Chocolate Banana Cake

Two ripened bananas, left untouched for the last couple of days, had been calling out to me. I had been ignoring them. There were cakes and cookies baked for the long Christmas weekend. Since the bakes didn't last us very long, it's time for me to acknowledge the presence of these bananas! Tired of baking the usual Banana Loaf, Banana Muffins, I googled and found a recipe combining two of my favorite ingredients ... Banana and Chocolate!

The Chocolate Banana Cake recipe is adopted from JoyofBAKING.com.

The cake posted on the website looked so moist and yummy! I couldn't wait! I had to bake immediately, after looking at the photo and recipe!

I halved the recipe given.

Chocolate Banana Cake

200g Granulated Sugar

122g All Purpose Flour

38g Cocoa Powder

3/4 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1 Large Egg

1/2 cup Mashed Banana (About 1.5 Medium Bananas)

1/2 cup Warm Water

1/4 cup Milk

1/4 cup Canola Oil (I use Olive Oil)

3/4 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

• Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
• Spray and grease a 8" square pan.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
• Stir till just combined.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan and baked for 35-40 minutes, till a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Let cool on a wire rack.
• When completely cooled, frost with ganache.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

4 oz Bittersweet or Semi-sweet Chocolate, cut into small pieces

90 ml Heavy Whipping Cream

1/2 tbsp Unsalted Butter

• Place the chopped chocolate in a heat-proof or stainless steel bowl.
• Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Bring just to a boil.
• Pour the boiling cream over the bowl of chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes.
• Stir until smooth.
• When the ganache has completely cooled, beat until soft and fluffy.
• Spread frosting on the cake.

I left the cake in the fridge for about half an hour, to allow the frosting to set. The cake was moist and not overly sweet even with the chocolate frosting. It remained moist even when we left in overnight in the fridge.

This cake is definitely a keeper! Hubby dear who is not a fan of cakes, chocolate cakes especially, helped himself to two servings of the cake =)

Definitely a good looking birthday cake when decorated with fruits! Darling son always asks for chocolate cake for his birthday ... I know what to bake for his birthday next year!

White Chocolate and Cream Cheese!

I love using cream cheese as my cake frosting and I love baking chocolate cakes! But how often do you bake a cake that uses white chocolate?

There were many boxes of cream cheese sitting in my fridge. They were picked up during the christmas sale. Sitting in the fridge, good neighbour to the boxes of cream cheese, was the bar of leftover white chocolate, which I bought for Santa's beard. Bake a cake using cream cheese and white chocolate? Not common. I tried my luck on google search and found the perfect recipe from BakingBites!

White Chocolate Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/3 cup Butter, soften

3/4 cup Sugar

2 Large Eggs

4 oz White Chocolate

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1 cup + 1 tbsp Milk (I use 1 cup)

• Preheat oven to 325F.
• Line muffin pans with 18 cup liners.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
• Melt the white chocolate in a microwave. Stir till smooth.
• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar till light.
• Beat in eggs one at a time.
• Beat in melted white chocolate and vanilla extract.
• Working in two or three additions, alternate adding flour mixture and milk, and ending with a final addition of the flour mixture.
• Mix until just incorporated.
• Divide batter evenly into the prepared muffin cups.
• Bake at 325F for 20-30 minutes, or till a toothpick inserted at the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Let cool on a wire rack.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz Cream Cheese, Room Temperature

1/4 cup Butter, Soften

1 oz White Chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 tsp Milk or cream

2-3 cups Confectioners' Sugar (I use only 3 tbsp)

• In a large bowl, cream butter, cream cheese and melted chocolate.
• Beat in milk and vanilla extract.
• Gradually add confectioners' sugar until the frosting reaches your desired consistency.

The cakes tasted so good, I almost forgot to take photographs of them! I was too busy sinking my teeth into the cakes! Although white chocolate was used in the cake, the cake was not overly sweet. It was soft, and the combination of cream cheese and white chocolate was just perfect! The kids loved it so much, they had two cupcakes at one go! I packed a box of mini trees for my neighbour's kids ... Hope they like it as much as we do!

A merry white christmas, with little white trees =)

Comfort Food

Rainy days, cloudy days, days when I'm sick .... I yearn for a bowl of porridge! And this is what I would normally cook =)

1/4 cup Short Grain Rice

2 soup spoonful of Dried Scallops

Enough water for cooking porridge

• Soak the rice and scallops in water for at least 1 hour.
• Cook the porridge till done.
• Serve warm.

You can add some blanched broccoli into the porridge for a more wholesome meal.

This is one simple, sweet, warm meal to lift my spirits!

Santa Claus, Ho Ho Ho!

Dear Santa,

Christmas is just four days away.

Will you be coming to my house?

But we do not have a chimney.

How are you getting in?

The door is locked, and so are all the windows.

The only way you can get in is .... from the toilet bowl??

Hope to have you visit us ... I don't mean seeing you in the toilet bowl =)

Love, KW

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December, Christmas, and Santa Claus!

I was reading the book "Jigsaw Jones Mystery : The Case of the Santa Claus Mystery" to my boys the other night. That was when I asked them how Santa Claus could enter our house ... and we concluded that the only way into our house is through the toilet bowl! Gross? Well, what do you expect when you have two boys? We had a good laugh over our answer though!

At the same time, I tried to explain to the boys, that Christmas is not just about receiving presents. We are not Christians. My interpretation of modern day Christmas ... Family bonding, being thankful of what we have, and the spirit of giving. And that kind of answered their question of "Why are these people holding bells in the shopping malls, with a tin in front of them?" whenever we see volunteers from the Salvation Army at shopping malls.

Since we had a friend coming over for dinner tonight, I took the opportunity to bake a cake, and decorated the cake as Santa Claus! He has finally made an appearance in our house ... ok, not through the toilet bowl.

I baked a carrot cake, and borrowed the idea from Happy Homebaking.

The carrot cake was not too sweet. It was not too dry when I took it out from the fridge. I wanted to use strawberries for Santa's hat, but the strawberries at the supermarket didn't look too fresh. Instead, I opted for red sugar sprinkles. The white chocolate beard was really difficult to curl! You see big and long curls in Happy Homebaker's Santa's beard ... mine are really short! It was a tough job shaving the chocolate. Hugs and *kisses* to hubby dear for helping me prepare Santa's beard!

Despite the not-so-nice appearance of Santa (on second thought, it didn't quite look like him), we all enjoyed the cake! Darling son KW even asked for a second slice! He is the one who said "No carrot cake for me!" when I told him I'm baking a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!

Fuss-Free Meal

My Sunday lunch with the kids ...

Hubby dear had to sit for his exam in the morning. Strange to have an exam on a Sunday morning, isn't it? Oh well ...

That left me and the kids eating at home.

It was kind of difficult to cook for just the kids and myself. Since I had a bag of russet potatoes sitting in a corner of my kitchen, I thought I would prepare a simple lunch ... Baked Russet Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese, Salad with Honey Sauce, and little smokies (sausages).

It had been a long time since I last baked these potatoes!

This time round, I omitted the dried herbs.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly either.

I peeled and cut the potatoes into wedges. Drizzled enough olive oil/vegetable oil, not too much, into the big mixing bowl to coat the potato wedges in it. Poured some grated parmesan cheese to coat the potato wedges. Transferred the wedges into a tray lined with parchment paper. Baked at 450F for about 35 minutes, or till the wedges are cooked and browned.

It's definitely healthier than eating fries at the fast-food joint!

Complete the meal with a bowl of salad, a few mini sausages, and a glass of fruit juice!

Mmmmm .... the kids didn't eat many of the sausages (phew!). If I could, I wouldn't cook the sausages for them ... too bad I ran out of Potstickers! I'm glad they asked for extra serving of the salad! Between the three of us, we finished off a bag of Romaine Lettuce!

Pasta with Minced Chicken and Mushrooms

200g Minced Chicken/Pork/Turkey

1 tsp Grated Ginger

1 tbsp Minced Garlic

1 - 2 tbsp Vegetarian Shitake Mushroom Flavored Sauce

1/2 - 1 cup Water

5 pcs Dried Mushrooms

2 tsp Sugar

1-2 tbsp Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Corn Flour

3 tbsp Water

• Reconstitute the dried mushrooms in water.
• Squeezed out the water from the mushrooms when they have softened.
• Diced the mushrooms.
• Marinate the diced mushrooms with 2 tsp sugar and 1 tbsp Soy Sauce. You may add more sugar and soy sauce if you have use more mushrooms, or if you prefer a stronger flavor.
• Marinate for 15 minutes or more.
• Heat up a frying pan. Add 2 tsp of oil into the heated pan.
• Fry the mushrooms. Remove and set aside.
• Add 1 tbsp of oil into the heated pan.
• Fry the ginger and garlic till fragrant.
• Add the minced meat and fry till cooked.
• Add the oyster sauce and water. Mix well.
• You can add more oyster and water if you have more pasta. It's ok for the sauce to be a little more saltier than what you normally want, as the sauce will mix with the pasta, and the taste will be diluted.
• Mix the 1 tbsp corn flour and 3 tbsp water to form the cornstarch mixture.
• Pour in the cornstarch mixture to thicken the meat sauce. You need not use all the cornstarch mixture. Thicken the sauce to your desired consistency.
• Pour the meat and thicken sauce over the pasta.
• Serve warm, and with a side of broccoli.

No more store-bought pasta sauce!

Or good when you run out of store-bought pasta sauce =)

Holiday Reading

Here comes Fantastic Mr Fox!

Yes, another book to add to the kids' collection of books by Roald Dahl.

We received a few book order forms from the school two weeks ago. The books were offered at a very reasonable price, and made good reading materials for the holiday. A great addition to what we already have ... The Magic School Bus Science Readers, The Magic Tree House (Story and Research Guide), Christmas Stories, etc.

In fact, darling son liked the books so much, he started reading "Christmas Animal Tales" in school when he received the books. He was so engrossed in his reading that he wanted to continue reading while walking back home from school! Of course it was not possible, especially when the paths and roads were so heavily covered with ice and snow. Well, he continued reading when he got home, and by bedtime he was exhausted.

With the two-week Christmas break, he can read all he wants, and not have to worry about getting up early to go to school! We are happy to see the boys read the books on their own. We are equally happy to read to them before bedtime. Through reading, we get to impart some science general knowledge to them, like teaching them about tsunami, twisters, and weather changes.

I am happy with the purchase, and I enjoy reading the books as much as the boys!