Wholewheat Banana Orange Almond Loaf

Cake, Cupcakes, Pastries, Muffins, Cookies!!!!! Thats whats in my mind nowadays. How strange is that ? When you want to stay away from Carb you just think about Carb but Carb. I'm on to mission of baking cookies and cakes with wholewheat. I just want to finish everything in my pantry and want to shop again. It's like spring cleaning of my pantry. Whatever I see as a leftover packs, I feel like making/baking something with that, Specially nuts and berries.

Once I read somewhere that women who eat whole wheat weigh less and that stuck in my mind. Whole grains, if used intelligently in the diet, helps in lot many everyday problems in women's health. Improvement in Metabolism, Prevention from Type-2 diabetes, Prevents gallstones, Relief Chronic Inflammation, Helps in prevention in breast cancer and what not. Women should thankful to Wheat/Wheat Flour/Whole Wheat grains, as they are really helpful for their well-being.

Nuts, specially Almonds have always been known for their goodness of good fat and brain development. They help in lowering your cholesterol, reduce the risk of heart disease, Prevents your body from cardiovascular diseases and what not. If eaten with it's skin, you increase the benefits of Almonds for rejuvenating your skin health. Some research says, Almonds help you maintain your weight loss as well, as Almonds good fat helps release the energy from body and keeps you going for long time.

I, as you all know, am a big fan of whole grains, nuts and berries. So to finish my left over almonds and mix berries, I chose to make some whole wheat almond loaf for teatime. I was left with ripe bananas, Almonds, and 1 orange on the worksurface. So here goes my hands and brain to start the recipe and bake a delicious eggless loaf to with evening tea. Recipe of this loaf is very easy and can be made with everyday ingredients in your kitchen. Try your hands on this recipe and enjoy a wholesome delicious and healthy Cake with your choice of drinks.......................... Until next time, Happy Cooking friends, Saumya

Ingredients:

Wheat Flour                                           - 1-1/2 cups
Ripe Bananas                                         - 3 medium
Orange Juice                                          - 1/4 cup
Brown Sugar                                         - 1/4 cup
Oil                                                         - 1/4 cup
Baking Powder                                     - 1 tspoon
Baking Soda                                         - 1/2 tspoon
Orange Essence                                    - 1 tspoon
Salt                                                       - a pinch
Chopped Almonds                               - 1 cup
Mixed Berries                                      - 1/4 cup (optional)


Method:

Preheat your oven to 180. Grease a loaf pan with butter and keep aside.
Peel and mash the bananas with a fork or you can use a blender.  Blend in the orange juice with bananas.
Mix in the Essence, Oil and Sugar in the banana and orange puree.
Add in the dried mix berries. This is an optional step, I just saw them and added them.
Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in big mixing bowl, keep aside.
Coat 3/4 cup of Almonds in the flour mixture.
This ensures that the Almonds do not sink to the bottom of the pan while baking.
We will use the remaining almonds for garnish.
Fold in the coated Almonds with flour mixture.
Now gently mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients with the help of a spatula, making sure not to over mix.
Pour the batter in the greased pan and give it a gentle shake/ tap on work surface to take out any air bubbles.
Garnish with the remaining almonds on top of the Loaf.
Bake the loaf for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted at the center on the bread comes out clean.
The cooking time depends on the oven temperature.
Let the loaf cool at the kitchen counter for 5 minutes in the pan and then place it on the cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
This Loaf can be stored upto 3-4 days in an airtight container.

Mango, Pineapple and Cranberry Muffins

I prefer making muffins and cupcakes, over loaf and big round cakes.  I've noticed that eggless cakes/muffins taste better if consumed atleast 10 hours later. Not sure about the reason but it's my personal observation. I normally bake the cakes /muffins/loafs/cupcakes in the morning and they taste amazing by evening. The texture changes and sweetness enhances.

I often wondered about the difference in Cupcakes and Muffins. If you are a foodie, you might know that English Muffins and American Muffins are different. In America Muffins are made just like cupcakes. In UK, there is a flat bread type, made on griddle, is called Muffin. American Muffins are good in a way everyone gets their own individual size of cake. Muffins can be made sweet or savory. We usually make savory muffins for breakfast.

As it is a season of exotic fruits, I thought to make muffins with those exotic fruits. I found 2 packs of Mango and Pineapple bites, leftover in Kids Snack Pantry, Some dried cranberries left from cereal drawer. You all must be knowing by now that I'm a big fan of baking with whole-wheat flour.

So assembling all the ingredients and heating the oven helped me make these deliciously sounding Muffins. We were planning a short getaway from home, so made few more for holiday. Easy peasy recipe as always, try them and you will pat yourself on the back for good job. Drop your feedback in the comments below.............Until next time, Happy Cooking Friends, Saumya

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour                 - 1 cup
Corn Flour                               - 1 tblspoon
Baking Powder                        - 1 tspoon
Baking Soda                            - 1/2 tspoon
Muscovado Sugar                    - 1/4 cup
Oil                                            - 1/4 cup
Yogurt                                      - 2/4 cup
Lemon Juice                             - 1 tspoon
Orange Extract                         - 1 tspoon
Dried Mango bites                   - 2 tblspoon
Dried Pineapple cubes             - 2 tblspoon
Dried Cranberries                    - 4 tblspoon
Water                                       - 2-4 tblspoon (depending on flour/thickness of batter)


Method:

Preheat the oven to 180c and line the tray with 10 muffin liners.
In a deep mixing bowl, Mix Sugar, Yogurt, Oil and Orange extract, until the sugar is totally dissolve.

Sift Flour, Baking Soda and Baking powder into yogurt & sugar mixture.

Add in the cornflour, mix dry and wet ingredients well to avoid any lumps.

Now add int the dried fruits, if you find them very big in size, chop them before adding in.

At this time I added 2 tblspoon of water and 1 tspoon of lemon juice into the batter.
Adding water loosened the batter a bit and lemon juice made air bubbles into it.
Do not keep the batter for later baking.
Pour in the batter into muffin liners and bake them for about 15 minutes or until they are golden on top and skewer comes out clean.
Leave them to cool for 5 minutes in the tray and then take them out on cooling rack to cool completely.

Muffins are ready to be served with choice of drinks. These are excellent treats for kids as their after school snack.

Eggless Whole Wheat Blueberry & Nuts Muffin

Sometimes, you want to make something delicious, sweet yet healthy for your kids. You also do not want to waste a lot of time making it. So was my thinking this morning, I wanted to treat my kids with something sweet but wanted to save my time as well. Mornings are busy, super busy with pampered kids in my house.

Gathered few basic ingredients and made these awesome tasting muffins. I ate 3 myself, God it was a pure sin during my exercise challenges. But I ate and I do not regret for that. I can do some more running but can not leave my treats for weight.

So the case was making muffins, Made blueberries muffin with some coarse mixed nuts and used wholewheat flour instead of plain flour. Recently heard a lot about Plain flour and it's dis-advantages, making me use more and more wholewheat flour.

Well, it's very easy and simple recipe. Ingredients will all be available in your kitchen and it takes hardly 30 minutes of your time. I'm sure now this will temp you to try your hands on this recipe. Don't forget to comment below. Until next time.......Happy Cooking Friends, Saumya

Ingredients:

Blueberries                           - 1 cup
Coarse Nuts                          - 1/4 cup (Almond, Cashewnuts, Pistachio)
Raisins                                  - 10-15
Plain flour                             - 2 tblspoon
Wholewheat Flour                - 1 heaped cup
Baking Soda                          - 1/2 tspoon
Baking Powder                      - 1/2 tspoon
Brown Sugar                          - 1/2 cup
Oil                                          - 2 tblspoon
Yogurt                                    - 1/2 cup
Water                                      - 1/2 cup

Method:

Coat the blueberries in the plain flour, keep aside.
Preheat the oven to 180c. Line a muffin tray with 10 muffin liners.
Mix Flour, Baking soda and baking powder well in a deep mixing bowl.
In another bowl, mix sugar, oil and yogurt until sugar is dissolved.
Now combine the dry and wet ingredients together.
Mix it well to avoid any lumps with the help of water. I added exactly 1/2 cup of water.
Once mix well fold the nuts, raisins and blueberries in the batter.
The batter will be on the thicker side, do not add any more liquid to make it thinner.
Blueberries leave their juices while cooking so we need the batter a bit thicker.
Distribute the batter equally in the muffin liners.
Bake the muffins on 180c for 15-20 minutes or until the inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Once baked take them out of the oven and keep them on the cooling rack until they are cool enough to handle with bare hands.
I bake these for morning breakfast, so served them warm.
You can cool them completely and store them in the fridge for use as dessert or sweet treat.
Simple, easy and quick recipe of lovely soft and spongy muffins. My family loved them on breakfast, I'm sure yours will too.

Microwave Eggless Chocolate Cake

One of the day, your little one starts screaming for chocolate cake and you don't really have time to wait for another 40 minutes for preparations and baking. You go for this quick, easy and ready in minutes chocolate cake. I tried it first time and It is already a hit in my house.

To my surprise, the cake turned out be the most gorgeous, moist and spongy cake. I never expected it to be like that because of microwave baking. This trial microwave cake made me a big fan of microwave cake baking.

I have already started making list of cake recipes, I can do in Microwave. The less time taking was the best thing attracted me towards microwave cake baking. Its a HIT HIT HIT!!!!!!!!

I've been baking cakes for quite a bit of time in my Kitchen, but never tried this method and believe me friends, Its an awesome method. I 'm sure even for once, you will try making it.  Don't forget to comment below :) Until next time.......Happy Cooking Friends, Saumya

Ingredients:

Self Raising Flour                  - 1 cup
Baking Powder                       - 1/2 tspoon
Baking Soda                           - 1/4 tspoon
Salt                                         - 1 pinch
Cocoa Powder                        - 2 tblspoon
Oil                                          - 1/4 cup
Sugar                                      - 2 tblspoon
Vanilla                                    - 1 tspoon
Condensed Milk                     - 1/2 tin (100grms)
Sour Cream                             - 1/2 cup
Water                                      - 1/2 cup


Method:

Grease a glass dish (Microwave safe).
Mix sour-cream and water together, keep aside.
Sieve Flour, baking powder, soda, salt and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl.
Mix Oil, Vanilla, condensed milk and sugar in other bowl. Whisk to dissolve sugar and fluff the wet ingredients.
Make a well in between dry ingredients, add wet ingredients.
Start folding the ingredients together.
Slowly add the sour-cream to make the batter a bit loose but on thicker side.
Once all the sour-cream+water is added, whisk well to avoid any dry lumps.
Pour the batter into greased microwave dish.
Bake on high , 100 percent power for 6-7 minutes .
Try not to go for dome shape deep bowls, you get sides cooked early and middle takes time.
Take a flat dish, which has equal depth and sides.
You have a gorgeously moisten and spongy cake ever.
I was surprised to see the cake once it was cooked, I never expected it to be so soft and spongy in microwave and in just 6 minutes.
Top the cake with your choice of glazing or frosting.

Eggless Mango & Kiwi Muffins/Cupcakes

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour/ Maida                         -1 cups
Baking Powder                                         -1 tspoon
Baking Soda                                             -1/2 tspoon
Salt                                                            -1/4 tspoon
Cane Sugar                                                -1/2 cup
Oil                                                             -1/4 cup
Vanilla Essence                                         -1 tsp
Mango Puree                                             -1/3 cup
Kiwi Puree                                                 - 1/3 cup
Milk                                                           -3-4 tblspoon ( if necessary)
White Vinegar                                           -1 tsp
Food Colour                                               - Yellow & Green (Optional)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 175c and line a muffin pan with 8 muffin cases.
In a mixing Bowl, Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a bowl mix together milk, oil, vanilla and sugar, Whisk until sugar is dissolve. If you are using regular sugar it will not take time but with cane sugar it takes a bit of time to dissolve.

Add the flour and with the help of a spatula fold in the flour with the liquid ingredients.

Now add vinegar and give it a gentle mix. DO NOT beat it.

Now divide the batter into two bowls, in equal quantity.
Add the Mango and Kiwi puree into each bowl, making them Kiwi and Mango cake batter.

Add the food colour as well if you are using them. Green in Kiwi bowl and yellow in Mango bowl.

Now alternate the batter into each muffin case. Follow the pictures to assemble the batters into muffin cases. Try to make the last layer with mango batter.

Once filled 3/4 of each case, bake the muffins on 175c for upto 18 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

If your muffins starts to get brown before they are fully baked, lower the temperature to 160c and bake until done.
Once baked leave the muffins for 5 minutes in the tray and them keep them on cooling rack to cool down completely.

These are eggless muffins but the texture of these muffins are superbly spongy and light. I, at first thought of them coming out a bit dense but they came out nice, light and fluffy.

Serve the muffins for teatime or in breakfast. Kids will love them anytime of the day, Mine do !!!!

Fig & Prune Tea/Loaf Cake

Ingredients:

Plain Flour/APF                   - 1 cup
Corn Flour                           - 2 tblspoon
Apple Sauce                         - 1 tblspoon
Banana Puree                       - 1/2 cup
Baking powder                    - 1 tspoon
Baking soda                         - 1/2 tspoon
Salt                                       - 1/4 tspoon
Flora Healthy Oil                 - 2 tblspoon
Demerara sugar                    - 2 tblspoon you can replace it with 4 tblspoon of sugar-free granules
Vanilla extract                      - 1 tspoon
Figs                                       - 6 chopped in chunks
Prunes                                   - 6 chopped in chunks
Nuts/Seeds                            - to decorate (I used almond slices)

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
Line a loaf pan grease-proof paper and spray some cooking/baking spray.
Chop and coat the figs & prunes in a tablespoon of flour, keep aside.
Take all purpose flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Whisk it till mix well.
Take oil, sugar and banana puree in another bowl.
Whisk till the sugar dissolves. Add vanilla extract and apple sauce into it. Whisk again to mix it very well.
Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients bowl little by little folding all together.
Fold till all comes together, do not over-beat.
Add in the coated figs and prunes and fold in gently.
Pour the batter into loaf pan. Sprinkle choice of nuts/seeds to decorate.
Bake into preheated oven for 10 minutes after 10 minutes lower the temperature to 160 and cook for another 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove it from the oven. Let it cool for 5 minutes in pan and then takeout and keep it to cool on cooling rack.
Slice the cake one the loaf cools down completely. We all loved eating a slice of it with our evening tea.

Sprinkled Cake Pops

Ingredients:

Cake Crumbs                           - 2 cups (leftover sponge cake)
Melted Chocolate                    - 1 cup + 1/2 cup
Sprinkles                                 - 1 cup
Lollipop Sticks                        - 10-12

Method:

In large mixing bowl, using your hands crumble the leftover cake until no large chunks remain.
Add 1/2 cup of melted chocolate.
Mix in the chocolate completely with a spatula until it is completely combined and holds together the cake crumbs.
Scoop a tablespoon n half of the mixture and roll it.
Roll back and forth inside the palms until you create a smooth round ball.
Place cake balls on a lined cookie sheet or lined baking tray.
Chill for at least 2 hours before inserting sticks.
After 2 hours dip one end of your Lollipop Stick in melted Dark/white chocolate.
Insert stick in chilled cake balls.
Place stick-ed cake balls on a parchment lined cookie pan or sheet. Again chill at least 2 hours until set.
Now holding the stick securely, dip the cake pops into melted dark/white chocolate.
Tap the cake pop lightly to smooth surface.
Place pops in Pops Decorating Stand. Chill again for 10-15 minutes.
After 15 minutes dip into your favorite Sprinkles or colored Sugars.
Roll pop until completely covered.
Place in Pops Decorating Stand chill again until firm.

Eggless Marble Cake

Ingredients:

Plain Flour/Cake Flour   - 1 -1/2 cup (minus 3 tblspoon)
Corn flour                      - 3 tblspoon
Sugar                              - 3/4 cup
Cooks dark Chocolate    - 1/2 cup Melted (I used bitter dark chocolate)
Cooks White Chocolate - 1/2 cup Melted
Oil                                  - 1/2 cup
Yogurt             - 1 cup
Baking powder              - 1 tspoon
Sodium bi carbonate - 1/2 tspoon
Vanilla essence    - 1 tspoon

Method:

Preheat oven at 180C . Meanwhile we will prepare the batter for cake.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl or on a double boiler. Keep aside to let it cool down.
Sieve the plain flour and corn flour in a bowl.
In another mixing bowl, mix the yogurt and sugar to dissolve it.
Add baking powder and baking soda, mix well and set aside for 2 minutes.
This liquid mix will become slightly frothy with small bubbles.
Now mix in vanilla and oil into it.
Now add little flour at a time until you finish mixing all the flour to get a smooth pouring batter.
Do not over mix it, as this egg-less and we need the batter to rise while baking. I used hand whisk to mix the batter.
Now divide the batter in two equal part in two bowls.
In one part add white melted chocolate and in another add melted dark chocolate. You can used flavored chocolates as well.
Now comes the real part of assembling it.
You can do it anyways you want as it's the two color which matters. Some People don't stick to white and brown. It could be pink and green or so on :)
It doesn't need to be in some sort of strict design. Some make it in Zebra style as well.
What I did is alternated both the batters in the loaf pan. First a thin line of white chocolate batter and then the dark chocolate batter.
Once first layer is done , Again I alternated the batters by putting white batter over dark and dark batter over white.
Do it until the batters are finish. On the top I mixed it with a fork, you can use knife or toothpick.
Place it in the middle rack in the oven and let it bake. It takes at least 40-50 minutes to let it bake completely.
The oven temperature varies from brand to brand, so keep an eye on it don't forget cake is in the oven.
Once it's been 35 minutes, insert a toothpick in the middle part of the cake and check if it's coming out clean or with some liquid.
Let it bake more if you see liquid on the toothpick. Check again after 5 more minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Mine took exact 52 minutes to bake completely.
Once done, take it out and let it rest for 10 minutes in the loaf pan and then tip it over to wire rack to cool down completely.
Once cooled and you are able to handle it with bare hands, slice it into thin or thick slices.

This cake is the best friend of Coffee and Milk. I eat it with Black coffee to compliment it better.

I could not take enough pictures of this cake as, it was baked in night time and also baked for a cake sale, so it was gone very quickly. I'll updated more pictures in this post once i'll make it again.

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Plain Flour/Cake Flour  - 1 Cup
Corn flour - 3 tblspoon
Cocoa Powder                              - 3 tblspoon
Sugar                                           - 3/4 cup
Oil                                                - 1/2 cup
Yoghurt           - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tspoon
Sodium bi carbonate                       - 1/2 tspoon
Vanilla essence - 1 tspoon

Method:

Preheat oven at 180C . Meanwhile we will prepare the batter for cupcakes.
Line a cupcake tray with cupcake liners  and keep aside.
Sieve the plain flour, cocoa powder and corn flour in a bowl.
In another mixing bowl, mix the yogurt and sugar to dissolve it.
Add baking powder and baking soda, mix well and set aside for 2 minutes.
This liquid mix will become slightly frothy with small bubbles.
Now mix in vanilla and oil into it.
Now add little flour at a time until you finish mixing all the flour to get a smooth pouring batter.
Do not overmix it, as this eggless and we need the batter to rise while baking. I used hand whisk to mix the batter.

Now spoon the batter 3/4th in each cupcake liner.
Bake the cupcakes for 18-20 minutes or until the toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Once baked keep them in the cupcake tray for 5 minutes and then take out from the cupcake tray and cool down over a wire rack.
Enjoy these chocolate cupcakes with tea, coffee or hot chocolate milk.