Banana Bread (Second Attempt)

The recipe I used was adapted from:

http://www.figandcherry.com/recipes/breakfast/dense-and-moist-banana-bread-recipe/

Banana bread recipe

• 125g unsalted butter
• 3 super ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste (only use essence if you’re desperate!)
• pinch of cinnamon
• pinch of cloves
• 1 and 1/2 cups plain flour (I used self-raising flour and no baking powder, that’s why the bread is so flat)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• handful of raw walnuts, roughly chopped (optional)

I tried this recipe before and was satisfied with it but wanted to tweak it a little bit more to suit my taste.

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper.
3. Melt 1 stick + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter.
4. Mash 2 super-ripe bananas in a mixing bowl.
5. Add the melter butter, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1 slightly beaten egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon into the mixing bowl.
6. Sift into the mixing bowl 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
7. Mix until incorporated but do not overmix.
8. Bake for 50 mins to 1 hour.

The banana cake came out really moist and smell and taste really good. Very good for breakfast.

Note: Good recipe.

Honey-Bee Cake / Zebra Cake

The actual name is zebra cake but mine turned out looking more like honey bee so that's what I named it. This is a very simple and light cake. The recipe was from:

http://bakingbites.com/2008/07/zebra-cake/

Zebra Cake
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

Mine didn't turn out as good-looking as the zebra but I like the taste. I created too much air bubble while scooping the vanilla and chocolate batter alternately. It's fine, in general. Half of the cake is already gone :)

I followed the recipe except that I eliminated the almond extract (since I do not have it) and increased the cocoa powder from 2 1/2 tablespoon to 4 tablespoon.

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line the bottom of a 9 inch springform cake pan with parchment paper.
2. Slightly beat 4 large eggs in a bowl.
3. Add 1 cup granulated sugar to the eggs. Beat until light and creamy.
4. Add 1 cup milk, 1 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil) and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix well.
5. Sift in 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Mix until incorporated.
6. Measure out 2 cups of vanilla batter and sift in 2 1/2 tablespoon cocoa powder (I suggest measure out 3-4 cups since my vanilla batter was way more than my chocolate batter. That was why I increased the cocoa powder; I had to scoop out more vanilla batter in the end and added another 1 1/2 tablespoon cocoa powder).
7. Scoop one spoonful of vanilla batter into the center of the cake pan (I used a ladle that can hold approximately 3 tablespoons liquid).
8. After the vanilla batter spreads out, scoop one spoonful of chocolate batter into the center of the vanilla batter. Use a ladle that is same in size.
9. Alternately scoop the vanilla and chocolate batter until they are used up.
10. Bake 38-42 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

My cake was still moist in the very center. It came out puffed up but sunk during cooling that's why I couldn't detect the moist part when I checked with a toothpick. I actually baked it for 45 minutes but the center was still moist. I will have to look into this problem.

Note: Good recipe, just not sure why the cake was still very moist in the center.

Green Tea Red Bean Muffin

The recipe I got was from:

http://novice-baker.blogspot.com/2008/10/green-tea-muffins.html

Green Tea Muffins
adapted from Epicurious.com

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter
2 teaspoon matcha powder
canned sweetened azuki bean, (1/2 teaspoon for each muffins)

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter muffin pans. Mix the flour, matcha powder, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg, milk, and butter, stirring only enough to dampen the flour; the batter should not be smooth. Spoon into the muffin pans, filling each cup about half full, dropping 1/2 teaspoon of azuki beans into each over and cover with more batter, until the cup is two-thirds full. Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes each. Or until the cake tester inserted comes out clean.

I followed the recipe except that I increased the amount of sugar from 2 tablespoons to 3 tablespoons and increased 1 more tablespoon of melted butter.

No pictures but they turned out great!

Note: Good recipe