Banana Chocolate Walnut Loaf Cake

I try to be health conscious ... honest, I do!  But many times ... ok, virtually all the time, I don't succeed.  When I found out that overripe bananas are supposed to be really good for us, a light bulb went off in my head and I started to search for a really good banana cake recipe.  I figured bananas (good for our health) + cake (I love cake) = a healthy food I'll love :)  (Although, at the back of my mind, I did kinda realise that I may just be disguising a fruit as a cake ... which may not actually be as healthy as I hoped it would be ...)

So, where to start when searching for such a recipe?  Especially since there are soooooo many recipes for banana cakes and banana bread floating around on the internet?  As I've had some good experiences with tried and tested recipes by bloggers I follow, I thought why not check out them out?  Some of my favorite food blogs for such home baking are on the blogroll for the Daring Bakers and TWD (Tuesdays With Dorie).  I ended up trying out this recipe, and now it's on my keeper list of fantastic recipes!  In fact, I shared some with my mom's friend, who told me that her granddaughter, who dislikes banana cake, actually ate up an entire slice of the cake!  Quite an endorsement of this recipe, I think! :)

The recipe was for a pretty huge bundt cake, so I split the batter into half and baked 2 loaf cakes.  Wrapped one up in this ever-so-pretty serviettes fm Ikea (and I was wondering what to do with such pretty paper when I impulsively bought it!  Heh heh heh ...) ...

I did add chocolate chips and walnuts to the banana cake ...

Dee-Li-Cious!!!!!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

One of my favorite cakes that my mom bakes is the pandan chiffon cake.  Somehow it's rather a Singaporean or South East Asian kinda cake, so it's hard to find in north asia.  As such, my mom tries to bake it for me whenever I go home :)

Look at that luscious sky high cake!  YUM! YUM! YUM!

Goodies fm Taipei - Afternoon Tea & Agnes b

When I first saw that Shanghai Xintiandi had an "Afternoon Tea" shop, I was estatic ... till I went in to have a look at their cakes.  Unfortunately, they paled in comparison to "Afternoon Tea" in Taipei and Japan.  And they didn't carry my favorite cake - the fruit roll with almond and chocolate bits in the cream.  So, when Hubby had to go to Taipei for a business trip, I leapt at the opportunity and wheedled him to handcarrying some cakes back to Shanghai for me :)

Here's my fav fruit roll cake from Afternoon Tea, Taipei (oh why oh why can't they have this in Shanghai?  And why oh why does Afternoon Tea in Shanghai look less gleaming and polished and cozy compared to the outlets in Taipei and Japan?) ...

A seasonal cake - matcha green tea cake with cherries and red beans ...

I also managed to convince Hubby to bring me some goodies from Agnes b cafe in Taipei ... my fav Chloe (left) and coffee mille feuille ...

The whole box of pastries/sweets that Hubby came back with from Agnes b cafe ...

The gorgeous and wonderfully delicious cakes from Afternoon Tea ...

Wagas, Shanghai

We liked Wagas so much, we decided to go back for a second visit to find out if our first visit was just a fluke. We were definitely pleased to find out Wagas is indeed as good as it was on our first visit :)

Hubby had another cup of latte ....

I had a ginger tea ... it had slivers of ginger - good for those true ginger-lovers, but not so much for someone like me who prefers my ginger drinks more ginger-infused rather than risking bites into the sharp ginger heat. Nevertheless, it was not too bad ...

Orange polenta almond cake ... I'd always read about this kind of cake but never got the chance to try it as polenta isn't exactly a popular ingredient in Asia. I was really impressed by this and would go back to get this again!

Black As Chocolate, Taipei

Erm ... I was too eager to dig into this cake I forgot to take a pic of it in its entirety. But to redeem myself, I did manage to take a pic of a slice of it :)

I blame any weight gain from this cake on my mom :) cos it was she who told me about it. My mom's neighbour's daughter, whose friend is the owner of Black As Chocolate, recently went to Taipei, and was given two cakes from her shop. The very kind and generous neighbour brought one to my mom's place for the neighbours to sample, and my mom thought it was very good. So I decided to check it out while I was still in Taiwan. (Apparently, Black As Chocolate, unlike Awfully Chocolate, is only sold in Taiwan.)

I had wanted to try the hazelnut chocolate cake, but it was sold out, so I decided to try the one my mom tried - Chocolate cake with kahlua soaked cherries ... the chocolate frosting is soooooo good!

Henri Charpentier, Ginza, Tokyo

The last time I was in Osaka, I came across a Henri Charpentier counter and was impressed by their cookies and packaging. So, when I found out that they had a boutique in Ginza, I simply had to pay a visit ...

Check out that grand entrance!

There was a counter for just cookies (including madeleines and financiers) ...

And another counter for these beautifully decorated cakes ...

These are what I brought home with me :) ....

Creme Biscuits ...

Financier and Madeleine ...

My Homemade Birthday Cake, 2011, Singapore

As I was home in October, my birthday month, I'd planned on asking my mom to bake a pandan chiffon cake with fresh cream and dessicated coconut :) It had been ages since my mom had baked this cake, so I was really looking forward to it!

YUM! YUM! YUM!

Molten Chocolate Cakes

My friend, who had earlier introduced me to Laurent Bernard Chocolatier, had wanted to try her hand at some baking, and since we hadn't been able to try Laurent Bernard Chocolatier's chocolate souffle, I thought why not try baking some molten chocolate cakes? After googling for some good recipes, I decided upon this one by Paula Deen. A 5 star rating by over two hundred people couldn't go too far wrong? Turns out they were right :) For the first time after several failed attempts using other recipes, I finally got the molten chocolate cakes right!

When I saw the rather dry and cracked tops, my heart sank as I thought they would be overcooked and the insides wouldn't be molten. Then I turned them out ...

And sliced into it ...

Wonderful!!!

Canele & Birthdays, Singapore

October, in my family, means birthday celebrations cos 3 of us have birthdays that fall in October :) This month, we got a gift consisting of macarons from Canele ...

A very well received Opera Cake, also fm Canele ...

And a NY cheesecake, from Canele as well ...

I think it's safe to say that we all loved the cakes :) My lil niece was literally drooling over them!

Tokyo Banana

While Hubby was in Tokyo for a business trip, he picked up a box of Tokyo Banana ...

Typical of the exquisite Japanese packaging, these were individually wrapped to perfection ...

Each "banana" came in a little banana-shaped plastic tray ...

The "banana" was actually sponge cake with banana custard filling ...

Peanut Butter & Snickers Muffins

Someone had given us a pack of fun treats, including Snicker bars and Milky Way bars. In addition, we also had a huge pack of Heath bars. As we were having a bit of problem consuming everything as is, I thought I'd try using all the above choc bars to make some Peanut Butter & Snickers muffins from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess". The last time I made these (ages ago!), they were a big hit. Sinful, but a big hit :)

Here are my Peanut Butter, Snickers, Milky Way and Heath Bar Muffins:

Baking Up A Storm - Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Pecan Streusel

With still a good deal of sour cream left in my fridge, and a sudden craving for nuts, I searched for a recipe that could combine these two. Found this wonderful recipe fm Ina Garten that produced another keeper - Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Pecan Streusal.

I loved the middle layer AND top layer of pecan streusel. However, I did find the quarter teaspoon of salt for the streusel rather too much, so when I bake this again in the future, I'll definitely be cutting back on that. It's such a fantastic cake that I would totally be baking it again!

Baking Up A Storm - Blueberry Banana Loaf Cake

I've recently discovered that having sour cream in cakes turn out the most tender and moist cakes ever. So, when I had some sour cream, overripe bananas and blueberries in my fridge, I searched for a recipe that would incorporate all these ingredients and found this wonderful recipe, which produced this delicious Blueberry Banana cake.

More Peach Desserts

I was reading one of my favorite blogs: www.joythebaker.com, and saw a cake she recently baked - a Strawberry Upside-down Cake with Cardamon. Something just clicked, and I thought about the peaches that were still sitting in my fridge ... the sour ones that I'd used to bake some Peach Streusel Muffins a while back? ... How about baking a Peach Upside-down Cake? Off I went to get some sour cream and a couple of hours later, ta-da!

Peach Upside-down Cake!

Oh wow ... this was such a beauty to look at! Honestly, one of the prettiest cakes I've ever baked!

With much anticipation, I cut into the cake, hoping it would taste as good as it looked, as the batter seemed rather thick and doughy and the cake hadn't risen much. My fears were allayed when I saw this beautiful cross-section! It turned out beautiful INside and out :)

Lovely!

This recipe is another keeper that's going into my recipe folder :)

I read that some of Joy's readers baked this with blueberries as well ... hmmm .... maybe next time ...