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

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