Banana Bread Muffins

Came across this recipe from Melrose Family, simple steps and had a nice dome with crumbles on top. I was curious about how it would taste like and if I could have that dome too. Surprisingly, it turned out excellent. Top crusty and texture soft inside (different from muffin texture) and most importantly, I am able to get the dome too! I will attempt this method for all my other muffin recipes. Great discovery :)

Modifcations

Ingredients

200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 large bananas (mashed)
1 egg
75g butter (melted)
140g sugar

Crumbs
20g plain flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
70g brown sugar
15g butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 170 Deg C. Grease muffin tin with butter.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.
3. Whisk banana, egg, melted butter and sugar together. Add flour into the banana mixture and mix until well combined. Spoon batter into muffin tins.
4. In a bowl, mix flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and butter with a fork till look like crumbles. Add these on top of muffin batter.
5. Bake for 20 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean after being inserted into the muffin.

Pandan Sponge Cake

I decided to take the last challenge to bake this cake with egg separation method. I have always failed with this cake making method and the cake cannot rise nicely as expected. This time with taking all the tips in mind, I followed all the instructions carefully, making sure I whisked the egg white to the correct stage, baking it longer and banged the baking pan on table top before and after bake. I really made it! Overwhelmed to see a beautiful spongy cake appeared right before my eyes and a motivation for me to try more of such cakes.

Thanks to Jeannie Tay for all her excellent recipes, her bakes will rise very tall and with smooth top. For this recipe, I have made some changes as I skipped the steps on blending the pandan juice and replaced with Pandan paste and added more coconut milk with some water to substitute the liquid portion. Luckily, all went well and did not affect the cake. I will attempt next Orange Sponge Cake.

Modifications for my own reference

Ingredients

6 egg yolks (60g egg)
70g corn oil
100g plain flour
90g coconut milk
10g water
Pandan Paste

6 egg whites
100g sugar

Directions

1. Add oil in a large pot and heat on low fire until just simmering. Remove and add in flour, stir with a whisk till smooth.
2. Add in the coconut milk and stir till combine. The batter will become thick and lumpy.
3. Add in egg yolks and whisk with a hand whisk until batter is smooth and runny. Set aside.
4. Beat the egg white until foamy, then gradually add in sugar to beat until firm peak form (about 10mins).
5. Add 1/3 of meringue into the yolk batter and using hand whisk to mix until combined. Add the next 1/3 portion and whisk again. Finally  pour the yolk batter into the balance meringue and fold with a spatula (scoop the batter from the bottom and fold up to make sure all well combined.
6. Pour into prepared pan, give a few bang on table top to release the air bubbles. Bake in water bath at 180 Deg C for 15 mins before lowering to 140 Deg C for another 7-mins or until the cake bounces back when lightly press on the top. Switch off oven and leave the cake in the oven for 5 mins before taking out (to reduce wrinkles on the cake).
7. Give the baking pan a few bang on tabletop to reduce too much shrinking of the cake.
8. Once the cake has pulled away from the sides, invert onto baking paper. Remove the paper lining and re-invert onto a rack.
9. Place cake in the oven to dry using the remaining  if the cake is still wet.

Orange Cupcakes with Icing

Baked on 2 April 2017

My colleague gave me a piece of her orange cake with a layer of icing on top and it tasted so yummy. With the orange flavour in the cake, soft texture and a sweet topping made this cake so delicious. So I asked her for the recipe and attempted to try it myself. The first time I tried baking in a square baking pan and the icing failed as I added too much orange juice (became so liquidity). The second time, I decided to make them in cupcake fillers for a group of colleagues to try. I was so elated as it was a success and with my favourite Hello Kitty cake toppers and box, it was so presentable. This is indeed a great recipe to keep.

Modifications

Ingredients

200g cake flour
8g baking powder
210g butter
120g sugar
4 eggs
140g orange juice
Orange zest from 1 orange
2tsp vanilla essence

Icing for topping
1tbsp orange juice
1 cup icing sugar
Orange zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 170 Deg C.
2. Bring all ingredients to room temperature.
3. Cream butter, sugar and salt together.
4.Sift together flour, baking powder 5 x. Set aside.
5. Add in eggs gradually and continue creaming till mixture is really creamy and light.
6. Add in orange juice, orange zest and vanilla essence.
7. Gradually add in Flour mixture and fold till well combined.
8. Scoop into cupcake fillers and bake for 30-40 mins till top turned brown.
9. For Icing, gradually add orange juice to icing sugar and stir till mix well. If you feel the consistency is too thick, then add more orange juice. Spread on top of cake.