Banana Muffins + Banana Loaf Cake

* My 1st post! Date: 17 May 2011 *

Made by my 13-year-old boy in school for test - all squashed & flattened in his lunch box!

My boy needed a good muffin recipe for a Home Economics test, and I tested a number before finding this really easy & fool-proof one!
Recipe adapted from here, and also recommended here: http://bits-of-taste.blogspot.com/2009/10/banana-muffins.html.  Although it's hard to tell from the pic, the muffins turned out quite well, moist & fluffy, with a strong & yummy banana fragrance even though no essence was used.

Apparently the trick to fluffy muffins is to fold the flour mix (preferably cake flour) into the wet mix really quickly in a few folds and not worry about leaving some flour pockets. This is because over-mixing will result in a much denser, tougher muffin.

Preparation Time: 15 Minutes
Baking Time: 25 - 30 Minutes
Makes 12 Muffins

Ingredients A
1.5 cups plain flour (or cake flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
Optional: 1/2 tsp mixed spice

Ingredients B
3 large, ripe bananas
1/2 cup raw sugar (white is ok too)
1 egg
1/3 cup salted butter, melted (about 2cm slice from our regular block)
Optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla essence & 1/4 cup dried fruit/nuts

Method
1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line muffin tins with paper cases.
2. Sift (A) & set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mash the bananas well, then mix in the rest of (B) till smooth.
4. Fold in (A) briefly just to moisten. Do not overmix!
5. Spoon batter into 12 muffin tins up to 90% full.
6. Bake in pre-heated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Insert a toothpick into a muffin. If it comes out dry, muffins are done! Remove from oven and cool muffins on a rack.

NB: For the impatient, muffins can be microwaved too: 4 - 6 at a time for 2m20sec. The results are not bad - soft & spongy. However, you'll not get the nice golden top, fragrance and "caramelization" that the oven achieves.

Baked vs Microwaved Muffins

Banana Cake

I also tried a banana cake recipe I found on wensdelight.blogspot.com - it yielded a soft & spongy loaf. Simplified recipe:

Ingredients A
1 Cup cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt

Ingredients B
3 eggs (at room temperature)
1/2 Cup sugar (less than original recipe)
1/2 Cup corn oil
2 large, very ripe Dole bananas - mashed (about 200g)

Method

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line a 8" round tin or 8"x4" loaf tin with baking paper (at least the bottom, so it's easy to get the cake out).

Sift Ingredients A. If using a coarse sieve, sift 2 - 3 times otherwise you may get little pockets of flour in baked cake. Set this aside.

Beat Ingredients B till thick, fluffy & light-coloured. Fold in Ingredients A using a large spatula or by hand.

Bake for 40 - 45 mins or until the top is a rich brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out dry. Cool in tin for 5 minutes before  cake tout on rack to cool.

Note: I'm not 100% happy with this recipe cos I've eaten banana cakes that are even lighter & tastier. If I were to do this again, I'd reduce to 2 eggs & add 1/4 C kefir/buttermilk instead, plus a little mixed spice.