It seems that all I ever talk about these days is food isn't it?

Well, last week one of our neighbours gave us some bananas her husband had planted along the roadside near our area. Hmm, tak tau la pulak pisang apa, at best I can tell you is that it wasn't pisang emas, hehe.

So I decided to make this cake and share some with them. The cakes ( I made 2) turned out really good, Alhamdulillah.

The recipe is from:

http://ummizaihadi-homesweethome.blogspot.com/2012/01/banana-chocolate-rice-cake.html

BANANA CHOCOLATE RICE CAKE
Resepi & Sumber : Buku Lovely Butter Cakes oleh Amy Wong & KS Lee
Dicuba Rasa & Terjemahan: Ummi @ Home Sweet Home

Bahan A:-
150 gm marjerin ( I used butter)
150 gm gula kastor (I reduced this to about 135g)
3 biji telor
100 gm susu segar
100 gm pisang ranum yang dilecek (I put in about 150g)
Bahan B:-
200 gm tepung berprotein rendah (I used self raising flour))
30 gm chocolate rice
1/4 sudu teh soda bikarbonat
Hiasan:-
2 biji pisang ( dipotong nipis bulat) - didn't put this
1/4 cawan hirisan badam ( I have some almond nibs, so I put those instead)

Cara-Cara:-
Pukul marjerin (mentega) dan gula hingga nampak keputihan.
Masukkan telor satu per satu (*pukul telor hingga bercampur rata, baru dimasukkan yang berikutnya.) Pukul hingga sebati.
Secara berselang seli, masukkan bahan B dan susu, adun rata.
Perlahan-lahan masukkan pula pisang lecek dan gaul sebati dengan spatula.
Tuangkan ke dalam loyang saiz 8x3x3 inci yang telah digris dan dialas
Ratakan adunan dan susun hirisan pisang di atasnya. (Didn't do this, but tabur almond nibs instead)
Bakar dalam oven yang telah dipanaskan terlebih dahulu pada suhu 170C selama 40 minit/hingga masak.

I actually doubled the recipe since I wanted to give one to that neighbour. I love it when the whole house smells of banana. This is definitely something I will bake over and over again.

My youngest brother's birthday is a day after my eldest sister's, so after the lemon cake we had the other day, I thought this cake is the opposite, hence appropriate. I wrote this recipe before, but I'm just going to put it here again for easy reference.

BLACK BEAUTY CHOC. CAKE

Ingredients (A) :
2 cups flour (I used self raising flour)
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Ingredients (B) :
2 cups castor sugar ( I reduced this to about 1.5 cups)
1 cup evaporated milk (I used fresh milk)
1 cup cooking oil or melted butter
1 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon chocolate emulco - I didn't have this, so I omitted
3 eggs

Method :
1. Sift together all ingredients in A. Set aside.
2. Mix well all ingredients in B.
3. Pour ingredients B into A and mix well.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Oven temperature and time of baking may differ.

For the chocolate ganache:

150gm cooking chocolate - I used Beryl's dark chocolate
1 sudu besar susu pekat
1/4 cawan air panas/susu cair - I used fresh milk
1 sudu besar butter

Untuk membuat choc ganache: masukkan coklat masakan yg dipotong kecil2, susu pekat dan air panas/susu cair kedalam periuk dan masaklah cara double boiler hingga cair. Padam kan api dan masukkan mentega. Kacau hingga mentega cair. Biarkan seketika supaya ganache tak terlalu cair masa curah atas kek.

My kids really like this cake, Alhamdulillah. What I really love about it, is how simple it really is to bake .

I've been wanting to bake this for a while. I even watched the video on making this on You Tube several times in anticipation of doing it. Finally found the perfect reason to bake it yesterday. Not that I needed a reason to, but it made it extra special.

I used the recipe found on Joyofbaking. Divided the batter into 2, one for my sister and another one for Mariessa's teacher.

Lemon Cake Recipe:

1 cup (230 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, room temperature
Zest of 1 large lemon (outer yellow skin of lemon)
2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (60 ml) fresh lemon juice

Lemon Frosting:

1 cup (115 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
2 - 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice


Lemon Cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick cooking spray, a 9 inch (23 cm) spring form pan and then line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy and pale in color (about 3-4 minutes). Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition (batter will look curdled).

Sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Add the flour mixture (in three additions) alternately with the lemon juice (in two additions), mixing until you have a smooth batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon or an offset spatula. Bake about 40 - 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Do not over bake or the cake will be dry.) Place on a wire rack to cool for about 15 minutes, then gently remove the sides and bottom of the pan.

Lemon Frosting: Place the sifted confectioners sugar in a small bowl. Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice and stir until you have a thick and smooth glaze. Add more lemon juice or powdered sugar, as needed. Pour the frosting over the top of the cake, allowing it to drip down the sides. Let the frosting dry before covering and storing. This cake will keep for several days in an airtight container.

Makes one - 9 inch (23 cm) cake.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/LemonFrostedLemonCake.html#ixzz2K6QLC5KV

I love the tangy lemon flavour in this cake. The glaze is a little too sweet for me though. I think it's already perfect on its own.