Marbled Nutella Banana Bread

Don't worry. I am perfectly well and healthy :) Other than all the wedding preparations going on (not that much actually) and ongoing life as a student, I am safe and sound. Except that I bake less nowadays since I don't have that many mouth to feed here in Sabah :p

With the occasionally orders from acquaintance, nothing beats the feeling of having a freshly baked cake at home kan?

Since I had some banana left from the chocolate banana cake, I decided to bake this. I saved it in my baking book ages ago, not knowing when I would be able to bake it.

I remember buying banana cake as a energy food for my students everytime during training or competition. Banana = energy. Banana cake = energy. Chocolate = craziness. Seriously, they went extremely hyper with chocolates! And I stop feeding them with choc since then, except for big competition.

And this, banana+nutella? *gulp*

This has become my favourite marbled banana cake so far!

Marbled Nutella Banana Bread

Adapted from Vision Plum

2 1/3 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup mashed ripe banana (I used 4)

6tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 large eggs

1/2 cup nutella

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9" loaf pan or 7" cake pan.
2. Sift together all the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together banana, butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla essence on medium speed until creamy about 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time and continue beating for another 2 minutes.
4. Reduce speed to low and add in the flour mixture gradually until well combined. Divide half of the batter and stir in Nutella.
5. Alternate spoonful of nutella batter and the normal batter in your pan until finish. Swirl gently with a knife. Bake for 1 hour.

The thing is, I love banana cake! So much!

ps: Its still me. I'm using my main account. Too lazy to sign out each time I wanna post something here :p

Chocolate Banana Cake

I am back!

I am sitting on my bean bag, at the usual corner at where I put my laptop, in my room here in JB. Ahh yes finally I am back in JB! Actually, it was two weeks ago. Mom frantically called me everyday, updating on our cats who were badly sick from a virus. All of our cats got infected and died eventually. But when Mom called and tell me Krystal (the second cat) who just delivered her babies died, I just couldn't stay still. I cried so bad when finally I texted Mom;

"I wanna go home.... So bad! Boleh?"

"Yes I know you're worried. Go and book you flight ticket"

And I was relieved!

It was two 10 days before Eid al-Adha and I already on plane flying back home.

To see one by one died including the babies was really heart wrenching! I barely had time for myself. We had to sanitized their home, fed them medications (twice a day), fed sick cats who lost appetite, fed the babies when the Mom(s) died, countless trip to different vet clinic and prayers (a lot!) along the way.

Phew.

And lost few kg which I think I will gain back in a few days. Oh no!

And, the last kitten died yesterday :(

I didn't realized I was exhausted until I spent a good 6 hours sleep that morning.

Ok. Move on.

Simple cakes I baked (again) for last Raya. OMG I am so backdated! Huhu. Sorry guys!

Chocolate Banana Cake

And American Chocolate Cake. Been trying to baked one since ever. Copied the recipe a year ago only managed to baked it last Raya :p

Wait, I still have some recipes to try! Hopefully manage to try all during my not-so-holiday!

American Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Kak Ummi

2 cups flour*

3/4 cups sugar*

2 tsp baking powder*

2tsp baking soda*

2 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup milk

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp nescafe added to 1 cup of hot water

1. Sift together all * ingredients.
2. Mix all ingredients except the sifted flour, milk and water in a large bowl using a wooden spoon. Beat well until incorporated.
3. Add in the sifted flour, milk and water and continue beating.
4. Pour into your pan and bake at 170 degrees for 45 minutes.

1 can condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 cup corn oil

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1. Mix all together in a deep saucepan and heat on low heat until it thicken. Continue stirring with a whisker for 10 minutes.
2. Turn off the heat and let it cool before spreading.

ps: Just so you know, this post was in my draft since 4th November!

Chocolate Banana Cake

I know I have a very bad memory. I couldn't remember most of the things happened in my life. I don't know because of the fact that I hate raisins as much as I hate cockroaches or because my brain processor is very small I tend to omit details that won't be beneficial for me for the next 10 years.

But apart from this short term memory I do remember one thing clearly. I'd never had any homemade birthday cake made for me. I'd never fancied a birthday celebration. I thought I looked like an idiot celebrating, singing and cheering my birthday. I do prefer a quite celebration, with the family.

And I do prefer a homemade cake.

So, when a birthday is approaching, I will immediately scuffled with tons of recipes, scrutinizing everything, each of the ingredients to make a perfect birthday cake.

And when it was time for the boyfriend, I know one thing: he loves Secret Recipe's Banana Chocolate Cake. Although I was contemplating to bake one at first (because I just gave him a chocolate cake) but in the end it was his day, and I should get over it.

I was having problem with the ganache as always. I just have to find a good ratio of the whipping cream and chocolate and a proper temperature to pour.

I opted for a simple design. I don't want anything fancy. I don't want any wordings on the cake (now whose cake was it for? hehe).

The verdict? The bf loved it! My principle of making a layered cake: be generous! You really don't want a layered cake to be stack with just a few mm of filling. No, not good.

And the bananas? To prevent browning you can mix few drops of lemon/lime after slicing it.

Chocolate Banana Cake

Adapted from Citarasawan

Chocolate Chiffon:

(A)

30 g cocoa powder

4 egg yolks

100g sugar

130g self rising flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

60ml oil

1 tsp vanilla

(B)

4 egg whites

60g sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar (I omit)

Filling:

400ml sweetened whipping cream

100g melted cooking chocolate (I used Hershey's chocolate syrup)

1 1/2 tsp nescafe (dissolve in 1 tbsp hot water)

1 tbsp gelatine (I soaked it in 40ml warm water for 15 minutes)

Banana slices

Chocolate Ganache:

140ml whipping cream

350g cooking chocolate

1 tbsp butter

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.
2. Mix all ingredients in A and beat using high speed until fluffy.
3. In another bowl, beat B until stiff peaks form.
4. Fold in A into B mixture gently and pour into a 8" pan. Bake for 40 minutes.
5. When the cake has cooled down, slice it into three or four even layers.
6. Beat the whipping cream until it doubles in volume and add in vanilla essence, melted chocolate, coffee and gelatine. Mix well.
7. Spread the filling on top of the first layer of the cake as a base. Make sure it is about 1/2 inch thick. Arrange banana slices on it before topping it off with another layer of cake. Repeat until finish.
8. Spread a thin coat of the filling around the whole cake as a crumbcoat. Cool it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, heat the whipping cream using a double boiler until its boil. Take it off from the heat and add in cooking chocolate and butter. Stir until it melts. When it has cooled down and reach to your desire consistency, pour it over the cake.

Devil Food Chocolate Cake

The last time I baked for my boyfriend was 4 years ago. We had just started dating and it was his birthday. I wasn't that enthusiastic as I am now with baking but I still baked him cupcakes. It were mini cupcakes, I don't remember what flavour, with peanut butter frosting. The frosting was hideous! And watery! I tried to draw on the small cupcakes but all went fugly.

But it still was my first ever homemade cupcakes/cake for him.

I decided to surprise the boyfriend yesterday so I baked him a cake. Not the usual humble cakes I usually baked. It was a chocolate cake!

My piping skills sucks T_T I really don't know how to decorate a cake. Seriously, it took me a longer time to frost than baking!

And the boyfriend and housmates and officemate (Oh now I am blushing) loved it!! Sumpah tak tipu!

I drove in the middle of the night from my house to KL just to meet him but I couldn't resist to had one slice of it. So I brought along a knife and a tupperware, for me! Hahahahaha.

And this is how it looks like :) Pretty, no?

Devil Food Chocolate Cake
From Kitchen Guardian

Cake:

1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
65g butter
1 large egg
1tsp vanilla essence
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup warm water

1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Sift together all the dry ingredients; flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg.
3. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk+warm water mixture in three batches begin and ending with the flour.
4. Add in vanilla essence and continue mixing.
5. Pour into a greased pan and bake for 30 minutes. I used a 9 inch heart shaped pan and had to baked twice. Double the ingredients or use a smaller pan if you want a higher cake.

Cream Cheese frosting:

250g cream cheese at room temperature
125g butter
1 cup icing sugar (Yikes! I use 1/2 cup. Enough with all the fat :p )
1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add in butter and continue mixing until light and creamy. Add in sifted icing sugar and mix well. Lastly, add vanilla essence.

Chocolate Ganache:

250 ml double cream/whipping cream/ thickened cream
300g dark chocolate/baking chocolate chopped

In a double boiler, warm the cream until it is hot enough to melt the chocolate. Remove from the heat and mix in the chopped chocolate. Stir until melted. Let it cool before use.

To assemble:

After both of the cakes has cooled down (remember I baked twice?), spread few big spoon of cream cheese on top of the first cake. Spread evenly. Arranged slices of strawberries on top of it then spread another layer of cream cheese.

Take another cake and put it on top of the first one. Spread evenly cream cheese frosting all over the cake, at the sides and on top of it. Put it in the fridge for 15 minutes. Take it out and pour ganache all over the cake.

Deco it as you wish ;) Good Luck!

Banana Chocolate Cake

My boyfriend loves buying banana. But nobody eat that too many banana in the house, only me and my brother what do you expect? So most of the time I would let it ripen for few days and bake it rightaway.

Remember when I made the blueberry chilled cheesecake for my brother? On the same day also I baked another cake: Banana Chocolate Cake.

We drove back to Jb right after its done, and it still warm when we arrived 3 hours later. Its a habit of me, I just thought that I should brought home a homemade cake everytime balik kampung.

And I love this cake! Seriously! The 2tbsp milk powder, although small quantity, you can tasted it. Milky but not overpowering. It is moist, milky, not that chocolatey and the banana flavour is just right for the cake. This is so far my best banana cake :)

I always scared of any recipe that uses egg whites that beaten until fluffy. Wrong technique of folding or if you don't beat it until it stiff, your cake will sink. And I have a phobia of sinking cakes. But to my surprise, though I had to hand-whisked my egg whites, the cake turn out really really well!

Sorry for the low quality pictures though.

Banana Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Bisousatoi

200g butter
200g brown sugar
6 eggs yolk
2 eggs white (whisk until stiff)
200g flour sifted with
1/4tsp baking powder and
2tbsp full cream milk powder
1 cup chocolate chips
4 medium sized bananas - mashed
1 tsp vanilla essence

1. Grease and line your pan, I used an 8inch round pan. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in yolk, one at a time, beat well until incorporated.
3. Fold in the flour, milk and baking powder using a spatula.
4. Gently, fold in eggs white.
5. Add in mashed bananas and the chocolate chips. Pour the batter onto your pan.
6. Bake for 35 minutes or more until it is done.

Orange and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I always envied those pretty and cute marshmallow pops. I always adore those breathtaking dessert table. And I tried to make one, for my sister's engagement. It wasn't that disastrous but it wasn't that special either. I was working on that day so I had so little time to prepare everything on time.


Baked 100 cupcakes for the door gift too. I used this recipe. It never fails me for a vanilla cupcakes.

I need to be adventurous. I know I can't do bungee jumping (although I am dying to do that) because I am afraid of height so I need to be adventurous in food. In baking specifically.

I had some oranges in the fridge and thought of trying a new recipe for cupcakes. I woke up later, start my gear and two hours later I'd baked these:

Orange and Chocolate Chips Cupcake.

I know it weren't the prettiest naked cupcakes you had ever seen. I just had this problem with estimating the batter content in a cup. I had to spoon and bake one cupcake before I bake the rest to test.

I did that on all cupcakes.

But the cupcakes were delicious! Moist, juicy with the perfect sweetness!

Now, if you have some oranges, try and bake this. You'll be amaze with the cupcakes. Just make sure you cut off at least 1/4 of the sugar if you intend to sloshing it with any frosting.

Orange and Chocolate Chips Cupcake

3 eggs
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour sifted with 2tsp baking powder
juice of 1 orange
zest of 1/2 orange
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees. In a medium bowl, beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until well incorporated.
2. Add flour and milk, alternating , begin and ending with the flour. Mix well. Add juice and the zest and continue beating.
3. Lastly, fold in chocolate chips.
4. Divide the batter evenly and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.

Congo Bar

I know I know. I haven't blogging for quite a while :p Finally I've got some time to update. Will update more later but its weekend already :( You know I am busy on weekends with errrrrr stuff?

Congo Bar

Adapted from Bakerella

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter, softened
2cups (or less) brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
Stir brown sugar into softened (not melted) butter in another large bowl until butter disappears. You can use the back of your spoon to help incorporate the two together.
Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture and stir well after each egg.
Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts. Mix well.
Add dry flour mixture and stir until well combined.

Coat a 13 X 9 pan with non-stick spray and spread batter evenly into dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Make sure you don’t over bake.

Cheesecake Galore!

One of the cheesecake I baked during my open house last two weeks. This is what happened when you keep it for so long, I forgot which recipe did I used!! Hahahaha. Oh kejap, I think I remember something (yes I should try shouting next time if I forgot something). Ah yesss. That's the one.

This cake was loved by everyone! Ceh semua I baked was loved by everyone (this is not a statement). Hehehe. Ok now seriously, everyone's loved it!

Baked White Chocolate Cheesecake

Adapted from Homesweethome

150 gm digestive biscuit/crushed

80gm butter/melted

180gm white chocolate

500gm cream cheese (at room temperature)

300gm sour cream (I don't have this)

3/4 cup caster sugar

1tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs

Chocolate ganache/whipping cream

1. Heat the oven at 160 Degrees Celcius. Prepare your baking pan.
2. Grate coarsely 3/4 of your white chocolate (leave some for hiasan)
3. Mix together the biscuit crumbs and melted butter. Press evenly on your baking pan and chill for 30 minutes.
4. In another bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla essence until well incorporated. Then add eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour the cream cheese mixture onto the biscuit pastry and mix in the grated white chocolate. Stir gently with a fork.
6. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.
7. When it is done, turn off the oven and open the door a bit but do not take your cake out. Let it be in the oven for the next 2-3 hours.
8. Chill the cake in the fridge for 4 hours.
9. (Since I ran out of whipping cream) Pour chocolate ganache on top of the cake. Sprinkle the leftover white chocolate. Ready to be serve when it has cool completely.

And this is another chessecake I baked last week. I have another box of cream cheese and some raspberries so Afi requested me to bake some. I halves the ingredients since they were only two of us at home (which took 3 days to finish!).

Strawberry-Raspberries Cheesecake Slice

Adapted from My Kitchen Snippets

3/4 cup crushed digestive biscuit

6 tbsp melted butter

250gm cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 tbsp flour

1 egg

3 tbsp strawberry jam

Fresh raspberries for decoration

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Grease and line a 6"x6" square baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Mix crumbs and butter together and press firmly on the bottom of the pan.
3. Beat cream cheese, sugar, flour in a bowl on medium speed until well blended. Add egg at low speed. Mix well. Pour over crust.
4. Drop the strawberry jam on different sites on the batter. Use a knife and make a marble effect on it.
5. Bake for 40 mins or until it is done. Refrigerate overnight before serving.
6. Arrange raspberries on top of the cake.

Cheesecake Marbled Brownies

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Brownie batter
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Cheesecake batter
8 ounces cream cheese, well softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Plus
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Make brownie batter: Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Heat butter and chocolate in a 3-quart heavy saucepan — though I did mine double-boiler style, placing the mixing bowl I was using over simmering water, thereby creating one less dirty dish and melting the chocolate more gently — over moderately low heat, whisking occasionally, just until melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until well combined. Whisk in flour until just combined and spread in baking pan.

Make cheesecake batter: Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a knife or spatula.

Bake brownies: Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lamington-Top Cupcakes

3 eggs
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup superfine sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 160 degree C.

In a medium sized bowl, lightly beat the eggs, add butter and sugar then mix until light and fluffy. Add milk, flour, baking powder and vanilla and stir to combine. Add cocoa powder. Beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes until light and creamy.

Divide evenly to papercups and bake for 18-20 minutes.

100g dark choc
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1/3 cup thickened cream
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
200g shredded coconut

Combine the chocolate and butter in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. As the mixture begin to melt add cream slowly then reduce heat to low, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Remove from heat and cool.

Combined the remaining butter and sugar, mix with a wooden spoon then beat until light and fluffy. Add melted choc and spoon icing onto cupcakes. Place coconut onto a small plate and roll each cupcake on it to coat the icing.

Note: topping paling simple ;)

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Cream cheese filling:

227g cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cups (65g) granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups (210g) all purpose flour
1 cup (210g) light brown sugar
1/3 cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240ml) water
1/3 cup (80ml) vegie oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 177 degree C and lightly butter or spray 12 muffins cup.

Cream cheese filling: Beat cream cheese until smooth using electric mixer. Add in sugar, egg, vanilla extract and beat until creamy and smooth. Set aside.

Chocolate cupcakes: In a large bowl sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the water, vinegar, oil and vanilla extract. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients until nice and smooth. Evenly divide the batter to 12 muffins cups.

Then spoon a few tablespoons of cream cheese filling to the centre of each cupcake.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the cream cheese filling is a little bit brown and the cupcakes feel springy to touch.

ps: no picture. maybe I'll bake some and upload it. but later. hurm or not.