More Bananas: Banana Cake

I have leftover bananas from last week.
And this week, the bananas have ripen even more,
to a state of back spot, nope, i should say black patches have appear on the skin.
The bananas are sooooooooo soft,
u dun have to twist it to remove it from the stem,
u just have to touch it, and it'll drop by itself... Magic....

Chun feedback to me that he doesnt really like the walnut
in my previous bake.
He comment that it feels like eating the Post cereal, "Banana Nut Crunch"
So last night, i omitted the beloved walnuts,
and go with a simple Banana Cake.
I like the bananacake that Fourleaf baked, soft, fluffy & banana-y.



Banana Cake Recipe

Ingredients
1. 110g Butter
2. 150g Sugar
3. 225g Self Raising Flour
4. 2 eggs
5. 2-3 extremely riped bananas

Instruction
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Mash the bananas to desire consistency.
3. Cream the butter and sugar on med speed till light n fluffy.
4. Add in eggs and mixed till combined.
5. Mix mashed bananas & batter together briefly,
add in flour & mix till well combined.
6. Pour into prepared mould and bake for 40mins,
then reduce temp to 150C & bake for another 30min.



Afternote:
I didnt follow the baking time strictly, cos i tested with a toothpick & it came out clean.
However, i realise that the cake is fluffier on the top half,
and denser on hte bottom half.
Don't know if its caused by my underbaking time.
Nonetheless, due to the ripen bananas,
the smell & sweetness of the banana is heavier
as compared to my previous Banana Walnut Muffin
even though less banana is added.
Therefore, the ripeness of the banana does make a huge difference.

Banana Walnut Muffin for breakfast

I am desperately craving for banana nut bake for the loooooongest time.
Sometime back during the Raya sales at Sheng Shiong.
I have gotten a 1kg pack of almond slice, yes... 1kg of it.
And another 500g of walnut to go with it.
I have already use the almond for some other bake,
am reserving the walnut for a concoction of banna + walnut watever...

So yesterday while i'm grabing fruits for office use,
i stumble upon this bunch of digusting fully ripen banana thats selling for only 85cent!
Grab it w/o any hesitation cos I've been wanting to banana shop for the entire week already!

Chun mum have ever told me that if i wanna cook banana,
i should get those short looking ones with the thin thin skin, aka "indian banana".
The ones i got yesterday was not exactly those type.
I knew i got the wrong bananas the moment i peel them open.
The skin was thick, like those Philippines banana.
Nevertheless, i continue my banana adventure.

Tried out a recipe that i stumble upon online.
The entire procedure seems easy enough with normal everyday ingredients.
The process went well, and fairly quickly.
The batter was kinda to the dry side though.
They were thick and lumpy.
And i realise what was missing, milk.
There's no milk called for as part of the ingredient.
I know milk could yield a softer muffin.
Maybe i'll just give it a try next time, adding milk into the batter.
Oh and i didnt add in any artificial banana essence as well.
Using all real & good ingredient. hmmmm...

The final pdt was a tad dry to my liking,
but the texture did improve on the 2nd morning when i have it for brekkie.
Maybe i'll try adding in a couple or 2 tbsp of milk next time.
I like my banana walnut muffin moist & dense....

The smell of the banana is very very subtle,
due to the omission of the banana essence.
You won't smell those very artificial & sweet banana smell.

One thing to note, i have difficulty focusing when i took photo for the muffin.
I think its partly due to the chopped walnut i sprinkle on top...
I dunno if its my amatuer photo taking skills,
or my brain not functioning well as i'm still sick on doc's prescription last night.


Banana Walnut Muffin

Ingredient
1. 4 very riped bananas, mashed
(preferbaly those short ones with very thin skin)
2. 75g butter, soften
3. 165g castor sugar
4. 1 egg, beaten
5. 1 tsp vanilla extract (i use magadascar bean paste)
6. 1 tsp baking soda
7. Pinch of salt
8. 170g plain flour
9. 100g walnut, chopped & toasted

Procedure
1. Preheat oven to 170deg cel.
2. Mix soften butter into mashed banana.
3. Mix in sugar, egg, vanilla.
4. Sprinkle baking soda & salt over mixture & combined
5. Add flour till just incorporated,
(big lumpy flour is ok, do not overmixed else will end up with tough muffin)
6. Fold in chopped walnut gently with as little stroke as possible
7. Pour mixture into prepared muffin pan til 90% full.
8. Bake for 20-25min til toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 15 regular size muffins

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Am down with a bad throat.
So saw a doctor & was suppose to rest at home......
But......... instead of resting like what the doctor advise.
I succumb to the calling of my pattisier sitting on the kitchen top.....

So, I went ahead to try my first Pandan Chiffon.
I have been browsing thru the internet for some recipe as well as technique.
My mum LOVED Pandan Cake.
And so i thought it would be a good idea if i can teach my maid how to make it,
so that she can always have freshly home made goodness.

I followed the recipe to a tee....
With the exception of freshly squeeze juice of pandan leaf, cos i dun have them.
While my chiffon is happily baking away,
and me clearing the mess i made in the kitchen.
It struck to me while i was keeping the bottle of baking powder..
That I have forgotten to add in the baking powder at all!!!

I make a dash to the oven, and pray hard,
like I used to when i last minute cramp all the info into my brain the night prior to exams,
that my chiffon will still "rise" despite the forgotten baking powder.
Indeed, my prayer didnt fail me, it have RISEN...

The recipe that i used was a whole egg recipe,
as i dun wanna waste any extra yolk.
The result was splendid, the chiffon is soft and tender like it shld.
I may wanna try another recipe with slighty higher ratio of white to yolk next time!
To see if there's a distinct difference.
There's a looooooooooong post online regarding Pandan Chiffon.
I used one of the recipe listed there by Anna Chan.


Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipe

Batch 1
1. 2 egg yolks
2. 15g castor sugar
3. 57g coconut milk
4. 40g top flour
5. 1/4 baking powder (which i forgot to add in)
6. 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
7. 1/4 pandan essence

Batch 2
1. 2 egg white
2. 45g castor sugar
3. 1/5 cream of tar tar

Procedure

1. Preheat to 170deg cel.

Batch 1
2. Mix yolk with sugar till light & creamy (about 8min)
3. Add in coconut milk, vanilla essence, pandan essence & mix till combined
4. Add in shifted flour & baking powder

Batch 2
5. Whisk egg white till foamy
6. Add in cream of tar tar, whisk for another 1min
7. Add in sugar & whisk till stiff peak
8. Combined 1/3 of batter from Batch 2 into Batch 1
9. Fold in the rest of Batch 2 batter into Batch 1 batter
10. Pour into mould & bake for 45min on lower rack, till top is golden brown
11. Invert to cool.. TATA...





*Updated 30/10/10
Made another successful Pandan Chiffon Cake with other recipe.

Rainbow Cuppies

Help my fren did one batch for his gf last month.
Loved the colors when you bite into it... awesome-ness~

It was a long weekend here in Sg.
There's not much activity that we have plan for the PH.
So while Chun is fiddling away on his PINK sony viao laptop.
I gather the ingredient & tried to make the cuppies.

Wanted to try another cupcake recipe i found online,
but am abit skeptical bout the taste.
So in the end still use back my same old trusted recipe by Nigella Lawson.

Why i loved her recipe?
For its simplicity, no frail ingredient & method.
As well as the fact that it yield exactly 12 cuppies nicely,
nothing more, nothing less.
Its a small batch, nice enough to feed my small family of 6.

I remember the last time i did it with my fren, Loon.
The cuppies color didnt come out as plan.
It cant show the different layers from the outside of the paper lining.
So this time i tried another method.
Just purely topping & topping up the colored batter
without trying to smooth out the previous layer beneath.

The layering are still not as nice as it could get,
but its definately more obvious this time round, showing all the 5 colors in layers.
The yummilicious index is still the same as ever.

the colorful batter

the aftermath mess



chun insist on taking this pic

Lazy Sunday Salad

Chun is craving for salad.
So we bought a carton of premix salad leaves tuesday,
went we went to watch "Grown up".

I introduce my family to live oil few years back when i realise the goodness.
And since we're still trying to get to the hang of the taste.
We're still using the "mild" tasting olive that i can get....

The usual salad dressing that i prep for chun is very simple.
I learn it from Jamie Oliver.
Its really simple yet really tasty.
All the ingredient required can be bought easily.

Salad Dressing
1 tbsp lemon / lime juice
3 tbsp olive oil
2 slices of bread, toasted
Handfuls of almond, bacon, whatever thats in the fridge

Procedure
1. Rinse the leaves under running water & spin dry.
I've learn that the leaves have to be dry, inorder for the oil dressing to cling to the leaves.
2. Mix the oil & acid together.
Usually , i will use slightly more acid for a more tangy flavour.
3. Toss the dressing into the leaves with hands,
shred the toasted bread into small pieces,
add whatever additional ingredient tat i feel like.
Enjoy~

Frozen Strawberries

Bought 2 large carton of fresh strawberries on thursday.
Yeah, kind greedy cos it was on promo!
I thought i wanted to make them into smoothie / ice pop.
But who knows my god-ma decided to pay me a visit.
So i cant take anything cold for the past few days.

Seeing that the beautiful strawberries are ripening
& turning soft fast in the fridge.
I decide to freeze them for later use.
Its really simple.
Just pluck off the green top, wash & dried.
Then place them in single row on baking tray, in to the freezer!

I have totally forgotten bout my strawberries in the freezer.
Only when we came back from the supermarket
with OVERFLOWING stash of food to be kept in our overstuffed fridge.
My brother ask "jiejie, ur strawberries still want or not?"
Then i magically remember that the berries are inside.

I took a peek at them, and thats when i truely understand,
Love at first sight!
The red berries look astoundingly pretty, with a coat of white ice, like snow.
How can anyone's mood not be lifted immediately upon seeing them!!
I was running like mad ard the hse, grabing my camera,
while screaming to chun & mum...
"Look, they're soooooooo pretty right"

Today while i'm resizing the photo for uploading,
i still smile to myself when i look at these photos..
They really are magical in lifting my mood!
Especially so on a moday, after a weekend of fun!

In the evening after our tepanyaki dinner.
I make another batch of smoothie with the array of
frozen fruits i have in my freezer after a week of loading.
Finally am i able to get the right consistency of a
smoothie that feels & tasted like my fav "Booster"... Yummy.

This is the first time im taking photo of somthing that melts sooooo fast.
Its so hard to take with the smoothie melting every second.
Every photo i took is like a pond,
more & more water in the next shot!! haha

Assorted fruit smoothie
1. 1 slice frozen watermelon
2. 1 frozen banana
3. 2 pc frozen strawberries
4. 1/4 cup ice
5. 1/4 cup mango juice
6. 2 tbsp yogurt
* yield enough for 2 glasses

Note to self:
1. Peel banana skin off next time before freezing, saves me the hassle of fiddling with the skin when its frozen hard!
2. Strawberries are powerful & strong tasting fruit, just a few pieces is enough for a loooong way. Dun be KS

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Ice Pop

Since the weather is really really unbearable HOT & HUMID.
I have made these lovely & tangy popsicle.
The ingredient & process are real simple.
The result, ultimate bliss... with a tangy and smooth texture that chun love.

Ice pop are really easy to make.
And the ingredient readily availiable in singapore.
I used to have those ice pop mould,
which is the freebie with Ribena in my old house.
They were good and reliable.

But i threw them away when we moved like 5 yrs back.
Now, i'm feeling really guilty and i missed them... haha..
So i went in search of the perfect ice pop mould, but to no avail.
I even almost wanted to order a set from Amazon that cost ard $40bucks.
I know that he will definately KILL me if i did order that. haha.

Since we just got ourselves a new, more powerful blender for smoothie.
I thought making ice pop will only make more sense now!
And i cant spend more bucks on expensive & "high-tech" mould.
I'll have to make do with these cheap alternative from Daiso.
They cost only $2 for a set of 4mould.
The mould are those stick together so u can't use them individually.

After this exceedingly tasteful first batch of popsicle.
My mum have already feedback that,
"our family of 6, how to fight for 4 ice pop??"
Meaning = i'll have to go get another set to satisfy my family of 6!!!

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Ice Pop
1. 1/2 cup fresh strawberries
2. 1/2 cup yogurt
3. 1/4 lemon (for taste)
4. 1 tbsp sugar
* Yield enough for 4 ice pop

Procedure
1. Blend all ingredient together till smooth.
2. Pour into mould, leaving a small space for expansion. Add slices of fresh fruits if desire
3. Freeze for at least 6hrs, enjoy!