Guilt Free Decadent Malted Marbled Banana Bread

Good ol’ banana bread. With swirls of malt. And studded with chocolate chips. Topped with crumble. A banana bread really can’t get better than this. That its low fat is just a bonus. 

The recipe for the banana bread/cake base is from: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/11/02/polka-dot-banana-bread/

I changed it by:

1. Using sugar free maple syrup instead of agave or pure maple syrup
2. omitting the 1 stevia packet
3. using 1 cup cake flour + 1 cup whole wheat flour instead of 2 cups spelt flour 

The other changes, like marbling the bread/cake with milo batter are given in the following picture.

The ‘milo truffle’ mixture mentioned can be found here.

Recipe for milk crumbs was adapted from here.

I am submitting my post to Aspiring Bakers #22: Lightened Up Cakes (August 2012) hosted by Qi Ting of A Dessert Diet.

B-Caraibe (A Vanilla-Chocolate-Banana Entremet)

I don’t believe in hate.

Everyone has a good side.

When someone is hated, he was seen most for his flaws and less for his goods.

Loving everyone. Someday, that should be a rule.

This couple of days, I’ve been finding excuses to drag my bike out for a ride. It keeps me sane. The drones of the cars pleased my ears for they seem to prevent others from reaching that voice inside my head. Anger, frustration… that angel and devil commonly featured spinning around the protagonist of stories, I regret to say, do exist in real people. The devil encourages my anger and displeasure, my sadness, tears… while the angel encourages me to run away from reality, to create a soul that’s not my own. Put the two of them together, and a full blown war implodes in every fibre of me. It hurts all the time. The strikes happen at wrong times. Untimely. Like in most wars, its hard to tell who’s really right and who’s at fault. I would love a forward button that can let me skip all of the pain and unhappiness, and bounce me straight onto a happy life I hope I’ll eventually get. If its death, let it come quickly. If it isn’t, God, if all of these are the reasons I’m alive, please concentrate it, cram it into one intense short time period so that I can be happy again. You’ve never let me feel true happiness, smile a real smile, laugh a genuine laugh, feel real closure and really enjoy life for 6 years. I can’t remember how those feel. Please help me experience them again. Nobody, not even Hitler (I presume he’s evil), deserves do go through what I have and am going through. Its not fair to me. You of all people/beings should know that. This is me, saying ‘stop’. Right now. I honestly can’t take it anymore. You’re not helping.

Pray for me, friends. I’ll continue believing in Jesus. Its my only way out.

And thanks for the emails. I got some pretty hilarious ones. They made my day.

For those expecting something sweet…

It is an entremet with banana mousse, vanilla chantilly whipped cream and chocolate tofu cream sandwiched between springy almond sponge. The banana layer almost gave me a heart attack (though unlikely). I used some really ripe, soggy, close to rotting bananas that were just barely swimming in their own juice. I added lemon juice, blended the damn thing and went out to get something unique for about 3 hours, and when I came back, the mixture was stinky. It smelt like something had died in the blender and the bananas were cocoa brown. I freaked out in a small part of my brain, kept my composure, and tasted it. You can imagine how relieved I was when it tasted absolutely normal and even kinda delicious. After the cooking, the banana layer was fine and terrific.

The sponge. Best I’ve ever had. Moist, soft, easy, almond-y, has a nutty texture (because of the almonds, yet not so tense that it overpowers the sponge), no eggy at all. A dream! Definitely a to-go sponge cake.

And speaking of sponge cakes, I’ve recently got a hang on the whole beating egg whites till shaving cream business (stiff peaks of egg meringue). Now its easy! I used to not like it because it made me waste eggs. If you’ve had and are still having trouble, here’s my suggestion to you; the method I figured out after wasting CARTONS of eggs. Listen up.

All credits for the recipe goes to Foodagraphy, aside from the small tweak in the chocolate layer.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Frangipane Pie with PB&J Ice Cream (vegan and gluten free)

That’s it. I give up being boring. Wry , senseless dry humour, incoherent thoughts, nonsensical behaviour (I’m guessing no second person has ever dislocated their ankle by being asleep) is the definition of my name, which I must add people have found many ways to pronounce– some in a way that terrifies every fibre in my body, some downright insulting, some ingenious… but almost never correctly.(PS, its not ‘cheating’, that’s a lame shortcut I respond to but no longer want to. QT is the safe way to go.) From next post on, I’m going back to my roots (or whatever they are).  These couple of days, I’ve been downing bowls of dead bitter medicine instead of yummy herbal chicken soup, exercising like a crazy person, studying, baking, trying to record the sound of my brother snoring for my ringtone (how fun would that be?), going for physio, learning to drive and so on. 

I’ve been experimenting on frangipane for the longest time. Typical frangipane is clogged with lumps of butter, sugar and eggs. Trying to make it healthy is one of the most difficult challenges I’ve ever taken on. I wanted to make it vegan, lower in fat and with peanuts instead of almonds since almonds are pricey. And finally, this happened.

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Peanut butter and Jelly Frangipane Pie with a gluten free crust, healthier frosting, berry cream and Peanut Butter & Jelly Ice Cream, of which all components are significantly healthier than typical counterparts.

And the best thing about this pie is that it is really easy to make!

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Recipe for Shortbread Crust is inspired by Chockohlawtay.

Recipe for Berry Cream is also from Chockohlawtay.

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Peanut Butter & Jelly Pie — The Ultimate Makeover

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Imagine a delicious, guilt-inducing pie that’s all these…

Alright, quit imagining because its reality. 

Just look at that! A square piece of Peanut Butter & Jelly Pie and a cup of Homemade Soy Milk. A vegan high tea set! 

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I like the pie frozen, but if you’re not into an ice-cream like,  peanut butter and jelly confection, and more into a creamy, mousse-like pie, just have it chilled and equally delicious. 

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Recipe for shortbread crust is adapted from Chockohlawtay, one of my favourite blogs.

Vegan: Use tofutti cream cheese.

A visual presentation of the process of making soy bean flour:

1. bake soy beans at 200C for 15 minutes. let cool.
2. grind in a grinder till powdery.

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Till next time!

Exploding Cream Buns 爆浆面包 (Whole Wheat & Vegan)

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One of the things I love most of Taiwan is the varied speeds of change in the country. The rocky path to my grandparents’ house  have those same old rocks embedded, the same old metal spring buried at one side, rows of crops of 槟榔叶 (betel leaves) grown by the same old farmers at the other, the same kinds of grass growing at the side, the same family of daisies swaying along to the wind. Largely the same people, plus a few babies, minus some who passed away, the same smiles, the same faces, with a few more wrinkles. The same breakfast shops that had not changed in any way since before I was born. Things like that stay the same. They make the place we come from what it is.

Cycle a couple kilometres along the sort-of-expressway into the city. Most things would be different a year on. The same lady selling my favourite pancakes 车轮饼 stands at the same spot, but in front of a different shop. Shops promoting PDAs with wireless network connection spring up. Just 5 years ago, barely anyone owned a computer, let alone knew what the hell the internet was. [Even today, in the area my mum was born, few people have an internet connection (an estimated 1 in 3).] And right in the middle of the Pingtung city, now stands at least 3 new french bakeries, 1 Japanese bakery, and 1 modern Taiwanese bakery. That’s where I found 爆浆面包, or as I translate– Exploding Cream buns. An innovation unto the traditional tiny buns accompanying Western meals. Today, they are one of the most popular buns in Taiwan. Though they’re typically filled with a buttercream filling, I decided to go the healthier way with, well, tofu. If you don’t tell the people you’re serving that the buns contain tofu, there is little chance they’ll find out.

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The cream is injected into the bun rather than pre-inserted. DO NOT inject the cream into the bun while the bun is warm lest you want baked cream (a mistake a made for 2 buns, one of which’s innards are in the photo below).

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I’m providing 2 choices of filling. The Oreo Cream.

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The Coffee Cream version.

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And now the recipe! The recipe for buns is adapted from Christine’s Recipes. There are errors though! Add another 1 tsp of lemon juice for Coffee Cream and 1/2 tsp for Oreo Cream.

Assembly: stuff cream of choice into a piping bag. Make a hole in the corner of the bun and fit the piping nozzle into the hole to squeeze cream into the bun. If you press too hard such that too much cream enters, the bun literally explodes. So be careful!

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Hopefully, I’ll have something great for you tomorrow!

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This post is going to YEASTSPOTTING!!!

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