rectangles roughly the size of playing cards. Next, I made buttercream by creaming 50 gms butter with 100 gms icing sugar and adding a tbsp of warm milk and 1/2 tsp vanilla essence to bring it to a spreadable consistency. Spread the buttercream on the playing card slices, then piped in the numbers and heart/spades designs to make playing cards. It's my first time icing a cake, and it shows but at least it tasted great!

Here are the "Alice in Wonderland" recipes from other members of This Book Makes Me Cook:
Sunshinemom made Vegan Cheesecake Brownies complete with "Eat Me" tags
Aparna made Orange Marmalade Cake
Rachel made Sandwiches for Mad Hatter's Tea Party
Curry Leaf made Chocolate Pudding Cake
Siri made Veggie Finger Sandwiches

For December, We are reading Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Laud Montgomery. If you would like to come join us, leave a comment here and I will get back with more details.

Comments

Sunshinemom said…
Creative genius, Sim!! I love those playing cards that I can chomp on when I start losing:) Montgomery talks so much about food, I think I will be going crazy!! We should expect lots of variety there too!
Sunshinemom said…
Hey! I just saw that - it is a masterpiece! (Not the biggest piece of nonsense!!) I loved it then, now and maybe forever:)
Anonymous said…
Oh! I love it too. And I must have read it a hundred times.

Can't wait to read my other favorite - Anne of Green Gables!
That's quite an inspired cake, Simran. Playing card cakes, great stuff.

For a first timer yur icing ain't too bad. You should have seen my first time. I coudn't control the squiggles!
Anonymous said…
this looks cute :-)
CurryLeaf said…
Cute and much inspired cake.I am very lazy to do such frosting.Love it Simran.
Thanks for the mail and happy to know you are safe.Still take care.
Rachel said…
This book definitely did inspire you..good job....
Hey Simran, I liked your idea so simple and so cool. It did make me simle. Good job

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru

Of Brun and Bun Maska

There is more to Bombay's breads than the pao that goes into pao bhaji and vada pao. There's Brun. and there's bun. We will get there. First, you have to get to know the city's Parsis. And Iranis, who are also Zoroastrians, but came to city a little later, in the late 19th or early 20th century. And when they came, they brought with them these little cafes that dot the city. I am no expert on Irani chai cafes. And I can't tell you whether Yazdani Bakery will provide you the best experience or Kyani's. But I can tell you a few things you need to ignore when you get there. Appearances don't matter; so ignore the fact that the marble/glass top tables and the wooden chairs look a bit dilapidated. Also ignore the rundown look the place sports. Instead, get yourself settled. And order a bun muska. This one's familiar to you as a first cousin of the soft hamburger bun. It's similar, but just a tad bit sweeter. Maska, of course, is the generous dollop o