Wholemeal Banana Muffin

Last night i went to Starbucks cafe for coffee and a muffin. It was my first time that i'd try on a traditional dome shaped muffin, a real spill over the muffin case. This mushroom look alike muffin was really different from those asian made muffins which is very small more like a cupcake version. I quickly googled for a recipe but could only found the nearest matching muffin recipe, still far from Starbucks muffin.

Since i'd tried on Starbucks muffin, i'd started to develop some interest in muffin. Well, i would never buy/order muffins outside coz i don't quite like the cake texture. It doesn't taste like a muffin to me.

So, Gordon Ramsay's wholemeal blueberry muffin recipe is quite similar to the muffin that i'm looking for and it's very healthy knowing that we use a lot of wholemeal flour to bake it.

This recipe use fresh blueberries but i omitted it coz its too costly in Malaysia.

Adaptation :- Gordon Ramsay

Makes 12

2 large, very ripe bananas

300g wholemeal flour

One and a half tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Pinch of fine sea salt

100g light muscovado or brown sugar

284ml carton buttermilk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

75g light olive oil (or melted butter)

1 tbsp Demerara sugar  (i'd replaced with brown sugar)

METHOD

Heat the oven to 180°C. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases. Peel the bananas and mash in a bowl, using a fork. Mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl.

Make a well in the centre and add the buttermilk, egg, olive oil and bananas. Quickly fold the ingredients together until just incorporated, taking care not to overmix.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cases and sprinkle with the Demerara sugar. The cases will be quite full. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 min until well risen and golden brown on top; a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffin should emerge clean.

Leave to cool in the tin for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Mandarin Orange Chiffon cake

Well, this post is a memorable one. First, this will be my first attempt in blogging and to type out the first sentence takes so much effort into it. Second, this is my first successful attempt in baking a cake. I mean....to turn those powders and liquids into a beautiful cake.



My 2nd time in baking chiffon cake and it would also be my 1st successful chiffon cake ! Hooray !!! I brave myself to bake chiffon cake for the 2nd time and never would i thought that it is so successful. I'm proud of myself this time coz it took me such a big courage to beat egg whites ! Hahaha ... to many bakers out there, beating egg white may be a simple task but for me as a novice in cake baking and don't even own a proper stand mixer, i'll shudder at the thought of beating egg whites all the time. Well, practise makes perfect. So here's the recipe to share (courtesy of "My Kitchen Snippets" with a bit of changes).

Ingredients :
(A)
1 3/4 Self Rising Flour
1/8 tsp of salt
(B)
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
3/4 cup Mandarin orange juice
zest of 1 mandarin orange
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
(C)
6 egg white
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp of cream of tartar

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degree F. Sieve all the (A) ingredient in a mixing bowl until well combined.

2. Mix ingredient (B) until well blended and then add in ingredient (A) and mix until smooth. Set it aside.

3. Beat egg whites in mixer until frothy. Add sugar in 3 portions while beating till soft peak. Finally add in cream of tartar and ebat till stiff peak.

It should not fall out when you turn the mixing bowl over. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolks mixture and continue to do so until egg whites is finish.

4. Pour batter into ungreased 10" tube pan and bake for an hour or used a bamboo skewer to test the cake.

5. Transfer the tube pan and let it cool on the rack upside down. When its cool, loosen the edge of the pan and remove cake.