I Can Now Bake Cakes!! : Sep-14

Since time immemorial, I have loved to eat cakes and buns. Since I have been able to put together food for others and myself to eat, I have wanted to make my own cakes and buns. However, due to Victor's abhorrence to butter and that almost all baked confectionary seemed to contain butter, he came out with a seemingly valid excuse of no-place-to-put-oven-in-kitchen and left feeling unfulfilled and disappointed.

Of late, I have chanced upon a webpage on how you can steam a cake instead of baking it. Exploring juz a lil' further, I found this blogger who has steamed many successful cakes in her rice cooker since last year!! She even took some fellow bloggers' successful baked cake recipes and adapted them for the 5.5-cup rice cooker (juz like mine!!).. Stumbled upon treasure!!

Being the procrastinator I usually am especially when venturing into something new, I was toying with the idea for a while before finally springing into action.. it happened when I saw an irresistable cake which I'm not so sure I can buy from outside -- the Magic Custard Cake.

Although it was not a very successful first attempt in the looks department, the cake was delish and wiped out in less than a day!! In fact, FIL likes it so much that MIL has sort of asked me for the recipe so that she can try a baked and prettier version of it!! Hahaa.. but Victor was a lil' disappointed not being able to partake in my joy.. because this magic custard cake contains milk and butter. ) :

Next, I tried with the all-time-favourite fruit of the family--the banana!

Oh, this became our family's instant favourite!! As I substituted butter with the healthier olive oil, Victor could enjoy this banana cake without holding back! In fact, he was so thankful that this cake was customized especially for his taste buds!!

This easy forgiving cake became so popular that I have made half a dozen over the past two weeks for friends and family!! It even became a birthday cake for Huili!!

In between, I did attempt some other cake.. a chocolate banana, another of our all-time favourite flavour, using the healthier organic raw cacao powder, but reception was only lukewarm.. ) :

Determined to find another instant favourite, I tried another cake--the Carrot Orange Cake. The texture was good but the taste was not. It had a sort of bitter taste which I thought I added too much baking powder or soda but Qi insisted it was the cake flour which I used; her previous baked creation using the cake flour tasted the same bad....

I felt so liberated and empowered knowing I can 'bake' cakes even without an oven!! And you know what, I even found recipes for rice cooker buns!! Hahahaa..