banana hummingbird cake

It has been a wonderful year of textures and tastes, that started with an acquisition of an electric whisk. In the process of experimentation, I get to understand a bit more of myself and  come to the conclusion that I  still have room for improvement in the department of exactness.

As  the year draws to a close and holiday plans will come into fruition, there is still time to squeeze in one more baking experiment. The previous success of the  hummingbird demands an encore baking effort. Bananas take its rightful place in the recipe instead of pumpkin. It lends  a different kind of sweetness with a faint sticky texture in the core of the cupcake. To counteract the thickness of the mashed banana, I use cake flour so that it is   lighter on the palate.

My daughter's evaluation : a very light cupcake that makes her wonder if she should have seconds. Go figure if this is a good thing or not!

A  parting note : as I use a silicon base to hold the cups, an extra 10 minutes is added to the baking time of the usual 25 minutes.

A:

125 g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp  5 spice powder

B:

110g sugar

115 ml canola oil

2 eggs

C:

150g mashed banana

100g grated carrot

90g crushed pineapple

20g desiccated coconut

1 tsp grated orange zest

In the food processor, combine banana, pineapple and coconut. Process for 1 minute. Transfer contents to a bowl.

Grate the carrot on the processor and combine carrot to banana/coconut/pineapple composite

Mix well and set aside.

Preheat oven to 180C. Prepare tray with 12 big cupcake holder.

 Sift ingredients under A. Set aside.

Beat B until frothy. In 3 batches, add A.

Finally, stir in C, mixing well.

Bake cupcakes at 180C for 30-35 minutes.