Oh... What a monstrous looking cake!

Does the cake looked scary? My hubby said it looked worse than a person full of acne. Ouch!.... But this cake tasted great! Especially when hot. Even after putting in the fridge and eating it cold. Of course, I don't recommend you to eat it cold. It's best eaten fresh from the steamer. My hubby doesn't like cold food. As for his comment, I am quite used to it. The food I produce usually taste good but don't look good.

Anyway, I was playing around with steaming cakes again. This time a bigger portion just to see whether the cake would raise. I was trying to do an upside down cake with no added sugar. Probably a little too ambitious... heheheh...

Sugarless Blueberry Banana Cake 

Below is the recipe for blueberry banana cake. Yes it's blueberry banana cake again but a larger portion.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour + extra for coating fruits 
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp milk
• 4 tbsp oil (any flavourless oil, I used EVOO)
• pinch of salt
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• 2 big ripe banana (mashed) + extra banana cut longitudinally for upside down cake
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1 cup fresh blueberries 

Procedure:-

1. Set up the steamer and boil the water over medium high heat
2. Whisk the flour, baking soda in a big bowl using fork for about 20 - 30 times. 
3. Then beat the egg in a separate bowl. Add in milk , oil , orange juice and salt and whisk together
4. Grease the baking tray  ( I used a deep dish instead and olive oil to grease)
5. Coat the longitudinally cut banana and some blueberries with extra plain flour
6. Line the bottom of the baking tray with the coated fruits
7. Combine the two mixture (pt2 and pt3)and mixed till fully incorporated.
8. Fold in the blueberries and mashed  banana mix.
9. Pour the batter into baking tray.Load them into steamer (make sure the water is boiling) and steam for 30-45 min (depending on size of the steam cake)
10. Use a toothpick or skewer to test whether the cake is ready.
11. Once it's done, take the cake out and allow to cool.

If you do not want to do upside down cake, you can omit step 5 and 6. I got to know later that in order for fruits not to stuck on the tray, it is better to grease with butter and or covered with sugar.

Then how on earth did my cake got this monstrous appearance? I reserved some blueberries and added on top of my batter after I poured in. Strange thing to do, but I was playing with my food, you see.

My upside down cake was stuck onto the dish! 

Still taste great despite the look of the cake

Conclusion and Tips:

1. If you are making a cake bigger then the size of a cupcake, don't put topping. It'll probably end up ugly. 
2. If you are making upside down cake, coat the bottom of tray with butter or sugar.

I would probably try to make another upside down cake but not so soon. Been eating too much cakes recently. This cake was done 2 weeks ago. I had just made another 2 batches of steamed cakes today.

Making of mini cashew blueberry banana cakes for mommy!

I told my mom that I am into steaming cakes recently and promised to make her some sugarless ones.
Knowing my mom couldn't take hard food like nuts anymore, I told her I would grind them into powder and make them into cakes.
I am all set to make the mini cakes. This is a healthier choice as I have omitted sugar and oil. All these are substituted by natural ingredients. Sugar substituted by banana and blueberries.Oil by cashew nuts. I have done some internet searching, I seemed to be the only one using cashews as an oil substitution for cakes. I am not sure whether it will work but just do a trial and error. It works! And the greatest news of all is that my mom enjoys it! =)

Very own cashew blueberry banana cake

Sugarless Cashew Blueberry Banana Cake (No added oil/ fats)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (75g) all purpose flour
• ½  tsp. baking soda 
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp. milk
• 1 big ripe banana or 2 small ones
• 12 roasted cashewnuts
• handful of blueberries (at most 1 ½  handful)
• 1 tsp vinegar

Procedure:-

homogeneous cashew nut and banana

1. Blend the cashew nuts to powder. Add in the banana and blend till homogeneous. Set aside.
2. Set up the steamer and boil the water over medium high heat
3. Whisk the flour, baking soda in a big bowl using fork for about 20 times. 
4. Then beat the egg in a separate bowl. Add in milk and vinegar and whisk together
5. Combine the two mixture and mixed till smooth.
6. Fold in the blueberries and cashew nuts +  banana mix.
7. Scoop the batter into the 4 prepared foil/ramekins cups that are lined with paper liners , load them into steamer (make sure the water is boiling) and steam for 10 min (depending on size of the steam cake, it can be anywhere between 8 min to 15 min)
8. Use a toothpick or skewer to test whether the cakes are ready.
9. Once it's done, take the cakes out and allow to cool.

Now you have your very own cashew blueberry banana cake! Enjoy!

Not giving up!!! I want to make sugarless banana walnut cake!

I failed to make the carrot, pumpkin cake for my girl. Nevertheless, I am not giving up and I am trying something new. Steaming on a frying pan! This is not my idea actually. I got this idea when I read Nami's  Just One Cookbook, she was steaming cakes in it. So I thought of doing the same. If you are into sugarless cake, you may want to try the below recipe. Otherwise, you may want to add 2 tablespoon of sugar when you are beating the egg.

Steaming cakes in a frying pan

Sugarless Banana Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (75g) all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda 
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup of yogurt
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 big ripe banana or 2 small ones ( I used 1 small one and the cake is not sweet)
• handful of chopped baked walnut

Below method is to prepare for 4 mini steamed cakes

Ingredients

Procedure:-

My batter

1. Chopped the walnuts. 
2. Set up the frying pan and boil the water over medium high heat.
3. Mash the bananas.
4. Whisk the flour, baking soda in a big bowl using fork for about 20 times. Otherwise sift them.
5. Then beat the egg in a separate bowl. Add the oil and yogurt and whisk them together.
6. Combine the two mixture and fold in the mashed banana and chopped walnuts. You may want to reserve 4 pieces of walnut to decorate the top of your cakes
7. Spoon the batter into the 4 prepared foil/ ramekins cups that are lined with paper liners
8. Put one chopped walnut onto each cup batter.  
9. Place all 4 foils/ ramekin cups into frying pan (make sure the water is boiling) and steam for 10 min (depending on size of the steam cake, it can be anywhere between 8 min to 15 min)
10. Use a toothpick or skewer to test whether the cake is ready.
11. Once it's done, take the cakes out and allow to cool.

Steaming in a frying pan, I can see through the glass cover

Well, one reason for using the frying pan is that I can see through the glass cover whether the cakes are rising. I was quite amazed and worried when I saw my aluminium foils cups 'swimming/ floating' around the pan. I kept thinking, will it work or will it fail? I was practically over the moon when the cakes did rise. 

Although the cake is not sweet at all (I used 1 small banana then), my girl loves it. I probably try to make again the carrot / pumpkin cake, but with lesser quantity of ingredient and more baking soda.

My steamed cakes

Noticed I didn't line 2 of the aluminium foil. I am testing out whether is there any difference in steaming with or without cake liner. It seemed that there is not much difference in size.

I am still trying to figure out why the cake sort of sucken after it is taken out of the pan.

Note: do be careful when steaming this way, I had put too much water once and the boiled water went into the cakes!