Chocolate Bottom Banana Cupcakes

Finally I baked this popular Chocolate Bottom Banana Squares, there are two versions of the cake, butter version by Hearty Bakes and oil version by Cook.Love.Bake. Since left with only 2 ripe bananas on my kitchen, then I baked half recipe in cupcakes using the oil version. Texture was soft & fluffy, however I found lack of chocolate taste here maybe due to too much batter I took to mix with the chocolate powder.

Source : Cook.Bake.Love

Ingredients:

A.
35 gr castor sugar
1 large egg

B.
40 gr Oil
2 medium-sized bananas, mashed with a fork (about 110gr)

pinch of salt
20 gr milk
1 tsp rum (or ¼ tsp vanilla extract)

C.

65 gr plain flour
¼  tsp baking powder

¼  tsp baking soda

D. 1 tbsp cocoa powder ( can add upto 25 gr)

Topping : Chocolate rice / Chocolate chips.

Method:

- Preheat oven at 180C.

- Beat (A) till light and creamy.
- Add (B) and combine.
- Sieve in (C), mix till just incorporated. Stop once there is no traces of flour remain.
- Divide the batter into half. Sieve in cocoa powder to one portion of the batter and mix well. Add the cocoa batter to cupcake cases.
- Add the remaining plain batter on top of the cocoa batter. Sprinkle top generously with chocolate rice.
- Bake for 15-20 mins or until a skewer inserted in the centre and come out clean.

Assorted Cupcakes

Made these below assorted cupcakes for Children's Day Celebration at my eldest son's student care today.
Above cupcakes set .... breakfast for my colleagues :)

Chocolate cupcakes, I used my swiss roll recipe.
Swiss Meringue Buttercream from Wendy's blog. Thanks Wendy for your step-by-step instruction, that help me a lot on the preparation, and I just love the smooth texture & light taste of this buttercream:)

Nutella cupcakes, I used Busygran's recipe. Thanks Judy for the yummy recipe :)

Buttercake Rich Choco

I saw this recipe here, and decided to give it a try. I love the texture of the cake, it is a good recipe if you like soft & fluffy butter cake with additional chocolate taste, then you should give it a try too :)

Source : Sajian Sedap

Ingredients:

150 gr Unsalted Butter (Cold)

1/4 tsp Salt
100 gr Caster Sugar
75 gr Dark Chocolate, melted
5 nos Egg Yolk
2 nos Egg White

75 gr Plain Flour

25 gr Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Powder (BP)
1/8 tsp Baking Soda (BS)

25 gr Almond sliced for decoration (optional)

 

Method:

- Preheat oven to 180C
- Cream butter, salt and sugar until creamy & smooth. Add in melted dark chocolate, beat until well incorporated.
- Add in eggs one at a time with part of flour mixture (flour, cocoa powder, BP and BS), mix well before next addition.
- Fold in the rest of the flour mixture.
- Fold into 24x12x4cm or 6 inch round pan, spread the almond sliced on top of the batter.
- Bake for 25-40 minutes or until cooked.
- Leave on cake rack to cool before slicing.

Here, I would like to participate this post to {Event} Natural Colour Bakes hosted by Hankerie.

Moo Moo & Oink Oink Paus

I’ve been influenced by Fatmum via Facebook, to make these cute paos. Aren’t they cute? Too cute to be eaten ??? hehehehe .. but not for my kids, they saw those and wanted to eat them up straight away ..Hahahaha ….

I used Cheah’s recipe for the pau skin. If you would like to make this, I would suggest, please do not to add too much filling inside the bun, so you will have round & smooth surface. I ever made this earlier that I was greedy to put lots of meat ingredients ….. at the end burst and look ugly. This time, I just added nutella inside the paus, or you may also put kaya or lotus paste.

Source : No-Frills Recipe 

Ingredients:
(A) Starter Dough:
70 gr Pau flour or Hong Kong flour
1-1/4 tsp Instant yeast
50 ml Lukewarm water

(B) Main Dough:
180 gr Pau flour or Hong Kong flour
65 gm Caster sugar
20 gr Crisco shortening
1 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Salt (I skipped this)
55 ml water

Method:
A - Starter Dough
- Mix the instant yeast with lukewarm water, stir well.
- Add in 70 gr sifted pau flour, mix well with the yeast mixture. Roughly form into a ball of dough and set aside for 15 mins.

B - Main Dough
- Mix the balance 180 gr sifted pau flour with the baking powder and sugar, stir well.
- Add the starting dough mixture (A). Add in the shortening and water sparingly, knead till dough doesn't stick to the hands.
- Cover dough with a damp cloth and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hr. to 1.1/2 hrs or till double in size.
- Knock down dough to expel some air, transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for a while.
- Weigh dough @ 20 gr each and roughly shape into a ball. Make about 15 pieces.
- Flatten and roll out the dough into a circle. Place filling in the center, seal the bun with round on top.
- Place the pau onto a piece of greaseproof paper. Proof it for another 15 mins.
- Steam the pau over the high heat for about 10 to 12 mins.
- Remove from steamer and serve, hot.

NOTE:
- Mix the food colouring before weighing the dough to individual ball shape.

You may check for the softness of the skin here :)

Butter Cheese Cake

I was actually thought that I had all the ingredients at home, however, just realised on the last minute during measurement I had no more cheddar cheese block. Therefore, just substitute with sliced cheddar cheeses. The result was good and the cake had fine texture & quite flavourful with the cheddar cheese mixture.

Source Recipe : Aunty Yochana

Ingredients:
250 gr Butter
200 gr Sugar
5 nos Eggs (I used 4 Large eggs)
100 gr Sliced cheddar cheese, minced or stripped
1 tsp Vanilla essence
100 ml Fresh milk

225 gr Cake Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder

Method:
- Cream butter with sugar till creamy and smooth.
- Add in eggs one at a time, mix well before the next addition.
- Add in half of minced cheddar cheese and vanilla essence.
- Fold in fresh milk and cake flour sifted with baking powder alternately till finished.
- Pour into 8 inch square pan, spread the stripped cheddar cheese on top of the batter and bake at 180C for about 45 mins or till a stick inserted in comes out clean.
- Leave cake in the pan for 5 mins before removing. Leave on cake rack to cool before slicing.

Grand Marnier and Poppy Seeds Cupcakes

Love these bite-sized cupcakes, which I enjoyed the softness and moist of these cupcakes, and just can't stop eating them :)

Here is the half recipe that I baked with minor modification.
Source : Beautiful Cupcakes by Kevin Chai

Ingredients:
110 gr Butter
90 gr Sugar
115 gr Plain flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/8 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Grated orange rind
30 ml Orange juice
10 ml Grand Marnier
6 gr Poppy seeds

Methods:
- Preheat oven to 180C.
- Combine all ingredients, except poppy seeds in a mixer, beat until smooth and pale (about 2-3 minutes).
- Add poppy seeds in the mixture, stir well.
- Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes (depend on the cupcake mould).

Walnut Mooncake

It has been quite sometimes in my baking list, since I saw Happy Flour & Cook.Bake.Love baked this. Finally, I baked this and really glad on the result. Brought this morning to share with my colleagues, and received good reviews from them :) Thanks Baking Mum for sharing this recipe with us.

Not to forget to submit for this month Aspiring Bakers #11:Mid-Autumn Treats (September 2011) hosted by Happy Home Baking.

Source : Baking Mum

Ingredients:
360 gr Plain flour
25 gr Custard Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda

220 gr Butter (salted)

50 gr Shortening

50 gr Icing sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence / extract
1/2 tsp Ammonium Bicarbonate (I skipped this)
1 Egg
Walnut for decoration

Filling:

800 gr Lotus Paste

Some walnut, toasted and chop (optional)

Egg Wash:

2 Egg Yolks + 1 Tbsp Water

Methods:

Prepare the skin pastry in advance (prefer one day in advance or few days):

1. Cream sugar, shortening, butter, vanilla and ammonium together until slightly white (slow speed first then change to high speed).

2. Gradually add in egg, beat until incorporated.
3. Lastly add in sifted flour, custard powder and baking soda to knead into a dough (don’t mix too long). Leave dough in fridge overnight or for a few days.

Mooncake making:

1. Preheat oven to 160C

2. Take out dough from the fridge and divide into portions of 20 gr each.

3. Divide fillings about 20 gr each

4. Wrap fillings into dough and decorate with walnut.

5. Apply egg wash and bake for 10 mins. Take it out and leave it out for about 10 mins, then apply egg wash again. Bake for another 15 mins.

Yields : 36-40 pcs