Tuesday 23 June 2015

oil-free chocolate banana muffins


This is my second attempt at baking these oil free chocolate banana muffins. In fact, I made them before baking the oil-free chocolate chiffon cake which I posted earlier. The first attempt was not that successful as the texture of the muffins was a little dense with a slight kueh-like texture.





I am not sure whether I had deflated the batter or was it due to the type of cocoa powder I used. I had ran out of Valrhona dutch processed cocoa powder so I used natural cocoa powder.



I tried making these muffins again right after I got hold of the Valrhona cocoa powder. The second batch turns out really well.



Unlike the usual muffin-method or creaming method, the batter is prepared just like making a sponge cake, that is, beating whole eggs with sugar before adding the liquid and flour mixture.



These delicious muffins were soft and moist even though they were made without any oil. As stated in the cookbook, 好吃不发胖低卡甜点, each muffin is 132 kcal compared to 197 kcal for a similar one made with oil. Once again this recipe shows that it is possible to enjoy homemade goodies which are lower in calories without having to compromise on the taste and texture.




Oil-free Chocolate Banana Muffins

Ingredients:
(makes 8)

100g cake flour
30g cocoa powder (I used dutch-processed valrhona cocoa powder)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs, room temperature
70g caster sugar (I used 60g)
150g banana, mashed
50ml milk (I used low fat fresh milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon rum

Method:
  • Sieve together cake flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. Sieve the flour mixture twice and set it aside.
  • Place eggs and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl. With an electric mixer, whisk the mixture at medium-high speed till it becomes thick, pale and triple in volume. This should take about 5 to 6 mins. The batter should leave a ribbon like trail when the whisk/paddle is lifted. Turn to low speed, and beat for another 1~2 mins. This is to stablise the air bubbles in the batter. 
  • Add in the mashed banana and Fold in with a spatula. 
  • Add in the milk, vanilla extract and rum (do not pour in one spot, instead, gently drizzle over to prevent from deflating the batter). Fold in with a spatula, do not stir.
  • Sieve over the flour mixture in 3 separate additions. Each time Fold in the flour carefully with a spatula, making sure there is no pockets of flour being trapped at the bottom of the bowl. Do not stir the batter with the spatula, it will cause the batter to deflate. 
  • Spoon batter into paper muffin cups to about 90% full.
  • Bake in preheated oven at 180 degC for 15mins or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out almost clean.
Recipe source: adapted from 好吃不发胖低卡甜点 by 茨木くみ子

12 comments:

Kimmy said...

Hi HHB, the minute I saw 'oil free' in your post title, straightaway, I bookmarked this recipe. Definitely going to bake these muffins, they look so soft, spongy and moist. Like the combination of bananas with cocoa powder.

Anonymous said...

Hi, i m keen to try this recipe. Can u advise where can i get valrhona cocoa powder & rum in Singapore?

Happy Homebaker said...

I bought the valrhona cocoa powder from Sun Lik, as for rum, we got it from airport duty free shop.

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Kimmy, hope you get around to try this. I will be trying your cola chicken, will let you know :)

Sokehah cheah said...

This is a 'must try' recipe. Thanks for sharing!

Lynn said...

Looks yummy!

Anonymous said...

Hi, great recipe but alas i'm not a good baker, my muffins were kueh like and very dense. Think my ribbon stage was not achieved. Was afraid i beat the mixture(with electric mixer) too long. Can i ask if we can use the same method for other of your recipes, like the classic blueberry muffins? TIA

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi, you need to beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture becomes very thick to reach the ribbon-like stage. I don't think you can use the same method for the other muffin recipes as the result will be affected.

Alina said...

Hi HHB, thanks for sharing this recipe! I'm so excited about trying it out :) May I know a good substitute for rum in this recipe? Or whether it can be omitted?

Thank you!

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Alina, you can omit the rum.

Anonymous said...

hi homebaker,

I've tried this recipe and i didn't manage to get the ribbon like consistency. The batter was think and pale.But when i added the sifted flour, my batter deflated. In the end, my muffin was rock-hard and dense.

Probably due to excessive folding.

Kindly enlighten me.

Cheers,
Angie Ng

Happy Homebaker said...

Hi Angie, may I know what's the reason for not beating the eggs mixture till ribbon like consistency? Continue to beat and stop only when it becomes thick and will leave a trail when u lift up the beater.
Then, fold in flour mixture with a spatula, do not mix by stirring. Hope this helps.