Steam Pumpkin Huat Koh & Banana Walnut Cake

Do you find it hard to buy a nice outfit? I do, most of the time...it can take me several shopping sessions to find one nice dinner dress. Call me picky, but that's me. But nowadays I have even BIGGER "items" that need me to purchase! So you can imagine the amount of time and energy involved. For the past month, my better half and I have been hunting for a car & house. We've seen so many and when we finally settle on the car, I kind of have the feeling that we settled for less. :-P And as for the roof over our head....it's another BIG headache. And since I do not want it to be a regret, I want to seriously think through and thoroughly consider the choices we have. But with the ever rising prices now for property , we are really at a disadvantage. :-( I guess we just have to suck it up and go with what we can settle with. But to think that we will be investing vast amount of our saving into it and also living there for many years to come made us think thrice into which one we should go for. So far, we've seen quite a number of resale houses, and are slowly narrowing it down to a couple units. Hopefully soon enough, we can decide and have a place we can call our home soon. There's no place like home isn't it? Wish me luck...I need so much of it now!!

Today I am posting up 2 of the bakes I did in the past week, one of it is Steamed Pumpkin Huat Koh. Huat Koh is a common steam cake that Chinese use for praying. I remember that when I was young, my mum would whip up this cake in a short matter of time and soon enough I will be chowing down some of this deliciously sweet, steamy & soft cake. ;) It's generally has a slight egg taste to it, and the usual version will be "鸡蛋糕“. The version I attempted is using pumpkin and also containing coconut milk.
I got this recipe from Yochana's blog. She actually have several Huat Koh recipes, but I like the golden color of the pumpkin, so decided to go with it. I doubled her recipe since I wanted to share with more people. Below is for easy reference in future:

Ingredients for Steamed Pumpkin Huat Koh (makes 16 of 4 oz cups):
200g golden pumpkin, steamed and mashed
400g plain flour
225g caster sugar (reduced from original)
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
200ml thick coconut milk
2 eggs
60ml corn oil
Method:

• While the steamed and mashed pumpkin is still warm, mix in the sugar so that most of it is melted.
• Then add flour, salt, baking powder into the pumpkin mixture and stir well, it will be lumpy.
• In another bowl, beat the 2 eggs and stir in the coconut milk. Then add this mixture into the flour mixture and combine well till everything comes together.
• Get ready the steamer with water simmering at medium high fire.
  
• Pour the batter (75% full) into small paperline cupcake moulds and steam for 15 minutes.
• Use a tooth pick to test and remove to cool on rack before serving.
  

Although the taste of pumpkin is not that evident, it still has a nice fragrant scent from the coconut milk. It is indeed quite a delectable treat to have with a cup of hot tea or coffee in the afternoon. The family enjoyed it and furthermore it was pretty easy to whip up.
Next bake was upon request by my MIL. She likes banana cake, and has asked me a couple of times about baking it. MY FIL has even brought back a big bunch from the temple the other day...so I grabbed the opportunity yesterday and baked up a batch. Turned out the cake was moist and yummy...but not too much banana flavor though...should have added more bananas!!Ingredients for Banana Walnut Cake/Muffins:
2 large / 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
3 eggs 90g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
150g unsalted butter, room temp
150g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
60g walnut, crushed and leave some whole for deco (optional)
1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Method:

• Beat the butter and sugar till fluffy and creamy. Then add egg 1 at a time and mix in till all blended in. Repeat till all eggs are added.
  
• Add vanilla and mashed bananas and stir well.
• Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix till just combined.
• If using walnuts or chocolate chips, stir in till just mixed.
  
• Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line with parchment paper a loaf tin (I used 6" mini loaf tin) and/or line a muffin tray with paper cups.
• Pour the batter into the prepared tins and place some of the whole walnuts or chocolate chips on top for decoration.
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or till tester comes out clean.
  

I have made both chocolate chip and walnut version to please both palalets. My little ones love the chocolate chip version, and so I divide the batter to mix in the chocolates.
The loaf version was moist and soft, and not too sweet. By the end of the day, most of the cake was gone....that's should means it's good. ;) Another note is I did toast the walnuts for 10 minutes at 180°C to bring out the flavor and crunch.

Actually besides this recipe, I am preparing to bake a couple more recipes with banana before that big bunch goes to waste. :) Furthermore, banana seems to be a well liked and versatile fruit to be in any bake goods. ;) So stay tune for the following posts. ;) Gonna sign off now, have a great day all!