Whole wheat double chocolate banana cake

This is a simple cake that can be baked with the ingredients easily available at home. Usually I bake chocolate cake which is a favorite for my kids at home. This time I added banana to it to add extra moist and soft cake.

How to bake:

1. Peel bananas and cut into small cubes. 

2. In a mixie jar, add sugar and cubed bananas and blend together to form a smooth batter.

3.  In a mixing bowl, add the banana-sugar mixture. To this add coconut oil, vinegar and vanilla and mix well until oil is well combined with other ingredients. 

4. In an another mixing bowl, place a sieve, add whole wheat flour, corn flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sieve it well so that no lumps are there in your dry ingredients. 

5. Mix wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix them well. Don't over mix. Add water and mix them thoroughly.

6. Prepare a pan either by greasing the pan or just lining with parchment paper all sides. Transfer the batter to the loaf pan.

7. Add chocolate chips on the top.  Bake it in a preheated oven at 350F/180C for 35 min. Check out whether it is baked or not by a toothpick test. If inserted in the center comes out clean, it is done. Remove from the oven and cool completely before slicing.

A small video clipping to bake this cake:

Here comes the full recipe:

Makes - 1 9" x 5" loaf.

Ingredients:

Blend:

Banana - 3 large (ripe well)

Turbinado raw sugar - 3/4 cup

Wet ingredients:

Banana puree 

Coconut oil - 1/2 cup

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Vinegar - 1 tsp

Dry ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Corn flour - 2 tbsp

Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Water - 1/2 cup

Chocolate chips - 3 tbsp(for topping)

How to bake:

1. Peel bananas and cut into small cubes. In a mixie jar, add sugar and cubed bananas and blend together to form a smooth batter.

2. In a mixing bowl, add the banana-sugar mixture. To this add coconut oil, vinegar and vanilla and mix well until oil is well combined with other ingredients.

3. In an another mixing bowl, place a sieve, add whole wheat flour, corn flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sieve it well so that no lumps are there in your dry ingredients.

4. Mix wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix them well. Don't over mix.

5. Add water and mix them thoroughly.

6. Prepare a pan either by greasing the pan or just lining with parchment paper all sides.

7. Transfer the batter to the loaf pan. 

8. Add chocolate chips on the top.

9. Bake it in a preheated oven at 350F/180C for 35 min.

10. check out whether it is baked or not by a toothpick test. If inserted in the center comes out clean, it is done. 

11. Remove from the oven and cool completely before slicing.

Note:

1. You can use any flavorless oil other than coconut oil. No groundnut or sesame oil. Use sunflower oil instead.

2. I have used raw cane sugar. You can use any other sugar the same quantity.

coconut flour avocado brownies

Coconut flour is a gluten free flour obtained from dried coconut meat. If you want to make it at home, after extracting coconut milk, you have only the coconut that is soft which you can spread it on a baking tray and bake it at low temperature to dry it. Cool it to room temperature and make a powder.

Ingredients:

Coconut flour - 1/2 cup
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/2 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Avocado - 1 large
Mashed bananas - 1/2 cup
Maple syrup - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 3
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Chocolate chips - 1/3 cup(optional)

How to Bake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.
2. Grease an 8"x 8" pan with a baking spray.
3. In a large bowl, combine coconut flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
4. Add eggs one at a time and mix well using a hand mixer. 
5. In a blender, add avocado, banana, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Blend to a smooth mixture.
6. Add the avocado mixture to the flour mixture and combine well. 
7.  Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth on top.
8. Add chocolate chips on top to garnish or you can combine into the mixture itself.
9. Bake for 25 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and allow it to cool to room temperature.
11. Slice and serve.

Note:

* If you don't have coconut flour, you can substitute almond flour too.

* For maple syrup, you can use honey.

* I use bob's red mill brand coconut flour.

Whole wheat MW mug brownies

Chocolate brownies, simply referred to as brownie, is a square or rectangular baked chocolate baked treat. Brownies can be either in the form of fudge or dense depending upon the recipe. Nuts, cream cheese, chocolate chips can be added to the recipe. If needed, it can be frosted according to your taste buds. The brownie was developed in the US in Palmers House Hotel in Chicago and was popularized in the US. It  is accompanied with milk, can be served warm with ice cream, topped with whipped cream, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or just simply as a fudge.

This recipe is a simple instant brownie that can be baked in microwave and can be quickly served for your kids. I use only healthy ingredients for my baking and here i have tried this brownie in wheat flour.

Here is to make it:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in the bowl itself with a fork or else you can mix all in a small mixing bowl and transfer to a microwave-safe bowl and bake. It can be baked in your microwave-safe coffee mug too.
In a microwave safe bowl, add whole wheat flour, cocoa.

2. To the same bowl, add cane sugar and salt. Mix well with a fork until all are well combined.

3. Now add all the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients we have mixed already in the bowl. Add oil, water, and vanilla extract.

4.  Mix well with the dry ingredients until they are all well combined. Remove fork, and add chocolate chips on the top to garnish for the extra chocolaty flavor or else you can omit it. Place the prepared bowl in the microwave and bake them for about 45 seconds. Open the microwave and check your bowl. If you have water floating on the top, bake again in microwave for about 30 seconds intervals. Remove the bowl from microwave when there is no water is floating on top of the baked brownie.

5. Enjoy your warm brownie.

A small video of the recipe is here:

Here comes the recipe

Makes - 1 small brownie

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - 3 tbsp
Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp
Cane sugar - 3 tbsp
Pinch of salt
Water - 3 tbsp
Coconut oil - 3 tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
Chocolate chips - few(optional)

How to bake it:

1. In a microwave safe bowl, add whole wheat flour, cocoa, sugar and salt. Mix all the dry ingredients in the bowl itself with a fork.

2. Now add all the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add oil, water, and vanilla extract . Mix well with the dry ingredients until they are all well combined.

3. Remove fork, and add chocolate chips on the top to garnish for the extra chocolaty flavor or else you can omit it.

4. Place the prepared bowl in the microwave and bake them for about 45 seconds. Open the microwave and check your bowl. If you have water floating on the top, bake again in microwave for about 30 seconds intervals. Remove the bowl from microwave when there is no water is floating on top of the baked brownie.

5. Cool it for about 10 minutes in the bowl and serve warm with ice cream, or you can grab it as such.

Note:
1. Dont use milk. It doesnt give good results.
2. You can prepare in any MW safe mugs and bowls.
3. Use any flavorless oil of your chice. I prefer coconut oil in baking nowadays.
4. Each MW has different power settings and so timing of baking your brownie may vary.

Lasagna - Indian style

Traditional lasagna is an Italian cuisine and is layered with cheese, spinach or chicken inbetween pasta sheets. I tasted this in one of my friends home with chicken and cheese with indian flavors. So I thought to avoid cheese and try a veggies version of this. This one is a heavy dinner packed with lot of veggies. Kids will love this sure.

Here comes the recipe.

Ingredients: 

Onion - 1 medium

Mushroom - 2 cups

Capsicum - 1 1/2 cups(one color or combo of 3 colors)

Cabbage - 1 1/2 cups

Spinach - 2 1/2 cups

Tomato - 4( make a purée)

Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp

Salt

For temper:

Butter - 2 tbsp

Garlic - 10 pods

Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Red chili flakes - 1 tsp

Oregano - 1/2 tsp

Italian seasoning - 1/2 tsp

For layering:

Butter - 1 tbsp

Lasagna - 1 pack(I used ready to cook pasta sheets)

Eggs-for each layer 2, so for this one I used 8 eggs.

Mozzarella cheese - 100gm/2 cups

How to prepare filling:

1. Chop onion and garlic finely. 

2. Chop the other veggies thin.

3. In a large pan, temper with the ingredients.

4. Add onions, capsicum, mushroom and salt. Mix well, cover and cook for 10 minutes.

5. Add tomato purée, ketchup, spinach and cabbage. Cover and cook it for 10 minutes.

6. Check for salt and spice and cook till it is dry and has no water in it.

7. Remove from flame and keep aside.

How to layer and bake:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F( see notes).

2. Butter a glass dish, I used 13 by 9 pan.

3. Spread a little filling( to avoid pasta sticking in pan)

4. Place lasagna sheets on the top of that.

5. Spread filling evenly on top of the sheet.

6. Beat 2 eggs in a separate bowl and pour it over the filling evenly. Traditional lasagna uses cheese instead of egg. To avoid cheese, I add egg. 

7. Now keep lasagna sheet and repeat the filling and egg alternately.

8. End with egg on top.

9. If you had less filling, then top with cheese.

10. Cover the dish with aluminum foil.

11. Now bake for 25 minutes(or as per instructions in the box).

12. Remove foil after 25 minutes and broil for 5-7 minutes to make cheese becomes golden brown on top.

13. Remove from the oven and rest it for 15 minutes.

14. Cut, serve and taste this yum yum lasagna. 

Notes:

1. Set  the temperature according to your lasagna package. I use ready to cook lasagna pack here. It doesn’t need to be cooked to layer. Alternately traditional lasagna sheets are there. You have to cook it to layer. Choose according to your convenience.

2. You can also add zucchini, beans to the filling.

Cardamom flavored Ghee residue cake

I came across this recipe in a food Facebook group and I can't able to believe that a cake can be baked with the residue of ghee. So I tried to make it and taste how it will be.

Ingredients:

Ghee residue- how much ever comes, I got 2 1/2 tbsp

Cane Sugar-3/4 cup

Milk- 1 cup + little less than 1/4 cup

Fine rava -1 cup

Cardamom pow-1 tsp

Salt-1/4 tsp

Baking soda-1tsp

Slivered almonds-1/4 cup

How to bake:

1. Add sugar to the ghee residue and heat it till sugar dissloves. Remove and when warm add milk.

2. Now in another bowl, mix rava, cardamom n salt.

3. Now add the rava mix to ghee mix and mix well and rest it for 10 min. 

4. Preheat your oven to 350f. 

5. Meanwhile grease a loaf pan. I used 8*4 pan.

6. Now add baking powder to the mixture and mix well.

7. Transfer the batter to loaf pan and top it with almonds.

8. Bake for 40-45 min. 

9. Cool in pan for 5 min. Remove from the pan and cool it completely.

10. Slice, serve and enjoy.

Whole wheat old fashioned butter cake

This recipe is best butter cake for frosting. This recipe says it is a 100 year grandma recipe and it is a keeper definitely for frosting cakes. I tried this recipe with whole wheat flour and the aroma of butter filled the entire house. Do give a try to taste this rich buttery cake for your taste buds.

Adapted from: 

Reeni from cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice

Makes: 2 8” cake or 1 bundt cake

Ingredients needed:

Whole wheat flour-1 1/2 cups

Cane sugar-11/4 cups

Baking powder-1tbsp

Salt-1/2 tsp

Unsalted Butter -1/2 cup

Milk-1cup

Vanilla extract-1tsp

Eggs-2

How to bake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/ 180 C.

2. Grease 2 8” cake pans or bundt pan.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

4. In another bowl, add butter, milk and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes. Don’t skip it.

5. Add both eggs and beat again 2 minutes. 

6. Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake for 

(a). 30-35 minutes for 8” cake pan

(b). 50 minutes for a bundt pan

7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

8. Unmould from the pan and cool completely in a wire rack.

9. Slice and store in a airtight container for 3-4 days.

Whole wheat lemon sour cream loaf with coconut oil

Never knew that a cake can be baked with coconut oil.

And that amazed me to experiment more with this in coming days. 

This is an easy cake baked with coconut oil and sour cream and the entire house is filled with coconut flavor.

Ingredients needed:

Wheat flour-1 cup +2 tbsp

Baking powder- 2 tsp

Salt-1/4 tsp

Cane sugar- 1 cup

Lemon zest- from one lime

Eggs-3

Sour cream-1/2 cup

Coconut oil-1/2 cup

Vanilla extract-1/2 tsp

How to bake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/ 180 C. Line a 8” by 4” loaf pan and set aside.

2. Sieve the dry ingredients together.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk sugar and zest together.

4. Whisk in sour cream, eggs and vanilla.

5. Add the dry ingredients to sour cream mixture and fold in using a spatula.

6. Add in coconut oil and using a spatula fold till it is blended well.

7. Now pour the batter in the prepared tin and bake for 50-55 mins or toothpick inserted into the batter comes out clean.

8. Remove from the oven. Unmould and cool the cake completely to slice and serve.

Store in an airtight container for 3 days.

Bakery style Whole wheat banana choco chip muffins

Adapted from: littlesweetbaker
Makes- 12 jumbo muffins

While googling I came across this muffins which said bakery style muffins. Truly it’s a bakery style muffins with extra sponginess. I substituted whole wheat flour and tried it.

Ingredients to make:

Whole wheat flour- 13/4 cup+2tbsp

Baking powder- 1tbsp

Baking soda- 1tsp

Ground cinnamon- 1tsp

Salt-1/4 tsp

Butter- 1/3 cup, melted

Cane sugar- 11/4 cup

Eggs-2

Vanilla extract- 1tsp

Banana- 4-medium- mashed

Chocolate chips/walnuts- 1/2 cup

How to bake:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F/220 C.

2. Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt for 3-4 Times.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, mashed banana so that it is well combined.

4. Now add the flour and mix it gently.

5. Now pour the batter in muffin tray lined up with liners(I used tulip liners.

6. Top it up with chocolate chips/ walnuts. If needed, you can mix half of them in the batter too.

7. Now bake it in the preheated oven at 425 F/220 C for 5 minutes.

8. Now reduce the temperature to 375 F/190 C while muffins are inside the oven and bake it for 12-15 minutes for normal muffin sizes or 18-20 minutes for jumbo muffins. Mine was done in exactly 19 minutes.

9. Remove from the oven and let them cool in tray for 10 minutes.

10. Unmould from the pan and allow it to cool at room temperature.

11. Serve, eat and enjoy the cuppas. 

Notes:

1. Original recipe calls for milk. I forgot to add it to the recipe. Beyond that also this muffins turned out awesome.

2. Also I added extra banana to the recipe.

Semolina bread/rava bread

Bread using rava/semolina is a bit surprise to me. When I saw few bloggers about this bread, was quite surprised about how the texture and taste of bread will be. Finally decided to bake it one for me on one fine day. To my surprise, it turned out awesome as other bloggers say. Whoever tries to bake bread, try this first to gain a little bit confidence of baking bread at home.

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

 Water - 1 1/2 cups

Instant Yeast -2 tsp

Semolina/rava - 3 1/4 cups - fine variety
Sugar - 1 tbsp
 Extra-Virgin Olive oil (or any other oil) - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp

How to bake bread:

1. If not using instant yeast, proof it by warming water and add sugar and yeast for about 10 min or until frothy.

2. Add everything together in a mixing bowl and mix it well.

3. Now comes the kneading part.

(A).  If using stand mixer, turn on the mixer to medium speed and mix for about 4-5 minutes. At first the dough will be little sticky and after kneading for about 5 min you can see a elastic dough.

(B). If you don’t have a stand mixer, knead the dough using hands for about 10 min as like a chapathi dough until it becomes elastic.

4. Now grease a bowl with oil and transfer your dough into it and close it tightly using a cling wrap or towel and keep it in a warm place for about 1hour or until it doubles in volume.

5. Grease a loaf tin with oil. I used 9”*3” pan.

6.  Now dust some semolina on the kitchen counter. Take the dough out and make it into a rectangle. Make triple fold as a loaf so that it fits your loaf pan and press the seam.

7. Keep the seam side in your loaf pan and cover it with a cling wrap or towel and proof it again for for 45 min to 1 hr.

8. Preheat the oven to 190 C/ 375 F.

9. Place the tin in the middle rack of the oven and bake it for about 35-45 min or your loaf turns deep golden brown on the top and leaves the sides on the pan.

10. Remove the pan from the oven and remove the baked bread and place it in a cooling rack for further cooling.

11. In order for the top of the bread remaining soft, place a wet towel on the loaf and cover it. Leave it to cool completely for about 2 hrs. This step is compulsory to get neat slices.

12. Then slice, serve and enjoy.

Whole wheat chocolate chip cookies- adapted from New York Times chocochip cookies

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour-1 1/2 cup

Baking soda-3/4 tsp

Baking powder-3/4 tsp

Salt-1/2 tsp

Butter-1 1/2 sticks - 3/4 cup

Brown/cane sugar-1 1/4 cup

Eggs-1

Vanilla extract-1 tsp

Chocolate chips- 1 1/2 cups

How to bake:

1. Sieve all the dry ingredients together.

2. Cream butter and sugar till creamy.

3. Add in eggs and mix well.

4. Add in vanilla extract and mix.

5. Now add in the sieved dry ingredients and mix well. Now this becomes a soft dough.

6. Add in chocolate chips and mix it with a spatula.

7. Store this dough in a airtight container in refrigerator for 36 hours.

8. While before starting baking keep the dough outside for 20 minutes.

9. Preheat the oven @350F/180C.

10. Scoop the dough in a cookie scoop and place it in a parchment paper lined cookie sheet in distances. The dough will expand into a big circle and so keep the scoop so that it doesn’t touch each other.

11. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes.

12. Remove from the oven and keep it in tray for 5 minutes and then keep it in a wire rack for further cooling.

13. Keep the next batch of cookies the same way and bake remaining dough.

14. Store it in a airtight container after all the cookies are cool.

Baking spray with wheat flour-Homemade

Whenever we need to bake cakes, we need to coat the tin with butter and add flour, dust it and remove excess flour. It's a big process and to reduce the time i searched for a baking spray.

Baking spray that is available in stores is expensive. And when I searched for the recipe, i got an amazing one from iambaker. That recipe uses all purpose flour and shortening. Now I have replaced with whole wheat flour and butter. I got the same result as of all purpose flour. I am using this spray in all my baking now.

Ingredients needed:

Coconut Oil/Sunflower oil - 1/2 cup

Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup

Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup

How to make it:

1. If coconut oil is frozen, melt it in microwave for 1 min and measure the required quantity.

2. Let butter be in room temperature.

3. In a mixing bowl, add oil, butter and whole wheat flour.

4. Using hand mixer, mix it such that no lumps are formed and the consistency is smooth.

5. Transfer into an airtight container and refrigerate it.

Can be used as a grease for cakes, cupcakes when you don’t need paper for lining them. Don't grease for bread tins.

Note:

* You can use it to grease your tin by taking directly from the fridge. No need to cool to room temperature.
* If using coconut oil, you don't need to freeze it. Coconut oil will be frozen if it is kept in fridge.
* If you use sunflower oil, oil will be settled down if you don't use for a long time. At that time use a spoon to mix it in the container and then grease your tin.
* Can be stored for nearly 1 year.
* If you are baking occasionally, then take lesser quantity ingredients such that all measurements are equal.

One bowl whole wheat banana choco chip muffins

One bowl whole wheat banana choco chip muffins

How to make buttermilk at home

If a recipe asks for buttermilk in baking, it is easy to prepare at home.

What I need:

Milk-1 cup

Lemon juice/Vinegar-1 tsp

Makes - 1 cup

How to prepare:

To room temperature boiled milk just add lemon juice and stir. Rest it for 10 minutes. You will see curdles of milk. That's it. Done. You can straight away use them which calls for buttermilk in baking recipes. 

Whole wheat chocolate cake

Whole wheat chocolate cake:

Inspired to bake this from: http://sumodtomzcuisines.com

Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat Flour, sifted - 2 cup & 2 tbsp
• Cocoa Powder - 1/3 cup
• Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
• Baking Soda - 11/2 tsp
• Powdered sugar - 2 cup
• Salt - 3/4 tsp
• Butter - 1 cup
• Eggs - 6 large
• Milk - ½ cup
• Sour cream - 1 cup 
• Vanilla extract - 2 1/2 tsp
• 
  

How to bake:

1. Let all the ingredients are at room temperature. 
2. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C/350 degree F. Prepare two 9" round cake pans by greasing and flouring the pan.
3. Sieve together all the dry ingredients. 
4. whisk in the sour cream and add in milk to make a smooth cream.
5. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until it is soft and fluffy.
6. Add eggs one at a time and continue to beat by scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl. The mixture will be soft and fluffy.
7. Now add the vanilla extract and mix well.
8. Start adding the flour mixture alternating with the milk and sour cream mix, little at a time. Gently fold in the mixture using a spatula until the flour is fully mixed with the butter, sugar and eggs. Do not over mix. 
8. If the batter is too thick, add 1 tablespoon of milk at a time and fold the mixture. Batter should fall like a ribbon when poured.
9. Divide the batter into 2 pans and bake at 180 C for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean and dry.
10. Remove the cake from the oven and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
11. Unmold the cake from the baking tin and let it cool completely. Slice the cake with a serrated bread knife and store it in an airtight container. 

How to prepare sour cream: 
To prepare sour cream at home, mix equal parts of hung curd and thick cream and leave it overnight. 

How to flavor the cake:

You can flavor the cake by adding 2 tablespoons of strong coffee decotion, if u really like coffee flavor.

Pumpkin Pound Cake - For Blog Hop Wednesdays

This week for blog hop I was supposed to cook from Deepali of Confusion Cook. She has a simple but beautiful space. I decided to bake her banana pound cake with some modifications. I had pumpkin at home. So I decided to replace pumpkin instead of banana.




 
Original recipe is here.

Ingredients:

Sifted Cake flour - 1 3/4 cup [ See Note ]

Butter - 1/2 cup

Eggs - 2

Sugar - 1 cup

Pumpkin puree - 1 1/4 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 3/4 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp 

Cinnamon powder/ Pumpkin Spice - 1/4 tsp


Preparation:

1. Sieve the dry ingredients thrice and keep it aside.

2. Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract and mix well.

3. Add one egg each at a time and beat well for 1 min.

4. Add 3 tbsp flour at a time and fold in.

5. Add pumpkin puree and stir well.

6. Grease a baking tray and bake at 180 deg C for 40 - 45 min. My oven took 40 min exactly.




7. Cool, Invert and serve.

 






Notes:

1). Cake flour is:

Maida - 1 cup

Corn flour - 2 tbsp

Remove 2 tbsp maida and add cornflour 2 tbsp and sift it. This is cake flour.

2). To make pumpkin puree at home:

Remove seeds and skin of pumpkin. Cut into cubes,

Grind well in a mixie. Pumpkin puree is ready.

You can use this puree for halwa preparation too and no need to grate pumpkin.