Twice Baked Banana Cake for World Baking Day 2014

HAPPY WORLD BAKING DAY 2014

I hope you get to bake for someone you love or admire this fine Sunday! The act of baking a cake from scratch to me shows how much you care for someone and my someone this World Baking day is Jane Goodall, even though this is just a token gesture I bake for Jane in the spirit of great admiration, honour and respect for a genteel, kind and elegant woman who has spent her life studying, caring for and fighting for the rights and humane treatment of great apes. I was honoured to recently learn that we share the same birthday, April 3rd - me, Jane and Doris Day!

Here is the mission of her world renowned institute:

"Founded by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, the Jane Goodall Institute is a global nonprofit that empowers people to make a difference for all living things. Our work builds on Dr. Goodall’s scientific work and her humanitarian vision. Specifically, we seek to:
Improve global understanding and treatment of great apes through research, public education and advocacy
Contribute to the preservation of great apes and their habitats by combining conservation with education and promotion of sustainable livelihoods in local communities
Create a worldwide network of young people who have learned to care deeply for their human community, for all animals and for the environment, and who will take responsible action to care for them"

To add a bit of wit to the day, as indeed the powers that be at WORLD BAKING DAY have chosen to do over on their website, I chose to make a Twice Baked Banana Cake for Jane for as we all know monkeys, chimpanzees and other apes are fond of their bananas. The cake has a banana layer beneath a layer of frangipane - almond cream. It is a quiet cake but substantial, it's not too sweet and it's great with a good hot cup of tea and as Jane is English I thought perhaps that might be her beverage of choice! 

Without further ado I give you:

TWICE BAKED BANANA CAKE

adapted from a recipe in British Country Living magazine - my favourite magazine in the whole wide world!!!

Assemble your ingredients:

This is for a 9" cake, have all your ingredients at room temperature and set your oven to 325F, butter and flour your baking tin.

For the cake:

2oz/ 1/2 stick of butter 

3.5 oz/ 1/2 cup sugar 

2oz/ 1/3 cup toasted almonds ground - I toast in a 325F oven for about 8-10 mins until fragrant and crisp, allow to cool and then grind in a coffee grinder in small batches

(of course you can do all your almonds at the same time as you will need 4ozs more of ground almonds for the topping) 

2 fluid ounces/ scant 1/4 cup whole milk 

1 very ripe banana mashed until smooth

1/2 teaspoon baking soda/bicarb of soda 

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg freshly grated 

1 teaspoon almond essence/extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract 

2oz white flour and 2 ozs of spelt flour (1/2 cup each) - the spelt gives it a nice nutty flavour

METHOD:

1. Sift the dry ingredients together. 

2. Cream the butter and sugar together. 

3. Mix in the mashed banana, the almond essence/extract.

4. Fold in the dry ingredients in 3 goes and mix until smooth.

5. Spread evenly in the baking tin and pop into the oven for about 35 mins. until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes during which time make your frangipane topping for which you will need:

4ozs/ 2/3 cup toasted almonds ground as above 

2.5ozs/5 tablespoons butter (I always use salted for my desserts) very soft

4ozs/ heaped 1/2 cup sugar 

1 whole egg plus one egg white 

A goodly pinch of salt  

1 teaspoon almond essence/extract

A couple of tablespoons of flaked almonds for the top

(Truth be told I could have happily had twice as much of the frangipane so if you want to be decadent double this topping and hope it fits in the pan!)

1. Place all the ingredients except the flaked almonds in a bowl and beat until smooth - you could also do this in a food processor.

2. Smooth over the slightly cooled cake:

3. Sprinkle the flaked almonds over evenly - unlike mine - and bake for another 25 mins or so at 325F until set and golden brown thus:

Allow to cool completely in the pan then flip over onto a cooling tray and then back over again onto your plate - get the kettle on, make yourself tea, cut a nice neat slice and enjoy yourself this Sunday!

A cup of tea and Twice Baked Banana Cake in honour of JANE GOODALL!! Brava Jane!

Here's a beautiful video of Jane Goodall at work :) 


As a caveat let me tell you I originally made this cake in a 6" round 3" tall pan - my usual pan of choice for my cakes - I made double this recipe above, I messed up by adding way too much baking soda and not enough baking powder (according to the original recipe which I have since tweaked), I got my timing all wrong, I had tea soaked raisins in it and although it looked great as below you can see a problem beginning to unfold in the middle top of the cake...although my test skewer came out clean (but not clean enough) I came back after a few minutes of allowing the cake to cool to find it had completely collapsed in the middle leaving a cavernous hole filled with hot cake batter - it tasted good but was not quite the cake I had hoped for so rest assured not all recipes come out well first time!

I wish I had taken a picture of the collapse!
BTW if you are interested in the background fabric in these pics. above - it's from my Spoonflower shop, it's called "Homespun Quilt Patchwork" and it's available as fabric, wall paper, wall decals and wrapping paper HERE Thanks!
 

My friend Anne over at CARRINGTON LANE BAKERY -  who happens to be a professional baker with an ETSY SHOP

has also been baking for today - she made Chocolate Babka for her hubby James, Anne does such beautiful work and everything she makes tastes as good as it looks!

In the inimitable style of the true wit she is my good friend Elizabeth Loonan changed the title to "World Bacon Day", as she did last year too!, and created this gorgeous "Diner" Breakfast Special cupcake: white cake  with blueberry maple compote filling, dipped in coffee ganache, coffee maple cream cheese buttercream frosting, garnished with candied bacon and a maple drizzle. Cupcake Wars - watch out! 

Beautiful photos by Elizabeth's husband Antonio Rosario

Can you guess who Elizabeth baked for - sad to say it took me a while to figure it out!!

So who will you be baking for today?

Here's my recipe from last year - which was all about Baking Brave - and yes I did....with a combination of Stilton Cheese and Rhubarb - hmmm...it's was definitely different!

BTW if you need a really good, simple and very instructive weights and measures conversion site try The Pastry Scoop!

Apple and Mincemeat Frangipane Gallette - it's a goodie :))

Oh my this is a good one - it has a lovely crisp sour cream pastry shell and I did the filling two ways - as above with mincemeat - fresh, vegetarian mincemeat - frangipane and apples and also the next day, because I liked it so much I tried it with just the mincemeat and apples and added a sticky toffee sauce - I can't possible decide which I preferred so you might consider making both too - you could split the pastry amount given here in half and make two decent sized gallettes - that's how I did it.

A day or two ahead of actually making the gallette(s) you want to make the fresh mincemeat so it has time to meld and marry those lovely flavours - here's a wonderful one from David Lebovitz:

I am calling this ‘fresh’ mincemeat, meaning you don’t have to wait months for it to be ready as with your ordinary or garden variety mincemeat. This recipe is ready after one day and better after three - also this is a vegetarian variety so no shredding of suet which can be a little off putting to say the very least!!

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (135g) coarsely chopped raisins, dark or golden
½ cup candied peel…orange or lemon or both
¼ cup brandy but I have used used whiskey or red wine and I think you could safely use apple juice or orange juice if you don't want the alcohol.
2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons sugar…again dark or light
1 teaspoon of cardomom
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1 teaspoon of nutmeg
½ teaspoon of mace
(I differed my spices from David’s recipe which called for ½ teaspoon each ground cinnamon and nutmeg and ¼ teaspoon of cloves…I am not a fan of cloves as a flavouring and I think cardamom works really well with the lemon flavour)
1 grated crunchy apple…I use Pink Lady which is a big fave of mine.

This is really hard…mix everything together and put it in a jar. Allow to stand for one to three days, don‘t put in the fridge, the flavours marry better at room temp. This mincemeat is meant to be used quickly.

Now your mincemeat is ready on with move with the gallette!! Wee heeeee.....

Sour Cream Pastry - this is GOOD!!!! 

6oz/175g plain white flour

3oz/ 80g cold butter

7 tablespoons/1/3 cup sour cream 

2 tablespoon sugar

1. Mix the flour and sugar together.

2. Grate the cold butter into the flour and blend until you get nice even 'breadcrumbs' - if you are using a food processor pulse to get your nice breadcrumbs.

3. Put sour cream into the mix and blend until nice and smooth and pulled together - but don't overwork and allow the pastry to warm up - keep it nice and cold.

4. Bob the pastry into the fridge for at least an hour during which time make the filling(s).

Now the gallette fillings:

Frangipane Deliciousness:

2oz/50g butter softened

2oz/50g sugar

4oz/110g almonds toasted and cooled, then ground til fine in - I find best - a coffee grinder

2 medium eggs whisked

1/2 teaspoon almond essence/extract - if you can get Simply Organic - it's fantastic!!

1. Cream butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy .

2. Blend eggs into creamed butter and sugar until relatively smooth - it won't be that smooth by hand but maybe more so by food processor.

3. Blend in the ground almonds and almond essence/extract

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

 

Apples: 2 good sized apples - preferably dessert apples - sweet and crisp - slice evenly as you can and put into a bowl of cold water with a bit of lemon juice or vinegar to keep the apples from going brown. 

PUT YOUR GALLETTE TOGETHER:

1.Take the pastry from the fridge and roll out to a circle about 11" diameter - lift onto a baking sheet. Pick the pastry all over with a fork.

2. Dollop that lovely mincemeat into the centre of the pastry circle and smooth out to within a couple of inches of the edge as below:

 3. Now dollop the frangipane on top of the mincemeat and smooth out as below:

4. Arrange the apple slices as you wish - I tried to do a pretty circlet but got a bit messed up when trying to finish the circle - still it looked pretty good before it was cooked - just FYI I have made a few of these free form open rustic tarts and no matter how neat and tidy they go into the oven or how cold I get them before baking they never look the same when they come out - they become lobsided, uneven and sometimes runny because a little hole opens up in the pastry where you folded it - do not despair it will still be a thing of beauty to behold and after all it does for sure make it look homemade :)).
5. Fold the pastry up and over the filling as below and pinch together every couple of inches or so for it to hold together when baking.

5. Pop the whole thing back into the fridge for 1/2 hour during which time heat up the oven to 425F.

6. After half an hour bob the gallette into the oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes until nice and evenly golden delicious delightful brown.

7. In the last 10 minutes of cooking warm a few tablespoons of apricot jam in a saucepan and keep warm until you take the gallette out of the oven.

7. As soon as you take it out of the oven spread the apricot jam all over the surface for a nice tang and bright shiny tart :)

ALTERNATE and just as GOOD GALLETTE with just mincemeat, shredded apples and toffee sauce.

The only changes you need to make:

1. Don't make the frangipane.

2. Shred the apples instead of slicing them.

3. Put apples on top of the mincemeat in the gallette.

4. Everything else is the same EXCEPT in the last 10 minutes of baking make this fantastic toffee sauce - which you can use on anything and everything you ever want - it is from a sticky toffee pudding recipe:

Sticky Toffee Topping:
2 1/2oz brown sugar...oops didn't figure that one out, I suppose a bit more than 1/4 cup
1 1/2 oz butter
2 tablespoons cream or half and half

1. Heat sugar, cream and butter together in a small pan until sugar has dissolved - let bubble gently for a couple of mintes - pour over gallette.

These are both SOOOOOO good - as I said before you can do one big one of EITHER recipe with the amount listed or two small different ones. Either way:

HAPPY BAKING - let me know how it goes and do post pics on my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PatriciaSheaDesigns

Eat the gallettes hot, warm or cold with cream or custard or ice cream - whichever way you choose you will be delighted :))

A neighbourhood reprieve and Quince Frangipane Tart for Thanksgiving!

'Ello, 'Ello!!!

YEA!!! These beauties were saved from the table this Thanksgiving by my lovely neighbour Rita, she was planning on having them for dinner but decided they were just too friendly and gorgeous to say "goodbye" to....good on ya Rita, they are a lovely rafter or gang (correct group name!) of turkey's.... just look at those faces!! Their colours are beautiful...pink, blue and red...very handsome...

...and below is one of their witty and ever so sweetly noisy companions, they make a little trilling sound...a guinea fowl, aren't their faces adorable...they really do look like clowns with serious stage make-up and funny little hair do's.

In celebration of their reprieve I made a quince frangipane tart...it's rather like the Bakewell tart I did a while ago, in fact VERY like it with basically the addition of grated quince. I actually found these quince at Hannaford's. They were incredibly underripe...very green... but they did have a good smell which apparently is indicative of the possibility that they may indeed ripen. I waited until they were as yellow as I think they were ever going to get, and they smelled quite fragrantly of pineapple. Quince must be cooked in order to be eaten, they are mealy and astringent when raw, if you poach them they turn a delicate pink.

Here is the recipe:

QUINCE AND FRANGIPANE TART
Tart shell from Martha, a pate brisee...extremely reliable, very good, stays crisp, I've added more sugar than the recipe says and it's a good addition. The recipe here is for one 8-9" shallow pie but I made two small tarts with the same amount.

1 1/4 cups of white flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 stick (4ozs) butter I always use salted, VERY cold
1/8 to 1/4 cup ice cold water

1. Sift the flour

2. Grate the butter into the flour.

3. Gently work butter into flour until it resembles coarse meal.

4. Add some of the water and test to see if it comes together, if not keep adding water until the dough will squush into a non-sticky ball.

5. Put into the fridge to rest whilst you make the filling.

The frangipane:
3 1/2 ozs almonds, toasted

3 1/2 ozs butter softened

1 3/4 ozs white flour unbleached

3 1/2 ozs white sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon each vanilla and almond extract/essence

2 ripe quince - peeled, cored and grated

Some apricot preserves....the amount depends on your tastebuds

SET OVEN TO 400F

1. When the almonds have cooled after toasting grind them either in a coffee grinder in small batches with some of the flour in each batch to stop the nuts becoming oily or do all the almonds and all the flour in a food processor until fine.

2. Add the sugar and extracts.

3. Mix in the softened butter very well.

4. Add the beaten eggs and mix.

5. Mix in the grated quince and set mixture aside.

NEXT: Roll out the pastry and line your chosen case/s - dock/prick small holes in the pastry with a fork  so it doesn't puff up during baking, line with some parchment paper and fill with beans or pie weights - blind/pre-bake the pieshell for about 12 minutes in a 400F oven.

Allow the pieshell to cool and spread the desired amount of apricot preserves over the bottom...I like just a smattering to give a little tang to the tart...you may have more if you like, I give you permission to do so!! Tee hee.

NOW: Spread the frangipane on top of the preserves and spread evenly.

Bake in a 400F oven for about 30 minutes or until the whole top of the tart is golden brown and the mixture is obviously set.

Allow the tart to cool, it definitely tastes best at room temperature.


The quince adds a very unusual but not strange delicate, almost perfumey taste to the tart...something you haven't quite tasted before but yet it is somehow familiar. Well worth hunting around for this odd combination of apple and pear shaped fruit, which are only available at this time of the year.

HAPPY BAKING AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING

YEA FOR THE NEIGHBOURHOOD TURKEYS AND RITA!!!!

Bakewell Tart...it's certainly not cake but is it a pudding, tart or pie?

In typical inimitable British style this dessert recipe is called a pudding because ALL Brit desserts come under the title of ‘pudding’ and this particular one, from the beautiful little northern town of Bakewell, is meant to be consumed after the evening meal, as the ‘pudding’ course, and not for tea in the afternoon when it would indeed be called a tart or pie. Are you confused yet? In texture this pie is somewhat akin to a pecan pie without the nuts. It is dense and moist and actually quite light in flavour. It improves greatly with a day of ‘maturing’ at room temperature, and I highly recommend this, in a trusty metal cake tin and is always eaten cool but not cold (definitely not out of the fridge!!!...bad form I say!!). It is not fussy or elegant but it is a very satisfying Farmhouse recipe especially if you like almond flavoured delights as I do. Here we go with the recipe:

Pate Brisee for the crust...a very reliable and crisp version which keeps well.

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons sugar

1 stick very cold butter, grated on a box grater

1/8 to 1/4 cup of very cold water

Mix flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add grated butter ( I do all my pastry by hand so grating the butter helps keep things cool for better pastry...of course you can choose to do this in a food processor)....rub the butter into the flour mix until it resembles coarse meal then quickly add in the water by dribbles, I mix with a fork to keep everything cool, and when you think it is wet enough, and it’s always less than you think, quickly and gently ‘sqwoosh’ pastry together until you have a cohesive lump. Put into the fridge for, at the very least, half an hour and preferably longer, to ‘rest’. We all need a rest after this!

Take the pastry out of the fridge and let it warm up slightly before rolling out and lining a glass pie dish 9" diameter. Put back in fridge until ready to be filled.

The filling:

Raspberry jam preferably, strawberry second, anything else you choose third.

4 oz butter melted and slightly cooled

4 oz sugar

4oz roasted and ground almonds...if you are doing the roasting and grinding yourself let the almonds cool COMPLETELY, to get rid of any moisture, before you grind them in a coffee or spice grinder, and grind with equal amounts of the sugar so the mixture doesn’t get sticky.

4 egg yolks

3 egg whites whipped to soft peaks

½ teaspoon almond extract...have you tried the almond extract by ‘Simply organics’, it is the best I have ever tasted.

Putting it all together:

1. Take piecase out of fridge and spread your chosen jam over the bottom...I like just a schmear, others like more...traditionally it is less rather than more.

2. Mix melted butter, almond extract and ground almonds and sugar together til well blended, add egg yolks and blend til smooth and finally add the beaten egg whites gently in batches so as not to deflate the bubbles.

3. Spread mixture over the jam and make sure the jam is sealed around the edges or else it will bubble out in baking.

4. Bake in the middle of a 350 degree oven for about half an hour until the filling is completely set but be careful not to burn the pastry.

Ta dah!! You have yourself a good northern English classic recipe that has been around for hundred’s of years and is still made prolifically in it’s home county of Derbyshire.

Happy Baking...let me know how it comes out! Check this bakewell link out for more info!