Chocolate Walnut Bread

Chocolate Walnut Bread

Ever since we got a bread machine, I've been playing with ingredients so that we're not eating the same old bread every single day.  Add in some cocoa powder and walnuts, and out comes a chocolate walnut bread :)

Banana Muffins

It was at the end of a very tiring day that I baked these banana muffins.... therapeutic baking, that's what I call it.  Some time back, big one had lots of painful ulcers in his mouth, so we bought bananas to freeze and make banana milkshake to help numb the pain.  Apparently it still hurt a lot, and big one just refused to drink any  more after a few sips.  So I was left with lots of really ripe bananas.

This recipe calls for mixing the dry and wet ingredients separately, then combining them. Really quick and easy.

Ingredients A
2 cups flour
1/4 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (can be replaced with chocolate chips)


Ingredients B
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup mashed banana

1. Mix all of ingredients A together
2. Mix all of ingredients B together
3. Mix B into A until combined
4. Pour into lined muffin tin and bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes.  Makes 12 regular sized muffins

Banana muffins

Dinosaur Cupcakes

My big one requested for a dinosaur cake.  As the YouTube video only showed how to decorate the cake, I went in search for recipes for both the cake as well as the frosting.  I even went to raid my Mum's well stocked baking equipment cabinet(s) and brought home a few cake tins.  However, the icing bag with different tips that I remember using as a kid was no where to be found.

After lots of thought, I decided to abandon the dinosaur cake... What if the cake doesn't turn out right? What if the icing is horrible?  Assuming I'm successful, how will I bring the cake to big one's school?  Yes, yes, as you can see, I'm a worrier type...

So, I planned something different.  It still involved dinosaurs, and if it failed, I wouldn't feel so bad about wasting (throwing away) everything I was going to make.  Here's my plan: cupcakes with dinosaur decoration!

Step 1: Make chocolate dinosaurs

Chocolate Dinosaurs

Step 2: Make cupcakes

Vanilla cupcakes

Step 3: Make icing and ice

Iced cupcake

Step 4: Top with dinosaurs!

Dinosaur cupcakes!!

Note: Cupcake and icing recipe can be found here

Big one was very happy to see these when he came home from school!!  A few days later, there was only one dinosaur cup cake left but big one kept saying he didn't want to eat it.  Why?  "I want to keep it for my birthday!", he said.

"Don't worry, you can eat it.  I'll make more of this again for your birthday".  (Birthday is a few months away) *tired but happy Mummy*