Spiced Pumpkin Walnut Cake

I cannot get enough of this cake, it is soft and moist and left you wanting more.  This is almost like my Best Ever Pumpkin Cake except it's has a little more egg with added walnut and one additional spice.  This cake is smaller and I used a 8-inch square pan to bake it.  I created this when I used 1 cup of the pumpkin puree to make the cookies and left with one more cup of pumpkin puree.  I loved pumpkin cake above all others, more than pie, cookies, soup, etc.  So of course I got to make it into a cake.

If you have canned pumpkin puree at home, give this recipe a try.  I am waiting for the Libby's canned pumpkin puree to go on sale so that I can stock up and make more of this cake.  YUM! YUM!  Oh yeah, need to buy more of the chopped walnuts too.

Ingredients:

(A)
2  large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil or other neutral oil)
1/2 (15 ounce) canned or 1 cup of pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
(B), sifted or whisked
1 cups white sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

(C)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F. Spray a 8-inch square pan with non-stick cooking spray with flour for baking.

2. In a big mixing bowl, whisk or beat together (A).

3. Then, add in (B) and stir together with a spatula until smooth and well blended or beat to blend well.

4.  Add in the chopped walnuts, lightly mix in.

5. Pour into the greased square pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverted to cool completely on a wire rack.  Best enjoy the next day.

Pandan Chiffon Cake 2 (Healthier Version)

 

Pandan chiffon cake was my childhood favorite cake.  I remembered I always asked my mom to buy it at the bakery shop for us to have as breakfast.  It was great being a kid without having to worry about counting calories and just consumed however much we liked.  I seriously would not have known what went into making a cake, a bread, or a dish without me being a cook and a baker myself.  Once I learned that, I have to be careful at what to cook for my family and how much portion to consume in a day, you know to watch my diet and not over eating certain food that is high in saturated fat.

This recipe is adapted from my Pandan Chiffon Cake recipe but because I want to make it healthier with less saturated fat content, I omitted the coconut milk and used 1% milk instead.  I also changed the all-purpose flour to cake flour, just for experiment.  Glad to say it turned out well, still fragrant with Pandan smell and not much difference from the Pandan chiffon cake made with coconut milk.

I didn't do a nice job at dismounting my chiffon cake from the tube pan, this really takes patient and skill.  LOL!

Ingredients:

(A)

1 3/4 cup cake flour, sifted

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

(B)

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

6 egg yolks

3/4 cup milk (I used 1 %)

1 tsp. pandan paste

(C)

6 egg whites

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

3/4 cup sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F (175'C).

2. Combine (A) in a bowl. Whisk to blend. Add (B). Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

3. Beat (C) with a clean beaters until moist peaks formed. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff and shiny peaks are formed. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolks mixture, fold to mix until blended and proceed with the rest of the egg whites. Fold gently but thoroughly. Turn batter into ungreased 10" tube pan.

4. Bake for 55 mins in the center of the oven or til a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert cake and cool completely in pan. When cool, loosen the edges with a thin plastic knife and invert pan to remove cake.

The above is the picture of the Pandan paste that I used, usually selling for 99 cent at the Asian grocery store.  This is the brand and paste that I recommend to produce a fragrant cake, essence and powder form are not recommended.  

Peanut Butter Banana Cake

I am not sure whether you have noticed.  I have been baking lots of banana cake lately, ranging from just plain, marble, chocolate and now I am trying with peanut butter!  I needed variety so that even though I have been baking almost the same thing but it tasted different.  As I was figuring what else I can put into the banana cake or how to make it different and peanut butter came to mind.

I added chocolate chips per my daughters request, but I didn't add much.  You can add more if you like.  Since the top was kind of bland, I decorated it with heart shape chocolate chips design.  It turned out well don't you think?

This turned out great!  We all loved it and we could definitely taste the peanut butter in it even though it was subtle.   Evy even ask me to make it again.  If you are a fan of my banana cake recipe, give this a try too, providing of course you have no peanut allergy in your household.

Before baking

Ingredients:

(A)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk (I used 1%)
2 bananas, smashed (I used frozen)
2 heap Tbsp. creamy peanut butter (I used Jiff reduced fat)

(B)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

(C)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, separate  (or as needed)

Soft, moist and yummy!

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350'F. Spray a 8" square baking pan with baking spray with flour.  Set aside.

2. In a big bowl, hand whisk together (A). Add in (B), whisk until well blended.

3. Take half of the chocolate chips and mix in with the batter.  Decorate the other half on top of the batter.

4. Bake for 30 minutes or until a bamboo stick inserted in center comes out clean.

5. Cool on wire rack and store in air-tight container.

Step-by-Step Zebra Cake Guide

I promised my friend, SIG to show her the step-by-step pictures guide the next time I made the zebra cake, so here it is girl friend.


Two different colors batter.


First, put a dollop of white batter in the center of the pan.


Next, put a little dark batter on top of the white batter.


Then, you add another dollop of white batter on top of the dark batter.


Again, add another layer of dark batter on top. Just keep alternate different color of batter on top of each other until all batters are used.


I didn't do a great job on this as it was not center.


Example of how it would look like when baked and cut. Good Luck!

Recipe of this marbled banana chocolate cake can be found here.

Coffee Chiffon Cake

A lot of people liked my Pandan chiffon cake recipe. I also created a lot of other recipes based on this recipe and here sharing with you another variation of chiffon cake, I called it Coffee Chiffon Cake. Really soft and spongy!







Ingredients:

(A)
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1 Tbsp. Hershey's Specially Dark Cocoa
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar

(B)
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
6 egg yolks
3/4 cup strong brewed coffee
1 Tbsp. Irish cream liquor

(C)
6 egg whites
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar



Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F (175'C).

2. Combine (A) in a bowl. Stir well to blend. Add (B). Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

3. Beat (C) until moist peaks formed. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, beating until stiff and shiny peaks are formed. Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolks mixture, fold to mix and then add the rest of the egg whites. Fold gently but thoroughly. Turn batter into ungrease 10" tube pan.

4. Bake for 55-60 minutes or til a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert cake and cool completely in pan. When cool, loosen the edges with a thin plastic knife and gently remove the cake.

Marbled Banana Chocolate Cake

My need to experiment in the kitchen again. I used to make a Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread four years ago which I loved. Then, I kind of stop making it because I don't always stock up on chocolate chips. Also I rather prefer the cake texture instead of the bread texture. So, I played with the recipe and created this. I always have cocoa powder in my pantry so I used that instead of chocolate bar or chocolate chips. But I think the chocolate flavor will come out more with chocolate bar or chocolate chips instead of cocoa powder. I hardly taste the cocoa powder, this cake tasted like a banana cake with a pretty marbled effect.


See the marbled effect? They called this Zebra marbling effect.

As you can see, I tried out a new marbling effect which they called zebra. It does look a lot like zebra and very pretty. I made this cake to have for breakfast and afternoon snack so I didn't really pay a lot of attention when doing the layering. Thus, I was actually surprised that it turned out pretty good even with how careless and little care I paid on it. Hence, anyone can certainly do the zebra effect on her cake with ease.


Whole cake view from the top. See how careless I was with it, uneven striped when layering.



Ingredients:

(A)
1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. banana essence
1/4 cup canola oil (or vegetable oil)
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk (I used 2%)
2 bananas, smashed (I used frozen)

(B)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

(C)
1 Tbsp. Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder (you can used regular cocoa powder)


The effect!

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350'F. Spray and cover the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with parchment paper. Spray on top and sides of pan. Set aside.

2. In a big bowl, hand whisk together (A). Add in (B), whisk until well blended.

3. Take out 1 cup of the batter and place in another small bowl. Add in (C) and stir with spoon to combine.

4. Marbling effect: Place a scoop of the white batter in the middle of the pan. On top of the white batter, add some of the dark batter in the middle. Then alternate with white and dark until all the batters are finished.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until a bamboo stick inserted in center comes out clean.

6. Cool on wire rack and store in air-tight container.

Strawberry Yogurt Cupcakes

What happen to you when you learned that you are going to have visitors at your home in few hours? And you have nothing to serve them with tea? Of course I have to think of something to make quick with whatever I have at my house at that moment. I found some strawberry yogurts that I bought for my girls in the fridge and my mind was set. I whipped this up in as little time as possible as this recipe only required a hand whisk and a big bowl. The end result was some soft and moist strawberry yogurt cupcakes. This recipe gave me 17 cupcakes.



Ingredients:

(A)
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sugar

(B)
3/4 cup strawberry flavored yogurt
3 large eggs, whisk
2 Tbsp. whole milk
1 tsp. imitation strawberry extract
A drop of red coloring
1/2 cup canola oil



Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F. Place paper cups in the muffin pan.

2. In a big bowl, add in (A). Whisk to combine.

3. Then, make a hole in the center and add in (B). Whisk and blend until incorporated.

4. Lastly, scoop the batter into each paper cups until 3/4 full.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Store in air-tight container in the refrigerator. It's nice and soft eaten cold too. Or just let it rest for 5 minutes at room-temperature before consuming.

Steamed Pandan Sponge Cake

I have some orange sugar and Eno salt and thought of making a rice flour steamed cake with these two ingredients. The fermentation of rice flour overnight with yeast didn't smell good at all. And the result of this steamed cake was bad, even though it had nice honeycomb effect, but it was hard, smell bad and tasted yucky. I had to give it all to Ms. trash can.

Then, I thought of using the 7-up to make some steamed cake because I remembered I once had a steamed 7-up cake and it was pretty good. This recipe has no butter and oil and the method is like sponge cake. The texture of this cake is spongy and not too sweet. For those who do not have Pandan extract, you can substitute it with pure vanilla extract.



Ingredients:

4 large eggs
2/3 cup sugar (use 3/4 cup for sweeter cake)
1 tsp. Pandan extract
1 1/2 cup self-raising flour, sifted
50ml 7-up or Sprite

Method:

1. In a large bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer until light and frothy. Add in sugar and continue to beat until thick and creamy, when you lift the beater and write an 8, it will stay there for few seconds. Add in Pandan extract and beat to mix well.

2. Use a spatula and fold in flour lightly in 3 batches (in one direction), lastly add in 7-up and mix well.

3. Scoop batter into individually paper lined silicon cups and steam on high heat for 15 minutes. Best eaten warm on the same day.

Summer Fruit Cake

Summer time comes with abundance of peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, melons, etc. This is also the time when these fruits are cheap and at its' sweetest. I made a similar cake before and this is my other version. Not too pretty looking because some of the fruit sank but nevertheless it's still delicious. This time I used the sour plum and peach for my choice of fruit and thus I used 1 cup of sugar for my cake to counteract the sourness of the fruit. If your choice of fruit is sweet, you can use 3/4 cup of sugar. And remember to put this cake in the refrigerator as the moisture from the fruit will turn moldy if not.





Ingredients:

(A)
1/2 cup butter (or 1 stick or 113g)
1 cup sugar (use 3/4 cup for less sweet version)

(B)
3 large eggs

(C)
3 Tbsp. whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. Rum extract (optional)

(D)
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder

(E)
Summer fruit of your choice, I used slices of peach and red plum (sprinkle with a little sugar and mix well)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350'F. Spray and lined a 8-inch square pan with parchment paper. Spray again and on the sides. Set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat (A) together until creamy. Add (B) one at a time, beat well. Add (C), beat well with electric mixer. Then, add in (D), beat until smooth.

3. Pour batter into the pan, level nicely and arranged the prepared fruit on top (don't press it down). Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

4. Cool on wire rack. Place in air-tight container and store in the refrigerator. Set it aside at room-temperature for 10-15 minutes before consuming.

Banana Cake

The only time I would make a banana cake is when I have some banana freeze up in the freezer. Sometimes we would have one banana left that was too ripe and nobody wanted to consume it. So, I put it in the freezer bag and left it in the freezer. When I have two in the freezer, that's the time I would make this cake for breakfast. This banana cake is made with butter and thus it's not that oily. Don't get me wrong, I like banana cake made with oil too as it's very moist but sometimes it can be quite oily.





Ingredients:

1 stick + 6 Tbsp. butter, soften
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups cake flour or all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 big banana, mashed
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp. banana essence

Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy with an electric mixer.

2. Pour in eggs, one at a time and beat until creamy.

3. Add in milk, mashed banana and banana essence and mix well.

4. Add in cake flour, baking powder and baking soda and beat until combined.

5. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake in preheated 350'F oven for 35 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before inverting it to cool completely on a wire rack. Store in air-tight container.

Green Tea Castella or Matcha Kasutera

We were going away for a three days two nights camping trip and I wanted something easy to serve as breakfast. What easier than having two pieces of cake and a cup of instant 3 in 1 coffee or milk tea? Since I made the Castella cake earlier and we all loved it, that sponge cake was my easy picked. I read that the original Japanese sponge cake does not called for oil/butter/margarine so I was interested in experimenting. However, I was too careful to remove all the oil because I was afraid that it might be too dry thus I reduced half of the oil and some sugar. I added 1/2 tablespoon of green tea powder for a change too. Since I reduced the oil, I also tried the method mentioned in my previous post that was to place the cake in the refrigerator while still warm but I didn't brush the top with honey water (I didn't want it to be sticky).

The resulted cake had fine crumbs and more compact than my previous one. Still soft and light like a sponge cake with the tint fragrant of green tea. Still tasted good after reducing the oil.



Makes one 8×8 x 2-inch pan
Ingredients:

5 large eggs

150 grams granulated sugar

200 grams all-purpose flour

1/2 Tbsp. green tea powder

100 ml whole milk, at room temperature

4 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons canola oil

Method:

1. Grease the square pan with baking spray. Cut out a parchment paper the size of the pan for the bottom of the pan and place it on the pan, spray it with baking spray too. Preheat oven to 350 degree F and place a rack in the middle of the oven.

2. Mix eggs and sugar with a stand-in mixer for about 5 minutes or until batter forms a ribbon when the wire whip is lifted, the color should be light yellow.

3. Whisk together the flour and green tea powder. With the mixer running on medium speed, pour the flour mixture into the batter slowly. Next add the milk, mix it well. Then add the honey and mix it again well. Last, add the oil and make sure it is incorporated into the batter thoroughly.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place it in the oven and bake for 10 minutes in 350 degree F. After that, lower the temperature to 325 degree F and bake for 35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

5. Remove from the pan as soon as it is done. Place it on the cooling rack and when it's not too hot to handle (still warm), wrap with plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for at least few hours. Then, take it out and let it sit at room temperature overnight wrapped. Cut it the next day.

Castella Cake (Japanese Honey Sponge Cake)

Yup, my turn to make the Castella Cake (Japanese Sponge Cake). I was made aware of this cake because of the special ingredient used, honey! My hubby drink a glass of honey water before he goes out for his sport so I always have a bottle of honey at home. Honey Sponge Cake sounds good to me as I like the soft and spongy texture of sponge cake. I got the recipe from Notes From My Food Dairy and made a few changes to it. I just wanted to try the original taste of this cake before attempting other variation. Would certainly love to try the matcha flavor next time. The Castella Cake is all soft to goodness spongy. This cake has fine crumbs and very irresistible because it is so light and soft, I just want to eat more.

You can read more about Castella cake at Wikipedia here. I also found an extract here that is useful for my next attempt:

"In the meantime, mix together the 1 tablespoon of honey and a little hot water, to make a glaze.

As soon as the cake is out of the oven, brush the top with the honey-water mixture.

When it's cool enough to handle but still warm, lift it out of the pan, paper and all, and put into a plastic bag. Seal the bag and put into the refrigerator, for at least several hours. This step is critical to ensure the kasutera has a moist texture. If you let it cool to room temperature before putting it in the plastic bag, it will end up a bit dry." Extracted from Just Hungry. Cool tips ya! :) 

Makes one 8×8 x 2-inch pan
Ingredients:

5 large eggs

170 grams granulated sugar

200 grams all-purpose flour

1 tsp. vanilla extract

100 ml whole milk, at room temperature

4 tablespoons honey

6 tablespoons canola oil

Method:

1. Grease the square pan with baking spray. Cut out a parchment paper the size of the pan for the bottom of the pan and place it on the pan, spray it with baking spray too. Preheat oven to 350 degree F and place a rack in the middle of the oven.

2. Mix eggs and sugar with a stand-in mixer for about 5 minutes or until batter forms a ribbon when the wire whip is lifted, the color should be light yellow.

3. Add the flour and vanilla extract. Next add the milk, beat it well. Then add the honey and mix it again well. Last, add the oil and make sure it is incorporated into the batter thoroughly.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place it in the oven and bake for 10 minutes in 350 degree F. After that, lower the temperature to 325 degree F and bake for 35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

5. Remove from the pan as soon as it is done. Place it on the cooling rack and let it cool completely. Wrap with plastic wrap overnight before cutting.

Cheesecake Cups

I loved to buy cream cheese when it was on sales, just for the "just in case" I need it moment. Then, often time because of my laziness, the cream cheese will left untouched. I really need to do something before the cream cheese past the expiration date and I found this mini cheesecake cups very easy. I used my roasted edamame cookies as base for these cheesecake cups, if you asked me, any round cookies would do. Then prepare an easy cheesecake mix and it was all set. I would recommend you to decorate the cheesecake cups as you desired as it will make it prettier and more presentable. ;) This is definitely an easy party dessert or treat for little kids. I like the bite size serving too!


Plain ones



Ingredients: (Yield 12 cheesecake cups)

Base:
Round cookie of your choice (Nilla wafers, chocolate chips, butter cookies, etc.)

Cheesecake topping:
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, soften
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg


With strawberry preserved

Method:

1. Lined paper cups in muffin pan. Add in round cookie of your choice.

2. In a mixing bowl, add in cream cheese, sugar and vanilla, beat with an electric mixer until blended. Add in egg and mix until blended. Spoon cream cheese on top of each cookie cups, divide among 12.

3. Bake at preheated 350'F for 13-15 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Decorate with gels, sprinkles, fruit preserved, chocolate syrup, whipped cream if desired. Store in refrigerator.

Banana Pineapple Cake

Banana and pineapple pair well together and I simply adore banana pineapple cake. I happen to have some leftover crushed pineapple and some banana at home so what a great way to use up my crushed pineapple and make this delicious cake. This cake would be our breakfast and afternoon snack. :)



Ingredients:

1 stick + 6 Tbsp. butter, soften
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 big banana, mashed
8 ounce crushed pineapple, drained
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp. banana essence



Method:

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy with an electric mixer.

2. Pour in eggs, one at a time and beat until creamy.

3. Add in milk, mashed banana, crushed pineapple and banana essence and mix well.

4. Add in cake flour, baking powder and baking soda and beat until combined.

5. Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake in preheated 350'F oven for 35-37 minutes.

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

I decided to try this cake because of the rave reviews. Also my fellow blogger friend did such a great job on this cake that it prompted me to try. Her cake texture was so fine and yummy looking, check it out here. Her recipe was in gram which I converted to cup to suit myself. My cake didn't turn out as fine texture as her, not sure what went wrong (maybe it's my conversion?). I did over bake this cake resulted in my middle sinking and a bit dry, which I checked at 32 minutes. So, I reduce the baking time for that size of loaf pan to 25 minutes. Just check the cake when you can smell the cake fragrant emits from the oven. Nevertheless, this cake tasted great with the fragrant of condensed milk. I will make this cake again.





Ingredients:

(A)
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
1/4 cup sugar
(B)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
(C)
1/2 cup condensed milk
(D), sifted
1 cup cake flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
(E)
2 large eggs



Method:

1. Cream (A) until light and fluffy with a electric mixer/beaters.

2. Add (B) and beat well.

3. Pour in (C) and beat well.

4. Add in (D) in 3 additions. Beat until batter is smooth.

5. Add (E) one at a time and beat until well mixed and smooth.

6. Pour into a well-greased and floured 8 1/2 x 3 1/2 loaf pan and bake in preheated 350'F oven for 25-30 minutes. Check with toothpick and cool completely on wire rack before storage.

Note: Baking time will depend on the size and type of pan you used.