Easy Banana Muffins

I am back again! Life has been very busy lately that whenever I get home from class, I am just too tired to even update the blog. There are quite a number of recipes that I would love to share but some of them have no photos. So, I shall put the recipes up once I've photographed the outcomes.

Besides that, the weather now is getting much nicer than before, with more sunshine and less rainfall. I went to Roath Park last Monday and it was beautiful! There's not much flowers yet but I did spot some daffodils by the roadside. Spring is almost here! Yeay! Can't wait for the flowers to bloom so that we can have a picnic at the park. :)

Today, I am just going to post this recipe up (while waiting for my class which starts at 2pm) because this is definitely one of the easiest recipes I've ever made! Fluffy, moist and flavourful banana muffins that can be made from scratch and served on the table in under an hour.

Recipe (Banana muffins) :

• 3 to 4 large bananas, mashed (I used 3 1/2 and ate the other 1/2)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350F/175C. 

2. Combine mashed bananas, white sugar, egg, vanilla and vegetable oil in a bowl.

3. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt into the bowl with wet ingredients. Mix just to combine. 

4. Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips. Do not overmix!

5. Pour into a lined or greased muffin tin and bake for about 20 minutes. 

Recipe adapted from Catcancook.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

I don't know what's got into me. Even before the holiday started, I had a list of things that I want to do but now, almost two months have passed by and nothing has been crossed off the list yet. I am EXTREMELY lazy. Sigh.

There's only over a week left of Ramadhan, I can't believe it went by so fast. As always, I am not that looking forward to Syawal as I used to be when I was small. It's a grown-up thing I guess. I remembered how excited I was when Umi started making her deliciously-sweet-and-chocolatey chocolate chip cookies because it acted as an indication that Eid was nearing. Then, she would hide the cookies in a 'safe' place that she thought we wouldn't know, so as not to let us finish them. Oh, sweet childhood memories.

Now that she doesn't bake them anymore, I've been trying to find the recipe which she kept in one of the pile-high old recipe books for years. :( Once I found that recipe, I will surely share it here but in the mean time, let's enjoy a slice of this lemony cake which I made quite a while ago. I think this is a great and easy recipe that would be loved by many.

Recipe (Lemon blueberry cheesecake bars):

Crust:

• 18-20 pieces of digestive biscuits
• A pinch of ground cinnamon
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 325F. Grease a 9x9-inch baking tray with butter and line it with a parchment paper.

2. In a food processor, process the biscuits and ground cinnamon until you have the texture of fine bread crumbs. 

2. Add the butter and process again until everything is thoroughly mixed.

3. Press the mixture onto the lined baking tray and bake for 12 minutes before letting it cool.

Cheesecake filling:

• 500g cream cheese
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• zest and juice of 1 1/2 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1. Put everything, except for the blueberries, into the food processor and process until well combined. 

2. Pour the mixture over the cooled crust and sprinkle the blueberries over the top. The blueberries would sink slightly, but should still be half exposed.

3. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes or until the center only slightly jiggles.

4. Remove from the oven and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

Adapted from: Brown Eyed Baker

Dark chocolate and orange cake

Chocolate and orange - a match made in heaven. The sweet-scented orange compliments the slight bitterness of the chocolate.. Ahhh.. They are just perfect together. I can never have enough of them. That's why I can eat Lindt - Orange Intense chocolate bar all by myself, despite the fact that they don't do any good to my waistline.

Well, so is this cake.. or any other food if not taken in moderation. However, I always feel that if the food is not delicious, then it is not worth the calorie. I don't know the calories for a slice of this cake, but I can assure you that it would totally be worth it.

It was my youngest sister who first made this cake a few months ago and to her disappointment, it didn't turn out quite right. I'm sorry to say this, Hani, but the cake looked horrible. As not to waste the cake, she still made the ganache to be poured on top. Surprisingly, everyone loved this dense yet moist cake and it left us craving for more. Well, everyone except my cousin who hates dark chocolate.

If you're not a fan of dark chocolate, you may not like it as much as we do. But you can still substitute the dark chocolate with milk chocolate and you might have to reduce the sugar, or else it would be a little bit too sweet.

Ingredients:

• 1 Seville orange
• 100 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 3 eggs
• 270 g caster sugar
• 240 ml sunflower oil
• 25 g cocoa powder
• 250 g plain flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Pierce the orange with a skewer (right through). Boil it in a pot of water for 30 minutes, until soft. Blend the orange to form a smooth puree and let it cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 9 inch cake pan. 

3. Melt the chocolate over a pot of simmering water, or in a microwave for 2 minutes on high, stirring after 1 minute. Let cool. 

4. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and oil. Gradually beat in the pureed orange and melted chocolate. 

5. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Pour into the cake tin.

6. Bake for 45 - 55 minutes, until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Let cool.

• 120 g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 90 g semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup heavy cream

1. Bring the cream to a simmer, then pour over the chocolate.

2. Leave for 2 minutes, then stir until smooth.

3. Set aside until it is firm enough to spread over the cake.

Source and adapted from : BBC Good Food

Chocolate Spiced Cupcake with a surprise center

I would come home every weekend and there would be people asking me, how do I control myself from falling into temptations? There's tv to be watched, fast wi-fi to go online and cars to be driven out.. How do I contain myself?

The truth is, I don't really watch tv, I surf the internet everyday does not matter where I am and I basically hate driving. So.. that's how I do it. I don't feel tempted to watch tv even though I sleep in the AV room almost every night and no matter how many cars are there at home, I only go out when there's people who is willing to drive me around. I guess I only get the driving license, immediately after my 17th birthday, just for the sake of having it. It's not like I really want to drive. And for that, I'm quite grateful that Abah decided not to buy me the car that he promised to, or else.. it would only be a waste of money.

But then again, I do watch tv, I do get online and I like going out.. If it involves cooking, baking and basically, food! I love watching cooking shows, I find recipes online (and my favourite websites would be tastespotting and foodgawker) and I enjoy doing grocery shopping and visiting the shops that sell baking supplies.

So now you know my weakness - food. I just can't help it. I have to bake something, at least once a week, that's how I release my tension. However, I do have to say here that I do not enjoy eating as much as I love making it. So.. yes, everyone else would have to finish up whatever I make. :P

One of my favourite cooking shows would be bake with Anna Olson. I've only watched it twice, because apparently it is shown on weekdays, making it impossible for me to follow the show religiously. I just love the kitchen that she's working in, I don't care if it is just a studio (or not), I'm in love with it! I wish I could have a kitchen like that. :( Anyways, I just want to share this cupcake recipe that I've tried from her show.

I like it, my family likes it and I hope you like it too. :)

Light Apricot Cheesecake

Yesterday was Abah's birthday and few days back was Umi's. So happy birthday to you both! May your lives will be filled with joy and laughter! :)

My sister and I were tired of thinking of what to bake for them (every year we would make them something and I guess this year was the simplest). Since I bake almost every day, now that I am still having my break, I ran out of ideas. We ate everything, I mean everything that we felt like eating. So when their birthdays came, we just couldn't think of any recipes. I asked Umi what she wanted and she said she only wanted a trifle. So that was what I made her, a dark chocolate cake layered with softly whipped cream and strawberries. It was simple yet very delicious!

When Abah's birthday came a few days later (which was yesterday), again, I asked Abah what he wanted. Does he want a cake or pudding or anything? 

And then he said, "a cheesecake, a New York Cheesecake!"

I was like, "you want a New York Cheesecake? Are you sure? That's a very dense cake." I have never baked New York Cheesecake but I know that we are going to have a hard time finishing the cake, because that's what always happen when we buy this kind of cheesecake from Secret Recipe.

Then he changed his mind and said he wanted something light and not very cheesy.

I then started thinking about the Japanese Cheesecake but that would be too simple for his birthday - or so I thought. So I decided to make this light apricot cheesecake, inspired by my grandmother's cake that she baked last Eid. She did tell me the recipe for her cake but I couldn't remember it. All I know is that she boiled the dried apricots before turning them into puree. However, I didn't bother doing that, so I just blend it with some milk and greek yogurt. 

I tweaked this recipe and made use of what I have. I didn't have sour cream so I just used greek yogurt instead. And I did change the measurements because I wanted to add the apricots. In this recipe, I used dried apricots which we bought when we went for Umrah the other day. I am not very sure whether fresh apricots could be used or not. Perhaps, it needs to be a very ripe one. 

Recipe (Light Apricot Cheesecake) :

Crust

• 120g biscuits (I used Speculoos), crushed
• 3 tbsp melted butter

Method:

1. Prepare a 9-inch springform pan.

2. Mix the butter and biscuits together. Press onto the base of the pan. Refrigerate.

Filling

• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 120g dried apricots, cut into smaller pieces
• 3 tbsp milk
• 2/3 cup greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cornflour
• 3 egg whites

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C. Pour some water in a pan to be put onto the lower rack of the oven which will help to prevent cracks in the cake.

2. Blend the apricots together with the milk and greek yogurt. Set aside. I was left with little chunks of apricots, and I like it that way.

3. Beat the cream cheese, 1/2 cup caster sugar and vanilla. Beat the egg yolks, cornflour and the mixture of apricot yogurt. Set aside.

4. In another clean bowl, beat the egg whites with 1 tbsp sugar until stiff peaks. 

5. Fold in the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture.

6. Pour over the crust in the springform pan. Put the pan in the middle rack of the oven. 

7. Bake for 40 minutes and let it cool in the oven (door closed) for one hour.

8. Then, let it stay in the oven with the door slightly ajar until it has cooled completely.

9. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

Chocolate Beet Cupcake

One more week to go before all the Year 1 students need to pass up their Extended Essay first draft. I am only done with the introduction and the body of the essay. Oh God, help me to get through IB! :( This semester is going to be a very important one, as it will determine our placement. I am hoping and praying that I could go to UK. :(

As usual, I would still go home on weekends even though exams are just around the corner. I just can't study if I were to stay in hostel. It is very depressing and I'll end up sleeping instead. At least, when you are at home, you get to see the faces of your loved ones which makes your days a lot brighter and your life a little stress free. And only then will I be able to study calmly. Or else I couldn't even focus on what I study, I might have to reread a sentence millions of times before I am able to understand. Well you know what they say, home is where the heart is. <3

Today, I've baked something really simple, chocolate beet cupcakes with beet cream cheese frosting. To me, it tasted pretty much like red velvet cupcakes but without all those scary red colouring. I guess that's why mom didn't like, she never liked red velvet cupcakes. It is not chocolatey enough for her. Even though I, too, don't find it chocolatey enough but I guess that's how red velvet cupcakes should taste like, just a hint of chocolate.

The recipe can be found here.

Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

Guess what? I have finally found my favourite chocolate cupcakes recipe. It is so easy to make and you could certainly whip this up at the very last hour if you have unexpected guests coming, except for of course, you might need to let the cupcakes cool down for a little while before you put on the ganache.

I've over-whipped the ganache, so it looked quite grainy and not very appetizing. But hey! Who cares what it looks like as long as it's delicious! :D

Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes - Makes 20
from Bisousatoi

Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 125g caster sugar
• 75g flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 50g dark chocolate
• 65g butter
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Ganache topping

• 250g whipping cream/heavy cream
• 250g dark chocolate
• 30g unsalted butter

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 180C.

2. Melt dark chocolate with butter using a double boiler. 

3. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Then add in the sifted flour, cocoa powder and bicarb.

4. Next add in the melted chocolate. Stir well and scoop into cupcake liners. 

5. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Once baked, let it cool.

6. Prepare the ganache by heating the whipping cream using a double boiler. Then add in the chocolate and butter. Once melted, take off from heat.

7. Let the ganache chill in the refrigerator. After it has been chilled, whip the ganache until fluffy and it is ready to be piped. 

I halved the recipe and got 8 cupcakes out of it.

Half A Century

I know this looks messy but it is very delicious :D

Last Sunday was Umi's 50th birthday and tomorrow is Abah's. Since both of them are in Pattaya right now, we could not celebrate Abah's birthday together until Sunday. So I still have two days to plan for the menu which I still have not had a clue about it. I just don't know what to cook or bake for him. 

What I baked for Umi was a carrot cake. Not just any ordinary carrot cake. But a moist and delicious carrot cake topped with the best cream cheese frosting ever. I did not cook her anything since we went out for lunch at a hotel. I did make the carrot cake in a cupcake form for her friends as well which I think is the best size to eat this cake.

Carrot cake (Adapted from Allrecipes)

Ingredients :

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrot, squeezed out the juice
• 1 cup crushed pineapple
• 1 cup freshly grated coconut
• 2 tbsp yogurt

Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F.

2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

3. Stir in carrots, pineapple, coconut and yogurt. 

4. Divide the batter into two greased pan and bake for 30-45 minutes. 

note : Makes about 25 cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients :

• 500g cream cheese
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cup icing sugar 
• 2 tsp vanilla

Method :

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Mix in the icing sugar and vanilla.