Hummingbird Cake

I loved the name of this cake… but even more so – it combined my favourite things – namely pineapple in a banana bread type cake recipe!

I found the recipe in the BBC Good Food Magazine (June 2019 Issue) and although their recipe called for a cream cheese frosting – I kept it simple with a basic icing drizzle (although I can imagine that the cream cheese frosting is amazing!…. Next time for sure!)

This cake keeps well (if it lasts that long) – so a another definite winner!

Hummingbird Cake

225ml vegetable oil
300g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
300g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg (or grate some whole nutmeg)
2 very ripe bananas (mashed)
3 medium eggs (beaten)
150g pineapple chunks (drained from a can and chopped

• Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and add 1/2 teaspoon salt and baking powder
• Stir through the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg
• In a separate bowl, whisk the mashed banana with eggs and oil until well combined
• Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients
• Fold everything together until combined
• Then add the pineapple and mix through
• Place in a greased / parchment lined baking tin
• Bake at 35-45 minutes at 180C  or until skewer comes out clean
• leave to cool on the rack for 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely

 

Irish Coffee Cake

St Paddy’s day has come and gone (our priest had even predicted Baby Girl #2’s arrival to be on that date… but she waited another week to join the world)… but I still had a can of Guinness in my fridge in the weeks after her arrival, just waiting for a worthy recipe!

Opening up the April 2019 issue of Olive Magazine… and there it was => “Irish Coffee Cake“… featuring not only Guinness Beer but also a good measure of whiskey as well!

I made the cake recipe as it was – but for the topping, I decided that a cream-cheese frosting could also work (and was in line with what I actually had in the fridge!).

OMG – Winner Winner!! This cake is super moist (and if it doesn’t get devoured in one go, can last for 4days easily). The smell and lingering taste of whiskey is noticeable, but not such that you would put down your fork and stop eating…

A definite make again.

IRISH COFFEE CAKE

50ml Whiskey
150ml strong black coffee
100ml Guinness Beer
250g Butter
75g Cocoa powder
400g sugar
3 eggs
150ml Buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
285g Flour
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda

TOPPING
200g cream cheese (room temperature)
150g icing sugar (sifted)

• Place whiskey, coffee, Guinness and butter into a pan and heat until butter has melted (but liquid is not bubbling)
• Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa and sugar
• Beat in eggs, followed by the buttermilk
• Add the vanilla, flour and bicarb and beat until smooth
• Bake in a 23cm greased tin for 50-60 minutes at 180C
• To make the topping, beat together cream cheese and icing sugar and spread over cooled cake

 

Coconut and condensed milk Cake

For HIM’s birthday in October, I wanted to make something different as a celebration cake… I know that he has a sweet tooth and likes coconut (desiccated)… so I searched within the world of Google and found this recipe on Manus Menu.

It was very easy to make and did last a fair amount of time – but my only negative would be that the cake is quite dense and heavy… but otherwise very tasty.

Coconut and Condensed Milk Cake

250g tin of condensed milk
4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
50g butter (melted)
150ml coconut milk
30g desiccated coconut
2 Tablespoons sugar

• Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl with an electric mixer
• Pour batter into a greased spring form baking tin
• Bake for 40-50minutes at 180C
• Once cooled, dust with icing sugar

Carrot Cake

Everyone has a few handwritten recipes handed down from friends and family members, which makes referencing the recipe back to an original source pretty difficult…. This is one of those recipes.

Carrot cake must be one of the most under-rated cakes in my books. I don’t normally think of it first when I think of baking a cake, but in reality, it is one of the easiest, moist and delicious cakes out there! (Ask my mom… it is her favourite.)

And this one is no exception! A definite make again

Carrot Cake

half a tin of pineapple pieces (drained and roughly chopped)
3 eggs
175ml sunflower or canola oil
200g sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
225g self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
50g desiccated coconut
60g walnuts (roughly chopped)
200g carrot (grated)

• Whisk together eggs, oil and sugar until creamy
• sift cinnamon, flour, baking powder & bicarb into the egg mixture
• fold in coconut, walnuts, carrot and pineapple pieces
• spoon into a greased baking tin and bake for 45min at 180C
• I topped mine with a cream cheese icing (300g cream cheese with 50g icing sugar) and some roughly chopped nuts (pistachio & walnut)

 

Banana Bread

There are always bananas in our house – either green, yellow or turning a nasty shade of brown. There are always frozen bananas in our freezer which are perfect for smoothies or fake ice-cream. And I regularly bake a banana bread with the excuse that I am using up the over-ripe bananas…. any excuse really 🙂

I have no idea where this recipe came from as it is in my hand-written recipe book… which probably came from my mothers hand-written recipe book. But origins aside – it is an absolute winner! Quick, easy and tasty.

Banana Bread

150g butter
cup of sugar
2 eggs
cup of mashed banana
1 banana sliced length ways
60ml plain yoghurt
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (or baking soda)

1. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, mashed banana & yoghurt together
2. Sift in Flour, bicarb & baking powder
3. Beat on a low speed
4. Pour into a greased loaf tin
5. Arrange sliced banana on top
6. Bake at 180C for 50-60min

Orange Chocolate Chip Loaf

A few weeks (if not months ago), I was completely inspired by an instagram post that I saw of Finla Noronha (another Belgian based food blogger with the blog “My Kitchen Treasures” which isn’t active in the blogasphere anymore – but I do recommend following her on instagram for drool-worthy food images)…

I found the recipe via google using *self raising* in my search as I have run out of normal cake flour (seriously???) on a recipe website called Naïve Cook Cooks => recipe here , however I omitted the orange butter!

It was super easy to make but my only negative comment is that by day 3 it was a bit like a stale scone… but nothing that 10 seconds in the microwave couldn’t fix 🙂

Orange Chocolate Chip loaf

3/4 cup of milk
3/4 cup yoghurt
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 Tablespoon orange rind
3 cups self raising flour
1 cup mini chocolate chips

• Mix together milk, yoghurt, sugar, eggs, orange juice & zest
• Add flour & mix well
• fold in chocolate chips
• Pour into a greased loaf tin
• Bake for 40-45min at 190C

 

Easy Fruit Loaf

I have never been a huge Christmas cake or pudding fan, until recently. Or should I rather say, until I tasted the Christmas pudding Anne (my friend, Sarah’s mum) made! And now I am a convert!

Every year I think I will finally try my hand at making my own … or even my own fruit mince pies… but I never get around to doing it in time for Christmas.

But when I saw this Easy Fruit Loaf recipe in the Snowflake Book of Baking – I thought I could manage this and it didn’t have to be related to the festive season 🙂

It really is easy to make… and delicious. I would suggest checking it after an hour as I left mine in a little bit too long, making the outside a bit crunchy while the inside still remained deliciously moist and chewy with all that fruit (probably also due to the large amount of butter in it… hee hee). This is a definite make again (even HIM approved)

Easy Fruit Loaf

200g Sugar
250ml milk
250g butter
310g mixed fruit cake mix
1 egg, beaten
350g cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon

• Place sugar, milk, butter & fruit mix in a saucepan.
• Bring to the boil, then simmer for 2-3minutes
• Remove from heat and leave to cool
• Add beaten egg to mixture
• Sift in dry ingredients
• Mix well
• Pour into greased loaf tin
• Bake at 160C for 60-70min

Plum Cake

In my normal excitable state when it comes to food shopping, I bought more plums than we could eat before they got really ripe. (oops)

But do not fear – this is always a good excuse to bake… right? (I wonder if subconsciously this was my plan all along??)

I found this recipe online (google-box) on the NY Time cooking section for what they called a *Plum Torte*… but to me, this was a cake.

Whatever you want to call it – it was delicious! Simple to make, 50min in the oven and ta-da… a yummy treat easily enjoyed as a hot pudding with custard after dinner or just a slice with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

Plum Cake

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
12 plums, halved

• Beat sugar & butter together
• Beat in eggs, one at a time
• Sift in flour & baking powder & combine
• Pour into a greased cake tin
• place halved plums on top of cake batter (skin side down)
• Bake at 180C for 40-50min

Banana upside down cinnamon cake

Our latest fruit and vegetable delivery was a bit disappointing with all the fruit at the peak of ripeness on the day of their arrival. This meant that we had to think (aka eat) quickly before items were beyond saving.

The banana’s however were well-ripe on day 3, and with 4 left on the bunch (after both of us eating one each day prior to that) – I knew that it was time to make this recipe!

The BBC Good Food Magazine (May 2016 issue) had a recipe for “sticky upside-down banana cake”. I made a few changes by omitting the ground ginger and using buttermilk instead of soured cream in the cake mix and all in all, it turned out pretty well. HIM happily devoured a few slices and said it reminded him a Portuguese Honey cake.

This is a DEFINITE make again kind of cake… something that I was able to whip up relatively quickly with a 10month old sitting on the floor next to me playing with plastic containers… and I had it in the oven before boredom rolled in for her!

Banana Upside down cinnamon cake

80g butter
150g muscovado sugar
4 bananas

240g flour
2.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
300g caster sugar
120g butter, softened
3 large eggs
150ml buttermilk

• Place butter (80g) & sugar into a saucepan over a medium heat until melted & combined
• Pour into greased cake tin
• Cut bananas in half and arrange on top of the caramel
• To make batter, beat together sugar and softened butter, adding eggs one at a time
• Then add flour, baking powder, cinnamon & buttermilk and continue to mix/whisk until smooth & evenly combined
• Pour batter over bananas
• Bake for 50-60min at 180C

Bourbon Biscuit Brownies

Everyone who knows me, knows how much I love trying out new recipes… which is why my food magazine addiction keeps publishers in business…

So when I saw the picture of this recipe on the front cover of the Olive Magazine (May 2016 issue) – I knew it was a *must make*

I made one fatal mistake… I left them in the oven too long .. so the middle wasn’t as squishy as it should have been. Taste wise… they were awesome and I would definitely try them again… especially the level of chocolate (which is SUPER high). I even threw in a handful of blueberries… Mmmm

Bourbon Biscuit Brownies

16 Bourbon Biscuits
100g butter
200g chocolate (they say dark, but I used a mix of dark & milk)
4 eggs
250g caster sugar
100g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
30g cocoa powder

• Keep 5 of the biscuits to one side. Using a sharp knife, cut down the middle to separate the side. Roughly chop the reminder of the biscuits
• Melt butter & chocolate together over a water bath and leave to cool to room temperature
• Whisk together eggs & sugar until mixture is pale & double in volume
• fold in the chocolate mixture
• Sift in the dry ingredients and fold in
• Stir in the chopped biscuits (and a handful of blueberries if you are adventurous like me)
• Spoon into a greased baking tin
• Bake for 20-25min at 180C