Black Bottom Milo Banana Bread

I had some unattractive-looking overripe bananas hanging in the kitchen...  Clearly nobody was going to pluck & snack on any of it. But we bakers know that that's the best kind of bananas to bake with, so I wasted no time & baked this wholesome Milo banana bread using the recipe shared by Zoe. 

If you are looking for a soft & spongy banana bread, then I'm afraid this bread will disappoint you because it is quite dense but still moist. It would have been more moist if I had more bananas in hand. However, if you are looking for a delicious & wholesome grab-and-go breakfast or snack, then this is the one as it uses many flavourful & nutritious ingredients like wholemeal flour, bananas, eggs, yogurt & Milo. Give it a try the next time you have overripe bananas lying around in your kitchen.

Black Bottom Milo Banana Bread

Ingredients:

165g wholemeal flour
55g all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda (I added.)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup + 2 tbsp mashed bananas (about 2 extra large or 3 medium banana) - I only used 1 cup because that's all I had.

100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
60g (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
3 tbsp (45 ml) plain yogurt
1 1/2 large eggs, lightly beaten (I used two 55g-eggs.)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
50g chocolate malted powder (Ovaltine or Milo) - I used Milo.
non-stick cooking spray for greasing the pan - I used butter.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C. Spray loaf pan (10 x 20 cm) with nonstick cooking spray and line the pan with baking paper, leaving an extra inch or two overhanging each end. This helps to remove the bread easily.
2. Combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Combine bananas, sugar, butter, yogurt, eggs and vanilla extract in large bowl; stir well. Sift in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. 
4. Remove 1 cup of batter and place it in a separate bowl. Stir in Ovaltine or Milo & mix until combined.
5. Spoon the Ovaltine/Milo mixture into the prepared pan. Then top it with the remaining banana batter. 
6. Bake for 50 minutes or until a wooden stick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 mins. Remove bread from the pan and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
7. Slice and serve. To store, wrap in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Sourced from & adapted by Zoe @ Bake For Happy Kids.

Original recipe: Nestle Kitchen.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up event, organized & hosted by Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY & Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids.

Banana Chips aka Kerepek Pisang

It's already the end of the month. This means that it is almost the end of the LTU event which I'm hosting. So my last entry for the event is about my attempt at making the addictive Banana Chips, also known as Kerepek Pisang.

Kerepek pisang brings back memories of my younger days... To supplement the family income, my parents made kerepek pisang at home & supply it to shops & snack stalls at the market. My mum would use a huge kuali into which bottles of oil were poured. She would fry the chips while my father & I helped to pack them. Now, my mum still fries the chips but only for home consumption. 

My family loves snacking on kerepek pisang but we usually just buy the ready made ones since it's so widely available in shops & markets.  Last week's attempt was really my first time frying the chips myself. I wanted to use pisang tanduk but since I could not find any green ones, I decided to use pisang kepok/nipah instead. I think pisang tanduk  tastes so much better.

Update (5 April 2015):
I managed to find some green pisang tanduk on Friday. Below is a shot of the pisang tanduk chips. Not only do the bright yellow chips look prettier but also taste better! 

Banana Chips a.k.a. Kerepek Pisang

Ingredients:
bananas (young & green)
salt
water
vegetable oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Peel the bananas. Set aside.
2. Mix salt & water. Set aside.
3. Heat up the oil in a deep frying pan or kuali.
4. Using a handheld vegetable slicer, slice bananas directly into the hot oil.
5. Sprinkle a few tsps of salt solution onto the sliced bananas.
6. Fry until crispy.
7. Leave to cool completely. Then store in an airtight container.

Notes:

1. I've not included the amount for the ingredients used as I think you can just estimate it.
2. I used pisang kepok/nipah. You may also use pisang tanduk, another preferred type of banana when making banana chips. I prefer the taste of pisang tanduk.
3. The amount of salt & water needed will depend on your preference & the amount of bananas.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up (March-2015 - BANANA) event organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by me, Faeez of BitterSweetSpicy.

Pandan Banana Chiffon Cake

I've baked banana chiffon cake a couple of times using a recipe on the net but my attempts were not very successful. I planned to bake one using a different recipe this month for the LTU (Banana) event. So when I saw Evelyn of My Baking Workshop posted her marbled Pandan Banana Chiffon Cake recently, I felt like baking it myself immediately! I managed to bake it a few days later, not until I adjusted the recipe to fit a smaller chiffon pan, the biggest that I have. 

I was quite anxious as to how my cake would turn out this time. It rose to only about 3/4 of the pan after 45 minutes.  That made me worried, so much so, I did not wait for the cake to cool down completely before slicing it. I was very relieved the cake turned out spongy & moist. The banana flavour was just nice, not overwhelming. However, I found the pandan flavour a little too faint even though I used concentrated pandan juice. I suppose I still need to add a little pandan extract as adding more pandan juice may affect the texture of the cake. Overall, this is a very good recipe and my family & I love it  a lot! I think I'm going to bake it again soon. Hehe...

Pandan Banana Chiffon Cake
Ingredients:

5 egg yolks
85g icing sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
90g fresh milk
100g corn oil (I used canola.)
175g self-raising flour

75g banana, mashed (1 large banana.)
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp concentrated pandan juice (or 3/4 tsp pandan paste plus 6g fresh milk)
a few drops of green colouring

5 egg whites
90g caster sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (I didn't use.)

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 170 deg C. Prepare a 10-inch chiffon pan. Do NOT grease or line the pan.
2. Combine egg yolks, icing sugar & salt in a bowl. Beat until well combined (I used a hand whisk.). Add in milk & oil. Mix until well blended. Fold in flour & mix well. Divide the batter into 2 equal parts in separate bowls.
3. Add in mashed banana & vanilla extract into 1 part of the above batter. Add pandan juice & colouring into another. Set aside.
4. In a dry & clean bowl, beat egg whites & cream of tartar until bubbles appear. Add in sugar bit by bit & beat  until stiff peak. Divide the meringue into 2 equal parts.
5. Fold in 1 part of meringue into the banana batter & the other part into the pandan batter. Fold in the meringue in thirds.
6. Pour half of the banana batter into the pan, followed by half of the pandan batter. Then pour the rest of the banana batter, followed by the rest of the pandan batter. Bake for about 45 minutes. Adjust your oven accordingly as every oven is different.
7. Once cooked, remove from oven & immediately invert pan until completely cool. To remove cake, run a spatula or knife around the side & bottom of pan. Slice using a serrated knife.

Adapted from My Baking Workshop.

Notes & modifications:

1. I adjusted the recipe to a 5-egg recipe instead of using 8 eggs as per the original recipe.
2. I used a 10-inch chiffon pan & the cake rose to about 3/4 of it. You may use a smaller pan for a taller cake, perhaps an 8-inch pan.
3. If you are using pandan juice, I would advise you to also add a bit (1/4 tsp, perhaps) of pandan extract for stronger pandan flavour.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up (March-2015 - BANANA) event organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by me, Faeez of BitterSweetSpicy.

Banana Scones

I made these light & tender banana scones this afternoon. The bits of chopped banana & chocolate chips are great additions to the lightly-sweetened scones. A great recipe if you are thinking of something simple yet delightful.

Banana Scones

Ingredients:
1 cup self-raising flour
1 1⁄2 tablespoons brown sugar
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
3 tablespoons butter, cold (I used 45g.)
4 tablespoons low-fat milk (or light cream)
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1⁄3 cup banana, diced (about half a medium banana)

1/4 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon powder. Cut butter into a few chunks and rub it into the flour mixture with your fingertips.
3. Mix milk and vanilla in a small glass. Pour about 4 tablespoons into the flour mixture and stir until the mixture starts to come together. Add the banana chunks and chocolate chips. Continue to stir, adding more milk if necessary, just until dough comes together. Do not over mix.
4. Pat dough into a disk about 1inch thick. Cut using a cookie cutter and place each piece on baking sheet. Brush the top with some milk (optional).
5. Bake for 17-20 minutes, until light gold.
6. Cool on wire rack or eat warm. These scones are best the day they are made.

Yields 8 pieces.
Adapted from swirlycinnacakes @ food.com.

Notes & modifications:

1. The original recipe uses all-purpose flour plus 1 tsp baking powder.
2. I used cinnamon powder instead of ginger powder as stated in the original recipe.
3. I added the chocolate chips.
4. You can also cut the patted dough into four sections with a knife instead of using a cookie cutter.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up (March-2015 - BANANA) event organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by me, Faeez of BitterSweetSpicy.

Banana Chip Cookies

This is one of the many posts I still had in my folder. I thought now would be a good time to neaten it up & post it here since I'm co-hosting the LTU event this month. 

I don't remember why I wanted to bake these cookies.... I think it was because I wanted to use the whole wheat pastry flour which I bought from Mustaffa. That superstore! It always makes me buy things I don't plan to buy! Haha! No worries, you can just use plain flour instead.

Another great thing about this recipe is, it uses banana chips which happen to be my favourite snack. Just one suggestion, don't over bake the cookies as the soft ones are more flavourful than the crunchy ones.

Banana Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 & 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup (toasted) wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter - I used 125g.
1 cup natural cane sugar (or brown sugar) - I used 3/4 cup
2 large egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used pure vanilla paste.)
2/3 cup banana chips, loosely chopped
1 cup chocolate chips
2/3 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Note: If you can't find whole wheat pastry flour, regular all-purpose white flour will work. If you can't find wheat germ, substitute an equal amount of flour.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F, racks in middle/upper middle. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, or stand mixer, beat the butter until lightly and fluffy, then beat in the sugar until it is the consistency of a thick frosting. Beat in the eggs one at a time, incorporating each fully before adding the next, and scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times along the way (important!). Stir in the vanilla. Add the reserved flour mix in two increments, stirring/mixing a bit between each addition (but not too much). By hand, stir in the banana chips, chocolate chips and walnuts - mix just until everything is evenly distributed.
4. Drop 1 heaping tablespoon of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart and bake for about 7 - 8 minutes, until barely golden on top and bottom, for soft cookies or about 15 minutes for crunchy cookies. Cool on racks.

Recipe by 101cookbooks.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up (March-2015 - BANANA) event organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by me, Faeez of BitterSweetSpicy.

Little Thumbs Up Event - March 2015

Finally, after waiting for more than a year, it's now my turn to host 'Little Thumbs Up' event for this month. Yes, it was more than one year ago when I emailed Zoe & expressed my interest to host this event. That's how popular this event is! Thank you Zoe & Mui Mui for organising this event & giving me & many other bloggers the opportunity to share our experiences through it. I'm excited & anxious as this is my first time hosting a blogger event!

I've chosen what I think is one of the most amazing fruits on earth! It's BANANA for this month's theme! We all know the long list of nutritional benefits of this fruit. Besides that, it is also cheap & is available all year round. Where food preparation is concerned, banana is so versatile that it's not only eaten raw, it's also used as an ingredient in so many dishes or desserts. That's what this event is all about.... we're going to prepare something using bananas! So bloggers, come on! Let's go bananas with BANANA!

What you should do to take part in this event:

1. You need to prepare any type of food that has banana in it! You may cook, bake, steam, fry or simply use raw bananas  to prepare your product. 
2. Blog about what you've prepared between 1 & 31 March 2015. Please indicate 'This post is linked to the Little Thumbs Up (March 2015 - BANANA) event organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Faeez of BitterSweetSpicy.' in your post. Then link your post to the thumbnail link (the blue frog) provided at the bottom of this post.
3. The recipe that you use can be your own, from cookbooks, magazines, websites or any other sources. Please indicate the source of the recipe & if it's from a  website, please provide the link.

Please note the following:

1. Your submission must be a current and new post uploaded in the month of March 2015. Blog entries posted before this month are not accepted. 
2. You may submit as many posts as you like by linking  them to the thumbnail link for this event. 
3. Please feel free to display the "Little Thumbs Up" badge, as shown below, in your post. You may also get the badge from here.

I know you would not run out of ideas of what to make with bananas, but if you want to try the recipes that I've shared in my blog before, take a look here. You may also take a look at the entries submitted for this event by clicking on the frog.

Finally, please click  here to take a look at all the entries for February's event - Cocoa, which was hosted by Grace of Life can be simple.

An InLinkz Link-up

 

Bingka Pisang

My family spent the third day of the Lunar New Year with my husband's family at the beach... I prepared nasi lemak & made Bingka Pisang for dessert. Bingka Pisang is a traditional Malay cake which has bananas as one of the main ingredients. It's very easy to make & it's quite unlikely that you will go wrong with this recipe.

I've adapted the recipe shared by Dzana of Inspirasiku. She used only white sugar but I decided to add gula Melaka (palm sugar) & reduced the white sugar. The cake was quite rich as both coconut & evaporated milk were used. You may want to use regular milk instead of evaporated milk for a mildly-rich cake. I find the sweetness level to be just nice. :)

After cutting the cake, I found it to be too soft. I wasn't sure if that's because I had cut it when it's still warm. Anyway, I didn't want to take the chance, so I baked it again (I can't remember how long more.). That's why the sliced piece in the picture below is slightly burnt. Overall, this is a great recipe, so bake it if you have a gathering coming up & lots of banana hanging in the kitchen!

Before I leave you with the recipe, I would like to let you know that BitterSweetSpicy is hosting 'Little Thumbs Up' event for March & the theme is Banana. This is a blogger event where bloggers prepare dishes/desserts based on the theme for the month, post the recipes & pictures in their blogs & link the posts to the event linkup. So if you are a blogger, whip up something using bananas, blog about it & link the post to this event. Go to this post for more details. If you are not a blogger, you can also support us by visiting the posts that are linked to this event. Thank you.

Bingka Pisang

Ingredients:

100g gula Melaka (palm sugar)

2 tbsp water
1 bunch of ripe bananas (I used 8 large pieces.)
140g (1 cup) plain flour
2 tbsp fine sugar
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup evaporated milk
1 egg
2 tablespoons butter - melted
1/2 tsp salt
Note: If you want to use just fine sugar, replace the gula Melaka & 2 tbsp fine sugar with 3/4 cup of fine sugar.

Method:

1. Combine gula Melaka (palm sugar) & water in a pot & cook until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from fire & strain the syrup. Set aside to cool.
2. Mash the bananas & set aside.
3. Combine the rest of ingredients & blend until well mixed.
4. Add in gula Melaka syrup & mashed banana. Mix well.
5. Pour batter into a greased 8x8-inch pan (I used a bundt pan.)
6. Bake in preheated oven at 180 deg C for about 1 hour.
7. Leave to cool completely before cutting.

Recipe adapted from Inspirasiku.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up (March-2015 - BANANA) event organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by me, Faeez of BitterSweetSpicy.

Chewy Brownies

I've never baked brownies from the box mix. Apparently, these brownies which I bake from scratch are supposed to taste very close to the ones baked using the box mix. They are dark, dense, fudgy, chewy & have strong chocolate flavour, exactly how a fudge brownies should be. Love them! 

Chewy Brownies
(I copied & pasted the recipe from  Brown Eyed Baker & the changes that I made are in red.)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa - I used Valrhona.

1½ teaspoons instant espresso (optional)- I added.

½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons boiling water
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted - about 2 ounces or 60g

½ cup plus 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2½ cups (17½ ounces) sugar
1¾ cups (8¾ ounces) all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into ½-inch pieces- I used Valrhona 55% chocolate buttons.

Directions:

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving about a one-inch overhang on all sides (I used a 10x10-inch pan). Spray with non-stick cooking spray (I greased it with butter).

2. Whisk cocoa, espresso powder, and boiling water together in large bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter and oil. (Mixture may look curdled.) Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and homogeneous. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until combined. Fold in bittersweet chocolate pieces.

3. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes (I baked mine for 50 minutes.). Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1½ hours.

4. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan. Return brownies to wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve. Brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March & April 2010.

Source: Brown Eyed Baker.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up (February 2015) - Cocoa event organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids & Doreen of my little favourite DIY & hosted by Grace of Life can be Simple.

Pumpkin Kuih Koci

I love Kuih Koci but rarely make it myself. Last Saturday, I made Pumpkin Kuih Koci, a version that's less commonly sold. Although I could not really taste the pumpkin, this Kuih Koci certainly tastes better than the regular ones. The coconut milk sauce added to the dough gives this delighful kuih its rich flavour. The dough needed no added water at all as the moisture from the cooked pumpkin was enough to bind the dough to a soft & addictive kuih. I love the colour too!

Pumpkin Kuih Koci
(Kuih Koci Labu)

DOUGH

150g (1&1/4 cup) glutinous rice flour

280g (1 cup + 2 tbsp) cooked pumpkin – mashed (Original recipe uses only 1 cup.)
salt to taste
banana leaves for wrapping - soften & cut into about 4x4 - inch squares (see note no. 1)
     Combine the flour, pumpkin & salt & mix thoroughly. The dough  is quite sticky. You may add more flour, but don't add too much or the kuih will be hard.

COCONUT MILK SAUCE (DADIH)

1 cup thick coconut milk

1 tsp rice flour

a pinch of salt
Combine & cook on low fire, stirring continuously,  until it starts to boil.

FILLING (my own measurement)
75g (1small piece) gula Melaka
1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
50ml (about 2 tbsp) water
125g (1 cup) freshly-grated coconut

1/2 tbsp rice flour (Chah uses plain flour.)
a pinch of salt

2 pandan leaves (torn)

     Combine gula Melaka, granulated sugar & water in a saucepan & cook until it boils. Remove from fire & strain the syrup. Rinse the saucepan & pour back the gula Melaka syrup. Add in the coconut, rice flour, salt & pandan leaves. Cook over medium fire until mixture is almost dry. Set aside.

ASSEMBLY

1. To prepare the banana leaves, wash & dry the leaves. Then run one leave at a time on hot electric or gas stove. This will soften the leaves & prevent tearing when wrapping the kuih koci. Then cut the leaves into 4-inch squares.
2. Take a piece of leave & place some dough onto it. Place some filling & top it with some more dough. Wrap & place it on a steamer. Continue with the rest of dough & filling.
3. Steam over medium fire for about 20 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Bila Chah Ke Dapur.

Notes:

1. I steamed 480g raw pumpkin. After removing the seeds & peeling the skin, I was left with 280g of cooked pumpkin.
2. The dough was quite sticky but I didn't want to add too much flour as I wanted my kuih koci to be soft. Instead of forming the kuih into a ball shape, I found it easier to just spoon the dough onto the leave. You may also oil you palm a little when shaping the dough.

I'm linking this post to the event Little Thumbs Up (Oct 2014 Event: PUMPKIN), organised by Zoe (Bake for Happy Kids) and Mui Mui (My Little Favourite DIY) and hosted by Eileen (Eileen's Diary).

Salted Caramel Apple Doughnuts

I made these doughnuts this morning just because I wanted to make something using apples as I was hoping to submit at least an entry for the Little Thumbs Up event for this month. Actually I was planning to make something more elaborate for the event but I got a little distracted (an understatement!). I had all the ingredients for these easy-to-make & delightful doughnut balls. While waiting for the dough to rise, I kept myself busy on my desktop & finally managed to complete the laksa post. Anyway, if you happen to have all the ingredients, try making these. They are really good!

Salted Caramel Apple Doughnuts

Ingredients:

75 ml milk
25g butter, cut into small pieces
200g plain flour (I used bread flour.)
4g sachet fast-action dried yeast
25g caster sugar, plus 50g extra for dusting
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, plus 1 tsp (or more) for dusting
1 small egg, beaten
1/2 apple, grated (I used Granny Smith.)
vegetable or sunflower oil for frying, plus extra for greasing
about 200ml salted caramel sauce

Method:

1. Warm the milk in a saucepan. Add the butter and set aside until the milk has cooled to hand temperature and the butter has melted. Put the flour in a large bowl with the yeast, sugar, cinnamon and 1⁄2 tsp salt, mix well. Make a well in the centre and pour in the warm milk mixture, egg and apple. Combine with a wooden spoon, then tip out onto a work surface and knead for a few mins to combine. Pop into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave somewhere warm to rise until doubled in size – about 2 hrs.
2. Lightly grease 1 large baking tray. 
3. Uncover the dough and knock out all the air. Remove a lump of dough, roughly the size of a walnut, and roll into a smooth ball. Put on a tray and squash gently with your palm. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover the tray with a sheet of oiled cling film and leave to prove until doubled in size again – about 30 mins.
4. Line a large plate or baking tray with kitchen paper, and mix the remaining sugar and cinnamon on another. Pour enough oil to come halfway up the sides of a large saucepan. If you have a thermometer the temperature should reach 180C. If you don’t have one, drop in a small chunk of bread. The oil is ready when it browns in about 30 secs. Drop in 3-4 doughnuts at a time (depending on the size of your pan) and cook for 4-5 mins until each one is deep golden brown and puffed up. Drain on the kitchen paper, then quickly toss in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat with the remaining doughnuts.
5. To fill the doughnuts, use a skewer or cocktail stick to make a hole in each one. Wiggle it around in the middle to create a cavity. Transfer the caramel to a piping bag fitted with small nozzle, insert the nozzle into the doughnut and squeeze as you pull it out, filling generously. Continue with the remaining doughnuts. Serve with extra caramel for dunking.

Adapted recipe from BBC Good Food.

Notes & modifications:

1. I made only half the original recipe. It made 14 fist-size doughnuts after dividing the dough into 30g-balls. I intended to make bite-sized doughnuts but they turned out rather big. Next time, I'd form into 15g balls.
2. I mixed my dough using my cake mixer using the dough hook until the dough developed a membrane. 
3. For step 2, I lined the tray with silicone paper & dusted some flour on it.
4. Instead of filling the fried doughnuts with store-bought caramel-in-a-can, I filled mine with my homemade salted caramel sauce.

I'm submitting this post to the Little Thumbs Up (Oct: Apple) event organized by Bake For Happy Kids with My Little Favourite DIY & hosted by I-Lost in Austen.

Lapis Pisang

I baked another lapis cake for this raya..... This time, it's one that uses bananas for its flavour.  I've been meaning to bake this lapis for the longest time, after browsing through Asmah Laili's Goodness Gracious Absolutely Delicious. I'm glad I took the risk of baking it for the first time for hari raya.... the cake is super moist & has very good flavour, something that bananas will never fail us....

Lapis Pisang

Ingredients:
110g plain flour (I used cake flour.)
200g vanilla ice-cream powder (I replaced this with Nespray full-cream milk powder.)

1 tsp rounded baking powder (I used 1 tsp (level) double-acting baking powder.)

4 egg whites

12 egg yolks
230g castor sugar
400g butter
200g Delmonte bananas, mashed (I  used pisang berangan.) - use ripe bananas for sweeter banana flavour

a few drops of yellow colouring (optional)

1 tsp banana essence

Method:

1. Line & grease the bottom of 10x7 or 8x8-inch pan. Preheat the grill (top heat only) on medium high heat, about 180 deg C.
2. Combine flour, milk powder & baking powder & sift. Leave aside.
3. Cream butter until creamy white. Add in mashed banana & banana essence & mix until well blended. Keep aside.
4. In a clean & dry bowl, beat egg whites till soft peak, add in sugar gradually & continue to beat until sugar has dissolved. Then add in yolks one at a time till finished.
5. Reduce speed of machine to the slowest possible & slowly add flour mixture a little at a time. Stop the machine. Add butter mixture, yellow colouring & gently fold batter with a wooden spoon to combine well.
6. Pour 90g of  batter into a  lined & greased pan. Grill until cooked & the top of cake turns brown. Remove pan from the oven & press the top of cake using a lapis presser. Pour in another 90g of batter & bake. Repeat the process until finished.
7. Finally after the final layer, turn off grill & heat oven (top & bottom heat) to 150 deg C & bake the cake for 10-15 minutes. (This step is required for this lapis because the cake is very moist, so baking the whole cake after baking the last layer ensures that the cake, especially its sides, is not so wet.) *For more tips on baking lapis cake, refer to my post here.

Recipe by Azizah Mohd Ismail from Goodness Gracious Absolutely Delicious by Asmah Laili. (with some minor changes to the method)

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up August (flour) event, organised by Bake for Happy Kids & My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

I'm also linking this post to the Cook-Your-Books event hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

Lapis Legit

Many of you may find baking lapis cakes not your cup of tea.. I know....... the thought of baking layer by layer & sitting in front of the hot oven for an hour or so may be just too daunting. I, on the other hand, love the challenge of baking lapis cakes, especially if the cakes come out right! 

After many years & numerous lapis cakes, I've gotten the hang of baking them. But the journey had not been smooth sailing, especially the initial stage. I started baking lapis cakes when I was still a teenager when I helped my mum to bake for hari raya. I remember we would spend hours & hours baking just one lapis lengit! It was a labourious  undertaking! Surprisingly, I didn't give up. Instead, I was determined to find out if we had done the right way. So I decided to attend a lapis baking class conducted by Kak Wannah. Then I realised that my mum & I had baked the wrong way..... same recipe, but totally the wrong way of baking. Since then, I've gained more confidence, my lapis cakes have improved a lot & the rest is history.....

I decided to bake this lapis lengit after reading Rima's positive feedback. I was confident the recipe is a good one because if the queen of lapis said it's very good, then it must be very good! Totally agree with her.... the cake is very moist & delicious! So if you are game with baking a lapis cake, this is one recipe you must try. But please read the notes below as I made some modifications to the original recipe.

Notes & modifications:

1. If you're wondering if there's any typo, the answer is no! All the numbers in the recipe are correct.... 30 egg yolks....53g flour.... etc, etc. :D
2. The original name of the cake is Lapis Lengit Mini, mini because the cake is quite low, just about 10 layers. I wanted my cake to be taller, so I used 1 & 1/2 times the original recipe to get my 15-layer cake. 
3. The original recipe also has mix fruits added to the last layer.  I omitted the fruits totally.

                          

Lapis Legit

Ingredients:
450g salted butter
38g sweetened condensed milk
1/2 tsp vanilla paste / essence
30 egg yolks
300g caster sugar
53g plain flour (I used cake flour.)
38g milk powder
a few drops of green colouring
1/4 tsp pandan essence (I'll add more next time.)
2 tsp spekkoek powder (aka lapis spice powder or rempah kek lapis)

Method:

1. Combine butter, condensed milk & vanilla paste/essence in a mixing bowl & cream until pale.
2. In another bowl, beat egg yolks & sugar until thick & fluffy. Add in sifted flour & powder milk & mix till well blended. Then add in creamed butter & continue mixing until well combined.
3. Divide the batter into 3 parts. Add green colouring & pandan essence into 1 part & mix well. Add spekkoek powder into the other two parts & mix well. (I combined the two parts before adding in the spekkoek powder.)
4. Pour 90g of spekkoek batter into a 10x7 or 8x8-inch lined & greased pan. Grill in a preheated oven using top fire only until cooked & the top turns slightly brown. Remove pan from the oven & press the top of cake using a lapis presser. Repeat the same process for the second layer.
5. For the third layer, pour 90g of pandan batter & grill. Then continue with 2 layers of spekkoek & 1 layer of pandan until finish.

*For more tips on baking lapis cake, refer to my post here.

Adapted recipe from Sedap, Sedap, Cantiknya Kue-kue Mungil.....

Source: Enjoyable Baking.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up August (flour) event, organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY and hosted by Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe.

Lapis Nutella Cake

Let me start this entry by wishing all my Muslim readers Eid Mubarak & Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri. How was your celebration so far? Hope it has gone well.... Alhamdulillah, mine has been good so far. We only went visiting on the first day since that was the only public/school holiday. So the visiting will have to continue this weekend.

Tonight's sharing will be the recipe for the Nutella Lapis which I made for the two mothers. As I've mentioned before, I usually prefer to bake 2 lapis cakes together, so I decided to bake the same cake for my mum & mum-in-law. 

I don't think you would be wondering if this cake tasted good.... it's Nutella cake! It can't go wrong, right? Besides, there're condensed milk & Horlicks too, & from my experience, any cakes that have any of these three ingredients will not disappoint me. However, this cake did take up more than the usual time to finish baking. It took me 2 & a half hours to complete baking the two cakes, almost an hour more than baking other types of lapis cakes. So you do need more patience if you wish to bake this Nutella lapis cake.

Lapis Nutella
(Makes 1 cake.)

Ingredients:
500 gm butter
180 gm caster sugar
1tsp ovelette
1 tsp vanilla paste (I added.)

10 eggs (large)
1 tin (397gm) sweetened condensed milk

260 gm Hong Kong flour (I used cake flour.)
100 gm Horlicks powder (malted milk powder)
220 gm Nutella spread

180 – 200gm Nutella spread (to top the Nutella layers)

Method:

1. Preheat oven (grill or top heat only) at about 180 deg C. (Refer to my post here for more tips on baking lapis cakes.)
2. Grease & line the bottom of a baking pan. (10x7 inch or 8x8 inch.) 
3. Combine butter, sugar & ovelette in a mixing bowl & cream until fluffy, about 10 minutes.
4. Add in eggs, one at a time, & continue mixing until well blended.
5. Reduce the speed of beater & add in condensed milk, continue mixing.
6. Reduce speed to the lowest possible & add in flour & Horlicks in 3 parts. Mix until well blended.
7. Divide batter into 2 parts. Leave 1 part  plain & add Nutella to the other part.  (I weighed 1 part 220g lesser than the other & added Nutella to the lighter part. In this way, I would not end up with too much excess Nutella batter.)
8. Pour 90g of plain batter into baking pan. Spread  the batter evenly & bake for about 3-5 minutes or until the layer turns golden brown. Remove the pan & press the layer with a lapis cake presser to even out the layer & pop any bubbles. 

   

   .... a lapis presser.

9. Next, pour 90g of Nutella batter & spread it out. Then spoon Nutella spread onto the batter (as shown in the above picture). Bake until cooked. 
10. Continue with plain & then Nutella batter, until finish.
11. When finished, turn the cake onto a wire rack & leave to cool before slicing & serving.

Recipe by Rozzan.

I'm linking this post to the Little Thumbs Up  August (flour) event,  organised by Bake for Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY  and hosted by Diana from Domestic Goddess Wannabe.