AUSSIE BANANA CAKE WITH MAPLE SYRUP AND OATS

This banana cake with it's rustic finish of a rolled oats topping and it's unique Maple syrup flavour is a refreshing change to the usual banana cake with icing, and a lot healthier. I still have over a litre of whey in my frig following my mozarella cheese making, so I decided to substitute whey for the usual yoghurt in this recipe. It has produced a lightness of texture and the cake rose beautifully. Whey is becoming an essential addition to my baking and I am on a quest to find a multitude of uses for this humble byproduct of cheese making.

Ingredients:

2 cups (300g) self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
150g butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
2/3 cup (150g) castor sugar
2 eggs
3 medium overripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup whey, or natural yoghurt (95g)
2 tablespoons traditional rolled oats
1/4 cup (60ml) maple syrup

Let's cook:

1. Preheat oven to 200deg C., (180deg. C fan-forced).
2. Grease a 16cm x 20cm, or 20cm x 20cm ovenproof baking dish; line the base with baking paper, and extend the paper by 5 cm over the sides.
3. Sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.
4. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla paste in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time before adding the mashed banana. Fold in the flour mixture and yoghurt in two batches. Spread the batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle with the rolled oats.
5. Bake cake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and brush the maple syrup over the top of the cake, then return to the oven for a further 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan.

Suitable to freeze. Serves 12.

So dear reader, have you discovered any other uses for whey in your cooking or household activities?

The original recipe for this cake comes from the AWW.

Best wishes

Pauline

Mozzarella cheese, how to make your own in 30 minutes

Click here for how to make your own mozarella cheese

Make Mozzarella cheese in your own kitchen, it is easier than you think it would be. Shannon and I were fortunate to attend a cheese making course at Green Living Australia in Brisbane, thanks to a birthday gift from Matthew and Myrtille, and what fun it was. Based on the excellent instruction given by Angie, and the recipe and guidance from the GLA Cheesemaking Kit, two months later my first attempt at making mozzarella is successful. My recipe instructions will cover a couple of tips I discovered along the way which I incorporated into my second mozzarella cheese making session the following day.

Click here for how to make your own mozzarella cheese

I highly recommend the course, as Angie's scientific knowledge and emphasis on cleanliness applied to cheese making is delivered in an entertaining and inspiring style, and aimed at the amateur, which I was. However, if you can't attend the course, the kit, the cold pack and the instructions can be purchased directly from GLA. If I can do it, so can you.The very approachable staff at Green Living Australia are only a phone call away to answer those little questions that arise when you start on the lifelong adventure of cheese making. We made Ricotta, Feta and Mozzarella cheese and ate our accomplishments at the end of the day, great fun.

Angie, our lovely teacher, and I are at the GLA Cheese making course.

Angie in the impressive GLA kitchen, talking on cheese making. http://www.greenlivingaustralia.com.au/

Click here for how to make your own mozzarella. 

http://happyretireeskitchen.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/cheese-making-great-beginning.html