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).

Too many tomatoes?

No, there's no such thing as TOO many tomatoes. The trick is to be clever with what you do with them. Yes there's Greek Salad, tomato salad, bruschetta and a basic tomato sauce to use with pasta. But what about a hot and spicy salsa to top some corn fritters? Now there's a summer treat if you ever had one. Tomato relish? You keep the love for longer. And that tomato sauce - make a big batch and freeze it. Faced with a glut of tomatoes and being a touch greedy, I didn't really want to give any away I headed to my trusty tome, Nigel Slater: Tender Volume 1.

Home grown garlic

It's one of my favourite books for finding new and innovative ways to prepare vegetables from the kitchen garden. He treats each vegetable to it's own chapter, with an introduction detailing his love and experience of the veg, then talks about how it grows it, perfect flavour pairings and then he shares some of his recipes. With said glut of tomatoes I wanted to do more than make a salad, so to the book I went. He offers up a very simple dish of Baked Tomatoes with Chilli and Coconut. Well the tomatoes aren't baked in the oven, they are cooked on the hob but it does pack a punch with chilli and it contains coconut for a fabulous creaminess. Tomato Curry would be a much more appropriate name for it - as that's basically what it is - a delicious bowl of lycopene (which is really good for you) chilli and coconut.  It is packed with a heady mix of garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander, turmeric, cumin and cardamon seeds, lots of tomatoes and creamed coconut and that's it. For the full recipes you will need to click here: Baked Tomatoes with chilli and conconut and scroll down a bit. It is seriously good. Served topped with chopped coriander, some rice and perhaps a warmed roti - there's dinner.

Tomato Curry: baked tomatoes with chilli and coconut

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. 

The winning recipe from Baking Mad

 









Rhubarb Pie with almond pastry 
topped with a lattice crust

Ingredients:

250g Plain Flour

50 g Icing sugar

150 g Unsalted butter

2 large eggs yolks

A pinch of salt

1 tablespoon cold water

1 tsp vanilla extract

50 g Ground almonds

Plus 2 tablespoons of ground almonds (for pastry base)

800 g rhubarb

2 tablespoons of cornflour

100 g caster sugar

Juice of half a lemon

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon icing sugar

Crème Fraiche to serve.

1 x 20cm fluted pie tin with loose base.

Method

Turn oven to 150C.

Sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a large bowl. Cut the butter into pieces and rub this in. Stir in the ground almonds. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and some of the water, bringing the dough together. Break off about 1/4 and form into a small round disc, wrap in cling film. With the remaining dough, form into a round disc, and wrap this in cling film. Chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge or for speed for 15-20 minutes in the freezer.

Chop the rhubarb into 2cm pieces, sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of caster sugar (from the 100g) and the juice of half a lemon and bake in a shallow dish covered with foil in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 160C. It’s done when just starting to soften. Do not overcook at this stage. Remove from oven and place to one side.

Turn oven to 180C

Grease the pie tin with a little butter (both the loose base and around the sides). Remove the large disc of dough from the freezer. Roll out on a floured surface until a little larger than the 20 cm loose bottomed tin. Lift the pastry using your rolling pin and carefully lay across the tin, pressing it into the base and sides. Remove the excess pastry by trimming with a knife or rolling pin. Prick the base of the pie with a fork in 3 or 4 places.

Lay baking paper to cover the pastry and fill with baking beans and blind bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, remove baking beans and coat the base with a little egg wash and bake for another 6-8 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of ground almond.

Mix the cornflour and 75 g caster sugar into the Rhubarb.  Place rhubarb into the pie case (as per picture).

Remove small disc of pastry and roll out flat, cut into 2 cm strips for lattice crust. Layer the lattice strips in a crisscross effect. 






Carefully egg wash the top and bake in the oven at 180 C for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Remove and present on a serving plate. Dust with a little icing sugar and serve with crème fraiche or ice cream.