Caramel Frosted Banana Cake

I love banana cake. I love caramel. Put them both together (and a few fabulous ingredients) and you have a delicious, very more-ish cake to share with friends.






INGREDIENTS:

125g Butter
175g Light Brown Sugar
2 eggs
250g Ripe Mashed Banana
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 TBSP warm milk
150g Plain Flour
100g Self Raising Flour

FROSTING:

175g Dark Brown Sugar
100g Butter
1/4 tsp of sea salt
60ml Milk
1tsp Vanilla Extract
160g Icing Sugar

METHOD
Heat oven to 180C or 160C (fan oven). Grease and line the base and sides of a 20cm round cake tin.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the mashed banana (use really ripe bananas). Combine the milk and bicarb soda in a cup, then add to the mixture. Sift the flour and then stir until everything is combined.

Spread the mix evenly over the base of the tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 50 mins, checking with a cake skewer. When done, remove, allow to cool in the tin for a few minutes then turn out and cool on a cake rack.

To make the Caramel Frosting, combine the sugar, butter and salt in a saucepan, melting over a low heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the milk and vanilla and increase the heat, bringing the sauce to the boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, sift the icing sugar into the pan and whisk to make the frosting icing. Spoon or use an icing palette knife to ice the cake (top and sides).

Chocolate Coconut Slice

Chocolate Coconut Slice is a little bit like a brownie and and sort of like a tray bake. I was inspired by my trip to New Zealand to create this, I think you'll love it.







INGREDIENTS:

185g Butter
275g Brown Sugar
1 Egg
125g Plain Flour
1tsp Vanilla Extract
75g Self Raising Flour
75g Cocoa
75g Dessicated Coconut

For the Icing:

175g Icing Sugar
25g Cocoa
20g Butter (melted)

METHOD:

Grease and line a baking tin - 20cm x 30cm. Heat the oven to 180C/160C (fan). Melt the butter and allow to cool slightly. Mix together the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla and beat it (by hand will do) until it becomes a little lighter in colour. Stir in the sifted flours and cocoa. Then stir in the coconut. When well combined, spread the mixture evenly across the base of the tin. 

Bake in the oven for about 18-20 minutes. Do not overcook, its should still be a bit squidgy in the middle. Remove from the oven and cool completely in the tin on a baking tray.

For the icing, sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl and stir in the melted butter. Add a tablespoon of hot water if necessary. Spread over the slice and you can top with extra coconut (of desired). Cut and serve. Mmmm.

Cake Boy strikes again

Master patissier Eric Lanlard, the star of Channel 4's Baking Mad, is bringing his Cake Boy boutique to GILT Cocktail Lounge at Jumeirah Carlton Tower from 14-15 December. GILT is a fabulous space on the ground floor of the hotel and suits this style of pop-up perfectly. The pop-up shop, open from 11am-4pm, will sell a range of treats including Christmas cupcakes, boxes of mini mince pies and Eric’s twist on the traditional Christmas cake. The celebrated pastry chef will be personally manning the Cake Boy pop-up on both days (so you get to meet him and he is lovely) and signing copies of his best-selling Home Bake and Tart It Up books. The “I Love Paris” afternoon tea (pictured here) costs £40 per person or £45 per person with a glass of champagne, excluding service charge. Bookings can be made via the Jumeirah Carlton Tower website.

www.cake-boy.com / @eric_lanlard
www.jumeirahcarltontower.com / @JumeirahCT

Caramelised Fresh Pineapple Upside Down Cake

On a cloudy, wet summer's day, I was feeling forlorn and fed-up. I spied a fresh pineapple in the corner of my kitchen, a day or two past it's best-by date. I conjured up a plan, a sunshine plan. I decided to create and bake a cake. Here's the recipe I developed that should bring a ray of sunshine to any kitchen on a grey day.

Ingredients

Caramel

1/2 medium fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and sliced into rings (about 1cm thick)

90 g butter

125 g light brown sugar

Cake

170 g butter

150 g caster sugar

Pinch salt

160 g SR flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

125ml milk
2 eggs

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180 C/160C fan

Grease a 20cm cake tin or tarte tartin tin with butter (bottom and sides). Cut pineapple rings into quarters. Melt 90g butter and the light brown sugar in a heavy based saucepan. Simmer over a medium heat stirring constantly for about 4 minutes to make the caramel. Pour evenly over the base of the cake tin. Place the pineapple quarters in a circular pattern on the base of the tin, covering the base. Set aside.

Next cream the butter and caster sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until fully combined. Add the vanilla bean paste.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add portions of the flour and the milk in small additions slowly to the mix, beating slowly until combined. The mixture may curdle slightly, if so add a little more flour.

Once combined, pour the mixture over the caramelised pineapple. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. It’s done when a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for about 5-10 minutes. Place an upturned plate on top of the tin, invert carefully onto the plate. Replace any pineapple that has become stuck on the tin. Cool on the plate on a cake cooler.

Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Recipe: Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins

Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:

300g Self Raising Flour

150g Light Brown Sugar

200 g fresh (or frozen) raspberries

1 large egg (lightly beaten)

100ml (about 2 large heaped tablespoons) of Greek Yoghurt

80 ml of Milk

125ml vegetable oil

75 g White chocolate (chopped into chunks)

Method

Heat oven to 210 C (about 200 C fan)

Grease a muffin tin with a little butter. No need to grease if using a silicone muffin tin.

Sift all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl and then simply mix in the rest of the ingredients. Be careful not to over mix. Just bring it all together. Divide the mixture up so that you have about 8-9 muffins. Bake in the over for about 18-20 minutes until golden on top. Remove from the oven, allow to rest for about 5-10 minutes in the tin. Then cool on an oven tray.

The Great Brixton Bake Off

Brixton's on the up! Everywhere you turn, you'll read that Brixton is fast becoming the food destination of choice for South Londoners. At the heart of this revolution is Brixton Village - the new hub of it all with Federation Coffee, the fabulous Breads Etc and Thai favourite Kaosarn, just some of the fantastic food options that everyone is raving about. To celebrate this, Saturday April 28th sees the launch of the Great Brixton Bake Off which promises home baked cakes, bread, biscuits and fruit pies. Stalls by local bakers will be selling their wares and stall holders are all entered into the Bake Off competition.  I have read that there will be special celebrity guest judges (as yet unannounced) who will select the best bakes and present the prizes (sponsored by local department store Morleys). Sadly, I read about this too late and was not able to get myself together to take a stall. Shame!

Head to Station Road in Brixton -  the venue for the weekly market
Saturday, 28th April 2012 from 10am-5pm
Judging takes place at 1pm 
Nearest tube: Brixton

Read more about the Great Brixton Bake Off here