Cake #147 - Revamped Banana Bread

Sunday Classic Cake - Revamped Banana Bread with Home-Made Caramel and Whipped Cream.

I think banana is one of the most versatile fruit to be used in baking. I tastes good the way it is but it goes well with various spices, too. Do not throw overripe bananas into the bin - rather throw them into the batter! Cakes, muffins, bread, cookies.

How about deep-fried bananas? This revamped banana bread and the caramel really remind me of deep-fried bananas. I wonder if we have any vanilla ice cream in the freezer...

Sponge
175 g soft  butter
150 g soft light brown sugar
2 bananas, very ripe, cut into small chunks
3 eggs
150 g self-raising flour
75 g ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
50 ml natural yoghurt

Caramel
200 g soft light brown sugar

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160 C / 340 F and grease and flour a 2-litre square pan .
2. Then make the caramel by tipping the sugar into a frying pan, shaking it to an even layer.  and heating it gently until it melts. Once melted to a golden caramel, pour it onto a baking sheet and leave to cool, then smash into small pieces.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add the bananas and beat in with the eggs, flour, almonds, baking powder and yoghurt until smooth.
5. Stir in 1/3 of the caramel and spoon into the pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the cake is golden and a skewer comes out clean. Let cool.

Decorate the cake with whipped cream and caramel pieces.

Cake #146 - Serrano Ham and Feta Cheese Ring

Savoury Saturday Cake - Serrano Ham and Feta Cheese Ring.

Make a small batch of your favourite pizza dough, roll it and cut it into 10-12 triangles. Place the triangles so that you form a circle in the middle. Fill each triangle with tomato puree, ham and cheese (I used serrano ham and feta), then lift each corner to cover the filling. Glaze with egg, sprinkle some poppy seeds on top and bake in the oven at 200 C / 400 F for about 15 minutes.

Try with puff pastry or even ready-to-bake croissants for a fast savoury snack!

Cake #145 - TGIF

Friends First Friday Cake - TGIF, Chocolate Cake with Marble Icing.

You cannot always succeed with the looks of your cake but TGIF!!!

Chocolate Sponge
175g self-raising flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp soda
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
150 ml sunflower oil
150 ml milk
2 tbsp syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F and grease and flour a 1 kg loaf pan.
2. Sieve flour, cocoa and soda into a bowl. Add sugar and mix well.
3. Make a well in the centre and add syrup, eggs, oil and milk. Beat well until smooth.
4. Spoon the mixture into the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes until risen and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and leave to cool before spreading the icing.

Marble Icing
100 g butter
300 g icing sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
a drop of milk

50 g white chocolate, melted

1. Beat together all ingredients for the icing until smooth.
2. Spread the icing on the cake.
3. Pipe the melted white chocolate on the icing and mix a little to create a marble look.
4. Make some plain icing with icing sugar and a drop of water and write TGIF on the cake as the icing does not look good at all.

Cake #144 - Leopard Pancake

Thursday Cat Theme Cake - Leopard Pancake.

To be honest, this was meant to be a Leopard Swiss Roll. However, the cake got a bit too crispy to be rolled and it was too late in the evening and I was too tired to bake a new one, so I just cut the sheet into squares and we ate it like we would eat oven pancake - with jam and whipped cream. A happy end.

Leopard Pancake
4 eggs

2 dl / 3/4 cup sugar

1,5 dl / ½ cup plain flour
2 tbsp potato or corn flour
1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Preheat oven to 225C and line an oven tray with baking paper.

2. Beat eggs and sugar until white and airy.

3. Mix flours and baking powder and add to the egg-sugar mix.

4. Take 1/4 of the batter and mix the cocoa powder in it.

5. Spoon the white batter evenly on a baking tray and pipe brown circles with the brown batter.

6. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. 

Cake #143 - Chia Seed and Banana Cake

Wednesday Natural Ingredient / Healthy Cake - Chia Seed and Banana Cake.

Chia seeds? Chia - salvia hispanica.

I had seen bread with chia seeds in it, maybe even expensive bags of chia seeds in some of the healthy food stores, but I had really not been that interested. Another fashionable superfood brought to Europe all the way from Mexico to make us healthier and stronger. What. 

Then the other day I noticed that my daughter had bought a bag of chia seeds so I thought I could as well try them out. Not bad. Although I have to say the cake tasted a bit like nori (seaweed). I love sushi but the taste of nori and banana and sugar was not the best combination. Maybe it was something with my taste buds, so I do recommend trying it! Maybe in bread rather than sweet cakes if you ask my opinion.

Chia Seed and Banana Cake

500 ml plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp chia seeds
150 g butter, room temperature
250 ml granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 medium bananas, mashed
1/2 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F. Lightly grease and flour a Ø 24 cm cake pan.
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chia seeds.
3. In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy and beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Stir half of the dry mixture, followed by the banana and buttermilk. Stir in remaining flour mixture, stirring just until no streaks of dry ingredients remain and seeds are well-distributed throughout the cake.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Allow cake to cool for about 15 minutes in the pan, then reinvert the cake on the wire rack to cool completely.

Cake #142 - Cup Cake

Tuesday Humour Cake - Cup Cake.

A Nutella cake baked in a cup in the microwave. This must be a joke? Nope. A very nice and gooey cake indeed. Takes less than 5 minutes from the beginning to the end. Who says baking is time-consuming?

There are dozens of recipes for similar cakes, some with very few ingredients. I used this one. 

Cake #141 - Gooey Potato Cake

Monday Mood Cake - Gooey Potato Cake, served with whipped cream and blackberry jam

Monday mood? Would love to be a couch potato for a day! [or two]

It is strange. Even when you would have a chance to spend a day as a couch potato you do not want to! So much going on. Worlds to be explored. New recipes to be tried. Like this one. 

Potato Cake in a Bundt Pan

3 medium-sized cooked potatoes, mashed (or if you have, leftover potato mash, about 250 ml)
150 ml plain flour
100 ml ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
75 g butter, melted
3 eggs
130 ml granulated sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 175 C / 350 F and grease and flour a 2-litre bundt cake pan.
2. Mash the cooked potatoes.
3. Mix together flour, ground almonds and baking powder.
4. Beat eggs and sugar until white and fluffy.
5. Fold carefully all ingredients together until you have a smooth batter.
6. Pour batter into the pan and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Let cool a little before removing from pan.
7. Serve cake with whipped cream or ice cream and jam.