Dreamy Banana Nut Cake

Banana cake is my hubby's favorite cake.

Yesterday, I thought of baking a different recipe of Banana Cake. It's a little airy though than the previous recipes I used to bake.
But just the same, it is good especially with an added cinnamon on top.

Here's the recipe.

The ingredients are the ff:

• 2 cups sifted all purpose flour
• 2-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs well beaten
• 1 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1 cup margarine or butter
• 3/4 cup sugar

The procedure:

• Cream margarine and sugar.
  
• Add eggs one at a time.
  
• Sift together dry ingredients and add alternately with bananas to the first mixture, beating hard after each addition.
• Place mixture in a greased cake pan.
• Sprinkle with topping and bake in moderate oven.

Topping:

• 4 Tbsp. sugar, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 4 Tbsp. chopped nuts
• Mix together and sprinkle over cake.
  

Helpful Tips (part 1)

Some helpful tips in the kitchen:

• Always sift flour and powdered sugar before measuring. When recipe calls for flour, baking powder, soda, salt, sift all these dry ingredients together before adding to the rest of the batter.
• To measure a level spoonful, dip the spoon into the dry material, take up a heaping spoonful, and level it off with a knife or with the edge of the spoon.
• When separating the yolk from the egg white, if you drop a portion of egg yolk to the whites, moisten a cloth with cold water, touch to the yolk and it will adhere to the cloth.
• The yolk of eggs, left over when baking requires the white only, if dropped into a pan of boiling and salted water will cook and be ready for your noon salad.
• When bread os baking, a small dish of water in the oven will help to keep the crust from getting too hard.

(The photo above was taken in Camiguin Island during the Youth Summer Camp.)

Whole Wheat Loaf

As a young housewife and mom, i was concerned about the health of my family.

Learning that whole wheat products are more nutritious than refined ones, I looked for a recipe for whole wheat bread. Thankfully a friend of mine gave me a recipe and so goes my trial and error in making homemade whole wheat bread.

Here are the ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water (lukewarm), 2 Tbsp. yeast, 1-1/2 cup milk (lukewarm), 1/3 cup oil, 1/3 cup sugar or honey, 1 tsp. salt, 1 egg, 6-7 cup WW flour

Here's the procedure:

1. Mix water and yeast, let stand 5 -10 minutes.
2. Mix next 5 inredients and add to first mixture. Let stand 15 minutes.
3. Add 3 more cups of flour and knead using last cup for dusting. Use just enough to avoid sticking to your hands (about 10 minutes).
4. Let rise 1 hour or till double.
   
5. Punch down, shape and put in greased pans. Let rise again.
6. Bake at about 1 hour at 350 degreesF.
   

Advice To The Housewife

Well, mix and bake the dainty cake,
And beat the frosting light;
The sweetest plan to please a man
Is through his appetite.


My little baby girl tried her best to blow the candles of her dads birthday cake. It was a Chocolate Chiffon Cake, frosted with Boiled Icing and Buttercream Icing.

Orange Chiffon Cake

I often use this recipe because it requires simple ingredients, it is not
so sweet and it is so simple to do.

• 2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour; 1-1/2 cups sugar; 3 teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup salad oil; 5 egg yolks; 3/4 cup orange juice; 1 cup egg whites; 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar.
  

Follow this procedure:

• Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl.
  
• Make a well then add salad oil, egg yolks and orange juice. Beat until smooth.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar.
• Beat until they form very stiff peaks.
• Pour egg-yolk batter in thin stream over entire surface of egg whites.
• Gently cut and fold just until blended.
• Bake in ungreased 10-inch tube pan in slow oven, 325 degrees for 55 minutes.
• Then increase heat to 350 degrees and bake 10 minutes more.
• Invert and cool thoroughly.
  

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

In these cakes, I used Chocolate Buttercream Icing as the frosting to cover the cakes. For the decorations, I used Boiled Icing.

To make a Chocolate Buttercream Icing, just follow the recipe below and add 3 ounces of melted Unsweetened Chocolate and 1 Tbsp. more of milk or water. That's it. It is now ready for frosting . :)

Buttercream Icing Recipe

Here's another easy to prepare icing using butter. This recipe freezes well and can be thawed and rebeat to proper consistency once needed.

Prepare the following ingredients:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1 lb or about 4 cups sifted confetioners sugar
• 2 Tbsp. milk or water
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

The direction:

• Cream shortening and butter.
• Add sugar, water and vanilla.
• Blend on medium speed until all ingredients are well mixed.
• Blend a few more minutes or so until creamy.
  

My first Wedding Cake

A little more than 2 decades ago, I gave away a wedding cake as a gift to a young couple who decided to get married with just a simple ceremony and a simple celebration.

I baked the cake for them, my first attempt in making a wedding cake. It took me 2 days to finish it, from preparation of ingredients to baking the cakes, to icing and decorating it until it was finished and ready for presentation.

I used the Buttercake recipe for the cakes. Boiled Frosting and Royal Icing for covering the cakes and decorations.
(A big 'Thanks' to my good friend Sandra for helping me out with the 'Royal Icing' decorations.)

Photos of Cakes with Boiled Icing

Here's a few photos of cakes I've made for my family and friends
where I used the Boiled Icing recipe.

Boiled Frosting

For an icing, here's a quick one. The ingredients are the following:

• 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup water, 1 egg white (beaten stiff), 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar or 1/2 tbsp. lemon juice.

The Procedure:

• In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water and cream of tartar and stir until dissolved.
  
• Bring the sugar mixture to a boiling point.
• While at it, whip the egg white in a separate mixing bowl until stiff and hold a peak.
  
• Boil syrup until it spins a long thread.
• Pour gradually the hot syrup over the egg white, beating constantly.
• Add the flavoring and beat until cool and of spreading consistency.
• Spread it now on your cake.

Fudgy Choco Cake

For chocolate lovers, here's another basic/simple recipe, a chocolate cake that is very easy to prepare. Again, prepare the following ingredients:

• 2 cups of unsifted flour, 2 cups white sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. vanilla, 3/4 cup butter or margarine, 1-1/2 cups milk, 3/4 (3oz.) cup melted unsweetened chocolate.

All ingredients should be at room temperature. Here's the procedure:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour pans.
• Put all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl.
• Blend it at low speed until it is moistened, then beat 3 minutes more at a medium speed.
• Por the batter into prepared pans.
• Bake at 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until top springs back when touched lightly at the center.
  

Yummy Butter Cake

Here is a simple recipe of a buttercake that I have tried and it is so easy to do for a beginner. Just gather the following ingredients:

• 3 cups sifted cake flour, 3 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2/3 cup butter or margarine, 1-3/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1-1/4 cups milk

The procedure: See to it that all ingredients are at room temperature.

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees temp.
• Grease and flour two 8-inch round pans.
• In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light, then add eggs and vanilla to the mixture and beat at medium speed until it is well mixed.
• Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Continue beating for a minute.
• Pour into prepared pans.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. --;-@beauteous
  
  

Welcome

Welcome to my blog site!

I have tried and tested some simple but very good recipes of cakes and breads and I decided to share them here with you. There are some cooking and baking tips too that I hope you'll find helpful in your cooking and baking moments.

Thanks for dropping by.

--;@beauteous

(Photo was taken during the baking lesson I gave at the 2004 Summer Camp in Mindanao.)

My first baking lesson

I learned my first baking lesson from my mom. After having her 5th child, she decided to stop working as a librarian in a radio station (the PBS) in Manila - she's actually a pharmacist by profession - and dedicated herself as a full time housewife and mom to us, 6 children.

She then started to learn to bake simple cake recipes like banana cake and butter cake, which according to her reminded her of the cakes that her playmate's mom used to bake. She even made an improvised "fruitcake" recipe using saba - a variety of banana, sweet potatoes, some nuts and raisins, and of course some grape wine added during and after baking which gives the cake a really good savory taste.

I assist her every time she does her baking, and there started my interest to learn more recipes which she later on made me do the baking myself for the family.

(In the photo was me at 1month and 8 days old with my mom in front of her pharmacy in Paranaque)