Carrot pulp muffin

After the last batch of mix fruit pulp muffins turned out tasting a little funny, I decided to stick to just one item pulp for making muffins. Today I started juicing with carrots and managed to get 1.5 cups of carrot pulp. Beautiful orange fluffy pulp!

Summary of recipe:

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celcius.

1. In a mixing bowl, beat

    - 2 eggs

    - a little over 1/2 cup oil (exact is 5/8 of a cup)

    - 1 cup sugar

    - 1 tsp vanilla

2. Mix in

    - 1 cup flour

    - 1 tsp baking powder

    - 1 tsp baking soda

    - 1/4 tsp salt

    - 1 tsp ground cinnamon 

3. Stir in 1 1/2 cups of carrot pulp and 1/4 cup carrot juice.

4. Pour batter into new, clean plastic bag, snip off the corner and pipe into lined muffin tin. Top with walnut pieces or almond flakes. Bake for 30 mins. Makes 12.

Recipe source: http://emilyframe.blogspot.co.nz/2012/09/carrot-pulp-cake.html

Fruit pulp muffin

Recently, we bought a juicer and we've been juicing all kinds of fruits and vegetables. The aim is to stay healthier and at the same time avoid preservatives in store-bought juices. With juicing comes pulps. We've been throwing away the pulps previously; until this week, I could not bear to waste it any more I decided to do something with it. Here goes...

Summary of recipe:

Preheat oven to 200 degree Celcius.
1. Measure the following dry ingredients in a mixing bowl:

• 2 cups plain flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sugar

2. In a separate bowl/cup, mix and stir together the liquids:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil

3. Mix the liquids + 1 cup of fruit pulp into the dry ingredients with a spatula. 

4. Scoop batter into lined muffin pans. Bake for 25 mins or until stick comes out clean.

Recipe source: http://www.minimomist.com/2011/04/orange-juice-and-muffins/

Moist lemon butter cup cake

I harvested a few lemons from the garden yesterday and thought - what better than to make some lemon cup cakes? I still can't forget the lemon swiss roll I got from a tiny Asian bakery in Newmarket in Auckland. Someday I shall attempt that one but meanwhile here goes. This recipe yields really moist cup cakes and with the almond slivers, it adds a nice crunch to the zesty flavor - especially when straight out of the oven! The picture does not do it justice - I should really get my good camera out in the future.

Summary of recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celcius.
2. Use a hand mixer, mixing well with each addition:
• cream 125gm butter + 100gm sugar in low speed until light color.
• add 2 eggs, one at a time
• add 125gm flour + 1 tsp baking powder (sifted together), in three additions.  
• add 1Tbsp milk + 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1 lemon) + lemon rind from 1 lemon
3. Pipe into lined mini muffin pan, top with a sprinkle of almond slivers and bake for 15 minutes. 

Yields 36 mini muffins.

Note: If you are using a regular muffin pan, bake for 30-40 minutes.



Recipe source: http://hearty-bakes.blogspot.com.au/2010_05_01_archive.html

Nutella swirl cup cake

It is my turn to bring treats at work tomorrow and my stove/oven broke down today! Turned out it was a timer start/stop issue when the land lady's son came to fix it. Earlier, C and I had already taken the oven racks and heating coils apart to clean, thinking it could have been all the goo that had caused a short circuit! So as a backup, I used the mini toaster oven I brought over from Singapore. And given the limited size of the mini oven, I made mini cup cakes!

This is a traditional Chinese egg cake（鸡蛋糕）recipe with a Nutella twist. You could say its a soft kueh bahulu. I love how easy it is to make.

Summary of recipe:

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celcius.

1. Beat 2 eggs + 100 gm sugar + small pinch of salt with handheld mixer, medium speed for two minutes.

2. Sift 90gm flour + 1/2tsp baking powder and fold into #1.

3. Stir in 17gm oil until evenly mixed.

4. Scoop or pipe batter into lined mini muffin pan.

5. Pipe a dollop of Nutella on top center of each muffin. Use the tip of a chopstick to swirl the Nutella into the batter*.

6. Bake for 15 mins.

This recipe makes 24 mini cupcakes (~3cm diameter).

*As you can see from the picture below, I totally forgot to swirl the Nutella into the batter! 

Recipe source: http://rasamalaysia.com/mini-egg-cake-recipe/2/

Butter cup cakes

I always love a good butter pound cake. These days I like to make cakes into cupcake size for two reasons - easier to eat and faster bake time. Here's an easy version - no need to separate egg yolks and whites or making/folding egg white meringues. 

Summary of recipe:

1. Preheat oven 165 degree Celsius.

2. Sift together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt.

3. Using a large mixing bowl and hand mixer, cream 230gm softened butter and 1 cup sugar for 5 minutes. 

4. Add 4 eggs - one at a time, mixing for 1 minute after each addition.

5. Add 1 tsp vanilla, mix well.

6. Add in #1 flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time, mix in low speed. 

7. Pour into lined cupcake pan and bake for 35 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. 

This recipe yields 16 cup cakes. Tastes heavenly straight out of the oven!

Recipe source: http://adobodownunder.blogspot.kr/2011/07/perfection-pound-cake.html

Easy banana muffin

This is one of the easiest banana muffins I've made. No need to use the hand mixer and there's only one pot to wash! 

Summary of recipe for 12 (cupcake size) muffins:

1. In a pot, melt and stir together 125gm butter, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla in medium heat. 

2. Remove from heat when melted and mixed.

3. Mash 2 super ripe bananas into pot - mix until just blended.

4. Add 1 egg and mix well.

5. Stir in 1.5 cups self-raising flour*.

6. Stir in 1/4 cup milk.

7. Line cupcake pan and fill each cup 1/3 full, place 3-4 walnut pieces in each cup, then fill until 2/3 full. 

8. Top the batter in each cup with almond slivers. 

9. Bake at 170 degree Celsius for 30 mins or until skewer comes out clean. 

*Self-raising flour substitute:

- 1.5 cups of plain flour + 2 tsp of baking powder

Alternatively, you could bake this is a round or long pan for 40 minutes. Remember to line the pan with parchment or grease proof paper. 

Recipe source: http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/easy-banana-cake-L1581.html