Tag: lockdown baking

Plantain Bread with Chocolate and Yoghurt.

On By WanjoroIn Recipes3 Comments

It is no secret we love plantain in our household in all its forms.

I have shared another plantain bread recipe here on the blog, but this one is a bit different. It is sweeter and has some different additional ingredients, which makes it more moist, and do not blame me when it disappears in a blink.

Look at how beautiful that loaf is!

Ingredients are:

  • 2 overripe plantains, (that are more black than yellow).
  • 2 eggs.
  • 1/2 cup of good quality coconut oil (can be alternated with unsalted softened butter).
  • 2/3 cup sugar.
  • 11/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta). You can use ordinary flour 1 cup and 1/2 cup of the atta flour too.
  • 1/2 cup natural yoghurt.
  • 1 tsp baking soda.
  • 11/2 tsp baking powder.
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon.
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence.
  • 1/2 cup grated dark chocolate.
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds.
  • 2 tbsp oats.
  • a small pinch of salt.

Method.

  • Preheat your oven to 180°C.
  • Grease your loaf pan.
  • In a large bowl, mash your plantain and add the eggs, sugar and oil. Mix well.
  • Next goes in the vanilla, chia seeds and natural yoghurt followed by the dry ingredients and cinnamon.
  • Mix well but gently till its a thickish batter.
  • Pour into your loaf pan.
  • Top with some sesame seeds and the chocolate. You can swirl in the chocolate a bit of you wish.
  • Bake for 35-45 minutes.

[PS. I use a temperamental gas oven, it took a little over 40 minutes to get it right. So, start checking at the 35 minute mark to be sure.]

The cake is moist, sweet and crumbly. This recipe is a keeper.

It tastes even better the next day, if it manages to last that long.

Beautiful, moist, delicious cake with an amazing aroma that will invite anyone around to your kitchen.

Definitely worth a try!

Delicious Apple and Honey Quickbread.

On By WanjoroIn RecipesLeave a comment

Quick bread is basically any baked product like muffins or scones or banana bread, that does not require yeast as a rising agent. Instead, one uses baking powder and/ or baking soda for that effect. They also include two sets of ingredients; the dry and the wet, bake much faster than the normal bread and easier to prepare as there is no kneading. I like how uncomplicated and versatile they are. From sweet to savoury muffins or pancakes to a delicious sweet potato loaf or pumpkin loaf, you can do so much.

I sometimes using self raising flour for my quick bread recipes as they already have the rising agent so I do not need to add any baking powder or baking soda. Self raising flour is one of my pantry essentials (posted here), it is good to have some handy. I have two preferred brands that are available in Kampala, one Kenyan and the other South African, they both work pretty well.

  • I have never had a bad experience with this flour for muffins, pancakes or mandazi.
  • This brand is popular here and also gives pleasant results.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients are 3 cups of self raising flour, 2 cups of honey, 1 tsp each of ground cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, a small pinch of salt, ad chia seeds, 1 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, 2 tsp vanilla essence, 3 eggs (room temperature) and 4 apples. (cleaned, peeled and cubed). I used Honeycrisp apples.
Prepare your baking tin and set aside.

Preheat your oven to 180°C.

Sift your flour and the ground spices, mix well with the chia seeds in one bowl.
In another bowl, add your wet ingredients; the oil, beaten eggs, vanilla, and honey and mix well.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix gently but not too much, before folding in the chopped apples.
Pour the mixture into the baking tin, you can sprinkle some oats or chopped nuts on top if you wish.

Bake the mixture in the middle rack for an hour to 75 minutes. Check at the 60 minute mark with a skewer as ovens do vary.

The kitchen smells heavenly as it bakes- the apples, spices and vanilla fill the air and makes you look forward to the final product.

The cake is moist and will darken because of the honey. Mine also got a little hole after I used a brand knife to check if ready.

Once out of the oven, let it sit for ten minutes before turning it out carefully onto a rack so it can cool.

This Apple and honey quick bread is tasty on its own, or as a nice accompaniment to your morning coffee or evening dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Yum!

The apple chunks are a sweet delight to bite into, and the cake is moist and tasty.

For other quick bread recipes, you can check out my sweet potato bread recipe here. https://mykampalanotebook.wordpress.com/2020/07/22/easy-sweet-potato-bread/

And my honey banana bread here. https://mykampalanotebook.wordpress.com/2020/11/20/banana-bread-with-a-twist/

Definitely worth a try isn’t it?

Honey Banana Bread with a Twist.

On By WanjoroIn Recipes3 Comments

Do you love banana bread? I do, and though I have my main “go to” recipe, I am always looking for different ways to jazz it up. From adding blueberries, to nuts, to marbled banana bread, peanut butter, Nutella, using self raising flour, and this one which I tried some time ago using, wait for it…… avocado!

Disclaimer:I am not a perfect baker by any means, I just like experimenting with my food sometimes.

Let’s get started shall we?

Ingredients:-

  1. 3 cups flour, I used All purpose flour, amaranth flour and brown flour.
  2. 4 large ripe bananas.
  3. 2 eggs.
  4. One half of a ripe avocado.
  5. 1/3 cup natural yoghurt.
  6. 2/3 cup honey.
  7. 1/4 cup sunflower oil.
  8. 1 tsp salt.
  9. 2 tsp baking soda.
  10. 1tsp baking powder.
  11. 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar.
  12. 1 tsp vanilla extract.
  13. A pinch of cinnamon.

Method.

Prepare your baking tin and preheat your oven at 180°C.

Mash the bananas and avocado together.
Add the oil, eggs and honey, mix well.
Add the yoghurt and all other ingredients except the flours.
Mix.
Sift the flour mix into the wet ingredients.
Once mixed, pour into your prepared baking tin.
Decided to add some oats and chia on top just before putting in the oven.
Bake for about 75 min or until ready (check with a skewer ) at 180° C.
Voila! The darker colour is because of the brown flour and the honey too as it darkens baked goods.

This definitely qualifies as a healthy quick bread, don’t you think?

It was tasty, a bit dense but moist and you could not guess the ingredients in there, other than the banana of course. The family loved it and I did too. Win!

Easy Sweet Potato Bread.

On By WanjoroIn Memories, Recipes6 Comments

I know I am not the only one baking A LOT in these lockdown times. By now, you all know my love for sweet potatoes. So here is a family favourite that’s also great for the kids’ snack boxes.

I do not use a lot of sugar as the sweet potatoes here are very sweet. Here is the recipe I used to use back home:-

Of course, the brands used are different now but still worked as well.
  • Boil and mash your sweet potatoes
  • Grease your baking pan well.
Mix your dry ingredients
Mix your wet as per the above recipe
Combine the two and put your batter in the pan.
The batter is thickish, so use a spatula to scrape all from the bowl; nothing goes to waste.
Let is cool.
The aroma as it cools. mmmhhh!
Serve is as you wish once cooled.

It is great with coffee, masala tea or as dessert with some warm custard. Yum!