Saturday, May 24, 2014

Grandma's Banana Cake in the Thermomix


We are having a quiet day at home today so perfect morning for a banana cake! My Grandma's recipe for banana cake is a lovely one that always gives good results so I decided it was a good first cake to try in the thermomix. We weren't disappointed! I'm usually terrible at icing but I'm really happy with the results for the icing in particular. As you can see, the mice (namely one toddler and pregnant mummy) couldn't wait for the cake to cool enough to ice before we tasted!



So here is both the thermomix and normal versions of this cake. I have no idea where this recipe originally came from so no idea if there should be further credit for this cake apart from my Grandma and Mother.

Grandma's Banana Cake in the Thermomix
Ingredients
2 eggs
100grams butter
220g sugar
310g SR Flour
2 bananas (approx 200g)
2T boiling milk
1 scant teaspoon bicarb soda
Method
Pre-heat oven to moderate fan forced (180degC on my oven)
Prepare baking tin
Place bananas in the bowl and mix for 5 seconds on speed 5. Set aside.
Place butter and sugar in bowl and melt 50secs/70degC/speed5.
With blades rotating on speed 3 add eggs one at a time, scrape down sides of bowl.
Add SR flour and mix 10-20 secs speed 3, you might need to scrape down bowl in the middle.
Return bananas to bowl and mix 10 seconds speed 3.
Lastly stir in 1 scant teaspoon bicarb soda into boiling milk (I put the milk in a mug and heat in my very old microwave for 30-40 seconds on high). This should froth. Add to bowl and mix 5 seconds speed 6.
Pour mixture into baking tin (I find it works best in a ring tin) and bake approximately 25mins.
Leave in tin to cool for a while before turning out onto a cooling rack.

If you can wait long enough for it to cool to ice it… I made lemon icing.
15g butter
200g icing sugar
1 lemon
mix speed 5 for 15 seconds
add lemon juice a bit at a time whilst mixing for on speed 5 about 15 seconds, you may need to scrape down and mix again. The lemon I had wasn't particularly juicy so I ended up using most of it.

Grandma's banana cake without a thermomix
Ingredients
2 eggs
100 grams butter
1 cup sugar
1.5 cups SR Flour
2 bananas
3T boiling milk
1 scant teaspoon bicarb soda
Method
Preheat oven to moderate,
Line the tin,
Cream together butter and sugar,
Add beaten eggs,
Stir thoroughly,
Add SR Flour
Mash bananas and add to mixture beating well,
Lastly stir in 1 scant teaspoon bicarb soda into boiling milk,
Bake approx 25mins in moderate oven.
Works well with lemon icing.


Saturday, May 17, 2014

homemade hand cream in the thermomix

Recently I purchased a thermomix and I'm slowing learning how to use it and what I can use it for. I have terrible troubles with skin allergies and even the hypoallergenic hand creams seem to have something in it that makes my hands worse. So I decided to find out if I could make a hand cream in the thermomix and found a recipe on the Quirky Cooking blog. I gave it a go and I love it! 
The variations I chose were beeswax from a candle from the beekeepers inn, macadamia oil, avocado oil, room temperature boiled water (rather than the scented waters) and about a teaspoon of vitamin E oil. It has a slight greenish colour from the avocado oil and a beautiful honey fragrance. I'm glad I didn't put any other scents in. The photo is terrible as the light in my kitchen at night is terrible but you get the idea!

Saturday, May 10, 2014

fabric cards for matching

It's been very quiet on the blog lately as we have been very busy at home! I'm pregnant with my second child and have been very tired and quite sick but starting to feel better now! 
So I'm starting to get back into some craft at nights... 

A friend of mine has a little one who is turning 1 this weekend so I wanted to make him something. My boy adores the fabric matching cards that I made him, he started out just loving the colours, then the pictures of animals and now likes to match them up. So hopefully this 1 year old will love them too.

And I decided it needed a drawstring bag! Looks so sweet as a gift now!