If there's one thing I'm impatient about, its waiting for your oven to heat up. I always thought it was such a waste of energy to heat up a whole oven to bake one small cake. So I wondered if I could do this in a microwave too and hence embarked on the journey of the microwaved cake. I think this cake is best eaten warm out of the microwave and if you like you could even make a ganache for it, but I'm lazy so a little sprinkling of icing sugar will do the trick for me. It turned out moist and quite flavorsome, slightly different from oven baked, but definitely something you should try just because its so easy and quick.
Ingredients:
-100g caster sugar (you can use brown, refined any type you like), I like the cake less sweet hence going with 100g, but I'm the type that drinks my bubble tea at 50% sugar, however, if you're the type that likes your cakes sweeter and richer, use 140g.
-150g flour (I used a combination of 75g plain flour and 75g normal flour, if you don't have self raising, just use a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate with your plain flour)
- 2 eggs
- 1 large ripe banana, mashed
- 15-20 almonds/ peacans, chopped
- 50ml olive oil (or vegetable oil, I used olive as its healthier)
- 90ml fresh whole milk
- 2.5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Directions:
First grease a microwavable receptacle with oil so the cake won't stick to the sides, or you could choose to line the bowl, plate, dish with baking paper.
Separate the eggs into yolks and whites, cream the yolk with the sugar and beat the whites in another bowl. This step is not strictly necessary but I just like my cake lighter. If you choose to skip this step, you can just mix whole eggs with the sugar.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder and add it in batches with milk and oil to the sugar and egg. Then add the mashed banana and chopped nuts till incorporated. If you have beaten egg whites, fold this into the mixture now. The transfer everything to your microwavable receptacle and place it the microwave and heat on high for 5-7 minutes. The timing depends on your microwave, you should check on it after 5-6 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the middle of the cake. If it comes out clear, your cake is done, otherwise, continue heating for a further minute, watching that it does not burn.
Remove receptacle from microwave and leave to cool for 5 minutes then invert onto a plate to serve.
Dust icing sugar as a finishing touch.
If you choose to make a ganache, heat 1 cup cream in the microwave until just bubbling and pour unto a bar of chocolate broken into pieces, mix until you get a smooth consistency then spread on fully cooled cake. Have fun (:
