Simple Banana Chocolate Cupcake

Seems like cupcake is the latest craze. You see cupcakes nicely decorated everywhere. With all those flavors that we can choose from, let's try Banana Chocolate Cupcake today.

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I found a Banana Chocolate Cupcake recipe at Joy of Baking - Banana Chocolate Cupcake. This seems like a simple recipe to attempt. I reduced the sugar amount as I find the original recipe a bit too sweet to my liking. I have also reduced the oil by half. The cupcake remains soft.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Pre-Steps
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celcius

Ingredients
(A)
1/2 cup of granulated white sugar
1 cup of all purpose flour
1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's cocoa powder)
3/4 teaspoon of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt

(B)
1 large egg (at room temperature)
1/2 cup of mashed ripe banana (I used 2 medium size banana)
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup of milk (I used Farmhouse low fat milk)
1/8 cup of sunflower oil
3/4 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Steps
1. In a large bowl, mix all the (A) ingredients together using a whisk.

2. In another bowl, mix all the (B) ingredients together using a whisk.

3. Pour ingredient (B) into (A) and mix them together with a whisk. This will form into a thin batter.

4. Divide the batter equally into 12 lined cupcakes cup.

5. Bake for 20 minutes.

6. If you wish to frost the cupcakes with your favorite frosting, leave the cupcake to completely cool before frosting it.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

I went to a baking ingredients shop and found some pandan paste. Yay, no need to make it on my own. Decided to make pandan chiffon cake with it to test out the pandan paste. I found a simple chiffon recipe here, which I adapted it to make the pandan chiffon cake.


The chiffon turns out a bit too green to my liking. Overall, the texture and the taste of the chiffon cake is good. I will use this as the base for my future chiffon cakes. However, I will stick with homemade pandan paste in the future.

Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 50 minutes

Pre-Steps
Preheat the oven at 165 degrees Celcius.

Ingredients:
(A)
2 1/2 cup of cake flour
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of castor sugar

(B)
7 egg yolk (at room temperature)
1/2 cup of sunflower oil
2 tablespoon of pandan paste (store bought)
1 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract
3/4 cup of water (at room temperature)

(C)
7 egg white (at room temperature)
1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar
3/4 cup of castor sugar

Steps
1. Sift (A) together in a large mixing bowl.

2. Mix (B) together in a separate bowl. Mix well.

3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient. Mix well and set aside.

4. In the mixer, pour the egg white in a dry mixing bowl.

5. Whisk it for about a minute until it is slightly foamy.

6. Add cream of tartar at this stage and continue to whisk for another minute.

7. Gradually add the sugar in small batches and whisk at medium to high speed until you have reach hard peaks.

8. Add this egg white to the egg yolk mixture. Add in 3 batches, using large folding strokes.

9. Pour into the un-greased baking pan.

10. Bake for 50 minutes.

11. Once baked and tested with cake tester, turn the cake upside down for an hour until cool. 

12. Remove from the baking pan and serve.

Simple Chocolate Brownie with Walnut

The chocolate craving continues.. this time with chocolate brownies. This recipe is adapted from Joy of Baking's brownie recipe. It taste great when served chilled, and when the chocolate ganache sets.

Recipe Ingredients Edited on 5-May-2013

Preparation Time :  20 mins

Baking Time: 20 (On the second try, at 20 minutes the cake turns out moist as compared to 23 mins. I will stick with 20 mins. But do remember to test with cake tester before removing the cake from the oven)

Ingredients: 

Chocolate Base

70 gm of raw walnuts (I love lots of nuts. However, you can reduce to 40gm if you do not wish to feel the nuts at every bite)
150 gm of baking chocolates (I used sweetened)

125 gm of salted butter

1/2 cup of sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3/4 cup of plain flour

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup of thickening cream (increased from 1/3 cup)

1 tablespoon of butter

Steps:

1. Crush the walnuts and lightly toast them in the oven for 5 minutes at 100 degrees Celcius. Remove from oven and leave to cool.

2. Put a mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water.

3. Add butter into the mixing bowl and allow to melt.

4. Add the baking chocolate and stir the mixture together. Allow to melt and smoothen.

5. Remove from the pot of boiling water and allow to cool.

6. Once the mixture cooler, add sugar and vanilla extract and mix well.

7. Add eggs and mix well.

8. Add flour and mix well.

9. Add toasted walnut and mix well.

10. Line the baking pan with parchment paper. I am using a 7 inch square shaped baking pan. 

11. Pour the mixture into the pan.

12. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160 degrees Celcius for about 23 mins. Test with a cake tester. It should come out moist with only a few crumbs sticking to it. DO NOT OVERBAKE.

13. Leave it to cool. Once it is cool to touch, prepare the chocolate ganache. 

Chocolate Ganache
14. Put the mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water.
15. Add the thickening cream, chocolate chips and butter into the mixing bowl. 

16. Stir continuously until everything is melted and smooth.

17. Pour the mixture over the brownie base.

18. Leave it to cool.
19. Once cool, move the brownie into the fridge to chill. Once set, cut and serve.

Barley Dessert Soup with Dried Bean Curd Sheet and Egg

A simple dessert, which is easy to make and all time favorite.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 3 hours

Ingredients
1 packet of barley (about 100 gm)
1 piece of dried bean curd sheet
1 egg
1.4 liter of hot water
Sugar to taste

Steps
1. Wash and rinse the barley.
2. Clean the dried bean curd sheet and tear into pieces
3. Put the barley and dried bean curd sheet into the slow cooker pot.

4. Add the hot water into the slow cooker pot.
5. Boil for about 2.5 hours.
6. Beat the egg and add to the slow cooker pot. Stir the mixture to make flower egg.
7. Boil another 30 minutes.
8. Add sugar to taste and serve.

Mango Pudding

There are some left over pudding powder left from previous batch and I decided to make some mango pudding with it. What a great way to cool down from the extreme hot weather lately. From the local mart, I managed to get 3 normal sized fresh mangoes. 

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
3 normal sized mangoes (close to 1kg)
pudding powder (follow the measurement based on your pudding powder. Calculate the amount required for about 1 liter of liquid)
110 gm of sugar (you may need to add more depending on the sweetness and sourness of the mangoes)
800 ml of water 
1/2 cup of milk

Steps
1. Cut the mangoes into cubes. 

2. Take 1/3 of the cut mangoes and puree them. I managed to get 200 ml of puree from it.

3. In a pot, add water, pudding powder, sugar and puree and bring to boil on low fire. Stir continously.

4. Once it starts to boil, add milk and stir for a few seconds until mixed. 

5. Turn off the fire. Add in the cut mangoes and stir.

6. Pour the mixture into jelly moulds evenly. (I managed to get 11 mango puddings using my jelly cup).

7. Cool for 10 minutes before putting into the fridge for another 2 hours.

8. Once chill, remove from mould, and serve. 

Peach Jelly (Agar-Agar)

Fancy a quick and easy dessert with a refreshing taste? Why not make some jelly or also known as agar-agar. It's easy to prepare and a delight for everyone especially during the hot weather. This dessert has sweet and sour taste due to the peach.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

                                     

Ingredients:

1 packet of agar agar powder. (I used the Swallow brand agar agar powder)

1 large can of peach fruit

300 ml of peach fruit syrup (you can get this from the can of peach fruit. Reserve the syrup within)

700 ml of water

110 gm of sugar

a few drops of lemon yellow coloring (optional)

Steps:

1.  Mix the agar agar powder, peach fruit syrup, water and sugar in a bowl.

2. On a low fire, bring the mixture to a boil and the sugar and agar agar powder dissolved. (Remember to stir it occasionally)

3. While waiting for the mixture to boil, cut the peaches into any shapes that you prefer. I cut mine into crescent and cubes. Then place them into jelly mould.

4. When the mixture is ready, add in a few drops of lemon yellow coloring so that the jelly will not be a plain clear color. Boil for another minute. You can skip this step if you do not want to use any coloring.

5. Pour the jelly liquid into the prepared jelly mould.

6. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before putting in the fridge and let it chill for another 2 hours.

7. After 2 hours, remove from mould and serve chill. Delicious :)

Chocolate Chip Cashew Nut Cookie Recipe

My craving for chocolate continues with Chocolate Chip and Nut cookie.. with the adapted version from Chocolate Chip Walnut Recipe here. Instead of making them with walnut, I replaced them with cashew nuts. They are still super yummy, soft and delicious. 

 

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 9-11 minutes per batch (depending on the size of the cookie and until it turned slightly brown)

Ingredients

250 gm of salted butter

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

3/4 cups of soft brown sugar

3/4 cups of brown sugar

2 eggs

3 2/5 cups of plain flour (my dough was still sticky even with extra flour..will probably need to add slightly more next time)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips (I used mixed milk chocolate and semi sweet - ran out of semi sweet :D)

1 cup of raw cashew nuts

Pre-Steps

Preheat oven at 190 degrees Celcius.

Steps

1. Pan roast the cashew nuts for about 5 minutes on low fire until brown. 

2. Crush the cashew nuts into smaller size and set aside.

3. In a mixer, cream the butter, granulated sugar, soft brown sugar and brown sugar until soft and thoroughly mixed.

4. Add in 2 eggs, beating one at a time at low speed.

5. Add in plain flour, cornstarch, baking powder and baking soda and mix at low speed until thoroughly mixed. (Will need to add in more flour if the dough is still wet)

6. Combine with chocolate chips and cashew nuts using a spatula.

7. Prepare the baking tray and lined it with baking sheet. Roll the mixture into a ball about 1 inch in diameter. Ensure there are space between them as the cookie will flatten out as it bakes.

8. Bake in the oven for about 9 minutes.

Chocolate Butter Cake Recipe

I wanted to try a chocolate butter cake and to experiment a bit...by mixing the recipe I found for a marble cake at Joy of Baking - Marble Cake and see if I could make a chocolate butter cake out of it.

I reduced the amount of ingredients that is required as I wanted to make a smaller cake.

Preparation Time: 30-40 minutes

Cooking Time: 50-60 minutes

Ingredients used

210 gm of semi sweet chocolate (I only had semi sweet chocolate chips from Hersheys at that time, so I used that)

128 gm of salted butter (left at room temperature)

188 gm of granulated sugar

3 normal sized eggs

1 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla essence

222 gm of plain flour

1 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

120 ml of fresh milk (I used Farmhouse)

Pre-Steps

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C.

Steps

1. Melt the chocolate until smooth in a bowl using the double boiler method. Set aside to cool to room temperature

2. Beat the butter for 1 minute on low speed. Gradually add the sugar and beat at low speed.

3. Once the sugar has been mixed, increase the mixer speed to medium for about 5 minutes until the colour is lighten. You can still feel the sugar bits.

4. Add in 3 eggs, beating one at a time at low speed.

5. Add in the vanilla essence and mix at low speed.

6. Sift in the plain flour, baking powder and baking soda into the batter in 3 portions. Add in the milk and mix until it is all incorporated. Do not over mix.

7. Fold in the cool melted chocolate using a spatula.

8. Pour into a greased baking pan and bake for about 50-60 minutes (I am using a loaf pan. Adjust your baking time accordingly based on the type of pan you use. Do not open the oven during baking to prevent sunken cake).

Note: 

- Do not open the oven door during baking.

- Use a cake tester / toothpick to check if the cake is cooked. I used a small knife as the cake is too tall for a toothpick.

- At 35 minutes - the middle is still not cooked.

- The cake has a rich chocolate taste to it