Spiced Banana Cake with Butterscotch icing

Yet another loaf cake to add to my repertoire - well the recipe used a 900g loaf tin, but I wanted a round cake so used a 20cm springform tin. Inspiration for the cake was a few very ripe bananas in the fruit bowl. I rarely use alcohol in cakes, but this time I did what the recipe said, and soaked the sultanas in the rum.
I wanted to try a different topping so I used a butterscotch one I'd wanted to try for ages - I know it has a lot of sugar in it, but for a special occasion..........!

100g sultanas
50ml rum
185g plain flour
2 tspn baking powder
½ tspn bicarb
pinch salt
2 tspn cinnamon - I used 3 tspns
125g soft unsalted butter
150g light soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
4 small very ripe bananas
1 tspn vanilla extract

For the icing:
75g golden caster sugar
15g butter
50g light muscovado sugar
1 tbspn golden syrup
75ml double cream

In a small pan pour the rum over the sultanas and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and leave to soak.

Preheat the oven 170C/150C fan/Gas 3.
Grease and line a 20cm springform tin or a 900g loaf tin

Put flour, baking powder, bicarb, salt and cinnamon in large bowl and mix well.
In a separate bowl beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer till light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one by one, then stir in the mashed bananas, sultanas, rum and the vanilla extract.
Fold in the flour and pour into the tin.
Bake for 1-1¼ hours until golden. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the icing - simmer all the ingredients over a low heat for 6-8 mins. Stir to make a smooth sauce, then leave to cool and thicken, and pour over the cooled cake.

I liked the rum flavoured sultanas in the cake, but I did find the icing rather too sweet, even for my palate. The friends I made it for however, loved it. The cake had a good crumb, as Mr Hollywood would say, and was moist, with a good banana flavour which wasn't overwhelmed by the rum sultanas. Will make it as a loaf cake next time, without the rum and the sweet icing. Enjoyed the cinnamon in the background, which gave the cake that extra something.

ps I have a new photographer - OH has bought a new camera and will take the photos for me!

Rhubarb crumble muffins

I've posted muffin recipes several times, adapting my favourite recipe. I made a rhubarb tart yesterday, and had enough rhubarb left to make some muffins.
I wanted to make something different, but having looked online and not been inspired, I decided to adapt my old faithful recipe  We love rhubarb crumble, so muffins with rhubarb and crumble sound ideal. I usually make the crumble with half oats and half flour, and I use oil instead of butter in the muffins. A healthier option! I used soft light brown sugar instead of my usual caster.

For the crumble topping:

50g butter,
50g plain flour
25g porridge oats
50g demerara sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the muffins:

225g self-raising flour
100g soft light brown sugar
1 medium egg, beaten
250ml milk
120ml sunflower or rapeseed oil
200g rhubarb, sliced lengthways and chopped
2 tbspn cold water
50g caster sugar
icing sugar [opt]


Preheat oven to 200C/gas mark 6.
Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.

 Crumble - rub the butter into the plain flour and oats till mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Add the sugar and cinnamon, mix again and set aside.

 Muffins - sift the flour into a bowl, add the brown sugar and mix.
Whisk together the egg, milk and sunflower oil.
In another bowl mix the chopped rhubarb with the caster sugar and the cold water.
Add the egg, milk and oil to the flour and brown sugar. Add the rhubarb mixture and stir to mix. Don't over mix.
Divide between the muffin cases, and then sprinkle over the crumble mix, pressing it gently into place.
Bake for 20-25 minutes. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes then move to a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle over some icing sugar.

These were delicious - lovely and moist from the rhubarb and not too sweet. Home made muffins are a world away from the shop-bought ones. They have a different texture, and are not so dry, but some people prefer the shop ones - my older daughter is one of these. The shop ones look very tempting, and are much bigger than the home-made ones - but the taste is, imho, greatly inferior.

Pecan and Honey Loaf

I still have some pecans to use up from the bag I bought a while ago from the sadly- no- longer Julian Graves shop. I love making loaf cakes, so this is my variation on a recipe that had walnuts in it. Had a pot of local honey in the cupboard which needed using up, so added 1 tbspn to the cake mixture and also put 1 tbspn in the icing.

190g butter
190g caster sugar
190g plain flour
1 tspn baking powder
3 eggs
1 tspn vanilla essence
1 tbspn runny honey
60g chopped nuts - pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts

Icing - icing sugar, lemon juice and 1 tbspn of honey - depends how thick you want your icing to be  as to how much icing sugar and lemon juice you use!

Preheat oven 170C/gas 3
Grease a 900g loaf tin.

Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer till white and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each one.

Fold in the flour gently, a bit at a time.
Add the vanilla and 1 tbspn of honey, then mix in the chopped nuts by hand.
Spoon into the tin and bake for about an hour, till risen and golden.
Cool on a wire rack, and when cold, spoon over some icing made with icing sugar, lemon juice and the other tbspn of honey.

Lovely subtle honey flavour in the background, enhanced by the icing. Good texture, moist, and think I prefer pecans to walnuts. A useful recipe to have, as it can be played around with to give new flavours.

Palmiers aka Elephant's Ears

Thought of using this post as a tongue-in-cheek second offering to the February AlphaBakes challenge, baking something beginning with the letter E, but decided not to.  I wanted to make some biscuits and decided on Palmiers, but online I saw them called Elephant's Ears!
I've made Palmiers many time and in many guises, but this time I just wanted plain ones. I use ready made butter puff pastry, and then they're really quick to make. I think the original recipe came from a Jusrol pack.

Makes about 18


1 sheet frozen puff pastry thawed
About 50g sugar of your choice – granulated, brown or caster
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

Unwrap the puff pastry and lay it on a clean work surface. Sprinkle the sugar over the dough in a single thick coating. Run a rolling pin over the pastry to press the sugar into the dough and help it stick.

Tightly roll both sides of the pastry inward so they meet in the middle. Wrap in clingfilm and put in fridge for 20-30 minutes.


Pre-heat the oven to 210C/gas 7.

Slice the roll into slices about just over 1 cm thick. I use a bread knife. Arrange the palmiers on a parchment-lined baking sheet, allowing room between each one. Flatten each one slightly using the bottom of a cup. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle a little more sugar over the tops.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool 10 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Other variations I've made instead of just sugar:

cinnamon and sugar

citrus zest and sugar

 thin spread of jam

Nutella

Finely grated cheese (for a savoury twist)

The variations are endless.

Elfin Cakes

This month's letter for AlphaBakes challenge is E. Wanted to make something different, and in an old 1960 cookery book belonging to my Mum [called 'Cakes, Breads and Gateaux'], I found a recipe for Elfin Cakes. Why they're called this I don't know, and they don't explain; there's no photo either. Anyway, I'm back to baking with my grandson, so we decided to make some.

The recipe makes 12 fairy cakes, not cupcakes. It's a  fairy cake with a difference.

Preheat oven 180C/gas 4 and grease a 12 hole tartlet tin lightly, or use paper cake cases - not muffin cases, they're too big.

75g butter
75g caster sugar
2 eggs

75g sr flour

25g rice flour
50g chopped mixed peel

Icing
75g icing sugar
1 tbspn water
glace cherries to decorate - if you want

Cream butter and sugar till white and creamy.

Separate the yolks and whites of the eggs, and beat the yolks into the mixture.

Fold in the flours and stir in the chopped peel.
Whisk the egg whites till stiff then fold them into the mixture.
Spoon into the cake cases or the tin and bake for 15-20 mins till risen and a light golden colour.

Mix the icing sugar with the water to a stiffish consistency, and spread over the cakes.

My grandson wanted to use 'sprinkles' on them, so that's what we did!

I used home made peel, just orange, as I'd made some recently. I didn't really like it in the cakes, but Tom thought they tasted great, and took the rest home for his brothers. Poor Grandad didn't even get to try one!

As we'd used orange peel, we mixed the icing sugar with some orange juice to add to the orange flavour. Separating the egg yolks and whites didn't seem to do anything to the cakes' texture. They tasted like little sponge cakes with added peel! Not going to be added to my keeper folder, but Tom liked them, as did his brothers.

AlphaBakes is a monthly baking challenge hosted alternately by Ros of The More than Occasional Baker blog and Caroline of Caroline Makes blog. Ros is the host for February. Have a look here for more information.

Buttermilk and rhubarb cake

Rhubarb is one of my favourite things to eat, so when I saw some lovely and pink, it made my day. We need a bit of colour in this dreary month! I didn't want to make a crumble, so thought about a cake. I'd seen this recipe ages ago on this site Taste of Home, so decided to have a go at changing the cups to grams and to make the cake.

100g rhubarb cut into small chunks
25g + 150g caster sugar
115g unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 1/2 tspn vanilla essence
175g plain/all purpose flour
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
180ml buttermilk
Brown sugar for the topping



Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.

Put the rhubarb in a bowl with 25g of sugar and set aside.
Cream together the butter and the rest of the sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat in well. Add the vanilla essence.
Sift all the dry ingredients together into a big bowl. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and fold into the mixture. Follow with half the buttermilk, another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, the rest of the buttermilk and the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix gently after each addition, but don't overmix. Finally fold in the rhubarb.
Pour into your tin, sprinkle the top with brown sugar and bake for 30 - 40 minutes till golden brown.
Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before putting on a wire rack.

It's a delicious cake - nice and moist, and the tangy buttermilk works well with the tart rhubarb and the vanilla. The brown sugar gives it a nice crunch on top. I think the recipe would work well with other fruit like raspberries, cranberries or cherries. It's one to be added to my recipe folder to make again.

Ginger and chocolate gooey puddings

Hello again! New kitchen fitted and new oven tried out yesterday.

February is a busy month for us, so I thought I'd combine 2 of the monthly baking challenges I follow to save some time. We Should Cocoa's February challenge is to bake something with chocolate and ginger, and Tea Time Treats challenge is to make the perfect pudding. More about these challenges at the end of the post.
I had a look at various recipes online and in my cookbooks, but nothing inspired me. Then I thought about one of our favourite desserts - Melting chocolate puddings, or Chocolate fondants - the downfall of many contestants on Masterchef! I thought I'd have a try at making them with added ginger. I used some little metal  pudding basins I bought ages ago from Lakeland to make a Delia recipe, and never used. I've made the chocolate version a few times with varying results - leave them in the oven too long, and they're just chocolate puddings, no melting bit!

I've adapted my usual recipe, which originally came from a Jamie one, I think.

50g 70% chocolate, flavoured with ginger
125g butter
125gcaster sugar
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
125g plain flour, sifted
About 6 balls of stem ginger, finely chopped
Icing sugar, for dusting
Creme fraiche to serve


4 mini pudding basins or dariole moulds, lightly greased with butter and dusted with cocoa powder


Preheat oven to gas mark 4/160°C/140C fan

Add chocolate and butter to a pan and heat on low, stirring until melted. Put to one side to cool.

Add sugar, egg and egg yolk to mixer bowl and whisk until pale and creamy [takes about 5 mins], then stir into chocolate mixture.

Sift in flour and fold in, then stir in half stem ginger.
Divide between pudding basins and put in oven to bake for 20-25 mins, or until cooked through and risen. Remove and leave for 5 mins, then loosen with a knife and turn out.
Dust with icing sugar, top with reserved ginger and serve with crème fraîche.

Sorry, it's not a very clear photo. Should have taken another one to show the gooey middle, but we had friends here and we ate them!

 I was very happy with the result as the centres were still nice and melting. As I've already said, I used my new fan oven, and lowered the temperature to 140C. There was a lovely ginger flavour, but not too strong that it overwhelmed the chocolate. The creme fraiche added the nice sharp touch.

I must mention that I bought the pretty glass dishes in a jumble sale last week. I've seen Nigella using some bowls with the glass bead edging and liked them, so couldn't resist these!

So this is my offering for the February challenges of :

Tea Time Treats, a monthly baking challenge hosted alternately by  Kate of What Kate Baked blog, and Karen of Lavender and Lovage blog. Kate is hosting it this month. Have a look at her February 1st post for more details.

And We Should Cocoa, a monthly baking challenge hosted by Choclette of Chocolate Log blog and Chele of Chocolate Teapot blog. It also has guest hosts, and this month it's hosted by Jen of Blue Kitchen Bakes.
Have a look here for how to join in the challenge.
http://bluekitchenbakes.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/we-should-cocoa-february.html