Chocolate and Banana Cake

I'm still on the hunt for a banana cake recipe that actually works. I think I may have found one though...

Here's the latest attempt! I've made two so far using this recipe and BOTH have worked. No soggy mass in the middle, no burnt crust, hurrah!

I'm guessing (I can't quite remember) that it was in a sainsbury's magazine or recipe book or something. I photographed the page to see if the recipe worked. Here it is.

• 175g plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
• 125g unsalted butter, melted
• 150g golden caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 275g very ripe bananas (weighed without skin: approx 3 small bananas), mashed
• 150g dark chocolate, chopped (the recipe said cut into 1/2cm chunks but I used about a third of that amount, and chopped it very finely because Ben doesn't like big lumps of chocolate in his cake. He likes the flavour though.)

1. Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan) Gas 4. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.
2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and bicarb.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the melted butter and caster sugar until blended. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the vanilla extract and banana.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing well after each addition, then stir through the chopped chocolate. Pour into the loaf tin and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour. When it's cooked a skewer (or knife) inserted into the centre should come out clean, apart from melted chocolate. Leave in the tin to cool.

(NB I don't trust my oven, so I cooked it at 170C or so for an hour then turned the temp down to 160C for another half an hour. It was cooked by then. The previous cake I cooked at 180C for an hour and it wasn't cooked in the middle, and the top was crunchy so the temp got turned down for another half hour again.)

Casserole

Makes enough to feed 2, three times. Freezes well.

Ingredients
1lb beef chuck steak, diced (or about 1lb of whatever meat you fancy)
1 brown onion, diced
3 big carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 smallish swede, peeled and chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
3 or 4 medium turnips, peeled and chopped smallish
A handful mushrooms, quartered if big
(A cooking apple, peeled and diced if using pork)
Water
Seasoning (salt, pepper, dried mixed herbs)
Gravy granules

Useful to use a big hob-to-oven casserole dish if you have one, otherwise use a big frying pan/wok and work in batches.

Turn oven to about 170C or equivalent.

Fry the onion off gently on a medium heat, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat up and add the meat, season well, and cook quickly browning on all sides as quickly as possible to seal the juices in. Turn the heat off, add all the rest of the chopped veg except the mushrooms (and except the apples, if using) and mix up. Add water to just cover the veg, add the mushrooms and more seasoning if wanted.

Cover with foil and a lid, and transfer to the oven to cook slowly for at least 3 hours.


About 20 minutes before you want to serve, turn the oven up to 200C, take the casserole out, uncover, add enough gravy granules as if you were making about 3 pints of gravy (lots!) stir well, return to oven and add dumplings if you want.

Chilli

Makes.... enough for 6. Roughly. Or 8 if you're not so hungry.

I used:

1 onion, diced
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 red pepper (or 3 fresh red chillies) (or a combination, or both), deseeded and roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, halved
500g lean minced beef
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 tins chickpeas, drained
1 tin red kidney beans in chilli sauce
marmite
dried oregano
worcestershire sauce
dark/plain chocolate (a couple of squares)
salt
lemon juice
olive oil

(I also fried sausages for my lunch and used the fat from cooking them instead of olive oil. Very unhealthy. But it made the frying onions smell FABULOUS.)

Gently fry the finely diced onions, seasoned with salt and lemon juice, in the fat or oil for about 10 minutes while you peel, chop and pulse the carrots, celery, chillies, red pepper and garlic in a food processor. Add the pulverised vegetables to the pan and cook gently for another 15 minutes or so.

Turn up the heat and add the minced beef. Season with oregano, marmite, worcestershire sauce, chocolate, salt and pepper and brown the mince off quickly.

Add the tomatoes, chickpeas and kidney beans and mix well. Reduce the heat to its lowest, cover, and simmer gently while you cook some rice.



This recipe freezes well and is a great way of making 500g mince go a long way. It's also low-GI from the inclusion of all those vegetables and the chickpeas and kidney beans.

Serve with brown rice and grated cheese.

Chocolate chip and banana cake

Previous Recipe......

•  
• 190 g plain flour
• 135 g white sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 225 g mashed bananas
• 1 egg
• 115 g unsalted butter, melted
• 60 ml milk
• 125 g plain chocolate chips (I used a bar of plain cooking chocolate, chopped up)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, egg, melted butter and milk.
4. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until blended. Be careful not to over mix.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. (It will have some melted chocolate, but no crumbs.)

I followed this recipe (taken from here) last night to use up a couple of ageing bananas. In the end it took all night to cook it: I cooked it with the oven on for nearly an hour, then just turned the oven off and left it in there overnight. Pretty easy recipe to follow, and manageable in an evening.

Yummy :)

Carrot and Orange Cupcakes

225g / 8oz caster sugar
3 eggs
200ml / 7 fl oz vegetable oil
grated rind and juice of 1 orange
225g / 8oz self-raising wholemeal flour
1 tsp ground cinanmon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
pinch of salt
350g / 12oz grated carrot, squeezed dry
175g / 6oz walnuts, chopped (I used pecan nuts)

Oven: 180C

Makes 12 large muffins (get your bun tin lined with cases ready)

Beat the sugar, eggs, oil, orange rind and juice together until light and frothy. Stir in the flour, spices and salt and beat for a further minute. Stir in the nuts and carrots.

Fill the prepared cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until the cakes are firm in the centre. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.



Cream cheese frosting:
140g/ 5oz softened butter
225g / 8oz cream cheese
225g-250g / 8-9oz icing sugar

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until thoroughly blended, soft and creamy. Gradually beat in the icing sugar until the mixture is smooth, with a spreadable consistency.

Chicken Pie

Pastry - use 150g self-raising flour, 75g fat

Pie filling:
2 chicken breasts, diced and floured
handful sprouts, sliced
handful baby carrots, sliced
packet baby button mushrooms, sliced
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
100g philadephia
teaspoon wholegrain mustard
tablespoon flour
about 75ml milk, boiled, plus boiling water to make up to about 300ml, plus 2 chicken stock cubes

Oven: 180C

Heat a large frying pan or wok with a tablespoon of olive oil, over a medium heat. Add the garlic and  swirl around quickly. Just as they start turning brown, add the floured diced chicken. Turn the heat up and stir to seal the chicken on all sides - you may need to add some water to stop things sticking (don't add any more oil). Once the chicken is sealed add the rest of the vegetables and stir fry for a few minutes.

Next add the philly, flour, stock and mustard and stir until the philly is no longer a big sticky lump. Cover and cook for 10 minutes (while you peel the potatoes for the accompanying mash).

Roll out the pastry that you made before you started cooking (!), pour the pie filling into a dish (mine is about 10" square I think) and cover with the pastry. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes until the pastry is cooked.

Serve with mashed potato. And green beans if you remember to cook them. (Which I forgot.)

Garlic Mushroom Stuffed Red Peppers

Ingredients
6 red peppers, halved lengthways and de-seeded
breadcrumbs made from 6 slices white bread, lightly toasted (alright, dried out in the toaster)
3 large flat mushrooms, chopped
3 cloves garlic
half a cup strong cheddar, grated; plus extra for topping
2 eggs
quarter cup of milk (as necessary)
olive oil and butter
salt and pepper

Instructions
Heat the oven to about 180C.
Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the pepper halves on the sheet, open side up.
Fry the mushrooms until tender in the butter and oil (butter for flavour, and oil because butter burns); drain on kitchen paper. Fry the garlic in a little more oil until just turning golden brown.
Combine the breadcrumbs, mushrooms, garlic and cheese in a mixing bowl. Add the eggs and as much milk is needed to make a useable stuffing mix.
Distribute the stuffing between the pepper halves, and top with a little extra cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for a further 20 minutes.