Review of Nita Mehta’s Eggless Cakes and Muffins Course

Posted by CinnamonNChillies on July 29, 2011 · 10 Comments 

I attended a new course started by Nita Mehta recently, “Eggless cakes and muffins”. This was a 2 day (half day) course and had a wide range of eggless cakes and muffins recipes from her. 12 recipes to be exact. This is a second course of hers that I have attended and must I say it is a boon to a no-egg person like me. The best part about her course is that most of the recipes are baked in a microwave convection oven, which is what most of us possess today. This helped me a great deal when I attended her first course, as I was struggling for the right parameters for baking in my oven. I own a Samsung Smart Ovenwhich is a Microwave convection oven, but I see it as a cross between a conventional and convection oven. A number of baking recipes did not work for me as the temperatures mentioned in the recipe and that mentioned in my oven manual differed a lot. When I tried out her recipes as is, it worked perfectly for me. After that there has been no looking back 🙂 Now why I went for the second course when I knew what temperature and timings are working for me? And with so many fabulous eggless recipes available on the internet? Well reasons are multifold:

• I like the nuances I get to know in such courses. For e.g:  coating the nuts and dry fruits with flour so that they don’t sink while baking.
• I get to know the preferred brands they use.
• All the ingredients used are easily available in Delhi. Even if not, they tell about the specific places in  Delhi where these can be sourced from.
• I get to see the whole process live and get to taste the end product 🙂 This serves as a good basis when I am doing it on my own eventually. For e.g.: I know how thick the batter should be and if mine has come right. Also how the color and texture of the baked goodie should be.
• And last but not the least, trainings provide a good break from the routine. I get to meet new people and go to new places and love all these factors about training 🙂

Now coming to the recipes that are demonstrated in the Eggless cakes and muffins course are:

Dark Chocolate Cake (Day 1)

My take – This was the only one I did not like. I found it to be quiet average. The taste was a bit similar to the cake I had once made using a pre-made cake mix. It was less sweet and perhaps that is one of the reasons for my dislike

Marzipan Cup Cakes (Day 1)

This one gets a “like” from me. In this recipe they demonstrate how to make marzipan from the scratch, how to give it different colors and finally how to use it to decorate the cupcake tops.

Black Raisin Loaf with Lemon Frosting (Day 1)

A nice loaf cake which had no essence but was flavored with cloves. The cloves do leave an after taste though. So those who cannot tolerate the smell of cloves were advised to use cinnamon powder instead. I liked the lemon flavor in frosting, but the melted butter in it had the slight smell of ghee (Clarified butter). I would like to overlook this fact due the weather at this time which is making all food items lose their freshness. Yet I would reserve my say on the frosting till I make this myself.

Carrot and Banana Muffins (Day 1)

A healthy muffin which uses whole wheat flour and all purpose flour in 50:50 ratio. Good item for a kiddie tiffin.

Cappucino Cake (Day 1)

A wonderful 8″ coffee flavored cake. This is used as a base cake for making Hazelnut Cake on Day 2.

Jam Muffins (Day 2)

These muffins contain kids favorite mixed fruit jam. You can either use it as a filling or swirl it randomly in batter. These muffins tend to be very soft in texture due to the jam. Ideal for kids, but may be a tad too sweet for adults. For our consumption purposes, may be we can use naturally sweetened marmalades without added sugar. I would not recommend reducing the quantity of sugar in muffins as the portions not containing jam may taste bland to some. Also can’t keep this much longer as jam tends to make it soggy.

Orange Almond Jumbo Muffins (Day 2)

Loved it! The orange aroma, the almond topping, the orange marmalade. There is nothing that goes against this one 🙂

Fruit Cake (Day 2)

Love it! Love it! Love it! Need I say more?? :-)) With a generous dose of all nuts, glace cherries and black raisins this loaf is a super duper keeper. And it has a great flavoring of home ground spices. I have already tested this one!

Lemon Loaf (Day 2)

Yummy Lemony loaf with a very light lemony topping.

Choco Chip Muffins (Day 2)

These taste good. Would be liked by all choco chip fans. On my to-do list 🙂

Swirled Ring Cake (Day 2)

Nice cake with a marble effect. I like the use of yoghurt in the recipe. But I would prefer the marble cake from another of her recipes. I had posted it here.

Finally, Hazlenut Cake (Day 2)

This one is a Superhit!!!!! A fully decorated cake which uses the Cappucino cake of Day 1 as a base. Coffee dominates the flavor, nutella multiplies it further. I just “oohed and aaaahhhhed and mmmmmmmmmed” when I tasted it :-)) May I say this is the best eggless cake I have ever had. What a mind blowing way to end the training!

Few more points to add:

• Did I mention most of these recipes use yellow salted butter, which is a big relief for a person in delhi like me. I don’t prefer to buy the white unsalted butter from diaries. The branded one (Only “Vijaya” brand sells unsalted ones) is only available in specific shops which are far from my place.

• The course is divided into two days. I have described above how it is divided. This is because you have a choice of attending the course only for Day1 or Day 2 or both. So take a pick 🙂

So, have I got my money’s worth? I would say a definite yes!! Earlier I had only two choices in the market, Black forest and Pineapple. I never liked the eggless muffins and loads available here. Something in their taste just didn’t feel right. Now I have a whole variety to choose from and make. To add to that my baking urge is getting some satiation finally 🙂

So thats all for now friends. I would be coming soon with the Fruit load recipe. Thanks for reading! 🙂

Disclaimer*: I am no baking expert nor from the food industry. Whatever I have written above is my personal opinion about the course and based on my taste and preferences. Feel free to consider or avoid :-))

Filed under Blog, Review · Tagged with eggless cakes, eggless recipes, muffins recipes, nita mehta