VERY Moist & Soft Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Most of bakers will absolutely agree with me if we are talking about how good is the combination of chocolate and banana.

I did baked lots of banana cakes and even tried baking chocolate banana bread before but this time I was thinking of cupcakes why not baking something likes chocolate banana cupcake.... I did search the recipe and came to one of my favorite website Joy of Baking. The original recipe is chocolate banana cake but I prefer cupcakes more than big piece of cake so I decided to make in cupcake style. One more thing which made me excited to try this recipe coz it's very easy to make. You just need mixing bowl and whisk no requirement for mixer furthermore It took only 15-20 minutes for me to make these cupcakes. Though it's such a super easy method but you will be surprise with their very moist & soft cake and of coz it's even more tasty when we put chocolate ganache frosting :)

The recipe adapted from Joy of Baking (Chocolate Banana Cake) but I only made half of the original recipe with some changes.

VERY Moist & Soft Chocolate Banana Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting
(Yield 12 pcs.)

All purpose flour 123 g.
Cocoa powder 35 g.
Baking power 3/4 tsp.
Baking soda 3/4 tsp.
Salt 1/4 tsp.
Sugar 200 g.
Egg 1
Mashed ripe bananas 1/2 cup
Warm water 120 g.
Milk 60 g.
Canola oil 60 g.
Vanilla extract 1 tsp.

1. In a mixing bowl whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In another large bowl, whisk together the egg, mashed bananas, warm water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir, or whisk, until combined. (The batter is quite thin)
3. Pour the batter into the muffin pan lined with paper liners about 3/4
4. Bake in preheat oven 180C for about 20-25 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean
and let it cool on wire rack for 5 mins then take the cupcakes out from the muffin pan

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Semi-sweet chocolate chips 100 g.
Whipping cream 50 g.
Salted butter 5 g.

1. Heat up whipping cream in the microwave 1 min. Add in chocolate chips and allow to stand for 3 mins
2. Stir the chocolate mixture till incorporate then add in butter and mix till get the smooth ganache. Leave it to cool down to room temperature and put in the fridge at least 20 mins before frosting cupcakes

Perfect Chocolate Tart

This Chocolate Tart was the idea from leftover digestive biscuits in my cupboard. I wanted to finish the biscuits since keeping quite sometimes and 1st idea came across my mind was Chocolate Tart.

After I finished making the crust, I came to surf internet and tried to find which recipe was good to make chocolate filling. I was considering to make chocolate ganache for filling coz it's super easy to make, but when I saw Deeply Satisfied Chocolate Tart at dailydelicious's blog I told myself that this was the one I must try! The main reasons that made me get conclusion easily coz the recipe has been adapted from Jamie Oliver's book "Cook with Jamie: MY GUIDE TO MAKING YOU A BETTER COOK, also the recipe uses dark chocolate. By the way I only made the filling according to the recipe with some changes in quantity of the ingredients and used crust biscuit to be tart shell. Here is the recipe:

Perfect Chocolate Tart
(Tart pan size 18 cm = 1 piece)

For Crust
Digestive biscuits 200 g. *process the biscuits in food processor till crumb=like
Salted butter 100 g. *melted

Mix the above ingredients until get the crumbs like wet sand then press in the tart pan (size 18 cm) and put in the fridge for 30 mins. Baked in preheat oven 160C for 10 mins and let it cool.

Chocolate Filling
Dark chocolate 65 g.
Whipping cream 100 g.
Milk 30 g.
Sugar 10 g.
Egg (lightly beaten) 30 g.

1. Mix whipping cream, milk and sugar together then heat up in the microwave for about 1 minute
2. Put chocolate in to melt and whisk till incorporate
3. Add egg and whisk until get a smooth mixture then pour into tart shell
4. Bake in preheat oven 170C for 15 mins. Once the tart is cool, chill for 1 hour before cutting
Remarks: I decorated the tart with fresh strawberries and whipping cream

Special thanks to Khun Pook (dailydelicious's blog) for sharing the recipe and inspired me to make this delicious chocolate tart. I was very happy that I got my chocolate tart in perfect taste and smooth texture.

Coffee Cake Roll with Chocolate Butter Cream

There are a many things in baking which I have never tried and this time .... it's time to make swiss roll cake!

I heard many tricks from people who can do well in rolling swiss roll cakes such as using thin cotton white cloth instead of grease paper, using wooden pole to help when you are rolling, do not bake the cake till it's too dry it might cause the difficulty for rolling, etc... I also kept watching VDO clip which is teaching how to make roll cake many times before I started this experiment. For this time I made the cake by using chiffon cake recipe with coffee flavor and for filling I used chocolate butter cream. I was surprised that the combination of coffee & chocolate of my cake was fantastic! Even my brother in law who doesn't like anything with coffee, he said it's very good taste when it's come together. Even though I did not use all tricks as I learnt but I was quite happy about my first experiment this time :)

Coffee Chiffon Cake (For swiss roll cake)

A.
Cake flour 40 g.
Corn starch 1 1/2 tsp.
Baking powder 1/4 tsp.
Salt 1/8 tsp.

B.
Egg yolk 3
Water 25 g.
Canola oil 55 g.
Sugar 8 g.
Espresso coffee powder 1 tsp. *Dissolve in water 25 g (hot) and let it completely cool

C.
Egg white 3
Cream of tartar 1/4 tsp.
Sugar 50 g.

1. Sieve all ingredients (A) together and set aside
2. Beat egg white with cream of tartar and eventually add in sugar and continue beating till get stiff peak
3. Mix all ingredients (B) by whisk to incorporate and pour into ingredient (A) then mix just till combined
4. Divide egg white mixture to 3 portions and fold each portion into egg yolk mixture. Mix till incorporate
5. Pour the batter into rectangular tray size 28x28 cm. lined with parchment paper and baked in preheat oven at 200C for 10-15 mins
6. After the cake is done bring out from the oven and turn down to the rack linen with parchment paper and use the parchment paper to lift up & roll swiss roll then set aside for 20 mins
7. Roll out the cake and spread chocolate butter cream on top then gently roll up swill roll and put in the fridge to let it set for at least 30 mins before slicing

Special thanks to P' Pong who made a good VDO clip of how to roll the cake in swiss roll style and Maesalim who posted the recipe in pantip.com

Super Soft & Bouncy Wholemeal Bread (Sponge Method)

Super Soft, Spongy, Healthy .... these are the definition of this bread recipe!

Since I started making home-baked bread myself, I always like to use basic method. But this time I got a chance to try making bread with sponge method. For sponge method, you have to knead the sponge dough at the beginning and do another main dough separately then mix together to get the final dough. It might sound too complicated or too difficult but if you see the result of the bread you will understand why it worth to try.

The original recipe has been posted on Do What I Like's Blog Thank you to Florence for sharing such a great recipe and gave me the inspiration of making bread with sponge method especially when I saw her video clip of how soft and bouncy the bread is. I follow her sponge method accordingly nevertheless I also change some ingredients and shaping style from the original. Here is the recipe:

Super Soft & Bouncy Wholemeal Bread

(Sponge Dough)
Bread flour 150 g.
Instant dry yeast 1 tsp.
Water 100 g.

MIx all the ingredients till form a dough (Don't have to knead or mix till get smooth dough) then wrap it with cling film and let it proof for 2.5 hours

(Main Dough)
Organic wholemeal flour 70 g.
Cake flour 50 g.
Brown sugar 25 g.
Milk 50 g.
Water 30-50 g. (I used only 30 g.)
Salt 2 g.
Olive spread* 15 g.
*Olive spread is made with extra virgin olive oil

1. Add in the all main dough ingredients to the sponge dough except olive spread and knead till well-mixed then add in olive spread and knead till get smooth and elastic dough
2. Shape the dough into round shape then wrap with cling film and rest the dough for 15 mins
3. Punch the air out of the dough and divide into 2 equal portions. Shape each portion in round shape and put in greased loaf pan. Wrap with cling film and let it proof for 45 mins.
4. Once the dough is ready, brush the top with water and sprinkle some semolina flour. Bake at 200C for 30-35 mins.

The bread texture was amazing coz it's super soft & bouncy also it was in this texture even next 3 days. If you are looking for low calorie bread this recipe is a good choice.

Baby Shower Cupcakes....

Last week I got a chance to make these cupcakes for my hubby's friend. Initially I could not decide what type of cupcake should I make for her.. vanilla or chocolate or green tea or etc... at the end my hubby gave me the conclusion why not make chocolate flavor? It's true about one thing that chocolate is acceptable for most of the people!

Thought of chocolate... of course I must bake my favorite Donna Hay "Double Chocolate Cupcake" (recipe is in my previous post). Due to this recipe is flavorful chocolate, I had to make the topping with vanilla buttercream coz it won't give the strong taste than cupcakes furthermore it is easy to keep in room temperature as well. For all these reasons that why I could practice my piping roses skill again. The theme supposed to be pink coz the new mommy has a baby girl and I wanted to make the cupcake topper to suite the theme... that why you can see the cute design cupcake toppers in the photo. Don't you wonder why the toppers was not on top of the cupcakes? Well they're too high and I could not put them in if I wanted to close the box so what I did I just put the toppers once I reached the new mommy's house and gave her. She's very impressive in these little gift especially when she knew that I made everything myself :)

Banana Bread with Raisins (Super moist & soft)

Many bloggers or bakers definitely know her "Martha Stewart" and she is one of my favorite baker. I have been following her website since even before I started baking. I do like her Wedding magazine as well coz there are so many beautiful ideas and crafts which make me enjoyed reading her magazine. For what I said, I noted many of her recipes in my bible and it's time to choose one to try :)

If you see my blog there are a few Banana Bread recipes which I baked before. In Martha Stewart's website, there also many banana recipes and the famous one is Banana Bread which a lot of people who tried this recipe and agreed it's the best. The secret ingredient to keep the bread is moist and soft, you have to use sour cream. I never tried making quick bread with sour cream before and it sounds interesting for me. Besides of quick bread recipe, her Banana Cupcakes recipe sounds not bad too coz it seem very easy just need 1 bowl to do. Well I couldn't decide..... and I end up to mix both of Banana Bread and Banana Cupcakes recipes to get this version.....

Banana Bread with Raisins

All purpose flour 1 1/2 cups
Baking powder 1 tsp
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Sugar 3/4 cups
Salt 1/4 tsp
Melted unsalted butter 110 g
Mashed bananas 3
Sour cream 1/2 cup (I substituted with 2 tsp of lemon juice plus whipping cream to make 1/2 cup)
Eggs 2
Vanilla 1 tsp
Raisins 20 g

1. Take 1 tbsp of flour to coat the raisins and set aside
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar in the mixing bowl by whisk and make a well in the centre
3. In another bowl, mix all liquid ingredients together then pour into dry ingredients and mix till combine "Do not over mix"
4. Add in raisins mix till well incorporated and pour the batter into greased loaf pan
5. Bake in preheat oven 175C approximately 1 hour

I was surprised that the bread turned out very perfect! Soft and moist quick bread which I never had. You will absolutely change the idea of dry and hard quick bread if you try this recipe.

My Lovely PInk Kitchen Toys!

It was my intention to take photo of what I have collected since my baking started and I just got to do it! From the first post which I mentioned about my lovely Pink Kitchenaid, it was a main reason to make me in love in pink color stuffs more than usual and my kitchen toys was started then....

This is My Pink Kitchen Toy Collection and I'm still continuing to collect more though some of them have never used :)

Oatmeal with Raisin & Cashew Nut Cookies

I tried making these cookies last week due to I wanted to use up my leftover raisins coz my mother in law bought me one small package and I got a new package which contains 1 kg of raisins. Seriously, I don't fancy to eat raisins and I still remember before I started baking I always removed raisins that was the filling in raisins bread or cookies or cake.

Actually I have my favorite oatmeal raisin cookies recipe which I make for sale only to friends or relatives but I still keen on to try new recipe for experiment and find the differences in each recipe. The recipe has been taken from Blog's Angel (Thai Blog). The owner shares a few cookie recipes which she makes for sale but I only took Oatmeal Raisins & Cashew Nuts Cookies to try in making half of the original recipe. I made some adjustments : reduce amount of sugar, raisins, cashew nuts and oatmeal (I used instant oat not rolled oat coz I have this kind on hand). The final result was good! They were crispy and the texture not too hard. Everyone in the family love the cookies but they also loves my previous recipe as well. They said it's very hard to say which one is the best coz both are great! It seems like I have to make cookies either this recipe or my previous recipe once every month coz of request from my family :)

Here is my version after a few changes:

Oatmeal with Raisin & Cashew Nut Cookies

All purpose flour 250 g.
Baking powder 1 tsp.
Baking soda 1/2+1/4 tsp.
Salted butter 200 g.
Shortening 30 g.
Sugar 85 g.
Brown sugar 90 g.
Egg 1 & a half
Vanilla 2 tsp.
Instant oat 100 g.
Raisins 130 g.
Baked cashew nuts 100 g. (Chopped)

1. Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda then set a side
2. Beat butter, shortening, sugar and brown sugar till light and fluffy then add eggs and vanilla then beat till combine
3. Add flour, instant oat, raisins and chopped cashew nuts, gently mix till incorporated
4. Use ice cream scoop to measure the cookie dough and place of greased baking sheet and bake in preheat oven at 180C around 12-15 mins

Ham & Spinach Quiche (Best Crust Recipe)

There's only few things I don't have to ask my hubby to eat and he will keep asking me to give him more ..... chocolate chips cookie, chocolate cake and QUICHE!

In my previous post "Cheesy Ham Quiche", I made quiches in small tart pans but this time I changed to make in 9" pie dish and finally I got to try the recipe in my precious book which I bought it from England at Le Cordon Bleu 4 years ago. I went to UK for holiday and one of my list I must do that was visiting Le Cordon Bleu for inspection since I had plan to take course for patisserie. The staffs were very welcome and brought me to see classroom in the same time she also explained in details for patisserie course which I were interested. It was a great opportunity for me to visit there though I could not manage my time to take course as I wished but at least I got to buy 1 book from them "Desserts" Techniques of the world's most famous culinary institute with over 150 delicious recipes. I chose the short pastry recipe for my quiche crust and it was my first attempt from this book.

I used the recipe of Pate Brisee which is the short pastry for savory tart and for the filling of ham & spinach quiche I still used the same recipe as the previous cheesy ham quiche with some changes. Here is the recipes for both of crust & filling:

Ham & Spinach Quiche

Pate Brisee or Short Pastry Crust (for 9" tart pan) *Recipe adapted from "Desserts" by Le Cordon Bleu

Plain flour 200 g.
Salt 1/2 tsp.
Unsalted butter 100 g.
Egg (beaten) 1
Water 2 tsp.
(The recipe does not mention cold or room temperature water but for my experience I used cold water)

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl then rub in the butter until form small crumbs.
2. Mix in the egg and enough water to bind the ingredients to a firm dough. Roll into a smooth ball and remove from the bowl.
3. Press like a disk and wrap with cling film. Chill in the fridge for 30 mins before use.
4. Roll out in circle shape with the thickness around 3-4 mm. and the size is bigger than the tart pan then place on the tart pan press the dough to smooth the tart pan and cut out the excess dough. Wrap and chill in fridge for 30 mins.
5. Bring it out from the fridge and use the fork to make holes on the dough at the bottom pan. Place foil on the dough fill with beans or pie weights and bake in preheat oven at temperature 190C 15-20 mins. Take out from the oven and remove the foil and pie weights and put in the oven to bake for another 15 mins.

Filling

Egg 100 g.
Egg yolk 1
Milk 60 g.
Whipping cream 95 g.
Mozzarella cheese
Cheddar cheese
Seasoning with black pepper and salt

1. Combine all the ingredients except cheeses. Taste according to your preference.
2. Preparing topping by stir-fried diced onion, ham and spinach and fill into baked crust then pour the filling over the topping. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese.
3. Bake in preheat over 170C for 20-25 mins

I was very pleased about the result this time for both of crust and filling and it became my hubby the most favorite dish that he's always asking me to make or him even for me I also feel like eating this quiche every time I look at these photos. I would highly recommend this Pate Brisee recipe coz it's just right for buttery and crispness short crust which I ever had. You will not find any recipes again once you try this one :)