Banana Bundt cake

Banana and chocolate make delectable baked goods. I always keep a couple of over-ripe bananas in the freezer for that quick sweet craving, either pancakes for breakfast or a delicious cake for an evening treat. 

I made this on my dad's birthday and the kids were super excited about having him cut the cake in the evening. 

The recipe is from Divya's blog

Recipe (serves 6) 

Ingredients:

Flour (maida) - 3/4 cup

Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Banana - 1 large very ripe

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Egg - 1 (at room temperature)

Butter - 1/4 cup

Buttermilk - 50ml (see note)

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Note: Buttermilk can be made by taking 50 ml of milk, removing 1tsp from it and replacing it with 1tsp of vinegar. Let it sit for 10 mins.

Optionally, you can use 25ml of curd beaten and added to 25 ml of milk and let it sit for about half an hour. 

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Grease a bundt pan (6 cup). It is a good idea to grease well with butter and then sprinkle some flour on the butter. That way the cake releases easily from the bundt pan.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl. 

Make sure the banana is really ripe and mash it using a blender. 

Add the sugar and egg to the mashed banana and beat well. Then add the butter and beat for another minute until the mixture is thick and creamy. 

Add the buttermilk and vanilla extract and beat until just blended. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl and fold in until just blended. Make sure not to over mix as it will result in a tough cake. 

Scoop into the bundt pan and smooth out the top evenly. 

Bake for about 40mins or until the top turns golden brown and the cake passes the skewer test.

Remove and let it cool completely before you try to turn the pan and release the cake. 

Verdict: Quick and easy recipe for a delicious evening snack. I would have preferred it a little less sweet. I will be trying it out with 1/2 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 cup next time. 

Some pictures from the celebrations my daughters had set up for my father. Love of the children is just immeasurable. Happy Birthday Appa!

Microwave Mug Cake - A quick something for that intense sweet craving

When we were growing up Mom used to give us pottukadalai (roasted Bengal gram) with sugar/jaggery. That was our quick fix for a sweet craving. I still keep a box replenished with pottukadalai and jaggery mix for folks at home to munch on.  

But nowadays kids are spoilt for choices, be it TV or food. They want something new every time. So anytime I come across some quick recipe for kids snacks I make sure to try it out so I can be ready to assuage one of those intense cravings and "I don't want this all the time, it is so boring" whines. 

I don't recollect the original recipe, I only remember that the recipe was for just one mug cake. 

What follows is the recipe I have standardised for my use. I typically make 4. The kids down 1 each as soon as it is made and save the other one for later. 

Recipe (makes 4 in 180 ml china cups or kullads)


Ingredients:
1 egg (if you want eggless, please check the substitution below)
1/4 cup (4 tbsp) - milk
2 tbsp - butter
1/4 cup (4 tbsp) - whole wheat flour
1/4 cup (4 tbsp) - sugar
1 tsp - vanilla essense
1 tsp - baking powder

Topping (optional)
Chocolate chips or chopped chocolate.

Method:
Melt the butter in one of the mugs/cups.
Whisk the egg, milk, and sugar in a bowl with a fork. Add the melted butter and whisk again. Add the flour, baking powder and vanilla essence and make a smooth paste.

If adding chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, add them to the batter at this stage.

Grease four china cups/kullads with a little melted butter.

Spoon the batter to fill the cups upto half way. Microwave the 4 cups/kullags for 1.5 minutes at full power. Insert a toothpick to make sure the mug cake is cooked.

Substitute for Eggless variant:
Instead of the egg listed above, you can substitute with one of the following:
a. grind a teaspoon of flax seeds
b. grind half a ripe banana robusta
The microwave time may need to be increased by about 30 seconds for the eggless variant. Be sure to check in between so the cake is not overcooked.

Substitute for Chocolate mug cake:
Instead of 4 tbsp of whole wheat flour, use 3 tbsp of whole wheat flour and 1 tbsp of cocoa powder (if using Dutch processed cocoa powder, add a tsp of vinegar to the recipe)

Verdict: A little too eggy for my taste, but the kids do not mind.  

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White bread with Tangzhong method

Baking with yeast has finally been conquered. Checkout the softest and spongiest milk bread ever eaten in our household and to top it all home-made. What better joy than seeing your efforts bear fruit? 

Baking a whole wheat loaf is not quite there yet. But I am trying... hang on... In the meanwhile, check this recipe out... 

I came across this recipe on Baking Partners, but at that time I did not have this wonderful yeast, so I missed that challenge. I finally made it when I got my packet of good yeast. I did not understand what the Tangzhong would do and how it would help, but apparently it acts as a dough enhancer. It produces really soft and spongy bread. 

Recipe source Christine's recipes

Ingredients for tangzhong: 

50gm/ 1/3 cup bread flour

250ml/ 1cup water (could be replaced by milk, or 50/50 water and milk)
Formula of  1 parts of flour with 5 parts of water heat at 65 c/ 150F

Ingredients for 

bread:

350gm/ 2½ cups bread flour (I used Maida)

55gm/3tbsp+2tsp caster sugar

5gm/1tsp salt

56gm egg (equals to 1 large egg) ( If you want eggless, increase amount of milk or add a cooked potato) 

7gm/1tbsp+1tsp milk powder (to increase fragrance, optional)

125ml/ ½cup milk

120gm tangzhong (use half of the tangzhong you make from this recipe)

5 to 6gm/2 tsp instant yeast

30gm/3tbsp butter (cut into small pieces, softened at room temperature)

Method of making Tangzhong:

1. Mix flour in water well without any lumps. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring consistently with a wooden spoon, whisk or spatula to prevent burning and sticking while you cook along the way.
2. The mixture becomes thicker and thicker. Once you notice some “lines” appear in the mixture for every stir you make with the spoon. It’s done.  If you want to check the temperature of tangzhong it is 65 C/149 F.Remove from heat.
3. Transfer into a clean bowl. Cover with a cling wrap sticking onto the surface of tangzhong to prevent from drying up. Let cool. The tangzhong can be used straight away once it cools down to room temperature.  Just measure out the amount you need. The leftover tangzhong can be stored in fridge up to a few days as long as it doesn't turn grey. If so, you need to discard and cook some more. (Note: The chilled tangzhong should return to room temperature before adding into other ingredients. )

Method of making bread:

1. Combine all dry ingredients: flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the center. Whisk and combine all wet ingredients: milk, egg and tangzhong, then add into the well of the dry ingredients. Knead until you get a dough shape and gluten has developed, then knead in the butter. Mind you, it’d be quite messy at this stage  Keep kneading until the dough is smooth, not sticky and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, you might stretch the dough. If it forms a thin “membrane”/ window pan test, it’s done. The time of kneading all depends on how hard and fast you knead.
2. Knead the dough into a ball shape. Place in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel or cling wrap. Let it proof till it's doubled in size, about 40 minutes (Note: the time will vary and depends on the weather. The best temperature for proofing is 28C/ 80 F.) During summer in Bangalore, it only takes 30-35 minutes for the first rise.
3. Transfer to a clean floured surface. Deflate and divide the dough into eight equal portions. Knead into ball shapes. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 15 minutes.
4. Grease and prepare a 8" square pan. If you want to make a simple white bread roll without filling you can do that at this time. Roll each ball of dough into an oval shape. Fold the shorter edges of the oval and form a square roughly. Turn it over and roll it again into a rectangle or oval. Turn it over and then start rolling from the wider side of the two shorter sides of the rectangle. Place it in the prepared pan as shown in the picture below. 
5. Leave it for the 2nd round of proofing, about 40 minutes, or until the dough rises up to 3/4 of the height of the tin inside.


6. Brush some milk on the surface gently. Bake in a pre-heated 180C (350F) ovenfor 35 to 40 minutes. I baked for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and tin. Transfer onto a wire rack and let cool completely. Slice to serve or place in an airtight plastic bag or container once it's thoroughly cooled.

Verdict: This is by far the best bread we have ever eaten at home. I first made this about 5 years ago, and Mom was thrilled at the sponginess of this fresh loaf. When I made this recently, both my daughters downed large chunks at breakfast and tea times. 

My daughter just slathered nutella and ate the chunk. For my husband, I just made a simple channa sandwich after toasting a couple of slices and stuffing some channa masala between.