Preheat the oven to 200C (F) or higher, wrap 3 large & ripe bananas in foil & roast for 20-30 minutes until it feels mushy. This intensifies the flavour of the banana in the end product. Set aside to cool before using.
Preheat oven to 180C(350F). Line 6 jumbo muffin pans with jumbo muffin liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, salt & sugar.
Add in the roasted bananas, mash it up with the whisk till uniform then add in the oil, egg and vanilla. Gently using the whisk, stir together till everything is just combined – do not over mix or your banana bread will be tough.
Portion between the 6 muffin liners – I used an average ice cream scoop for this.
Use your fingers to crumble up one cookie over each muffin – you want it rustic and rough for texture of the cookies like a chunky crumble.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until a knife inserted to the center comes out with moist crumbs, but not wet.
Best when hot from the oven, or kept chilled and airtight and served at room temperature or warmed in an oven.
Whisk in a sachet of strong coffee powder (use more if you want the flavour even more) into the warm milk.
Make sure the temperature is tepid (feels neither hot or cold but about body temperature – should feel neutral to you) before whisking in the active dry yeast.
Set it aside while you prepare the other ingredients, so that it has time to activate and froth up.
In your mixer bowl, combine butter, sugar, salt & egg.
Begin to mix with dough hook on med-low speed, while you stream in the activated yeast mix.
Now begin to sprinkle in the flour.
Once the flour is completely incorporated, begin to add 2 tablespoons worth flour at a time, mixing it in completely before adding more.
Be careful not to add too much or your dough becomes tough and chewy, rather than soft and fluffy – it also affects the level of proving you can get.
What you are looking for is enough flour to get the majority of the dough to come away from the sides and gather in the hook. BUT, you want a film of dough still clinging on the sides of the bowl.
Check with your hands, scraping off the dough to gather into a bowl. It should feel like it is tacky, but leaves almost no residue or mess on your hands.
Tuck the dough downwards to form a smooth surface of a ball on top.
Place it back into the bowl, cover with a cling wrap or damp kitchen towel.
Switch off the oven and place the bowl inside to prove in the closed oven till it is double in volume.
CINNAMON NUTELLA FILLING Ingredients:
100g (1/2 Cup, Packed) Dark Brown Sugar
25g Ground Cinnamon
40g Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
375g (1 + 1/4 Cups) Nutella
METHOD:
Stir together the sugar, cinnamon and butter until a smooth paste is formed.
Take the proved dough and press down to deflate the air inside.
Place on a lightly floured surface, form it into a level, long rectangle shape.
Roll it out so it is about 3-4mm thick, shaping it as you go to keep it neat.
I prefer my hands, you can use a spatula to spread the cinnamon paste evenly all over the dough till it is well covered.
Dollop the nutella all over and then gently drag or spread it with a spatula so that the majority of the surface is covered. Then use the tip of the rubber spatula to level it out.
Now rolling the bun from short end gives you many rings and it is great for a jumbo sized bun – which is what I was after. Lengthier side gives more rolls but less rings but are both just equally delicious.
Start by rolling a tiny roll as tightly as possible, then working half a roll at a time begin to roll it up until you have an entire roll.
Use your hands to stretch and smooth the roll so that it is even in thickness.
Use dental floss to loop around the desired thickness of your jumbo buns, and then pull until it cuts through a clean slice.
Gently using both hands hover the bun above the muffin tin or silicon mold (I actually liked the silicon mold results better, they didn’t stick as much so didn’t damage my buns, and also have a slight different texture.) and gently drop it into place. The aim is to keep the nice swirl and shape of the bun š
Use the same method of proving to prove in the off oven until doubled in volume.
Egg wash with beaten egg all over and bake for 20 minutes or so in a preheated oven at 180C (350F) until golden brown. It will be really nice and dark, crispy but fluffy and soft full of gooey goodness inside.
I recommend always heating these up before serving, even just nuking in the microwave š
Start by making sure your mold for the chocolate is clean & most importantly, dry of water. If it needs a wash from dust or is simply dirty, wash it well & dry it upside down till it is absolutely dry before use. If it is a silicon mold safe for the oven you can dry it in an oven to be safe. But make sure it is cool before making the chocolate.
Using a medium sized baking tray, spread out the white chocolate and bake in a 100C (212F) oven for 10 minutes. *Do not grease or line the tray, makes it very difficult.
Stir the chocolate and then spread it out evenly again and return to the oven for 10 minutes.
Keep repeating this step until the colour deepens to caramel colour.
At one point the chocolate will begin to clump, but keep at it and stir firmly to mix it back up, even it out and continue. When the caramel stage is close, the clumping ceases and it becomes easier to stir again.
Be patient and continue this step and it will happen, it took me about 1 hour 30 min to 2 hours.
NOTE: It’s absolutely important to make sure you use quality chocolate, avoid compound chocolates that use vegetable oil instead of cocoa butter. Either use a quality brand that is tempered chocolate such as Lindt, or buy from cake decorating supply stores – brands like Valronha, Callebaut.
Once it is caramelised, scrape the chocolate into a saucepan & combine it with the butter and cream.
Gently heat on low heat whilst constantly stirring until smoothly combined.
You can also do this in small intervals in a microwave, just make sure the time is very minimal in between or you may burn the white chocolate.
Set aside to set at room temperature as it sets firm in the fridge and will be hard to use for filling.
GRILLED BANANA / BISCUIT FILLING
2 Medium Bananas, Ripe As Can Be
A Few Dark Chocolate Digestive Biscuits/Graham Crackers
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 200C (392F) and place 2 medium bananas on a tray, bake for 1 hour or so until it becomes dark and mushy.
You can wrap them in foil to do this as the juices can sometimes make it hard to clean the tray, I didn’t as I was out of foil.
It is normal for the skin to turn black, don’t worry.
Allow the banana to become slightly cool, squeeze out the flesh into a bowl.
Whisk or pulse in a processor until smooth.
Add 1 tablespoon or so of the ganache and whisk in till smooth. This gives a smoother mouth feel without adding additional sugar or flavor for what’s already going to be in the truffle.
In a bowl, crumble up a few biscuits into fine crumbs. Digestive biscuits are the equivalent of graham crackers for us here in Australia, and crumble so easily with just little force between fingers.
WHITE CHOCOLATE SHELL:
400g White Chocolate, Couverture (Pure Cocoa Butter Content)
METHOD:
BREAKING DOWN THE STRUCTURE: Take roughly 25% of the full portion of white chocolate and set it aside.
Bring a saucepan of how water to a rolling boil.
Switch off the heat and place a heat-proof glass bowl with the remaining large portion of chocolate over the saucepan.
Stir every minute or so until it is almost completely melted.
Start placing the candy thermometer into the chocolate (careful not to just let it sit and rest on the base of the bowl or you’ll get the bowl’s temperature – not accurate!) while it isn’t all melted yet.
Remove the bowl from the heat when it steadily rises and is just about to hit 43C (110F). This will prevent it from going too far above. Remember to stir from time to time while you are testing to even out the temperature.
Be patient, this all takes time to steadily add the temperature and create the right stability.
RE-ESTABLISHING THE STRUCTURE: Now begin to sprinkle in some chocolate and keep stirring to melt the chocolate. Stop if the chocolate ever stops melting, and remove the chocolate that didn’t melt. This step is called ‘seeding’ which helps using the already tempered chocolate to guide the melted chocolate to form the correct structure.
For my batch, all the chocolate melted and it was still too warm. Keep stirring from time to time, testing the temperature until it is cooled to 28C (83F). For very large batches, you can use an ice bath under to speed up the process. Bare in mind this speeds the cooling up drastically so can be finicky too.
STABILIZE THE STRUCTURE: To complete the temper we now need to stabilize the structure and make it ready for use by bringing it back up to 30C (87F).
Bring the saucepan of water back up to a rolling boil again.
Switch it off and place the bowl of chocolate on top, give it about 5 seconds.
Remove and stir well to even the temperature and test with the thermometer.
Do this in little bursts until the temperature is reached.
No take a small piece of baking paper and dip it into the chocolate on one side.
Leave it to set, depending on conditions in your room can be a while, mine took a lot longer than others before it started setting – about 10 min or so.
You are looking for when it dries, it should start to become not wet on the surface anymore yet glossy with some form of shine. If it becomes matte it is not tempered.
At this point if it is setting and glossy I go ahead and start making my shells.
MAKING THE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES:
Here comes the fun part! Time to enjoy your tempering š
Use a small spoon to spoon a generous amount of chocolate (about 1 teaspoon) into each semi-sphere dome. I’m using 3cm wide ice cube mold, semi-sphere shape.
Use the back of the spoon, spread it so that it coats all the sides of the mold and there are no parts showing through.
When you are happy, tap a few times on the counter to break air bubbles, tip it upside down over the bowl of chocolate so they can be reused.
Clean up the top if it’s messy with the sides of an offset spatula by scraping them away gently. Allow to set at room temperature completely as we will need a second coating.
Do not chill this or it will make it difficult.
Repeat the same process but be gentle when letting the excess drip out.
Now let the chocolate set once more.
NOTE: While you’re waiting if the chocolate in the bowl begins to become too thick, just use the same method over the hot water to give it bit of heat. But keep the temperature in the range just under 30C. You don’t want to re-temper or lose the temper.
Once the chocolate is well set, we can spoon a little more than half the dome full of banana puree mix. I use clean fingers to press it in just to make sure there’s no air pockets.
Level it out, spoon over the ganache till it is just under the brim.
Immediately spoon over enough white chocolate to level and cover the ganache.
Keep the edges as clean and neat as possible.
Sprinkle all over with the biscuit crumbs.
Pop these in the fridge for 20 minutes till the shell and filling are well set.
Gently pull away all edges, then begin to use a finger to push from under to pop the chocolate out.
To prevent them flying and cracking, when the shell is almost free, I use my fingers near the base to pick them up and get them free.
Usually it is best to handle the chocolates with gloves or you may leave finger marks on your shiny surface š so if you don’t wanna do that, keep the touching on the base edge so it’s not as obvious.
Serve them from the fridge and enjoy these bad boys!
Note: I didn’t use a loose bottom angel food pan designed for easier removal so the sides are not perfect when removing.
Preheat the oven to 190C (375F). The pan should not be greased as this is a cake that will be turned upside down during cooling and greasing the tin would make the cake fall out.
Whisk together one of the two portions of caster sugar with cake flour and cocoa powder till well combined.
Whisk the egg whites on medium-low speed just enough to start whipping and frothing it up.
Once frothy enough to cover all the liquid on the surface, add in the salt and cream of tartar.
Continue on that speed until it is doubled in volume and is airy enough to spoon a dollop that will sit on top of itself.
Now begin to sprinkle in the sugar very slowly as it continues to whisk on the same speed.
Once it is at least tripled the volume of what it started out to be, and hardly slides in the bowl when tilted (just vaguely) then it is ready.
Sprinkle the cocoa mix evenly all over the top and then switch to a paddle-attachment on low speed to gently fold in.
Once it is about 90% incorporated, switch to a rubber spatula to gently fold the rest by hand till barely any streaks can be seen. A few vague streaks are okay.
Smooth off the surface as much as you can.
Rap or firmly tap the pan on counter top from a height to release unstable air bubbles.
Bake for 25-30 min until the top springs back when lightly pressed.
Immediately rest cake upside down on a thin bottle or can so it won’t sink and can vent and cool properly. The bundt shaped pans are crucial for this part.
Once completely cool, you can flip it upright again & use all fingers to gently pull the cake away from the sides in an almost massaging motion.
To be sure you can then run a spatula or knife around the edges carefully to not damage the cake.
I then just flip onto a plate and firmly shake down a few times to feel for the cake releasing – you usually feel the weight of it.
If not use an offset spatula to try and release some areas around the base to help it along.
Drizzle with fudge sauce or dust with icing sugar & simply enjoy!
They can dry easily if left uncovered so make sure it is airtight when not serving.
Preheat oven to 180C (350F), spray regular donut pan with non-stick vegetable oil spray.
Pulse together buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter.
Add dry ingredients and pulse together, scraping down half way to ensure even mixing.
Using a processor avoids developing gluten and keeps the cake soft and fluffy.
Transfer to jug or ziplock bag & pipe each mold 1/2 full or so.
Place pieces of frozen cherries around the donuts. It should fill the mould up about 2/3 full in the end.
Bake for 20 minutes or until surface springs back when lightly touched. It’s a long time because the fruit adds lots of moisture, needs longer to cook through.
Cool for 5 minutes before running a knife around the edges to prevent sticking.
Invert it & tap firmly a few times to loosen and turn out onto cooling rack.
Cool completely to allow the moisture in the fruit and cake to set.
50g (4 Tablespoons) Caster Sugar (depends on how sweet your fruits are)
1 Large Lime Juice
2 Teaspoons Cornstarch
Red Food Coloring, Optional
METHOD:
Place ingredients into a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture starts to boil.
Puree in a processor.Return to pot over heat. Stir frequently and cook a few more minutes or until it thickens, roughly 5 minutes.
Add food coloring if using and stir until a red ketchup/tomato sauce look is achieved.
Transfer and strain into a heatproof container. Let cool to room temperature then store in the refrigerator with cling wrap pressed directly over the surface of the curd.
If the curd sets too thick or not smooth enough you can add it to a processor and process once more before using. You want some thickness to resemble sauce or relish.
STUFFED-CRUST PIZZA COOKIE Ingredients:
168g (3/4 Cup) Unsalted Butter, Room Temp.
150g (3/4 Cup) Dark Brown Sugar
57g (1/4 Cup) Caster Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 Large Egg Yolk
1 Egg Whites For Glazing
1 + 1/2 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
280g (2 + 1/4 Cup) Plain/All-Purpose Flour
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
Frozen Raspberries, As Needed
Handful of Mini Chocolate Chips
Chocolate Halva, Handful (Optional)
Fresh Mint Leaves, Coarsely Chopped
METHOD:
Preheat oven to 180C (350F), spray a 9″ cake pan or pie dish with non-grease vegetable spray.
Cream together butter and sugars with paddle attachment until smooth and creamy.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the salt and flour before gently beating it into the butter mix.
Do not over mix, beat just until it comes together.
Set aside 1/3 of the cookie dough for the stuffed crust.
Press the remaining dough into the pan until smooth and level.
A few mm in from the edges, put in chocolate chips and frozen raspberries all the way around.
Take a little of the dough at a time, flatten it with finger tips into a long strip and start placing it over the berries and chocolate to cover them.
Neaten it up making sure it looks neat and no parts are too thin that the filling might leak or break through (You can pinch some dough from the base if need to, then smooth it back out).
Bake for 35-40 minutes until cookie is nicely golden brown, shape
return to oven for 10-15 minutes to dry out and cook out base.
Lightly brush non-crust part with egg whites & return to oven just till whites are dried out. This prevents the filling from making cookies too soggy.
COCONUT SAUCE Ingredients:
75g (1/3 Cup) Caster Sugar
2 Large Egg Yolks
270g (1 Can) Coconut cream
2 Tablespoons Coconut milk
1 Tablespoon Corn Flour
Pinch of Salt
METHOD:
Whisk egg yolk and sugar in stand mixer till pale and fluffy on medium speed.
Scrape down the bowl half way.
In the meantime, heat coconut cream and milk in saucepan over low heat just until it becomes steamy.
Remove from heat.
Whisk flours into egg mixture till combined, scraping down halfway.
Gradually pour the hot mix into the egg mix whilst whisking on low speed.
Return to the pot and heat on medium low, whisking often until thickened. Takes about 5-10 minutes.
Chill till at least lukewarm before spreadingĀ over the raspberry sauce layer in splotches of varying sizes like cheese.
Preheat oven to 180C (350F), grease 10 mini cake bar moulds & line with overhanging baking paper to form a sling for removing the cake after it’s baked – 6 x 8 x 3cm (2.3 x 3 x 1″).
Whisk eggs with nutella until smooth.
Whisk in water till smoothly combined.
Whisk in the sugar, salt, baking powder and flour. Ensure no pockets of flour is left on the bottom and sides.
You can optionally enhance some flavour with 2 teaspoons of flavoured oil – I used hazelnut oil.
Place 1 mini mars bar in middle of each mould matching lengthier side for lengthier side, chilled for 20 minutes before using.
Scatter handful of frozen raspberries all over each mould.
Fill each mould 3/4 full with batter. You’ll find it easier using a jug with a pouring spout.
Place 3/4 of a kinder bar (Chilled like mars bar as well) just gently on top resting on surface. You can combine some left over 1/4 pieces for some of the moulds to avoid wastage.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or so, until cake has nice spring to the touch when lightly pressed.
If you like, you can either dust with icing sugar, or pipe designs with nutella. For mine I just did a lattice design drizzle.
Chill airtight for storage if keeping for a few days.
Serve warm with oozy centre or chilled with chewy firm centre.
Fill donut pan justĀ shy of 2/3Ā full by piping two times around the molds close to the base.
Bake for 10 minutes or until golden and springy to the touch.
GREEK YOGURT PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING Ingredients:
260g 1 cup greek yogurt
265g 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
4 Tablespoons icing sugar
4 Tablespoons milk (didn’t use)
Chocolate shavings
METHOD:
Whisk all ingredients until combined. Add milk if in need of adjusting consistency to more of a stiff whipped cream consistency.
You can beat the cream after chilling to get a smoother and airy texture.
Snip the piping bag and pipe over cooled donuts in an up and down bouncing motion as you move around the ring of the donut, sprinkle with chocolate shavings.
You can also dust lightly with icing sugar before serving.
Can be served at room temperature for a day, then store chilled and in an airtight container.
Sugary Lab 