I’m glad the hellish week with sick kids and trips to the doctor is over. The post below was prepared during that week but I only managed to add the photo in today. So here’s what I wanted to upload last week….

With the buzz and sleepless nights and the stress that comes with looking after unwell kids, most of the stuff in the kitchen came to a standstill. Usually, I’d make sure that stuff which looked about to go to waste gets used up fast in some dish or other. Unfortunate for the bananas, they escaped my droopy eyes. So today when I saw them, they looked so forlorn and sad - their skin turning black and spotted. I didn’t want to throw them into the freezer since there were already 4 other over ripe bananas sitting frozen waiting for me to make them into milkshakes. So I googled for a recipe using bananas which was not going to cost me too much time away from my kids. Here’s the result - Steamed Banana Cake. I saw the recipe, the reviews and couldn’t resist trying it.

Once it was done, it reminded me of the kuih apam I used to eat during my Junior College days. This cake eaten with red sugar and steamed grated coconut is heavenly. I suddenly all at once miss my teenage years, the kindly old couple who happily served us this dessert and my friends!

Ingredients: (Makes 4 custard cup size cakes)
1 cup flour (remove 2 tbsp from it)
2 very ripe bananas - mashed till smooth
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup powdered sugar/icing sugar
1tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tsp water
1 tsp canola oil
1 egg
a pinch of salt
6 tbsp grated coconut (without skin) + a pinch of salt (optional)

Method:

1. Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl.
2. Combine all other ingredients with the bananas except the grated coconut .
3. Use a whisk and mix all the ingredients together until smooth. It should be like thick batter.
4. Fill half a custard cup with the batter.
5. Prepare the steamer. When it is ready, steam the cups for 20 minutes on high heat.
6. Test with a skewer to see if it’s done. Let it cool before removing from the cups to serve. Alternatively, you can serve in the custard cups.
7. Steam the grated coconut with salt for about 4 minutes.
8. Serve plain or with steamed coconut and red/brown sugar.

Half-filled custard cups - Before steaming        

After steaming - Look at the beautiful cracks

 Here’s an alternative serving suggestion. Sprinkle the sugar and coconut on the top.

Tips:

• This is not a very sweet cake but it’s supposed to be mild.
• Adding the dark brown sugar will give the cake a very light golden color
• You can use muffin tins lined with cupcake paper instead of custard cups
• Make sure the steamer is boiling properly before you put the cakes in to steam
• The cakes will expand and crack (’merkah’) on its own. But in case it doesn’t, it’ll still taste yummy!