Seriously dark chocolate and banana muffins

These are not ordinary chocolate muffins or banana muffins.  They are seriously dark. 

I used quite a lot of cocoa powder for this recipe as I didn't have a bar of chocolate ..... surprise? 

Anyway, bananas made the muffins sweet and moist.  They are lovely with creme fraiche.   

Ingredients

• 3 bananas (ripe or over ripe) 
• 100 ml vegetable oil or 100g lowfat margarine
• 50 ml milk
• 2 medium eggs
• 100 g soft light brown sugar
• 200 g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder (sifted)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6 and line a muffin tin with papers.
2. Mash the bananas by hand or with a free-standing mixer. Add the oil (or margarine) followed by the eggs and sugar. Mix well.
3. Mix the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together and add this mixture, beating gently, to the banana mixture, then spoon it into the prepared papers.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes, by which time the muffins should be dark. Allow to cool slightly in their tin before removing to a wire rack.

Banana & Cocoa Cake

This banana cake has a very different texture compared to the one I normally bake. Very spongy and light... and yet very moist. Is it because I changed some ingredients or method? I'm not so sure. One thing I did very differently from my normal method was to use an electric hand blender which I use for making smooth soup. Blitz ..... By  mixing the wet ingredients by blender, the mixture became very fluffy and smooth.... like a banana smoothy texture. Anyway, this cake contains sunflower oil instead of butter or margarine, so it keeps the moisture longer... so I heard. 

Ingredients

• 175g caster sugar
• 175g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 80ml sunflower oil
• 70ml milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 2 bananas (200g ish)

For crumble topping

• 30g Plain Flour  
• 15g Granulated Sugar (or Demerara Sugar) 
• 15g Butter (or low-fat margarine) 
• walnuts  

Method

1. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.
2. Mix the sugar, flour, baking powder, and cocoa in a large bowl.
3. Mash the banana in a bowl and add oil, milk, lemon juice and eggs. Then mix thoroughly with the electric hand blender.
4. Put the wet mixture into the dry mixture and mix gently.
5. Pour the mixture in the tin and sprinkle the crumble topping. (put the all ingredients for the topping in a bowl and make a breadcrumb like texture using your finger tips)
6. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  

Very Sticky Upside-down Banana Ginger Cake

Here is a banana cake with a bit of attitude. 2 whole bananas are in a cake without being mashed. 

So if you like banana, this is your cake. :)   

Making caramel is a really tricky job and I made a very sticky mess in a sauce pan the first time I tried it. Unfortunately most of the unsuccessful caramel went down the sink :(   I think the key to making a good caramel is the timing.  You need patience to wait for the sugar to melt and quick action when adding water at the right time. When you have made a good runny caramel to cover the bottom of the cake tin, you are almost there. Making the sponge is the easy bit.  

Ingredients 

• 200g plain flour 
• 150g soft brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 80ml vegetable oil
• 150ml milk
• 1 egg
• 2 Bananas sliced
• Caramel: 85g Caster sugar + 1 tablespoon water

Method

1.     Preheat oven to 170 °C.  Place greaseproof paper at the bottom of the cake tin.

2.     Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.

3.     Mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl.

4.     Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture. Mix everything together gently.

5.     Make caramel sauce: 

•  Warm the pan gently over a medium heat for a few moments then place white caster sugar in the pan, still over a medium heat. Leave the sugar and keep an eye on it, until it begins to melt. After about 5 minutes the sugar will start to melt and turn liquid around the edges.  Do not stir.
•  Give the pan a good shake and leave it again until about a quarter of the sugar has melted. Using a wooden spoon, give it a gentle stir and continue to cook until the sugar has transformed from crystals to liquid and is the colour of dark runny honey – a dark amber colour.
•  Take the pan off the heat and add 1 tablespoon of tap-hot water – the caramel will splutter and steam so protect your hands with a cloth and take care. Stir well – you may need to return the pan to a gentle heat to re-melt any lumps of caramel that have formed. The caramel is now ready to use.

6.     Pour the caramel sauce into the cake tin.

7.     Place the sliced banana and then pour the cake mixture on top.

8.     Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes. When the cake cools down turn the cake tin upside down and gently peel away the greaseproof paper.

Cocoa Banana Bread

Here is humble banana bread with a bit of twist. I added some cocoa powder and walnuts. I must say that it's not really chocolatey. Cocoa is more like in the background. So, if you REALLY like a chocolatey taste, you'd better add melted chocolate. This is low-fat banana bread if you use low-fat spread rather than butter.

Ingredients

• 75g Caster Sugar
• 225g (8oz)SR flour
• 3Tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 100g (3½oz)Softened Butter (Low-fat spread)
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Bananas
• 2 Tbsp Honey (or Golden syrup)
• Walnuts

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160°c
2. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.
3. Rub the butter (or low-fat spread) into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
4. Stir the sugar, chopped prunes, bananas, beaten eggs and golden syrup into the dry ingredients. 
5. Mix together to form a soft dropping consistency.
6. Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin.
7. Bake it in the oven for about 40 to 50 minutes. 

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