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Monday, December 20, 2010

Plagiarism



In the midst of properly planning for the upcoming trip of my visiting family, I had tonnes of things to do. While things in regards to itinerary were fully in control, I spent the entire weekend cleaning up the house, and making sure that it would be presentable to my special guests. Apparently this is the least that I can do to welcome my family members, especially those few who are visiting Thailand for the very first time.



The good news is I managed to juggle with a couple of baking chores, including the December’s Daring Bakers Challenge. Lucky me, I had finised baking the challenge item yesterday and photographing it this morning. So I guess I am good to go for the trip which will start the end of this week. My family will be visiting this Friday, big big deal!

Meanwhile, I was visiting bloggers’ sites and came across plagiarism. I was once being warned about plagiarism when stumbled into Fitri of Rumah Manis’s post. She was furious about the fact that some of her photos were stolen. It happened a couple of times and it was her friends who happened to see her photos elsewhere and quickly informed her about this disrespect and irresponsible act.



Of course ever since Fitri has taken a tough measure such as displaying a warning “don’t steal the images” at the end of her posts. That was just the right thing to do. However, the irresponsible party who are decisive about utilizing her images without her consent, most probably might still be stealing. But she has done her best in protecting her blog photos (of course including the photo watermark). And if plagiarism still persists, whoever that steals has consciously claimed himself or herself a THIEF!



This morning, plagiarism again came knocking. This time it happened to Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen. The same, a friend accidentally saw it in a publication and decided to let her know. She was of course mad about it and put herself into full confrontation. The media was contacted, the editor was spoken to, and the conclusion was that this supposingly property-right-aware entity admitted (believe it or not) that they took the photo and used it because it just came out on Google search engine. How ridiculous could that be!



Lucky for Aparna, after her persistent fight, she got what she fought for: the publication printed the retraction on the following issue and paid all the damages (inspite initially claimed they didn’t have any budget for it)! Bravo to Aparna and everyone of us, food bloggers who have taken the stand to fight for what is right. Cheers! Read all about it here!

CHOCOLATE BANANA CAKE WITH BANANA CREAM AND GOOSEBERRIES
Makes one 7.5 inch cake



1.Chocolate Banana Cake
Prepare one 7.5 inch cake mould

Ingredients:
- Cocoa powder > 6 g
- Cooking oil > 1 tsp
- Evaporated milk > 63 g
- Lime juice > ½ tbsp
- Cake flour > 125 g
- Baking powder> 2g
- Baking soda> 4g
- Salt > ½ tsp
- Granulated sugar > 135 g
- Butter at room temperature > 90 g
- Ripe bananas > 100g
- Eggs > 2

Method:
- Grease and line a 7.5 inch cake mould. Set aside.
- Prepare cocoa paste by mixing cocoa powder with cooking oil and stir until smooth. Set aside.
- Combine milk and lime juice. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 150 C.
- Combine cake flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Sift together.
- Fold flour mixture into a mixing bowl. Add butter and beat at low speed until crumbly.
- Add in bananas. Increase to highest speed and beat until smooth.
- Add in eggs, one at a time. Set the speed to the lowest, pour in cocoa paste and milk mixture and beat until smooth.
- Pour batter into the cake tin. Bake at 150 C for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and turn the cake onto wire rack. Remove the lining paper.



2. Banana Cream

Ingredients:
- Mashed bananas > 85 g
- Lime juice > 1 tsp
- Whipping cream > 385 g
- Egg yolks – beat moderately> 50 g
- Granulated sugar > 70 g
- Gelatine> 5 g
- Vanilla essence > ½ tsp
- Egg whites > 90 g
- Water > 2 tsp

Method:
- Combine mashed bananas, lime juice, and 85 g of whipping cream in a saucepan. Bring to boil.
- Set fire to medium heat and pour in egg yolks and 10 g of sugar. Heat and stir batter until it reaches 85C.
- Fold in gelatine and vanilla essence. Stir until gelatine dissolved. Set aside.
- Beat egg white until full of bubbles. Set aside.
- Heat 60 g of sugar with water at medium heat until sugar dissolved. Increase the heat and cook until syrup reaches 121 C.
- Gently pour hot syrup into the bubbly egg white mixture. Continue beating until soft peaks form.
- Combine this egg white mixture with banana mixture. Beat at slow speed until smooth. Set aside.
- Whip 300 g of whipping cream at highest speed for 2 minutes until firm peaks form. Set speed to low and add in 300g of banana egg white mixture. Continue whipping until smooth.



3. Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:
- Whipping cream > 50g
- Dark chocolate – chop > 50 g

Method:
- Place chopped chocolate in heat-proof bowl.
- Heat whipping cream until boiled.
- Pour immediately into the chopped chocolate. Leave for 5 minutes and stir until chocolate is completely melted.
- Leave to cool.



4. Assembly

Ingredients:
- Chocolate banana cake above
- Banana cream above
- Chocolate glaze above
- Banana slices – cut into 5mm thickness > 4-5 big bananas
- Gooseberries > sufficient to decorate

Method:
- Slice chocolate banana cake into 3 equal layers.
- Apply half portion of chocolate glaze into the bottom cake layer, followed by a thin layer of banana cream.
- Arrange banana slices on top of the cream. Cover again with another thin layer of banana cream.
- Top with another cake layer. Repeat the above step.
- Cover the top with last cake layer. Coat the surface with banana cream.
- Decorate with more banana slices and gooseberries.

25 comments:

  1. Wow, I'm thrilled, again and again ...beautiful!

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  2. Plagiarism is terrible and so is trolling! So sad some people have no conscience...

    A gorgeous cake and amazing shots!

    Happy holidays!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. Lovely cake but a shame about your friends who are having a hard time with the plagiarism. I guess I don't have these problems with my little point and shot pictures lol. Hope you ahve a lovely holiday with your visiting family.

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  4. Ah, yes, as a student and a teacher (and a blogger), plagiarism is a concern all around me. I've found that, a lot of times, people just don't realize they're doing it - as in your friend Aparna's case. Of course, it's still really irresponsible.

    That cake looks amazing! It makes me think of a much fancier, more delicate take on the chocolate banana cream pie.

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  5. It looks so fluffy and fresh, just delicious!(your food styling and photo quality are amazing...)

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  6. Good for you for finishing the Dec. challenge, and getting all ready for your family during this busy time! Your cake looks so beautifully inviting, and I would love to try a big wedge of it! Chocolate and banana is such a classic combination and so delicious!
    Thanks for the story about(and link to) Aparna's photo being stolen! That is so upsetting and terrible. Good Housekeeping magazine should know better than that! I'm glad she prevailed:)
    Have a fun celebration with your family, Kris!

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  7. I was just looking for some ideas on a chocolate banana cake. Yours looks really pretty and the layers are all straight and nice..

    Yes, plagiarism in the blogosphere is unavoidable sometimes, we just have to keep our eyes open wide

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  8. I've heard the lame excuse "It was on Google!" before! Apparently for some reason; people think it is ok to use photos if they find it on an internet search through google!! It's ridiculous but with the ever growing source of photos on the internet it only seems to get worse. On the other hand there are the people that put full size resolution photos on their flickr or other photosharing sites. Not realizing the danger they are putting themselves into... In a lot of cases it concerns photos of their kids or other loved ones... Image what people could do with those photos! It just scares me and every chance I get I make sure I warn people of the risks involved. And very good that Aparna fought and won, but in the end it should not really be necessary that we have to do this!! Is it so hard to respect other people's property? (apparently it is!)
    Sorry for such a lengthy comment... :) But very good that you brought it up! And not unimportant... I love your Chocolate banana cake!!

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  9. Sounds delicious, Kris. With beautiful photos like yours, it is definitely a good idea to protect yourself against plagiarism!

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  10. ...un vero spettacolo questo dolce!
    Tantissimi Auguri!

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  11. งามทั้งรูปและรสเลยนะคะ แค่เห็นก็ประทับใจแล้วคะ ขออณุญาติสูตรเอาไปทำด้วยนะคะ

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  12. Wow, I hear alot of this. These days everything is so easily lifted and used....watch out because your pictures are worth stealing! ha

    Lovely recipe and great composition, I love everything about this.

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  13. I was horrified to read what had happened to Aparna and others. Especially shocking is when it's not anonymous bloggers but well-known publications with plenty of staff and money who choose to taken advantage of bloggers who they expect to remain none-the-wiser or to be too intimidated to respond. I'm glad this issue has gotten a lot of attention and also have utmost respect for those who've stood up to these thieves. And last but not least, your cake is beautiful as expected. I hope you don't personally suffer from any plagiarism of your lovely clicks.

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  14. Espectacular!!! Irresistiblemente apetecible, me encanta! la combinación, presentación y fotografía, con la boca abierta me has dejado!!! Te sigo para no perderme nada de estas maravillas!

    Besossss

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  15. I understand what people feel if that happen to them. And again, some people think because we put our works online mean they can keep it. sometime, i feel so tired and helpless and want to quit blogging.. because no solution, especially when you live in different country. The case just back and forward, waste time, and get nothing.
    But, having nice friends through Internet make me happy and keep me writing and cooking :) and you are one of them Kris.
    Anyway, have a great Holiday .. I bet you count the day everyday.. lucky you, family will gather around.

    about the cake ? still need my thumbs ? LOL!! I will steal your recipes for my new year's party :D Take care Kris.

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  16. I have this http://www.tineye.com/ on my site and it helps me run a reverse search on all of my imagines.. basically it searched the whole internet and checks to make sure the image you are using is not duplicated somewhere else. It works 99.99% of the time. Check it out.

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  17. As an artist I have meet plagiarism personally several times. I felt awful. It is hard to excuse. It is a smart idea to protect yourself.
    Especially because your blog is absolutely wonderful. Happy Holidays!

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  18. Your cake is lovely. It is a shame that people take what is not theirs. Hopefully there will someday be a remedy for the theft of other peoples intellectual property. Have a great day. Blessings...Mary

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  19. these stories of stolen content make me so mad. I am happy that it turned out well for at least one of the bloggers. Good on her!

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  20. Really liked the almost ethereal look you cake gets from the gooseberries on top.

    And thanks so much, Kris, for highlighting our posts about th plagiarism and giving it the publicity it needs. If more of fight back perhaps these "thieves' will think twice before they think of doing this next time.

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  21. I remember picking gooseberries of the bush at my grandma's house, how fabulous do they look as decoration on this cake.

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  22. You have an extremely beautiful blog with amazing photographs. I am totally drooling over all the pics in your blog ;) You simply rock and keep it going. :)

    I am here for the first time and happy that I came across your blog. Will be following your posts from now on :)

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