A crazy week.. but cakes must go on ^^

It has been a roller-coaster week.. with FIL landing in hospital (while fatty hubby's away!), playing "temp-mom" to chubby pig who's staying over and baking a gazillion chocolate chip cookies for a charity sale..

I'm glad to report things are finally back to normal today! Dad's surgery went well and was discharged yesterday, chubby's back with his parents and I'm so done with cookies!!! ^^

I finally have time for me. ^^ And I want cake.

Orange chocolate chip cake (recipe from kwanster)
~ makes one 7-inch square tin cake / 1 medium loaf cake and 4 mini cakes
1 medium thin-skinned orange
200g unsalted butter
160g sugar
3 eggs, beaten
200g self-raising flour
200g chocolate chips

1. In a processor, blitz orange (skin and all) till fine. Remove finely processed orange from processor.

2. Place butter and sugar into the same processor and blitz till light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs bit by bit into butter mixture till combined.

3. Add flour and mix well. Mix in processed orange into the batter till well combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Pour cake mixture into a greased/line cake tin/cupcake tins. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 50-55 minutes, or till skewer comes out clean (if using cupcake tin, bake for 25-30 minutes).

I've always wanted to make something with orange and chocolate after the omg-delicious jaffa fudge slice I had last year.. but never got round to ^^||. Well, after the successful spur-of-the-moment fantabulous super-loaded banana chocolate chip minicake I made for chubby pig last monday ^^, this was something I wanted to reward myself after a crazy week! And I like the idea of blitzing a whole orange!

I love how gorgeously bright the cake turned out! Love the aroma, taste and texture too! ^^

As I had no time to post earlier, here's two cakes I baked and enjoyed early last week ^^

Fantabulous super-loaded banana chocolate chip minicake
~ makes 8 small mini cakes
60g unsalted butter
40g muscovado or brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
60g self raising flour
a pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup mashed bananas
2 tbsp fresh milk
60g chocolate chips

1. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Add beaten egg and mix till well combined.

2. Mix in flour and salt till combined. Add bananas and fresh milk into the batter. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Pour batter into lined cupcake tins and bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 25-30 minutes.

There's usually never enough bananas at home to make cake.. but last week was such a busy week that we barely had time to sit, much less eat bananas.. hence some over-ripe bananas brought about this spur of the moment banana chocolate chip minicake (partially inspired by the coffee and nuts cake ratios ^^) made just for chubby pig. Over-loaded and too delicious!!! ^^

Coffee and nuts cake (inspired by melspantrykitchen and poiresauchocolat)
~ makes 1 small loaf
60g unsalted butter
50g sugar
1 egg, beaten
60g self raising flour
a pinch of sea salt
1 tsp instant coffee + 1 tsp hot water (mix together)
2 tbsp fresh milk
15g toasted walnuts, chopped
15g hazelnut meal

1. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy about 3 minutes. Add beaten egg and mix till well combined.

2. Mix in flour and salt till combined. Add coffee and fresh milk into the batter. Fold in walnuts and hazelnut meal.

3. Pour batter into greased/lined cake tin and bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 40-50 minutes, or till skewer comes out clean.

I made this cake just before the madness started, and it is BEST on the day it is baked ^^. Most cakes almost always taste better after it's cooled or the next day, but the coffee and nuts cake is delish fresh from the oven. I can imagine it tasting luscious with lots of buttercream (I wish I dared, mel ^^), but it's best I eat it plain ^^!

It's crazy how sometimes things just happen all at once.. but there's always time for cake. ^^