Beautiful Cakes

I love baking cakes, and I get lots of compliments when I do, but I've never been one to make fancy decorated cakes. This isn't because I don't like them, it's only because I find the whole idea of them very intimidating because I don't consider myself very artistic! One day I'm going to try my hand at decoration, but for the moment I'll content myself with icing and a few carefully placed adornments - like the odd sugar flower or some shiny chocolate discs.

My cousin Esther on the other hand, makes and decorates the most amazing cakes.  When we had our tenth anniversary party nine years ago, Esther made us an anniversary cake that was tastier and even more beautiful than the one we had at our wedding.  One time when we visited for a family dinner there was a beautiful cake spread over the dining room table of her Mom's house, all decorated with gorgeous sugar flowers. The only thing that has stopped her from turning her cake making into a business so far is a lack of time, but she does occasionally make cakes to order for customers in the Sarnia and Bright's Grove, Ontario area. Here are a few of her creations:-





Check out these cupcakes - yummy!



And the pièce de résistance - a 16th birthday cake complete with a hand made iPod Touch!



Esther is really generous with her recipes and shared this recipe for her chocolate and banana cake with me a few years ago. It’s one I make quite regularly as it is keeps so moist and delicious. It even freezes well (without icing).  I tend to freeze slices as opposed to the whole cake as then you can just thaw a slice or two at a the time. 

I have played around with the recipe a bit, as some of the ingredients – like Crisco - are not easily available in England.  No matter what I do though, this cake is always delicious.  Esther recommends you frost it with your favourite chocolate icing which is fabulous, although when I’ve been pressed for time or wanted to freeze some of the cake, I’ve just sprinkled it with icing sugar. It’s very tasty that way too.
 
Esther’s Amazing Chocolate and Banana Bundt Cake 

1 cup Crisco or softened butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup sour cream
(I have used crème fraîche when unable to find sour cream - and I use the low fat variety as well so I am sure you could use low fat sour cream)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/3 cup cocoa
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
 
Preheat oven to 160ºC or 350ºF.   Grease and flour a Bundt or tube pan.
 
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cocoa and salt.  Set aside. Cream together the Crisco (or butter) and sugar in a large bowl.  Add eggs, one at a time, and continue creaming.  Add bananas, sour cream and vanilla.  Blend well.  Now add the dry ingredients you set aside earlier and stir until mixed.  Carefully pour the 1 cup boiling water over the entire mixture.  This sounds silly, but it really does work!  Blend the water in.  The batter will be quite loose, but that is okay. 
 
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 40 to 45 minutes until just starting to brown and a cake tester comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pan before attempting to remove the cake.  If you are planning to frost the cake, or dust it with icing sugar, be sure to allow it to cool completely first. 

The 21st Century Housewife's© Banana Maple Walnut Loaf

This is seriously yummy. It’s also incredibly easy to make, so I really can’t recommend it highly enough. At the risk of being bossy, I will include two little bits of advice - don’t leave out the maple flavouring; it gives the loaves a gorgeous hit of maple that the syrup alone just does not provide, and do try to use freshly grated nutmeg if you can; it is so much nicer than the nutmeg you buy already grated. As well as a snack, my Banana Maple Walnut loaf makes a lovely breakfast, and while it is perfectly delicious plain, it is absolutely amazing spread with a bit of fresh unsalted butter if you are feeling indulgent.

My recipe makes two loaves, so you need two large loaf pans.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
¾ cup white sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
¾ cup shredded or desiccated coconut
1 cup raisins or sultanas
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup oil
(sunflower, corn oil or mild olive oil also work well, but not extra virgin olive oil)
2 cups buttermilk

Measure the flours, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, walnuts, coconut and raisins into a large bowl and stir to mix.

Place the mashed bananas in a medium bowl and add the maple syrup, maple flavouring, eggs, oil, buttermilk. Mix thoroughly.

Add the banana and maple syrup mixture to the flour mixture and stir very thoroughly until well blended, but don’t beat. Divide the mixture between 2 large greased and floured (or lined) loaf pans.

Bake at about 350℉ or 170℃ for 50 to 60 minutes or until a piece of dry spaghetti inserted into the middle comes out clean with no batter clinging to it. (If the loaves begin to brown to fast, turn the heat back a little.)

Take the pans out of the oven, place on a wire rack and allow to cool for about half an hour. Carefully remove the loaves from the loaf pans and leave to cool on the wire racks until cold.

The loaves will keep for two to three days (longer if you keep them in the fridge, but don’t serve fridge cold). I usually keep one of the loaves for us, and give one away. However, if you don’t feel like sharing, you can also freeze them quite successfully. I slice the loaves up first, and then put a bit of greaseproof or waxed paper between each slice so that it is easier to thaw a bit at a time. If you think you will use a loaf up all at once, do skip this step and freeze it unsliced as the pre-slicing and greaseproof paper insertion is a bit fiddly.

If you prefer, this mixture will also bake beautifully as muffins. You will need at least 24 muffin cups lined with paper liners. Bake the muffins for about 20 to 25 minutes or until a piece of dry spaghetti inserted into the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean with no batter clinging to it. (Turn the heat back if they brown too fast.) Again, once they are cool, these can be very successfully frozen -although I have found they usually disappear so fast, there are never any left to freeze!

The 21st Century Housewife's© Banana Walnut Muffins

The cold and rainy autumn weather always makes me want to bake muffins and fruit loaves. They are delicious for breakfast or a snack, and the ones that involve fruit and nuts do actually qualify as pretty nutritious, although they are fairly high in sugar.

This is a really easy recipe to throw together, and is a great way to use up over-ripe bananas. It may seem odd to have both buttermilk and milk in a recipe, but trial and error has led me to the discovery that in the case of banana muffins, using all buttermilk can make the flavour slightly too rich. Having said that, buttermilk really adds something to muffins so I didn’t want to leave it out entirely - hence my compromise of half and half.

I love the spicing in these muffins, and the smell of them when they are baking makes them hard to resist. Try to use freshly grated nutmeg if you can - it really does make a huge difference to the flavour. Another tip - use the ready chopped walnut pieces that you can buy in most grocery stores. They are cheaper than walnut halves and it saves time and mess if you don’t have to do the chopping yourself.

My recipe makes a big batch of 24 large muffins, but that is no problem as they freeze very easily once cooled. If you really don’t want 24 muffins, just pour half the mixture into a loaf tin and make a banana walnut loaf instead of all muffins. You just have to remember to bake it for longer - about 50 to 60 minutes, instead of the 20 to 25 minutes the muffins take.

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts
3 medium ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup oil
(sunflower or mild olive oil works well, but not extra virgin olive oil)
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup milk

Measure the flours, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and walnuts into a large bowl and stir to mix.

Place the mashed bananas in a medium bowl and add the sugars, eggs, oil, buttermilk and milk. Mix thoroughly.

Add the banana and sugar mixture to the flour mixture and stir thoroughly until well blended, but don’t beat. Divide the mixture between 24 large lined (or greased and floured) muffin cups.

Bake at about 350℉ or 170℃ for 20 to 25 minutes or until a piece of dry spaghetti inserted into the middle of a muffin comes out clean (ie. with no batter clinging to it). Keep an eye on these in the last five minutes or so of cooking or they will over-brown.

Take the muffin pans out of the oven. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool on wire racks. I feel obliged to mention here that these are delicious warm from the oven with a nice hot cup of tea!

Once cooled, store in a sealed container in the refrigerator if possible. (Bring to room temperature or warm in the microwave before eating.) To freeze, wait until completely cool and then seal in freezer bags or containers before freezing.