Super Moist Honey Cake

 

Here's a super moist cake for you all.

It's actually a quick bread, but it is extra moist and tender, almost like a cupcake:)

As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make it.

It's not the prettiest thing in the world, but I can tell you that you'll want to bake it over and over again!

Basically, it's a spice cake, but with a surprise of a distinctive honey flavor.

The honey taste is definitely there, which is perfect for me because I adore honey.

I was planning to have these with a drizzle of honey, but I don't even think that was necessary!

These are perfect for breakfast, a quick snack, or even as a dessert.

 

Super Moist Honey Cake
makes one 9x5" loaf
Recipe adapted from SmittenKitchen
Ingredients*
1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1/6 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/6 teaspoon ground cloves
1/6 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/6 cup (2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons) brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup warm coffee
1/6 cup (2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons) fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon rye or whiskey ( I just used water - worked fine!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Generously grease 9x5" loaf pan with baking spray.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Make a well in the center and add oil, honey, both the sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee, orange juice, and ryr or whiskey (or water). I have learnt from this recipe that if you meaure the oil first, then the honey, the honey will slide out beautifully without leaving any sticky bits behind! With an electric mixer on low speed, stir together all the ingredients until well combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake springs back when you gently touch the center, about 45 to 55 minutes. Let the cake stand for 15 minutes before removing from pan.

*I know the ingredients measurements are a little strange, and that's because I divided the original recipe by three! If you want to, you can bake 3 loaves with the following amounts:
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup olive oil
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup rye or whiskey

 

 

 

Super moist banana snack cake

I don't usually make the same recipe more than once, because I like variety, but this is one of the very, very, few recipes that I call my "go-to" recipe. 

These are bomb.

They are the most tender banana breads you will ever have.

So tender that I called it a cake rather than a bread.

They have a wonderful, deep banana flavor, and literally, they MELT IN YOUR MOUTH.

Oh, and you wanna know something even better?

They freeze beautifully.

Simply wrap each piece in plastic wrap, freeze 'em, and thaw in the refrigerator when you feel like snacking! 

20 seconds in the microwave is all it takes for a "freshly baked" banana cake :)

 

Super Moist Banana Snack Cake
recipe from Cooking light
serves 12
Ingredients:
6 3/4 oz all-purpose flour (about 1 1/2 cups - spooned and leveled)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
3/4 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 1/2 medium bananas)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used safflower)
1 large egg, lightly beaten.
cooking spray
1/2 cup cool whip (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.
In a small bowl, combine yogurt, banana, oil, vanilla and egg; stir until well blended. Add yogurt mixture to the flour mixture in the large bowl, stirring just until moist.
Pour the batter into a 9-inch square metal baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan 10 minutes on wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. Serve with whipped topping, if desired. (Since the cake was so moist and tender, I found that it didn't even need a topping!)

See how tender that is?

Rosy Apple Tart

My view of apples have changed so many times during my life.

At first, when I was about 3 years old, apples were like 'my dad's fruit', because he used to pick apples for me and my sister from apple trees every weekend. We would eat them on the spot, dripping apple juice all over ourselves, munching them down happily. 

Then, I started to like strawberries, and my love for apples slowly diminished. I thought apples were too hard, and my mom insisted on eating the peels as well, even though I hated them. 

But then I came to America, and I discovered millions of different varieties of apples that I could buy, and I was amazed. 

Gala, fuji, honeycrisp, grannysmith, red delicious...

It was ridiculous! (in a good way)

So I just HAD to try all the apples that I could find in stores, and I started to love apples again! Fuji apples are by far my favorite apples to snack on, and honeycrisp apples for baking.

Then there was a time when I was obsessed about restricting myself from sugar because I found out that my grandfather had diabetes, so I simply didn't eat any fruits at all, except tomatoes (is that a fruit?). 

But now, I LOVE fruits! I still try not to overeat them, but I tend to use them a lot for baking, and apples are especially versatile, so they're back on my 'like' list again:)

This rosy apple tart tastes just as good as it looks. I'm sure a lot of you will be able to make it way prettier than mine, and mine's not exactly perfect, but you get the idea, right?

It's supposed to resemble a rose garden, the rolled apple peels being the roses, and the chopped pistachios being the umm... green background:)

Anyways, I had a little trouble with the roses, so it didn't turn out as beautiful as I had hoped it would, but it tasted DIVINE, and that was enough for me. For now. 

Oh, FYI, this is tart doesn't have the best crust in the world, but it works for me. It's more like a crumbly crust rather than a flaky one, so you might want to use another tart shell recipe if you like flaky crusts.

Rosy Apple Tart
makes 1 9-inch tart
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
40g/1.5 oz ground almonds (almond flour)
100g/3.5 oz cake flour
40g/1.5 oz powdered sugar
1/3 tsp baking powder
60g/2 oz unsalted butter

1/2 egg


For the Almond Filling:
160g/5.7 oz ground almonds
110g/3.5 oz powdered sugar
120g/4 oz unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2-3 drops vanilla essence


For the Apple filling:
2-3 large apples, peeled without breaking, peels reserved
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup granulated sugar


For the Roses:
4 large apples 
1 cup salted and roasted pistachios, in shell, coarsely chopped
1/4 of Almond Filling


Directions:
For the crust:
In a large bowl, or in a food processor, combine flour, ground almonds, powdered sugar, and baking powder, or pulse a few times. Put in butter and eggs into bowl or food processor, and cut into the flour with two knifes or a pastry blender, or pulse until mixture forms a ball. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours in refrigerator. 
Roll chilled dough into a 10-inch circle and fit into the tart pan. Prick many holes in the bottom with a fork, and bake in a preheated 320F oven for 20 minutes.
Let cool completely.
For the Almond Filling:
Cream butter with powdered sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer. Gradually add eggs and egg yolks, and beat in vanilla essence. Stir in ground almonds with a spoon or a  spatula. Reserve 1/4 of the filling in a ziploc bag, for garnish.
For the Roses:
Halve 6 apples (including the ones for the filling AND the roses) horizontally. Peel apples with a paring knife, peeling around the apples without breaking it. Lay them out nice and long on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350F oven for 4 minutes. Cut off small corner of the ziploc bag and pipe reserved almond filling along the apple peels.
Roll them up to make them look like roses, and secure with rubber bands. 
For the Apple Filling:
Chop apples (they should be already peeled, since you made the roses with them) finely and toss with the rest of the apple filling ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until softened.
To finish:
Spread almond filling on cooled tart shell. Spread the apple filling on top. Arrange the roses on the apples after taking the rubber bands off; press down to secure. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 30-35 minutes.
Sprinkle chopped pistachios on top to make a green garden.


Slice and enjoy!

The Moistest Blueberry Crumb Cake.. EVER.

I love Martha Stewart's recipes. 

Her recipes almost always guarantee success, so I browse her website practically everyday. Once I start browsing, I just can't stop. The list seems to go on forever, and there are loads of creative recipes that I've never even thought of.

But of course, there are plenty of classic ones that bring me a feeling of 'home, sweet, home', and this blueberry crumb cake is definitely one of them.

This cake is the yummiest, the moistest, and the most tender crumb cake I have ever baked. 

Usually, when I bake things in a square pan, the edges become a little firmer than the inside, but this cake is moist and tender right until the very edge of it. When I hold it in my hands, they kind of feel marshmallow-y and very soft, and they almost fall apart because of their tenderness. The streusel crumbs on top have a very slight crunch, but they're still on the softer side. And they don't even have a lot of butter in them! But don't get me wrong. It is NOT over-tender.

I have tried this recipe 3 times, each with cherries, blueberries, and peaches, and all of them turned out absolutely amazing. This is going into my 'best recipes' file, and I highly recommend you try it out too:)

Blueberry Crumb Cake

recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1+1/2 cup all purpose flour

1+1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1+1/2 cup fresh blueberries

1 tsp all purpose flour (for coating blueberries)

For the Streusel Topping:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch square pan with parchment paper.

For the Streusel Topping:

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter with your hands or a pastry blender until large, moist crumbs form. Chill. 

For the Cake:

Combine milk and lemon juice.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a large bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar with and electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg; beat well. Add flour mixture and milk mixture alternately until just combined. In a large bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tsp of flour. Fold into the batter; spoon into prepared pan.

Sprinkle cake with streusel topping. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Let cool completely. Cut into squares.

Enjoy!