Peanut Chocolate Cake

Today, I wish to re-post a delicious chocolate cake recipe of my mother that I had posted last year.

Today’s music features Arabic pop. The first clip is a song, by Samira Said and Cheb Mami, that has special meaning to me. Sometimes when I am stuck in my writing process, I turn to music to clear my head and focus. The type of music that helps me at one time does not necessarily help at another time so I usually experiment with a few before I come across the right one for the particular writing. One of the times I faced a writing block was during the writing of my master’s thesis. After several non-productive days and many music listening hours later, I found myself listening to an online Arabic pop radio stream. From the moment, this song came on, I felt very much energized and focused and soon started working on my writing. This was the song that pulled me through the subsequent weeks of thesis writing and as such, I retain a fondness for it.

The next clip is a recent release of Diana Haddad, another Arabic pop singer that I used to listen to.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy this cake!

• Servings: 8-10
• Time: 50mins
• Difficulty: average
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Peanut Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:

• Vegetable oil margarine – ¾ cup + 1 tbsp (for frosting)
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Banana – ½ , as an egg substitute
• Wheat flour – 1 ½ cup
• Soya milk – 1 cup
• Peanut – ½ cup, coarsely ground + 2 tbsp (for frosting)
• Vanilla – 2 tsp
• Cocoa powder – 2 tbsp + 1 tsp (for frosting)
• Baking powder – 1 tsp
• Baking soda – ½ tsp
• Icing sugar – 2 tbsp, for frosting

Method:

1. Sift the dry ingredients – the wheat flour together with the cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda – and keep aside.
2. Mash the banana in a bowl. Add the margarine and sugar to the bowl and whisk them together.
3. Gradually add the soya milk and continue whisking.
4. Stir in the coarsely ground peanuts and vanilla essence.
5. Slowly fold in the dry ingredients.
6. Pour the cake batter into a greased tray and bake at 190⁰C/374⁰F for 40 mins.
7. Whisk 1 tbsp margarine together with 1 tsp cocoa powder, 2 tbsp icing sugar and 2 tsp ground nuts to make the frosting.
8. Spread evenly on surface of the peanut chocolate cake, after the cake has sufficiently cooled.

Recipe source: Raji Thillainathan.

Pineapple Clove Bread

Today’s recipe is another of my baking experiments. My favourite aspect of cooking is baking. Ever since I tried out Kitchen Cici’s delicious rosemary cheese bread, I have started experimenting with breads. I had originally intended to make pineapple muffins but I guess people at home were kind of tired of my weekly experimental muffins so I decided to switch to bread which I also enjoy making. I adapted Jamie Oliver’s basic bread recipe to include pineapple and cloves. It turned out great so I am sharing it here at the Fiesta Friday. I will not be posting as much over the next twelve months as I did the previous year mainly because I will be away from home. However, I do have some recipes that I am yet to transcribe and post so will try to share at least one each month.

The music feature today is on raï. The first clip is an excerpt of a concert (1990) by Chaba Fadela and Cheb Sahraoui.

The next clip is a recent release of Cheb Khaled, whose song Didi was my introduction to raï music.

Hope you enjoy the music and this delicious bread!

• Servings: 8
• Time: 45mins + 2 hours proving time
• Difficulty: average
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Ingredients:

• All-purpose flour – 2 ½ to 3 cups
• Water – ¾ to 1 cup, warm but not hot
• Instant yeast – 7g
• Sugar – 1 tbsp + 6 tbsp
• Salt – ¼ tbsp
• Ground cloves – ½ tsp + pinch (optional)
• Pineapple – 1, medium or small (depending on how much pineapple you want in your bread)

Method:

1. Take a ¼ cup of the water and add the yeast, 1 tablespoon of sugar and pinch of salt. Let the yeast mix rest for about 5 – 10 mins and turn frothy.
2. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl and stir in ½ tsp of ground cloves.
3. Add the yeast mix to the flour and mix. Gradually add the remaining water little at a time till the flour-yeast mix becomes a soft dough that is not sticky. Knead the dough for at least 5 mins.
4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl and cover. Let the dough rest for about 30 mins or till it has doubled.
5. In the meantime, roughly puree the chopped pineapple. (I used it chopped as I rather like to taste fruit chunks in my baked stuff but my mother’s feedback was that it would have been much better as a spread)
6. Add the pineapple puree and the remaining sugar to a saucepan and warm it over low heat for couple of mins (At this point, I also added a pinch of cloves but my mother feels that it is better not to add the cloves to the pineapple puree but rather directly to the dough). Do not over-heat or cook the pineapple as it will take away its taste. Remove from heat and let it cool.
7. When the dough has risen, transfer it to a floured surface and punch it down (I like this part).
8. Roll out the dough and spread the sweetened pineapple puree over the surface. Roll in the dough starting from one end.
9. Transfer the rolled dough with filling into the lightly greased baking tray and form the shape you want it to be (I like circular loaves). Brush the surface with warm sugar syrup.
10. Bake the bread at 170⁰C for around 30 mins. The time will vary according to your oven.
11. Let it cool for at least 15 mins before slicing and serving with some margarine.