Saturday, October 13, 2007

I Wanna CocoNana

Watching National Geographic, we know that certain animals will come out for food at certain times of the day. Greg behaves in the same way that is predictable.

The pattern is very clear. When it's around 5-6pm, Greg will suddenly appear in the kitchen, a place where he seldom frequents except when it's feeding time. His words, 'I'm so hungry I want to faint liaw. I want Food-uh. Food-uh. Food-uh.'

Greg likes chocolate. He also likes bananas. Both are excellent laxatives for him when he has too much. I have combined these two into a cake which I call CocoNana.

It's basically layers of chocolate sponge with fresh chocolate cream and lined with bananas, covered with rich chocolate glacage. The art of making this cake requires the sponge to be chocolaty and soft, and the banana must be nicely ripened. Fresh cream must also be chocolaty without the articificial chocolate waxy aftertaste.

Nee's CocoNana: From here, it goes directly into Greg's mouth.



A decorated CocoNana from Nee's Kitchen

Secret Recipe is quite well known for this version of the cake (Chocolate Banana) but to be bluntly honest, it is bland. I'm sorry but I really couldn't eat at Secret Recipe. The cakes are generally puffy like it's got a lot air pumped into it to make them look big. And the huge amount of cream that goes with them makes them characterless.

We've tried many of its varieties in KL and came out really disappointed. I've once stood at the new Secret Recipe outlet counter in Kuching and was trying to find an item to buy. But in the end, I walked out empty handed. The only item we are happy with is the Marble Cheese in the KL outlet. At least they don't call it Chocolate Marble Cheese. If they do, I'd be mad cause a few lines of chocolate on top does not make a Chocolate Marble. I guess that's the difference between commercial & home baked cakes.

4 comments:

Terri @ A Daily Obsession said...

spot on! d only reason why secret recipes cakes r popular is many ppl think the softer the better, the more cream the better, even if the cake's bland which is also how i feel about SR's cakes. When they first opened in kk, i was so excited i ordered 3 diff. pieces of cake to try n i've never been back ever since! it's just air n cheap ingredients...btw, i know ur cake's yummy.

Greg Wee said...

NEE: Ya i really wanted some cakes instead of baking one whole one for myself. So we really thot SR something i may like. In KL, we ordered so many varieties as they came SOOOO highly recommended by a fren.

as for my cakes, well they are to our taste (only greg and I), so that may not apply to all. We can only please ourselves. Come to kuching with aunty linda next time. would really enjoy another cooking 'conference' with you two.

Anonymous said...

whoa! it looks deliciousmes!
i've always wanted to try it out but i'm having issues with my dairy cream (yarr!) and sponge.

haha - i guess all my cakes are heavier than secret recipe's so it feels less indulgent (cause it's lighter). but i think the cheesecakes are good! heard the health cakes are a rip off tho!

Greg Wee said...

Nee: Hi. I like their marble cheese. but i guess all commercial cakes are like tat. what to do. they have to make money rite. home ones are everything as much as possible hehee..

Nuffnang Ad