Showing posts with label Frostings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frostings. Show all posts
My sister had printed out a recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction earlier this week for "The Best Banana Cake I've Ever Had." We had some ripe bananas that needed using up.
They were well freckled. I don't know about you, but I am not overly fond of eating really ripe bananas as they are. I am also not fond of under ripe bananas. In order for me to enjoy a raw banana, it has to be just so.
And even then I am not overly fond of eating them raw. I do enjoy them with ice cream, custard or on top of crisp rice cereal. That is pretty much the only way I will eat them.
When I was a child I wouldn't eat them at all. I had heard about big spiders living in them on the banana trees and I had some crazy idea in my head that the little brown specks in their centres were spider eggs. I know! Kids! Crazy!
I decided to bake it on Friday when my sister was at work. She didn't mind. I think she was happy just to have cake in the house!
Her daughter Crystal had baked the cake and recommended it to us. I always admit to being a bit dubious when someone calls their recipe the best ever, but I suppose it is all relative to taste. One man's meat being another man's poison after all.
Her metric measurements were a bit off. I can speak with authority on that, having lived and baked in the UK for 20 years, and only ever baking by weight the whole time I was there.
I have corrected them in the recipe for you below. Those are the only adaptations I made to her recipe, and I pretty much made it exactly as per hers in every other way.
I apologize for the poor photos. Kitchen light, wrong time of day, but I couldn't really cut into it until after supper. I know you will forgive me.
The smell when this was baking was pretty A M A Z I N G! I seriously was drooling the whole time. It smelled sweet and very banana-like! I could hardly wait to dig in.
It uses ground cinnamon in the batter. To be honest I can't really taste it in the finished cake. If you want to taste the cinnamon, I would suggest upping the amount to at least 3/4 tsp if not 1 tsp.
Otherwise I would leave it out altogether. With two teaspoons of vanilla in the batter, it probably overpowers the cinnamon, so you really need to amp it up a bit if you want to taste it.
It has a moist and delicious crumb as you can see. Nice and dense like a good snacking cake should be.
The use of buttermilk helps to insure that it is moist as does the use of brown sugar. She suggested either dark or light soft brown sugar. I used light.
It was baked in a 9 X 13 inch Pyrex baking dish. My sister does not have any metal baking tins. I allowed it to cool entirely in the dish which also enhanced its moist texture.
I cut the quantities for the icing in half as I knew we would only be frosting the top of the cake. This was a smart decision and allowed for plenty of icing. Any more than what I made would have been too much.
I do like frosting on cakes, but I don't like to overdo it. Half a recipe was the right amount for this cake. If you are doing a layer cake (and you can) I would double the amounts below as you will need to fill and frost the sides.
I have also shown you the adapted bake times, etc. in the Notes for the recipe.
You can also bake it as cupcakes or as a Bundt Cake. See notes. I am not sure how to frost it as a Bundt cake. Perhaps just make a drizzle frosting instead of a cream cheese frosting. Or make a drizzle frosting using 1 TBS each softened butter and cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and then milk to give you the right consistency.
I think this would be lovely with the addition of toasted walnuts or chocolate chips, or both. I was very tempted to sprinkle some toasted walnuts over the top of the finished cake, but it wasn't my cake!
As you can see, it cuts beautifully into nice squares and the texture is spot on. This is everything that you would expect in a good banana cake. It has a lovely texture and a "spot on" banana flavour without having to use any kind of banana extract.
I confess that I am not overly fond of anything using an artificial banana flavour. If you can do it with real flavours, that's perfect to me.
If you are looking for a great family style Banana cake, a wonderful snacking cake, well flavoured, dense and not overly sweet look no further. This is your cake.
Best Banana Cake
Yield: one 9 X 13 cake
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 55 Min
This banana cake is moist and deliciously filled with plenty of banana flavor! Make sure all of your ingredients are at room temperature before beginning.
Ingredients
- 3 large ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
- 3 cups (420g) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup (180g) lightly salted butter, softened
- 1 cup (195g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 3 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 tsp pure vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups (360ml) dairy buttermilk
For the frosting:
- 4 ounces (110g) of cream cheese
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- 2 cups (260g) icing sugar, sifted
- pinch of salt
- 1 TBS milk or cream (may or may not be needed)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4. Butter a 9 X 13 inch baking dish with butter and dust the bottom only with flour.
- Sift together all of the dry ingredients for the cake. Set aside.
- Cream together the butter for the cake and both sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and then the eggs a little at a time until thoroughly incorporated. Beat in the mashed bananas.
- Add the flour mixture, alternately with the buttermilk, making three dry and two wet additions. Try not to overbeat it. A few lumps are quite acceptable.
- Pour into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, until well risen and the top springs back when lightly touched. A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean.
- Allow to cool completely in the pan.
- To make the icing beat together all of the ingredients until smooth and creamy, only adding milk as necessary to give you the proper consistency.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cake, swirling the top a bit. Cut into squares to serve.
Notes:
You may bake this as a layer cake if you wish, but double the recipe ingredients. Two 9-inch round pans, 26 to 30 minutes.
You may also bake this in a Bundt tin, 10 to 12 cup tin, 50 to 65 minutes.
Can also be baked as cupcakes. Makes two dozen, bake for 20 - 22 minutes.
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
I wanted to bake a special treat for my Sweetie Pie for Valentines Day. This Maraschino Sweet Heart Cake is a cake that I have been baking for a very long time.
What goes more with Valentines Day than a delicately tinted pink cake which is studded with maraschino cherries and toasted pecans!
It can be baked as a layer cake, or as I have done today, baked in two separate tins to create a Heart Shaped Cake.
I used both an 8 inch square and an 8 inch round cake tin. I had grandiose ideas in my mind.
I thought to hang a garland between two poles with some sweetheart lovie dovie messages on the garland, using two (paper) straws for the poles and a bit of butcher's twine to stick the messages on.
I don't think that I can ever be accused of being overly proud. I am fully capable of laughing at myself, and I do have to chuckle when I see this.
A cake decorator I am not! But thankfully my husband always enjoys what I create, so it's all good.
My motivation and sentiments were pure.
The cake ended up being far larger than anything I had in my china cabinet to use as a cake plate,, and so I had to botch one together using a large place mat which I covered with aluminium foil. When must needs . . .
I thought about putting sprinkles all over the cake, but instead opted to put just a few decorations at the base of the poles.
A bit understated perhaps and I don't think anyone will be copying my idea, but I do hope people will be inspired to bake the cake.
Its a good solid, old fashioned cake recipe. Almost an all-in-one-batter in that you measure all of the dry ingredients, fats, and wets into a bowl and beat them all together before beating in stiffly beaten egg whites.
Easy peasy. You are supposed to stir the cherries and nuts in at the end, but I always stir the nuts and most of the cherries into the dry ingredients so that they don't sink and then just stir a few quartered cherries into the batter at the end.
That way you get lots of lovely bits of cherry throughout and just a few largeish bits.
Overall a very pretty effect I think. I opted to use a 7-minute Frosting this time rather than a buttercream.
Its kind of like marshmallow . . . you do it in the top of a double boiler over simmering water. Just mix all of the ingredients together and then beat for seven minutes . . .
Until you get a soft billowy, marshamallow type of frosting that is quite sticky and quite good!
Just look at the texture of the cake. I call that perfect. You can leave the nuts out if you wish.
Todd is really enjoying it and that is why I baked it . . . I wanted him to enjoy it.
We are not like young lovers who go all out with hearts and flowers and jewelry and stuff . . . instead we like to keep things simple.
Restaurants and such get so busy on days such as these . . . instead we opt to get a delicious takeaway, and I make us a dessert and we celebrate at home with a good film/movie and each other's company.
And that's just how we like it. What kinds of things to you do for Valentines day?
Yield: makes 16
Maraschino Cherry Cake
A delicately pink tinted cake flecked with bits of red maraschino cherry and toasted pecans. What's not to like? I have included a recipe for a 7 minute frosting.
ingredients:
For the Cake:
- 310g of plain flour ( 2 1/2 cups)
- 190g caster sugar (1 cup)
- 1 TBS baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 60ml maraschino cherry juice from the jar (1/4 cup)
- 180ml milk (3/4 cup)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla essence
- 1/2 tsp pour almond essence
- 4 TBS unsalted butter, softened
- 55g white vegetable shortening (1/4 cup)
- 4 large free range egg whites
- 18 maraschino cherries, quartered and dried with some kitchen toweling
- 45g of chopped toasted pecans (1/2 cup)
For the frosting:
- 3 large free range egg whites
- 250g granulated sugar (1 1/3 cup)
- 60ml water (1/4 cup)
- 1 TBS golden syrup (corn syrup)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
instructions:
How to cook Maraschino Cherry Cake
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter two 8 inch cake tins. Line the bottoms with baking parchment and butter the paper. Set aside.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Whisk together the milk, cherry juice and essences.
- Put the flour mixture into a bowl along with the butter, shortening, and milk mixture. Beat together until smooth. Add the egg whites and beat for 3 minutes at medium speed until light and fluffy. Fold in the quartered cherries and pecans.
- Divide the mixture equally amongst the cake tins. Smooth the tops over and give them a tap on the counter to settle out any air bubbles. Bake in the centre of the heated oven for 30 minutes until wthe tops spring back when lightly touched, and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes clean. Cool in the tins for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to finish cooling completely. Peel off baking paper.
- Once completely cooled fill and frost with your favourite icing. Delicious and pretty!
- For the seven minute frosting: Fill the bottom of a double boiler with water about 1/3 and bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. In the top of the boiler combine the water, egg whites, sugar, syrup and vanilla. Mix just to combine. Place on top of the simmering water making sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the pan. Beat everything together using an electric hand whisk until peaks form and the mixture is thick, white and glossy.
NOTES:
To make a sweetheart cake divide the batter between one 8-inch square baking tin and one 8-inch round baking tin. Bake as above. Once cold, cut the round layer in half and attach to two adjacent sides to form a heart shape.
Of course when my children were small I would bake heart shaped cookies and we would make paper Valentines and I would decorate the house a bit, but those days are long gone now . . .
This is how long I have been baking this cake. All those kiddies are in their 40's now with my youngest daughter (on the end of the table) having turned 40 on her birthday this last December. Why do they have to grow up? Those were busy days, and I never knew whether I was coming or going most of the time, but I sure would give anything to just feel a pair of those little arms creeping around my neck to give me a hug just one more time.
Happy Valentines Day!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
This recipe I am sharing with you today is for a wonderfully moist and delicious golden layer cake filled and frosted with a lush and rich chocolate frosting.
When I worked at the Manor this was the Birthday cake that I had to make for the Mister every year on his Birthday. It was his favourite cake, the only difference being that I had to use an American golden yellow cake mix to bake it for them, rather than from scratch as that was what they were used to.
I will tell you right now, that cake isn't a touch on how good this one is. This is many, MANY times better.
It is a recipe I adapted from a cookery book by America's Test Kitchen, entitled "The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook."
Yes, you read that right. This recipe is intended for only two people . . . I think they would have to be two really greedy people however because I think you could easily get 6 delicious slices from it.
The cake is moist and so delicious. Not too sweet and a perfect golden colour. It uses cake flour, which is not something we can get over here. I made my own cake flour. To do that I weighed out the flour, removed a tablespoon and then replaced the tablespoon I removed with 1 tablespoon of cornflour (corn starch). It worked very well.
Its a bit of work in that you have to beat one of the egg whites separately with some of the sugar until stiff and glossy.
All of the dry ingredients and the remaining sugar get whisked together in a bowl.
Melted butter, oil, egg yolks, buttermilk, and vanilla are whisked together and then are beaten into the dry ingredients and then the egg white is folded into that mixture.
You will need two six inch round layer cake tins. When I had divided the batter between the tins and baked the cake (which doesn't take very long) I was a bit surprised as I thought the layers would be quite a bit thicker.
But trust me when I say that when you layer them together with that rich frosting they are just thick enough.
That frosting . . . oh my, my . . . it is lush and very rich, and beautifully chocolaty and creamy! Almost like a mousse!
It is very rich, which is why I think that you would get six slices of cake from this instead of four. If you could eat a quarter of this cake in on sitting, I would be amazed!
This was just perfect. Not too big. Not too small. Just right.
Golden Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting
Yield: 2
A beautifully moist yellow layer cake with a lush chocolate frosting, perfectly sized for two people. You will need two round six-inch layer cake tins. Alternately you could bake in a small loaf tin, but timings will need to be revised slightly
ingredients:
For the cake:
- 2 large free range egg yolks, plus one large white, room temperature
- 100g caster sugar (1/2 cup)
- 105g cake flour (3/4 cup)
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 80ml buttermilk (1/3 cup)
- 3 TBS unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 TBS vegetable oil
- 3/4 tsp vanilla
For the frosting:
- 170g milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips (6 ounces)
- 200g unsalted butter softened (14 TBS)
- 86g icing sugar (2/3 cup)
- 56g cocoa powder (not drink mix) (1/2 cup), sifted
- 175g golden syrup (1/2 cup, corn syrup)
- 1 tsp vanilla
instructions:
How to cook Golden Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter two six inch round cake tins and line the bottoms with baking paper. Set aside.
- Beat the egg white with an electric mixer until it gets foamy. Continue to beat until it softly mounds, then slowly beat in 2 TBS of the sugar until glossy stiff peaks form. Set aside.
- Whisk the egg yolks together with the buttermilk, melted butter, oil and vanilla until smooth.
- Sift the flour, baking powder, soda and salt together in a bowl. Stir in the remaining sugar. Stir in the egg yolk mixture and mix until almost combined. Stir in 1/3 of the egg white, then carefully fold in the remaining egg white until there are no longer any white streaks. Divide between each baking tin. Tap each tin gently on the counter once to release any air bubbles.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 16 to 18 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean with only a few moist crumbs.
- Let sit in the tins for 10 minutes before tipping out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Carefully peel off the paper and discard. Cool completely before frosting.
- To make the frosting, melt the chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave at 30 second intervals on high, stirring each time, until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool somewhat.
- Whip the butter, sugar, sifted cocoa powder, and salt together until smooth. Beat in the corn syrup and vanilla, then beat in the melted chocolate chips until smooth and creamy.
- Put a small dollop of icing in the middle of a small plate. Top with one layer of the cake. Spread with about 1/3 of the frosting. Top with the other cake layer and Spread 1/3 of the frosting on top. Spread the remaining frosting evenly around the edges.
- Cut into wedges to serve.
Now that I have made one cake, small sized I think I can play with the recipe a bit and adapt it to other flavours, etc. Watch this space!
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