Banana Spice Loaf

i have this Philips HR 2833 food processor for a long long time. it can do a lot of things - chopping, shredding, slicing, whisking, dough kneading etc. i had put it aside for more than 2 years now. i decided to re-explore the usefulness of a food processor, so now it's out of cold storage. i used it to make my loaf tonight.

now that i got my digital kitchen scale, i hate using cup measurements to measure out my ingredients, it took me 30min to measure the ingredients and prepare everything, when usually it would have only taken 15min. aiyo. terrible.

also my oven is small and the heat distribution is uneven, the temperature in the original recipe and the time to bake, i cannot follow at all. in the end, the loaf was blackened on the top. *sigh* but it was yummy, which is more important.





Banana Spice Loaf
170g self raising flour
1 tsp ground allspice
a dash of ground cinnamon
140g brown sugar
125g unsalted butter, cold, cubed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
60g plain yogurt
2 medium sized ripe bananas, mashed

1. grease and line a 8"x4" loaf pan; grease paper.
2. sift flour, allspice, cinnamon into the bowl of the food processor. Mix sugar into the flour mixture. Add butter cubes. process till the mixutre is fine and crumbly like fine breadcrumbs.
3. add eggs, yogurt and banana and process till just combined. do not overbeat.
4. spoon mixture into the loaf pan; smoothen the surface. bake in preheated 160oC oven for 40min or till cake tester comes out clean when inserted in centre of loaf.
5. leave loaf in pan for 5min before turning over onto wire rack to cool completely for storing.

original recipe from Periplus Mini Cookbooks series - fabulous fast cakes

Banana Madness

i bought an extra bunch of bananas on Saturday, just so that i can make banana muffins and steamed banana cakes. the batch of banana muffins i made last night got rave feedback from everybody. i had 4 bananas left, so i decided to make steamed banana cakes and banana muffins.

i must say the steamed banana cakes are ok, not sweet enough. i reduced the sugar qty to 90g. does 10g make such a big difference? i haven't tried tonight's banana muffins. hope it turns out as well as last night.

with all these bakings and tasting, it's no surprise that i'm putting on lots of weight. this is bad; Jo is 13mths now and i really need to work hard to lose the spare tyre.... all these baking adventures are not helping.. HELP!


>> Steamed Banana Cake >> JoJo's Banana Muffins

Steamed Banana Cake
150g self raising flour
1/4g baking soda (1g)
2 Eggs
100g sugar
2 ripe bananas, mashed
75g oil (any flavorless oil)

1. Sift the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. Line muffin tins with paper cups.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the mashed bananas and mix well.
3. Gently fold in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with oil.
4. Spoon batter into muffin tins, 2/3 full. Steam for 10min or till a cake tester comes up clean when poked into the muffins.
5. Remove from tin and allow muffins to cool on rack before serving.

original recipe - Amanda: Held by Love, Baked from scratch > Steam Banana Cake

JoJo's Banana Muffins

bare with me.. i'm going through a muffin craze and baked banana muffins last night. decided to name my version of banana muffins after my baby daughter who loves banana. hopefully she loves the banana muffins i baked.

again, i'm been lazy with the camera, so no pictures :p

Banana muffins
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
55g sugar
60g oil
10g milk
1 egg, beaten
2 medium sized bananas, mashed

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. In another bowl, blend all the wet ingredients and mashed bananas together. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture, till just combine.
3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake in pre-heated 160oC oven for 15min. Remove from oven and cool on rack.

Update 3 Mar 2014: 

It has been a long while since I post on this blog. The kids have grown up, both in primary school now. I have been baking on and off. Today I came back to this good trusty recipe and made banana muffins again (photo below). This time with a slight variation, I added mini chocolate chips for Joanne. And now we are staying with my parents, using a different oven, the temperature was also adjusted to 175oC.

With this update, perhaps it's time I picked up my blog where I last left it.

In the meanwhile, you can also add raisins, walnuts. Have fun with the recipe.

Updated 3 April 2015:

I increased the amount of flour to 140g. Instead of 60g oil, I used 30g yogurt and 30g coconut oil. The texture is much better and my son had 3 blueberry ones for dinner. Yummy! 

Orange Muffins with mixed berries

i love to make muffins. it's so simple. just need to mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and blend to combine. i can put the muffins into the oven and clean up within 30min. one bowl. no mess no fuss. the easiest bake to do for any 1st timers.

i've made different types of muffins and found my own perfect proportion for the muffin mixture. 120g plain flour : 60g oil : 80g milk+other liquids : 1 egg. this ratio is meant for plain muffins with dry additions, like chocolate chips, raisins, blueberries, cheese etc. it won't work for wetter additions like bananas. it's important to keep the flour to oil ratio, as the oil is the component that gives the muffins moisture. :)

Orange Muffins with mixed berries
120g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
60g sugar
60g oil
60g orange juice (juice from half orange)
20g milk
1 egg, beaten
zest from one orange
1/2 cup mixed berries

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
2. In another bowl, blend all the wet ingredients and orange zest together. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture, till just combine. Add mixed berries and mix well.
3. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full and bake in pre-heated 160oC oven for 15min. Remove from oven and cool on rack.

Muffins galore!

i made 2 batches of muffins tonite. mixed berries muffins for the kids, double choco chip muffins for me and hubby!

i used my trusty raisin muffin recipe, instead of adding raisins, i added mixed berries which i bought at a health store in Parkway Parade. i modified the same recipe for the chocolate one.


>> mixed berries muffins


>> double chocolate chip muffins

Double Chocolate Chip Muffins
100g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
50g brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
60g olive oil
90g milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, set aside.
2. Add egg, oil and milk into the bowl, mix till just combined. Add chocolate chips.
3. Spoon into muffin cups 2/3 full and bake in preheated 160oC oven for 15min (depending on cup size) or till cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

Chocolate Chocolate Pudding

i managed to borrow The Cake Book from the library. i wanted to make something chocolaty for hubby while the dough was proofing, decided on this one called Saucy Chocolate Pudding Cake. it's so simple. i made a small portion, half the original recipe, as it's meant for hubby and myself only.



Saucy Chocolate Pudding Cake
for pudding:
60g cake flour
75g caster sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
60ml milk
14g unsalted butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanila essence

for chocolate sauce:
50g brown sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
180ml boiling water

1. Mix the dry ingredients for the pudding together in a bowl. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix the wet ingredients together. Add the mixture to the flour mixture. Stir till blended. Pour into a greased 5" ceramic square dish.
3. In another small bowl, mix the brown sugar and cocoa powder for the chocolate sauce. Sprinkly the mixture evenly on top of the batter. Slowly pour the boiling water over the top (don't stir, just let stand).
4. Bake the cake for 20min, until the top is set. Cool the cake in pan on a wire rack for 15min.
5. Serve warm into cups / bowls, drizzling a generous amount of the sauce over the cake. Enjoy!

Milk Loaf 2

my first attempt on the milk loaf, i added fillings in the loaf. this time i decided to bake a plain milk loaf for breakfast. i used my usual method of proofing by placing my dough in a mixing bowl, covered with cling wrap, in the microwave oven with a bowl of hot water. did this for both 1st and 2nd proofing. i was so pleased that the loaf came out square and it was soft!

Papa's birthday cake

i decided to bake a carrot-apple cake for hubby's birthday. i was physically and mentally drained that night, couldn't do proper frosting. luckily the cake tasted good.







Carrot-Apple Cake
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vege oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
2.5 cup plain flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 cups finely grated carrots
1 cup finely grated green apples
1.5 cup raisins

1. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. Combine oil, sugar and vanilla, beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition.
3. Add flour to the oil mixture. Mix well.
4. Stir in apple, carrots and raisins.
5. Pour batter into a greased 8" springform pan. Bake at 170oC for 1hour.
6. Cool in pain for 10min before removing from pan and cool on wire rack.
7. Cool completely before frosting.

More Raisin Muffins

Wanted to make bread last night, but slept with Jo and did not wake up till early this morning. Then discovered that we did not have bread at home. I made the easiest thing I could think of. Raisin muffins. This time I used 60g unsalted butter, melted, instead of olive oil. The taste is better and more moist. hmmm... :) I used mini cupcake cases. Smaller muffins need less baking time. I did mine at 160oC in 12min. Also added some chocolate chips in the last 7 minis for hubby, he loves chocolate.

Milk Loaf with Fillings

Twice, the Happy Home Baker left comments on my blog, urging me to try the milk loaf recipe. I finally did. 2 nights ago. I took note of HHB's comments that her dough took 2 hours to rise during the 2nd proofing. As I usually make bread at night, I found a good way to proof my dough. I placed the dough into a stainless steel mixing bowl, greased and covered with cling wrap. I would then place a cup of boiling water into the microwave oven, together with the dough in the bowl. It cut the proofing time. For the 2nd proofing, I did the same and the dough almost touched the cover of the pullman tin after 40min.

For milk, I hardly have fresh milk at home these days. For my breads so far, I've used a mixture of UHT milk and whipping cream. The whipping cream was balance from decorating Jo's birthday cake. I finally finished using the whipping cream in this bread.


> The best looking corner


> L- Cheese slice, R- Raisin slice


> Tau sar slice

Milk Loaf
130g milk (I used a mixture of whipping cream and UHT)
50g egg
25g caster sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
4g instant yeast
38g butter (unsalted, cubed)

Assorted fillings - red bean paste, grated cheddar cheese, raisins (soaked in hot water and drained)

1. Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl (be careful not to put yeast with salt). Mix well. Add all the wet ingredients and make a dough.
2. Turn the dough out on a clean smooth work-table. Add the butter and knead the butter into the dough. The dough would be sticky at first, but don't worry, continue kneading till you get a smooth elastic dough.
3. Place the dough in a greased mixing bowl. Cover the dough with cling wrap and allow the dough to rise (approximately 1 hour).
4. The dough should rise 2x the original size. Give the dough a light punch to deflate. Turn the dough out onto the table and lightly knead the dough. Divide the dough into 3 portions and allow the dough to rest 10minutes.
5. Flatten 1 potion and spread filling on the flattened dough. Roll up the dough with the filling like a swiss roll, making as many rounds as possible. Tuck the ends under and place in the pullman tin. Do the same for the other 2 portions.
6. Allow the dough in the pullman tin to rise till almost 2x its original size.
7. Bake in a preheated 160oC oven for 30min. De-mould immediately and allow to cool before slicing.

YUMMY! The bread was so soft that I had problems slicing. We loved the texture. The kids simply loved the cheese slices.

Original recipe - Happy Home Baker > Almost a Square