Banana Nut Bread - Bake Along #40

Wait for me... Wait for me...

Finally bake the Banana Nut Bread in time to join in the Bake Along #40.

I think recently I had been baking quite a lot of bananas recipes and I really enjoyed tasting them.. Oops, but I think I have to go on a diet...hehehehe

Instead of using butter, I had replaced it with canola oil.

This bread still turned out very light and moist, a really bread texture.
I had halved the recipe and baked in a 2.5" x 7" rectangular tin and a little small little cuppie as you can see in the pictures above & below. We do quite like this Banana Nut Bread.

But should I classify this Bread under Bread or Cake???

Banana Nut Bread (The Williams Sonoma Baking Book)

makes one 9 by 5 inch loaf

(I have halved the recipe and replaced the following in brackets)

95gm unsalted butter (40ml Canola Oil)

170gm sugar (65g sugar)

280gm mashed bananas (150g bananas)

3 large eggs, lightly beaten (1 1/2 egg)

125ml buttermilk (65 ml milk)

2cups plain flour (125g flour)

1tsp baking soda (1/2 tsp baking soda)

1tsp baking powder (1/2 tsp baking powder)

1 tsp ground nutmeg (1/2 tsp cinnamon)

1/2 tsp salt (1/4 tsp salt)

100gms walnuts (Chop coarsely) (50g walnuts)

How to bake:

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until creamy, about 1 min.

3. Add the bananas and eggs and beat until smooth. Add the buttermilk and beat until just combined.

4. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, salt and nuts. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and beat just until combined. The batter should be slightly lumpy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. It should be no more than two thirds full. Bake until the top is dark golden brown and dry to the touch, about 55-60minutes.

6. A cake tester inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

(As I had replaced the butter with oil, I had mixed the milk & sugar, stir to get the sugar a little dissolved. Add in the egg, oil and banana, stir till corporated. Add in all the sieved flour mixture. Stir well to get a smooth, lumpy batter)

Storage tip: Wrap the bread tightly in plastic wrapper and can be store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Do hope along to our host of Bake-Along: Joyce, Lena & Zoe's blog & rest of the bakers whom are joining us in this theme. Have fun:)

Let's go vegetarian today.... Apple Raisins Cake

Let's go vegetarian today...!!!

This Apple Raisins Cake was a great treat... 

Reason being it was healthy, dairy-free & eggless...

Instead of using margarine, I had replaced it with canola oil.

Though it was eggless, no dairy, this cake turned out very well. It was so soft and crumbly. I had also reduced a small amount of the sugar and I think it was still a little sweet, probably because of the sweetness from the apples and the raisins. I had also topped the cake with some chocolate chips... Yummy!!!

This cake was getting a great responses from family and friends and they liked it as much as I did♡

♧So are you ready to go on vegetarian for this cake too?♧

Recipe as adapted from Eggless Cakes & Cookies by Jamie Jong,

Eggless Cranberry Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

(with slight modifications)

250g margarine(250ml canola oil)

180g sugar(150g)

180ml water

340g self raising flour

100g dried cranberries(150g diced apples)

100g chopped walnuts(100g raisins)

Method:

1. Cream margarine and sugar till light and creamy. Add in water gradually, beat well.

2. Fold in sieved flour, cranberries and chopped walnuts, mix well.

3. Pour mixture into a greased and lined 7" cake mould.

4. Baked in a preheated oven of 160C for 1 1/4 hr.

(As I had replaced with margarine with oil, I had mixed the sugar, water and oil. Mix well. Add in the sieved flour into the liquid mixture, mix well until well blended.

Sprinkle the diced apples and raisins with some flour to prevent them from sinking to tje bottom of the cake. Mix into the batter and mix well.

Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 60mins or until a skewer stick comes out clean.)

Have fun! Happy Vegan Day♡

Eat Me!! Soft & Yummy Banana Cupcakes

Today is the school reopening for all children. For some children, it will be a new chapter of their life.

For me, Nic and Nat will be back to school, whereas Mimi will be going to her playgroup class for the 1st time. I hope Mimi will enjoyed going to school.

My cutie pie... finally all grown up and starting on her new journey...

As usual, having the excess very ripe bananas at home, I searched through my recipe books and found this Banana Walnut Cake. We could never go much wrong with any banana recipes.

I had omitted the walnuts as Nic does not really fancy nuts, and also, instead of making them into a loaf of cake, I had made them in cupcakes too.

Indeed, these Banana Cupcakes were delicious!!! They were so soft and yummy, sweetness of the cupcakes were just right. It goes so well with the banana slices on top as well. I should have added more banana slices on top... hehehehe....

And ain't my tags cute as well. My friend had gotten me these cupcake cases with the pretty cute tags for Christmas. I just love them so much...

This is the book that I had gotten my recipe from. I bought them at a discounted price at the Eslite Bookshop in Taipei last November.

Easy Bake！女生都喜歡的超可愛甜點─烘 By 梁家榕

I love this book alot as her recipe quantity are usually on a smaller basis, good for one time consumption. And so far 2 recipes that I had tried out, was delicious!!! You might wanna consider getting her book.

Tasty, Yummy.... and Eat Me....

You can see the great texture of the banana cupcakes, soft and moist..!!!

Thumbs up once again for these cupcakes...:-D

Recipe as adapted from:

Easy Bake！女生都喜歡的超可愛甜點─烘 By 梁家榕

Ingredients:

Banana Puree: 100g banana + 1 tsp sugar

Mashed the banana & mix with the sugar. I had added in some lemon juice.

30g toasted chopped walnuts (omitted)

60g butter

40g sugar

1 egg

100g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 banana for topping

Method:

1. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the egg and mix well.

2. Add in the flour + baking powder into the mixture and combine well.

3. Add in the banana puree and mix well.

4. Scoop batter into the paper cupcake cases about 80% full. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for about 25-30 mins or until the cupcakes turn golden brown.

Apple Walnut Mosaic Coffee Cake

Making it in time for the THB bake before we had a month's holiday... hehehe, Sounded like we are having school holidays:-p

This month, Mich, Piece of Cake had selected this bake and I must say it is another wonderful recipe as well. Mich had done up a very nicely walnut stresuel cupcake style, and they looked very appealing.. Do hope over to her blog for the recipe:)

I had baked mine in a 8" bundt pan, halving the ingredients, and modifying some of the ingredients like replacing the wholemeal flour to wheat flour, cranberries to raisns, brown sugar to golden caster sugar, reducing quite abit of the sugar level.

The batter was abit stiff as mentioned in the book, but to my surprise, this cake was so soft & moist. I like this cake very much, indeed. As I had reduced quite a fair bit of the sugar, the apples & raisins compliment the sweetness in the overall cake. Definitely another recipe for keeper

Do click here to see what the other THB members had baked for their version of this Apple Walnut Mosaic Coffee Cake

Steam Banana & Walnut Cupcakes

It has been several months since I took part in the Aspiring Baker... And I decided to submit an entry before I leave for my trip to Taipei tomorrow.

I had Steamed Bread Recipe Book, and it had been left in my shelf for quite some time. Browsing through all the recipes, I saw this Steam Banana & Walnut Cupcakes... Why not try them, since I have bananas & walnuts, the usual ingredients that I always have at home. :-p 

I never had really fancied much of these steam cakes, except for the 鸡蛋糕or发糕.

The last time when I had tried a recipe from the same book, I didn't quite like them very much. So today, I actually did not pinned too much hope on these steam cupcakes as well.

But you know what....???
 I was wrong... This time round, these steamed cupcakes were delicious!!!

An unexpectable soft and nice texture. Combined with the banana chunks and walnuts, it made the cupcakes very appetising...., with the sweetness of the bananas, and the crunchiness of the toasted walnuts... What more could I have asked for...?

If you see the soft texture of the cupcakes & the banana chunks... Yummy I would say this time!!

And I had one myself:-p But I'm sure if my girls will like them... hahahaha:-D

Here, have a steamed cupcake with a cup of Earl Grey Tea.

Ingredients:

1 egg

40g sugar

60ml milk

100g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp canola oil

80g banana, cut into chunks

20g toasted chopped walnuts

Method:

1. Whip the egg & sugar. Add in the milk and mix well.

2. Combined the flour & baking powder into the egg mixture. Mix untill well combined.

3. Add in the oil and mix well.

4. Fold in the chopped walnuts & banana chunks.

5. Pour batters into cupcake case and steamed over medium heat for about 12-15mins.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #25 – Steaming Hot Cakes (November 2012) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.