Banana Muffins

Banana Muffins
My next project was Banana Muffins. Not a banana fan myself, but it was one of those days where you like something made of bananas. It is the easiest & quickest to do. I don’t have to say more about the ingredients: -

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt 3 large ripe bananas, mashed (use 4 if they are smaller)
3/4 cup soft brown sugar (or ½ cup if you'd prefer less sweeter)
1/3 cup butter, melted

1 egg

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C).
Line muffin tray with cupcake papers/liners.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine bananas, sugar, egg and melted butter. Add flour mixture, and beat until smooth.
Scoop into muffin pans. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

Results
Muffins will spring back when lightly tapped. Don’t worry if the muffins don’t look pretty, but they surely are gonna ‘fly’ like hot cakes – literally. The one problem I faced was that my brand-new-12-holes muffin tray could not fit into the oven! Worse still I’ve already filled it with paper cups and dough! Fortunately the bakery supply shop is just 5 mins drive away from home & I manage to get smaller trays. Pheeww!

Happy Baking!

Buttercup :->

Baking my first cake

I've never considered or even thought baking will be anywhere in my hobbies list. Always have considered myself a rough person, fingers so wood-like. They are not suitable for delicate works, or at least that’s what I thought. ;-) Then one day, wanting to eat something chocolaty so much (though I’m not a chocolate freak), landed on this page http://kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=1748 .

Trust me, this recipe was so simple that even a worse cook like me can follow! Easy-to-get ingredients and of course I did some homework surfing the net for definition of some terms; i.e. Emulco, Baine Marie, Kahlua. Frankly, didn't invest much on cookbooks. Now that's another advantage of being an IT literate. :p

I've finally made it! The Rich Moist Chocolate Cake, topped with choc chips & melted rich choc filling, a definite treat for those chocolate lovers! I know, i know, there's nothing to shout about the way it looks. But you got to try it first. Below is the recipe I’ve modified a little bit from the above source - which I belief gave a perfect result every time.

Rich Moist Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
175g butter
370g soft brown sugar
3 eggs (separated, whisk egg-whites till fluff)

(A)
1 tsp instant coffee powder + 1 tsp hot water, mixed to dissolve the coffee granules
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp rum liqueur
1 tsp chocolate Emulco*
2 tbsp Golden Syrup

(B)
220g plain flour
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1½ tsp baking powder

200ml fizzy water* (unflavored carbonated water)

*Available in bakery supply shops/Tesco

Method
Preheat oven to 170°C degrees. Grease and line a 22–23cm round cake pan with greaseproof paper. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg-yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in combined essences (A) until well mixed. Whisk in egg-whites. Fold in sifted ingredients (B), alternating it with fizzy-water. Turn mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 50–60 minutes or until cake is cooked through when tested with a skewer.


Tips
1. Reduce the sugar to 2/3 if you don’t prefer it too sweet.
2. Pour half of the cake mixture into baking pan, then sprinkle evenly with some chocolate chips, and top it with the remaining half of the mixture. Sprinkle with more choc-chips/choc-rice, but not too much though. This gives smooth cake center & lovely cake surface.

BTW, this is part of mum's kitchen which i'm been messing in.

Happy Baking! ;D
Buttercup