Doughverload: fruit

Banana Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake

9:32 pm

Banana Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake
Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
Note: This recipe can be halved and baked in a 20cmx20cm square pan (8-9inch)
Serves 15 Prep Time: 20 minutes Baking: 50 minutes

Cake:
360g (3 cups) plain flour
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
150g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
190g white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups of mashed (very ripe) banana (about 5 medium bananas)
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

Streusel:
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
100g brown sugar
5 scotch finger biscuits, crushed
A handful of dark chocolate chips (to finish)

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. Grease and line a 23cmx16cm baking dish with parchment paper, and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, ground cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
3. With an standing mixer or hand-held electric whisk, beat the softened butter at medium speed for 2 minutes until light.
4. Add in the white sugar, and cream together for an additional 2 minutes at medium speed, until light and fluffy.
5. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating briefly after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract as well.
6. Add in the mashed banana and yogurt, and mix for a few seconds until the mixture has combined. It will be quite liquid-y at this point- that's okay.
7. Add in the flour mixture prepared in step 2 and mix at low speed until just combined. Do not overmix.
8. In a small bowl, combine the streusel ingredients: the cinnamon, sugar and crushed biscuits.
9. Transfer half the cake batter into the prepared dish. Top it evenly with half the streusel mix. Repeat with remaining cake batter and streusel.
10. Bake for approx. 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached to it. If the top is browning too quickly, place some foil over the cake at the 20 minute mark.
11. As soon as the cake is done and is removed from the oven, sprinkle chocolate chips on top.
12. Let the cake cool for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

-Cake is good for up to 4 days sealed in an airtight container.

fruit

Quick One-Bowl 'Healthy' Strawberry Yogurt Muffins

11:45 am

I think a label like 'healthy' can automatically attract somebody to a kind of food or recipe, or alternatively, make them want to run away from it as quickly as possible. I don't think anyone is adverse to food that's a little better for us, but it's a shame that healthy can sometimes evoke connotations of 'expensive, obscure ingredients that I won't use more than once' and 'tedious processes that yield a tasteless product'.

As of yet, I haven't set out to make anything just because it's intrinsically 'good' for me, but it's always pleasant to know that sweet foods don't have to be laden with butter, sugar and chocolate to taste delicious - though you won't see me objecting to those anytime soon.

I'm always a bit hesitant to incorporate strawberries into baking because of their high moisture content (92%, same as watermelons), that substituting them in place of other fruits like blueberries and raspberries either doesn't work or requires a lot of tweaking of the other ingredients to compensate for all the extra water. Also, baked strawberries sometimes take on a gummy quality; they turn light pink and almost grey. I'm sure that description really inspired you all to rush into your kitchens and prepare your ingredients (!)

However, the added fruit here was just delightful, as was the simplicity of the process. All the ingredients are combined in one bowl, with the dry ingredients going in first followed by the wet. The strawberries are folded in carefully, and the mixture is complete. After you've divided the mixture into the muffin tin, place some additional chopped strawberries on the very top so they are visible after baking. Vegetable oil gives a lighter muffin compared to butter, and yogurt helps to keep it moist. I used natural Greek yogurt (0% fat), but other varieties such as vanilla, low, full-fat would work wonderfully.

Post-baking, the strawberries taste much more complex than they do fresh, almost as if they've been roasted.

This recipe makes six muffins. A smaller batch helps to control your portions if that is a concern, although everything in moderation is the key.

Note: I used a friand tin for these, hence the oval shaped muffins. That would've been fine if I realised that the muffins stick to paper cases a little bit and just buttered and floured the holes, but I didn't. Would recommend using a tin of your choice, well greased and without paper cases. Also saves you from trying to force a round case into an oval hole- kind of works, but not really. Kind of describes most things that I attempt \_(ツ)_/¯

Quick One-Bowl 'Healthy' Strawberry Yogurt Muffins

Prep: 15 min Cooking: 20 min Serves: 6

Ingredients

88g Self-raising flour

30g white sugar

1 large egg at room temperature

75mL of Greek yogurt (or any plain/vanilla low/full/no fat variety)

1 tsp vanilla extract

70g of fresh strawberries, hulled, and chopped into small pieces

Preheat your oven to 175°C. Grease and flour six holes of a standard 12-cup muffin tin (or a tray with 6 cups like mine).Whisk flour and sugar together in a large bowl. Create a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, before adding the egg, yogurt and vanilla into the well. Mix until the ingredients are just combined (do not overmix). Fold the strawberries into the mixture, reserving a few for the top. Divide the mixture into the muffin tin, about 1 heaped tablespoon per muffin. Press a few strawberry bits on top of the mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins are golden. Allow to cool, and as an optional extra step, dust them with icing sugar to serve.

cake

Peachy Keen Coffee Cake

7:17 pm

One of my favourite things about summer is the abundance of my favourite fruits. I always look forward to the nectarines, watermelon and berries that provide that instantaneous sense of refreshment on a ridiculously hot (40°C+) day.

As expected, we were greeted with a variety of produce but at prices higher than I'd ever seen before. Desperate for our dose of summer fruits, my family and I drove to Sydney markets (Flemington) to scope out some of our favourites. I hadn't been to the markets for probably, five or six years and was in awe at the atmosphere. Picture a massive hall, filled end to end with sellers, hoarse from yelling enticements at the crowds, speaking of which rivalled those on Nathan Road, Mong Kok at 6pm...

We picked up a box of white peaches, which worked out to be 12 times cheaper than what we could get at our local fruit shop and supermarkets. It served to be a perfect opportunity to try out Deb's (Smitten Kitchen) dimply plum cake.

(Obviously), I substituted the plums for the fresh white peaches, and it turned out brilliantly. The cake is beautifully moist, light and has a delicate crumb. The warmth of the cinnamon pairs so well with the sharpness of the orange zest (lemon zest would work here also). This would please even those who aren't sweet tooths, particularly because it isn't rich or heavy at all, and could be served as afternoon tea, or for us, a pre-lunch snack. The only thing I would change would be to slice the peaches thicker (around 1cm) as they remain juicier after baking. My concern was that thicker wedges would prevent the cake from rising around it, but that didn't seem to be a problem (the top left slice in the photo below was a good thickness)

You can certainly see why Deb has (very aptly) named this cake 'dimply' - as the cake rises, the peaches appear to sink into little crevices. I think this effect would be even more prominent if you cut the fruit into rounds like Deb has done with her plums.

Another thing about this cake that I love is that it can be cut and shared easily. One peach wedge per slice gives a perfectly sized portion that won't ruin your appetite for dinner but is enough to satisfy the mid-afternoon sweets craving.

Completely irrelevant note: This was baked and photographed in my grandma's kitchen where I was testing out her oven that she hasn't used since she moved in. How amazing it was to use an oven that stays the temperature that you preheat/set it as, that tells you when it's done preheating, cooks evenly negates the need to turn the pan and soothes my paranoia that my cake is on the verge of becoming a black crisp. And the natural lighting that she gets in her kitchen was incredible.

Definitely give this one a go, use the fruit you have on hand, and let me know how it turns out!

Peachy Keen Coffee Cake

From Smitten Kitchen's Dimply Plum Cake, originally from Baking: From My Home to Yours

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

70g butter, softened at room temperature

3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs at room temperature

1/3 cup vegetable oil (or other flavourless oil)

Grated zest of one orange

Splash of vanilla essence

2 medium white peaches, sliced into 1cm wedges

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

2. Grease a 20cm square pan then dust with flour, disposing of the excess, or line with parchment paper. Set aside.

3. Whisk together plain flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl, set aside.

4. With an hand held electric whisk, or standing mixer, on medium speed, cream butter until it becomes lighter in colour and creamy.

5. Add in brown sugar and beat for an additional 3 minutes on medium speed. Make sure to stop and scrape around the sides to ensure all ingredients are incorporated into the mixture.

6. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 1 minute on medium speed in between each one.

7. Mix in the vegetable oil, zest and vanilla essence on low speed until the mixture is glossy- this won't take long at all.

8. Transfer the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing out the top with a spatula. Arrange the peach slices on top, pressing them lightly into mixture.

9. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until it is lightly golden or a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.

10. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes to allow the fruit juices to sink back into the cake, and then remove from the pan and let it cool for a bit longer on the cooling rack. Serve warm.

The cake should be good for up to 4 days, wrapped in cling film and in an airtight container.