She hears a faint, distant music and slowly opens her eyes to find its source. On finding her cell phone lighting up and buzzing, she instantly grumbles and reaches out to stop the music. Its time for her to face another day clicking, typing, text-ing, browsing etc etc. The coffee maker awaits its turn to start off the day as it whirs up her first mug of coffee for the day. The taste of the hot, bitter coffee awakens her and she is now ready to kickstart her day. A quick and short breakfast follows and then she rushes off to check her emails and messages. And as the day progresses more and more gadgets and gizmos await their turn to rule over her routine.
Its the story of my life…and every other person. How dependent we have become on modern thingamajigs! And I say this even as I am typing away on my laptop with my mobile by my side and with constant check on my messages!! Some time back I went without checking my mails or even sighting my laptop for a whole week. And I am still alive & and freaking glad to have survived this ordeal!! I am happy to have once again reconnected with a life (even if just for few days :)) run by simple everyday apparatus. Yet by the end of the day it gave me satisfaction that it was a fruitful day.
Everyday life without the gizmos is impossible..agreed! But we can include some activities or moments in a day where we live without them. And when a friend of mine requested for a pastry recipe made without an oven or a microwave, it was such a pleasure to dish out this Biscuit Pudding Cake.
I adore baking and the oven is my best buddy in the kitchen! But there are days of power cuts or when I am a tad lazy to bake and rely on desserts made with simple techniques. This is one of them. The recipe involves preparing a basic custard and then layering it up. The final result is a heavenly tasting dessert treat!! The dessert is adapted from Mallika Badrinath`s recipe and M D `s blog. You can never go wrong here and this is one recipe that has not let me down!
Biscuit Pudding Cake
No-bake pudding served as a cake!
- Sweet & salt biscuits [krack jack] – 200 gms packet or as req
- Coffee decoction – 1 tbsp instant coffee powder mixed with 1 cup hot water
For the custard
- Milk – 4 to 4 ½ cups
- Sugar – 8 to 9 tbsp or to taste
- Vanilla custard powder – 9 tbsp
- Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
For garnish
- Raisins (grated chocolate, nuts, chocolate sauce etc)
- In a small bowl mix together custard powder and ½ cup milk till smooth.
- Heat the remaining milk in a heavy bottom pan. Then add sugar and stir to dissolve completely. Taste in between and adjust sugar to taste.
- Now pour in the custard milk at a slight height (to avoid lumps) whilst stirring the milk in the pan constantly with a hand whisk. Stir till thick and of custard consistency.
- Consistency should be such that it coats the back of a spoon and you are able to draw a line. This process takes about 2 to 3 mins.
- Remove from heat and add vanilla essence. Let cool till just warm.
- Prepare the coffee decoction. Take a 8”x8” flat glass dish (or any shape/ size as per choice). Dip each of the biscuit in the coffee solution 1 to 2 seconds and arrange in the dish in a single layer as the base.
- Top it with a layer of some of the prepared custard. Repeat the layer 2 or 3 more times to get 3 to 4 layers.
- Let chill in the fridge for minimum 4 hours or even overnight.
- Garnish/ decorate with your favourite toppings, cut into squares and serve!
Beat the custard once lightly just before you layer it to loosen it up a bit. If you feel the custard has become too thick, add a tbsp or two of milk & beat once with hand whisk.