Feel-Good Breakfast Apple and Banana Wholemeal Muffins

Recently closed up business for customised design cakes as hubby not happy with my dedication to it... Feeling lost, I started making daily breakfast, even if it means getting up an hour earlier. Today morning, I decided to try making muffins... since the recipe seems so easy! But I only have extra half-an-hour to accomplish the measuring of ingredients, preparation, baking and cooling so I guess I try to see if it works. And HEY, I managed to do it! And since this is such a healthy breakfast option, it will be in my breakfast to-do-list for a very long time! First, we start with a wholemeal apple and banana muffin. Even myself, whom is not a big muffin fan, has fallen in love with this one... and it is so healthy, you feel so good after having a big one! So... here goes....

Chocolate Dobash Cake (My Version)

Saw a baking kaki made this Dobash cake and I was swept off my feet! It looks soooo delicious! She was so nice to share the recipe which she found on the internet. Thanks Irna! Top sliced cake photo is from Irna also, I failed to get a clean cut of the cake with the kids swooning around it and just can't wait to cut! No time to prep the knife properly! The original recipe is from NotTheDomesticGoddess.

The original recipe uses water for the recipe. I find it lacks body... so I wanted to add that back and I changed it to milk. More improvements could be made too... I am planning to add some melted gelatin to the frosting to give it a "jelly" feel... will get to it soon.

Ingredients for Cake

	In Cups (9-Inch)	9-Inch	8-Inch
Cake Flour	1 ¼ cups	156.25g	78.125g
Cocoa Powder	¾ cups	93.8g	46.9g
Fine Sugar	1 cup	225g	112.5g
Baking Powder	1 tbsp	15g	7.5g ( ½ tbsp)
Salt	1 tsp	4g	2g ( ½ tsp)
Vegetable oil	½ cup	118.3ml	59.2ml
Eggs, separated	7	7	4
Milk	¾ cup	177.4ml	88.7ml
Cream of tartar (optional)	½ tsp	2g	1g ( ¼ tsp)
Vanilla extract	2 tsp	2 tsp	1 tsp

Method:

1.       Line the bottoms of cake pan with baking paper or use removeable base cake pans. DO NOT LINE THE SIDES or grease the pan. This is a chiffon cake and it will need to cling to the sides to rise.

2.       Combine cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt. Sift and mix well. Set aside.

3.       Mix egg yolks and half the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat with hand whisk until sugar has melted and mixture is slightly pale in colour.

4.       Add in oil and vanilla extract and mix well, thereafter add in dry sifted ingredients and mix until it is no longer lumpy.

5.       Beat egg whites (and cream of tartar if using) with electric/stand mixer with whisk attachment until foamy, then add in the rest of the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

6.       Fold in ½ of the egg whites into the main batter to lighten, thereafter fold in the rest with a whisk or spatula. Scrape from bottom to top to make sure that the batter is well mixed, however, take care not to deflate the batter by mixing too vigorously.

7.       Bake in preheated oven at 170°C for 35-40mins or until a skewer inserted to the middle of cake comes out clean. Overturn cake pan on rack and let cake cool in pan.

Ingredients for Frosting

	In Cups (9-Inch)	9-Inch	8-Inch
Milk	3	709.8ml	354.9ml
Water	1	236.6ml	118.3g
Sugar	350g	350g	175g
Salt	½ tsp	½ tsp	¼ tsp
Butter	120g	120g	60g
Cocoa powder	90g	90g	45g
Corn flour	90g	90g	45g

Method:

1.       Mix ½ cup water with corn starch and ½ cup water with sifted cocoa powder to form a paste in separate bowls (If it is not enough, add some of the milk to it).

2.       Put all the other ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, remove from heat and pour ½ into cocoa powder paste. Stir to melt the cocoa powder paste before pouring back into saucepan and return to heat. Add in cornstarch liquid and continue to mix with a metal whisk until mixture thickens and large bubbles break in the custard.

3.       Remove from heat, place a cling wrap on top to prevent skin from forming and let it cool.

To assemble:

1.       Split the 2 cakes into 4 layers. Brush some milk on the layer before slapping on the custard into each layer before putting on the next. Frost the whole cake afterwards.

2.       Chill in fridge for several hours before serving. The cake really tastes a LOT better when it's had the chance to set properly so resist the temptation to eat it straight away!

Banana Cake Madness

After tasting this delicious banana cake that Yiling & John brought from JB for us, it has been in my to-do list to attempt to recreate what I had. Browsed through multiple recipes but none seem to give the result I want, until I saw this one at my baking group... and I tried it... and it is AMAZING!!!

Recipe altered & adapted from Richard Goh Baking Class Stage 1 from Wen's Delight Page:

Ingredients:
2.5-3 Eggs (Room temp - Approx 150g)
130g Sugar (Reduced, original-150g) ( I used 70g White sugar and 60g brown sugar)
200g Banana (Ripe & cut into small pcs)
150g Top Flour (or plain flour/superlite flour/cake flour)
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking soda
100g Corn oil (or any vegetable oil except olive oil, if prefer richer flavour replace with melted butter but it may cover the banana fragrant)
1/8 tsp Banana essense (optional)

Method:Preheat oven to 160 degree C.
Grease & line a 8" round tin with paper.
1. Sieve flour, baking powder & soda together. Sieve twice & set aside.
2. Whisk eggs, sugar & banana at max. speed till stiff/ribbon stage. (For Kenwood Chef - approx 10-13mins)
3. Fold in flour & mix well. (Can use spatula or hand to mix)
4. Add in oil & mix well till batter is shiny & flowing.
5. Bake for 40 - 45mins.

New Family Members

Hello! New babies of the family! 2.5months old.Born Dec 2012... Looking forward to a long wonderful time with them! <3<3<3

Basic Sponge Cake (Light)

This is the sponge cake recipe which I saw on Cuoca.com. This is an amazingly versatile light Japanese sponge cake with amazingly fine crumb structure. The original recipe is for Strawberry Shortcake, but you can really use the basic sponge for literally anything! I have adjusted some parts of it to suit our taste... and you can even watch a step-by-step video on how to do it here <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bHMBuxrQzf8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> 

Sponge Cake (Cuoca) – 15cm (6”) – Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients:	6”	7”
Whole Eggs	2 (100g)	4 (200g)
Castor Sugar	65g	130g
Unsalted Butter	20g	40g
Milk	15g	30g
Vanilla X	½ tsp	1tsp
Cake Flour	60g	120g

Dairy Cream                    350g
Castor Sugar                   28g
Strawberry Syrup            18g
Strawberry S Size           12 pcs + 4 for garnish

Eggs to be brought to room temperature, sift the flour, line pan with baking paper on the sides and bottm. Preheat oven to 170°C. Melt butter and mix with milk at about 50°C
Put eggs in bowl and whisk to loosen, add in sugar and beat with mixer in a hot water bath (to warm to body temperature while whisking). Remove from heat and continue beating until ribbon stage.
After ribbon stage is reached, switch back to hand-whisk and stir-beat until you get smooth batter with fine bubbles.
In a separate bowl containing melted butter, warm milk and vanilla, take some batter and mix to get lighten up and get a closer consistency (combine better later).

Add in flour to main batter and fold in lightly until no more flour  is visible.
Add in butter/milk/vanilla batter and fold to mix well.
Pour into prepared tin, drop a couple of times to remove large air bubbles and bake for about 25mins until cake springs back to touch.
Remove from tin about 10mins after its out of the oven and set to cool in in the paper.
Assemble cake: Trim of browned top and bottom of cake. Use aluminum ruler to help in measuring while cutting into 1cm slices. Wrap sliced sponge in plastic wrap to prevent drying until ready for use.
Whip cream with strawberry syrup on ice water bath.

*

This is my ultimate favourite chocolate cake! Super comfort food which would literally cheer me up when I'm down... and makes an event complete... Not difficult to make, but very tricky to cook. Once its overcooked, you get a dry and hard product. Undercook it, you get gooey madness... It has to be just right, to be in the wonderful state of velvety and rich taste, while maintaining a moist and light crumb structure. This recipe, which I received as a subscription to Food Republic won me over... and I have not found anything I like better than this one... (after going through hundreds of similar recipes)... so here it is...

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Servings: 10 servings

Ingredients
Cake:
2 1/2 cups cake flour   (312.50g)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature  (113.4g)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (or can use 1 cup sour cream)
2 tablespoons red food coloring
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature  (170.11g)
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature  (340.19g)

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted (Add to taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:
Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and make sure the rack is  in center of oven. Butter two 9- inch round cake pans and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl sift the flour, salt and cocoa powder together.
3. In an electric mixer or with a hand held mixer beat the butter until soft. Then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until it is well incorporated.
5. Scrape the sides of the mixing bowl and add the vanilla. Beat until combined.
6. In a little bowl combine the buttermilk and red food coloring. With the mixer on low, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture.
7. In a different bowl combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.
8. Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops.Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.
9. Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then invert, lifting off the pan.
10. Once they have completely cooled, wrap in plastic and place the cake layers in the freezer for at least an hour or overnight. This is how the pros do it. It makes icing and assembling the cake so much easier.

 
Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
2. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth.
3. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to spread. Add more cream as needed to get the right consistency.

 
Assembly

1. With a long serrated knife cut each cake layer in half, horizontally. You'll now have four cake layers. Place one layer, top of the cake facing down, onto your serving platter. Spread the cake layer with frosting.
2. Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers. Frost the top and sides of the cake.

Source: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/07/25/red-velvet-cake-cream-cheese-icing