Chocolate Banana Cupcakes

Pardon my disappearance.  We went away to Malacca on a short trip and prior to that, DH was on business trip.  During his absence, there were literally no time to think of him, until he sms-ed at night to tell me he won't be online for he has some other matters to attend to.  He was away for a week but we never spoke nor chat online.  Imagine how busy I was, to not remember my very own husband while he was away.

My kids love bananas especially DS2 and DD3.  The strange thing is, they will ask for bananas when they are at my inlaws but when I actually buy a bunch for them, no one eats them.  I always end up with several over-ripen bananas which I either freeze to make ice cream (I'll blog about that another day) or I turn them into cakes.

  

Using my regular banana cake recipe here (a very popular recipe by Yochana), I decided to give it a twist and added some cocoa powder and replaced whipping cream/evaporated milk/fresh milk with buttermilk.

On a side note, I simply cannot understand why some bloggers post recipes copied from somewhere, change the method slightly or reduce the recipe by 1/2 and call it theirs.  No one in particular for I've seen too many such cases.  I think the least they should do is to give credit to the originator and indicate the modifications made. Gorgeous looking pictures, great write-up but I think it is unethical, so nothing else matters.  I don't know how many people I'm going to offend here but I just need to say my piece.

Enough of my rantings, presenting to you a moist and fluffy chocolate banana cake :-)

I'm a no big fan of banana cake but I love how this turned out, moist and fluffy, minus the artificial flavours from store bought.  Sis E doesn't eat banana cakes for they are ladled with strong banana essence which is totally artificial.  I hope to get a chance to bake this for her.

I'm submitting this to Aspiring Bakers # 5: Fruity March (March 2011) hosted by bakericious.

Banana Cake
Ingredients
180g butter
100g fine sugar
2  large eggs - beaten lightly
240g cake flour (I used plain flour, removed 1 tablespoon and replaced with corn flour)
10g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
220g over-riped bananas - mashed
50g buttermilk (I used milk + 1/2 tsp lemon juice and let it stand for 15 mins)
chopped walnuts (optional)

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar till light and creamy.
2. Pour in eggs gradually and beat till creamy.
3. Add in buttermilk, mashed bananas and banana essence and mix well.
4. Add in cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and beat for a while only.
5. Pour into cupcake casings/muffin cups, and arrange chopped walnuts on top.
6. Bake at 170C for 20 - 30 mins or until cooked.