Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

I am a big fan of banana cake. Whether it comes in a loaf form or round cake form, I'm happy to sample some. The ones I like the most are the super moist ones. The ones that still spring to the touch. I have tried some of the banana loafs in Australia but I find that their banana 'bread' is really like Italian bread. It is dense and often dry.

To satisfy my craving for a good banana cake I decided to make my own as it is hard to find any here. The most common cakes at cafe's or bakeries are cheese cakes or cream cakes. I went through a few recipes and have hit the jackpot with one and my friends have been asking for the recipe, so here it is.

SERVES 16 Using a 9" Cake tin

You will need:

2 cups of bananas (use bananas that are really ripe ie. when the skin is all black and just sort of falling apart... they're perfect)
2 tsp Lemon juice
3 cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Butter (room temp)
2 1/8 cups Sugar
3 large Eggs
2 tsp Vailla Extract
1 1/2 cups Buttermilk

Frosting

I use this fantabulous Cream Cheese Frosting that I have posted about when I made Red Velvet Cupcakes. Check out the recipe here.

The Method

1. Preheat the oven to 135C or 275F. The temperature is low for baking a cake but don't touch that dial. It works, trust me.
2. Grease and flour a 9" cake tin.
3. Mash the bananas with a form and mix in the lemon juice. Let this sit for awhile.
4. Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
5. In your large mixing bowl, cream the butter, and sugar until light and fluffy. The mixture should turn very pale, the fluffier the butter and sugar mixture the lighter and higher the cake will rise.
6. Beat in the eggs one at a time on the low setting of your blender so you don't curdle the mixture. This will help emulsify the mixture and hold moisture which will also act as leavening for your cake. Scrape down the sides of the bowl at the end and add the vanilla extract. Stir until combined.
7. Beat in the flour mixture alternatively with the buttermilk. I do this in 3 portions each. Don't try to rush this. You want to make sure the mixture is well combined. If you live in Seoul like I do and can't find Buttermilk. It's easy to make your own. For each cup of buttermilk that is needed, add 1 tbsp of lemon to a cup of milk and let it sit for 10 mins. It may curdle a little at the top so just stir the milk before you add it to your cooking.
8. Finally add in the banana's and quickly use a wooden spoon to just stir it in. Don't overmix.
9. Pour the mixture into your prepared pan and pop it into the preheated oven for 1 hour and 10 mins. I would check your cake att the 55mins mark as ovens differ. Best would be to get a oven termometer to measure the temp properly. To check insert a toothpick or a wooden skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean then your cake is done.
11. Remove it from the oven and put it in the freezer immediately for 45mins. Don't worry, your cake won't freeze but it will cool down very quickly which I think maybe how it stays very moist.

Check out the above link for a yummy cream cheese frosting recipe. As a final touch, you can add walnuts on the top of the frosting.

Best Ever Cornflake Cookies Recipe

I am not exagerating when I say "Best Ever" here. Ok so maybe it would also make it easier to turn up on a Google search - heh, heh! A few friends of mine requested this recipe. I decided to make Cornflakes Cookies this year for Chinese New Year as I can't get them here in Seoul. So along with Cornflake Cookies I also made Fah Sang Peng (Peanut Cookies) and some Chocolate Chip Cookies thrown in just because. Believe me, if they were readily available I would not make them but I am glad I did!

This recipe is adapted from a recipe I found online and an Amy Beh recipe. It yields just over 100 cookies about an inch+ in diameter.

Ingredients

125gms softened butter
1/2 cup castor sugar
1 large egg
1 cup self raising flour (or I use 1 cup of cakeflour + 2 tbsp if you can get it)
1/2 tsp grated lemon/orange rind
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
3 cups lightly crushed cornflakes
* optional 1 tsp baking powder if you are using cake flour

Method

Line a baking/cookie tray. Have 2 so you can work on the 2nd one while the first 1 is in the oven.

First cream the butter and sugar together until white and well combined. Then add the egg and beat, scrape down sides of the bowl and add the vanilla essence and lemon/orange rind. Mix well then fold in the flour. For the cornflakes, I put them in a zip lock bag and crush with a rolling pin. Be careful not to overdo it. You want the pieces big enough to coat the cookie and give it a bit of crunch. Pour some cornflakes into a plate of shallow bowl.

When the cookie mixture is done, use 2 teaspoons; 1 to scoop the batter and the other to push it down onto the cornflakes. To get a bite size shape, scoop a mixture about half the teaspoon in size. Remember, it will expand a bit in the oven because of the baking powder. The mixture is pretty sticky so trying to roll it in the cornflakes with your fingers is pretty messy and the results less than pretty. So, I suggest you first use your fingers to sprinkle the cornflakes over the little ball then once it has some cornflakes on it it's a lot easier to 'handle'. Turn it around a bit till nicely coated then continue with the rest.

Here they are before they go into the oven

It will take some time as the coating process is a little tedious. Have a good radio channel on or have the tv in the background, it makes it more enjoyable. : ) Place the cookies about 3-4cm apart to give it room to spread. I also made these cookies with mini cupcake holders and it was cuter, when you allow it to spread by itself, the cookie is no longer coated on all surfaces with the cornflakes. Bake in a preheated oven of 150 degree Celcius for 12-15 minutes. Some recipes say 18-20 minutes but I found that mine were done by about 15 so test a small batch first to be sure.

In the mini cupcake holders. I baked a large batch and put them into containers as gifts for Chinese New Year.

Cool on wire racks then put in air tight containers, or if you are like me, eat as you bake! These are so yummy and crunchy I can just keep eating them. They are great as gifts, or for parties, or just for your own personal enjoyment. The best thing about it is the hint of lemon. Yum!

Getting LASEK in Seoul

I have thought long and hard about getting my eyes fixed and by this I mean LASIK or LASEK. I figured the technology is pretty advanced now with high success rates and the price having been reduced by half from 5 years ago. Korea is well known for their high tech and high quality of health care so this is a good time as any to get my eyes checked out.

There are quite a few eye care centres that I found out about but the one that I finally picked was Dream Eye Centre. I read someone's review on their blog (of which I have now forgotten the url) and they had a good experience. You can find some testimonials on their website if you pick the Korean version of the site. You won't miss it, it's in the centre and you can sort of see the subject titles of each testimonial.

First thing to note, before you have your first appointment, you have to remove your contacts for 1 week for them to do your eye examination. A good thing I called in advance! Wearing glasses only for a week was alright but I missed wearing contacts when going out.

The clinic I went to was the one in Myeongdong, they have another one in Gangnam. It's on the same street as Migliore. If you walk down hill from Migliore for about 50m, you will see Banila & Co on the corner. Dream Eye Centre is on the right. You take the lift to the 4th floor and that's their reception.

The receiption is comfortable with a row of sofa's facing the reception desk and some coffee tables with chairs around it for when they sit down with you to get your history. On one side of the reception area, they have conveniently provided 3 computers to keep you entertained in case there is long to wait. The deco is simple and uncluttered with cool tones to soothe the eyes.

I was greeted first by the ladies behind the desk who told me to wait for a few minutes. Shortly, I was 'interviewed' by one of the assistants in a lab coat who took down my history and 10 minutes later, I was taken upstairs for a series of tests which was done with no less than a dozen machines. They were very thorough. The eye exams included a check on my vision, astigmatisicm, glaucoma, thickness and shape of my cornea.

This was really the most thorough of eye examinations I have ever had. Throughout, the assistant (her name was Jiye) was courteous and warm. Her English was good and we could have short conversations in between tests. In the final part of the exams, the doctor (Dr Ha in my case) did a final check on the health of my eyes by shining a super intense light into your eyes that made your eyes water!

For me, the conclusion was that my cornea was too thin for LASIK. If I wanted to correct my vision, I had to go for LASEK which had a slower recovery period but is safer. After that, Jiye sat down with me again in a small room and showed me flash videos of the laser they use and how good it is etc etc... The pricing is as they said over the phone which is from KRW1.7mil - 2mil.

Oh, I better mention this... for one of the tests which involves them sticking a pen onto your eye to test your cornea's thickness. In order to prevent you from screaming in pain and kicking them in the 'nads, they give you some anaesthetic eyedrops. You won't feel a thing but the downside of these eyedrops is that for the next few hours, light will hurt your eyes (so bring sunglasses!) and your vision will go wonky (things will seem blurry but my vision for things up close was improved when I took off my glasses - something to do with the eye not being able to focus well).

After a brief discussion later with my OH, we decided to get it done and I returned the next day for the procedure. The atmosphere was all very calm and 'let's-not-get-the-patient-excited'. They even had elevator music piped into the room where the nurse was washing my eyes and face. So if you are girl, don't bother putting on any makeup. After getting preped, I was taken in to the OT which had a big postcard window where your companion can see you while watching from the sofas outside the room. They even have a monitor that is pointed and zoomed directly at your eye so they can see exactly what is being done.

Being the chicken that I am, I averted my eyes when I walked past 'cos I didn't want to freak myself out seeing someone else's procedure. When I laid down on the bed, the nurse was kind enough to offer me a pillow in the shape of Winnie the Pooh's face to hug (or clutch in my case) before they put a blanket over me. Then the nurse asked me if I was nervous and I said, "Yes" and she offered me some kind words which I no longer remember as the machine was being moved over me. She put a hand on mine which was comforting.

The entire procedure was over pretty quickly. They weren't kidding when they said 5 minutes per eye. I won't ruin the experience for you by recounting it in detail. All I will say is it is really painless. I was tense but not too nervous and if I had been more relaxed rather than thinking that any moment my eyes will be in some serious pain especially when they were doing the procedure I would have probably enjoyed the experience more.

Sorry I didn't take any photos as you can imagine that was the last thing on my mind. : ) Oh and when I got home, I opened my packet of medicine I discovered a small card. It was from the nurse (who spent probably only 20 minutes with me) with some sweet words of congratulations and wishing me luck as I enjoyed my new vision. I thought that was really sweet and thoughful. Sometimes it is these small touches that makes a difference.

I would recommend Dream Eye Center for anyone wishing to get their vision corrected through LASIK or LASEK. One of the best points about this experience is also that their initial eye examination to see if you are a candidate for the procedure is FREE. Their follow up visits and medication including eye drops are also included in the price.