Regardless of whether you are working in industry or academia there will be occasions where you will have to supply cake (If this isn't the case you've got it all wrong and should bring some cake to work tomorrow). Now I will concede that there are decent commercially available cakes that I will eat with great pleasure. However, if you consider yourself a synthetic chemist, be it organic or inorganic you MUST make the cake yourself. It's way easier than synthetic work and the final product doesn't require chromatography, tastes great, won't kill you and will make people happy. So here's a recipe to help you guys out if you have no idea what to bake. It's the cake that a friend of mine has named the pay rise cake as you are guaranteed to impress your boss with it. It's a fairly expensive cake to produce but believe me its worth it.
Banana and Chocolate Cake aka Pay Rise Cake [Serves many, 20+]
Ingredients
Flour (500 g)
Sugar (500 g)
Quick oats (50 g)
Butter (300 g)
5 x 50 g eggs
8 ripe bananas (ca 700-800 g when peeled)
Skim milk (150 ml)
Vanilla sugar (5 tsp)
Baking powder (5 tsp)
Salt (3 tsp)
Dark chocolate (300 g, Don't be a cheap skate and use good stuff. For example Lindt 70%)
Procedure
(1) Melt the butter - do not reflux
(2) Beat the sugar with the melted butter
(3) Add the eggs (not the shells) and beat
(4) Add milk and bananas (mash the bananas first) and beat
(5) Add flour, quick oats, vanilla sugar, baking powder and salt and beat
(6) Chop some of the chocolate (200 g) and mix it with the dough (don't beat it at this stage)
(7) Transfer the dough to a large baking tray (eg. 30 x 30 x 5 cm) and bake in the centre of the oven at 180 oC for 40-45 minutes. When the dough doesn't stick to a metal object it is finished (you basically insert a metal object such as a knife into the cake and check if anything is sticking to the knife). It is a good idea to check on the cake after 30 minutes as ovens vary greatly in performance. The cake approximately doubles in size depending on the baking powder used.
(8) When the cake has cooled to room temperature cover it with a thin layer of melted chocolate. You have to be careful when melting the chocolate. First chop it up (100 g) then put it in a suitable container (eg beaker) and melt it using a hot water bath whilst stirring. Do NOT add water, milk or anything else. Simply use good quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa content and you are in business.
Enjoy the cake - it is really nice. The cake is excellent for freezing and I generally have some tucked away at -20 oC for "emergencies". If a pay rise isn't enough and you are going for a promotion then you may consider serving it with some fresh strawberries. D!
Banana and Chocolate Cake aka Pay Rise Cake [Serves many, 20+]
Ingredients
Flour (500 g)
Sugar (500 g)
Quick oats (50 g)
Butter (300 g)
5 x 50 g eggs
8 ripe bananas (ca 700-800 g when peeled)
Skim milk (150 ml)
Vanilla sugar (5 tsp)
Baking powder (5 tsp)
Salt (3 tsp)
Dark chocolate (300 g, Don't be a cheap skate and use good stuff. For example Lindt 70%)
Procedure(1) Melt the butter - do not reflux
(2) Beat the sugar with the melted butter
(3) Add the eggs (not the shells) and beat
(4) Add milk and bananas (mash the bananas first) and beat
(5) Add flour, quick oats, vanilla sugar, baking powder and salt and beat
(6) Chop some of the chocolate (200 g) and mix it with the dough (don't beat it at this stage)
(7) Transfer the dough to a large baking tray (eg. 30 x 30 x 5 cm) and bake in the centre of the oven at 180 oC for 40-45 minutes. When the dough doesn't stick to a metal object it is finished (you basically insert a metal object such as a knife into the cake and check if anything is sticking to the knife). It is a good idea to check on the cake after 30 minutes as ovens vary greatly in performance. The cake approximately doubles in size depending on the baking powder used.
(8) When the cake has cooled to room temperature cover it with a thin layer of melted chocolate. You have to be careful when melting the chocolate. First chop it up (100 g) then put it in a suitable container (eg beaker) and melt it using a hot water bath whilst stirring. Do NOT add water, milk or anything else. Simply use good quality dark chocolate with a high cocoa content and you are in business.
Enjoy the cake - it is really nice. The cake is excellent for freezing and I generally have some tucked away at -20 oC for "emergencies". If a pay rise isn't enough and you are going for a promotion then you may consider serving it with some fresh strawberries. D!
Wow! Didn't know you like to bake... And you sure use good quality chocolate. Even I don't spend that much. Er.. Lindt is quite pricey over here. By the way, what type of banana you are using?
ReplyDeleteYes Lindt is not the cheapest solution. You can get really good stuff cheaply but you have to track it down. When I lived in the UK Tesco had a really good quality Tesco brand dark chocolate and I'm sure there's something cheaper and equally good i Australia (I just haven't tracked it down yet). What type of banana am I using....hmmm the yellowish bendy kind is the easy answer. In my universe there are only two kinds a) lady fingers and b) the other kind. I tend to use the other kind as this is what my grocer gives me for free when I ask for super ripe bananas that he'll be throwing out by the end of the day anyway. D!
ReplyDeleteHow much eggs do you use? 5 x 600g is 3kg in my world... Just wondering;)
ReplyDeleteEver heard of Emu's mate? No seriously even in Australia the eggs aren't that big. It should say 5 x 50g eggs. 50 g eggs are called large eggs in Oz if that's any help. I've proof read the recipe again and there are no more mistakes. Thanks for spotting the egg issue. Would have been more like a banana omelet if someone had tried it with 3 kg of eggs. D!
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting up the recipe, I have found an interesting chocolate, coles
ReplyDeletebrand dark belgian choco, it is only a 46% but it is good value and has a nice
taste. I think it tastes very similar to the Haigh's dark desert block, check
it out.
Oh... you use overipe bananas... no wonder it smell delicious! When I bake Banana Cakes/Muffin for my friends in the dept, they always ask me whether I use banana essence or not... and I always say no... the secret is to use really really ripe bananas, better if it is almost gonna rot and turn slimy a bit. They never believe me. ;>
ReplyDeleteVery tasty!
ReplyDeleteWhen I made it, though, I ended up with something flat like brownies instead of fluffy like cake. Oh well.
Hey... Sounds good. I'm not much of a baker, but maybe I'll try this one out. Cheers Dan!
ReplyDeleteNøj, den kage glæder jeg mig til at smage når vi kommer på besøg...
ReplyDeleteVi glæder os :o)