Chocolate and Banana Cake

It's more often than not that I'd bake something as a snack for my daughter and her friend(s) when they have a playdate/group at my house.  My choice tends to be something easy ..something healthy as much as possible and top of everything, something that kids basicly like ..which I always end up with cookies or cupcakes!

This chocolate and banana cake was found at the right time not only when I wanted to make something to supply the lastest playgroup at home but also I had to use up some leftover sour cream before it's gone off ..what a win-win situation!!

The original recipe is made in a loaf form but I'd rather save time to do something else than having to keep my eyes on the cake while it's been being baked...I then made it into cupcakes instead and I got 12 cupcakes using a muffin tin plus one cake using my heart silicone mold...just to welcome Valentine's day!

Unfortunately, I totally forgot where the original recipe is from..what I've got is only the recipe itself saved in my file..apologise to the one who posted it to begin with that I'd have given credit to!

Here is my version

Ingredients :

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder such as Hershey's
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 130 g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1-1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method :

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper cups.
2. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl or electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Add vanilla and beat to well combined. Add dry ingredients and sour cream alternatively, beat gently until just combined. Add bananas and chocolate chips. Fold them in until combined.
4. Divide the batter into cups . Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes. Let rest in pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely.

      

Eccles Cake

I am sure most of English people know what Eccles cake is because it's kind of a traditional British cake. Even though it's called 'cake' but in fact , this small round thing with currants and mixed peels filling is made with puff pastry instead of cake batter ( find out more details about eccles cake here. )

Anyway, I've found a version that is made in a real cake form and for some reason, it made me interested in more than an authentic one and here is what I proudly present..

The recipe could be found here.

Pork and Chickpea Curry

Recently, I've intendedly cooked something that can be frozen and stocked in hand to be used as an emergency meal or whenever I don't feel like cooking and this pork curry happened to be the case.Although it needs some time to be done but it's very easy to make, yet provides a fabulous outcome...if you have time, then it's really worth your try!

The recipe could be found here.

Earl Grey French Blue Pound Cake

While my (English) husband can't live without tea, I , on the other hand,  rarely drink or fancy any kind of it but the Mariage Freres's earl grey french blue is an exception! I unintendedly tried it for the first time at a luxury coffee shop in Bangkok a few years ago and both of my husband and me have surprisingly been falling in love and raving about it ever since !

Luckily, one of my best and eldest friends, who is always nice and thoughtful, happened to know that the tea is our favorite, so she has been supplying us the tea all year round and when I saw the cake on this site, I immediately wanted to give it a try using my favorite earl grey french blue!

The recipe could be found here.

Apple Sharlotka

It's been a school break during Chinese New Year and we didn't go away as usual since my husband has been recovering from his ankle operation...Honestly, it's a bit boring to stay in without doing much of fun things but at least I have more time to keep myself entertained with cooking and baking!

This apple cake simply attracted me with its lovely name and even more when I finished reading the whole post...the only effort I had to make for this cake is driving out to buy some apples!!

The recipe could be found here.

Roasted Garlic Biscuits

The local bakery shop where I always buy garlic bread from is closed due to Chinese New Year and I didn't realise that until this morning when I saw the door completely shut along with the message written in Chinese which I guessed telling they were closed!

Back home without a piece of garlic bread,  I then had to look for something to make to serve my husband along with a soup for his lunch as planned and finally ended up with this biscuit !

I made only half of the recipe and got five pieces of biscuit out of the dough which four of them was gone into my hubby's tummy...so you can easily guess how good the biscuit is!..:)

The recipe is from here.   

Angel Biscuits

Don't let the title post fool you! This biscuit is certainly not representative of me ..neither pretty as angel nor yummy as biscuit..lol. The name is just what it's called for some reason that I didn't really bother to find out why...what made me interested is that it calls for yeast as one of leavening agents apart from baking powder and baking soda which is different from other normal biscuits do!