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!

Iris Nouveau - a new design in my online shops and new items at Society6

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My latest design "Nouveau Iris" - or "Iris Nouveau" I can never decide which way round I prefer - began her journey many years ago as a small watercolour painting, a fifth of a full circle section created specifically with dinner plates in mind. Poor little thing has been languishing in my flat files waiting to be chosen, scanned and created into a full circle design and then reworked into allover patterns to be uploaded to my various online print on demand shops applied to many and sundry items for you and your home, as gifts to yourself and your family and friends. She has always been a favourite of mine - how odd you can have favourites of your own work!, and I am so glad to see her finished!

I give you:

IRIS NOUVEAU

As a greetings card...click HERE

as a clock...click HERE

on the new V-neck t's at Society6....click HERE

and the new Samsung Galaxy S5 and S6 cases, and iPhone cases too...click HERE

...on iPad cases - click HERE

...mugs - click HERE
pillows/cushions - click HERE

 

and newly added rugs in three sizes...HERE

...shower curtains two ways...HERE as seen above
and below HERE

 

 and tote bags too...HERE

All the above are available at my Society6 shop in two different sections... HERE and HERE ( just click on the words HERE :)

Iris is also now available in my Spoonflower shop as fabric:

and wallpaper:

and wrapping paper:

and finally it's available as an archival print in my Etsy shop too!

Phew - I'm exhausted methinks I need a cuppa and a piece of the cake I have baked for World Baking Day tomorrow Sunday May 18th - the recipe will be up tomorrow!

Happy Easter! Please enjoy this delicious Whole Lemon Cake.

If you like lemon then I feel quite confident you will love this luscious, moist, delicate, many layered lemon flavour cake from the ever lovely Mary Berry - it uses a whole lemon in the cake part of the recipe, meaning skin, zest, pith, juice - everything but the pips, and an unusually made sugared zest for the decoration! I have not seen a recipe using either of these techniques before so instantly I was intrigued when I watched Mary mention such in one of her episodes aired on Aunty Beeb - the colloquial name for the BBC.

To the cake without further ado! I made a half of Mary's recipe for a small cake as there are only two of us and, even though we could easily and happily eat a full sized cake, I prefer to keep us and the cake on the smaller size by baking mini cakes in a 6" diameter pan. I did also bake the cake in one pan and then split the tall cake into 3 layers - Mary does two cakes that she splits into 4. Click on MARY for the link to her original full size cake recipe.

First make your sugary zest for the top of the cake

The peel of one lemon preferably organic - either peel and cut into fine strips or use a zester which will automatically give you fine long strips.

2oz sugar

1. Put the peel in a  small pan, cover it with boiling water and add half the caster sugar. 

2. Boil vigorously for one minute.

3. Drain the peel and reserve the resultant nicely flavoured simple syrup for another use.

4. Scatter evenly onto non-stick parchment paper and sprinkle the remaining sugar over.

5. Put in a warm place to dry out for as long as possible or overnight, until crisp - if you are in a hurry, dry out in a low oven 110C/225F for 30 minutes - I left mine in our wood burning stove with the door open for the evening. This is a nice crispy crunchy version of candied peel that has a delicate flavour and could be used in and on top of many a sweet recipe.

Ta dah.....

Now for the cake....always read through the recipe one or two times before you begin so you know what is involved - you don't want any surprises half way through!

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F

YUM - three types of lemon - whole chopped, juice and sugared zest!

  INGREDIENTS: Have everything at room temp and make sure your butter is good and soft.

1 large thin-skinned lemon - I couldn't find any thin skinned ones in Belfast recently so I used a relatively thick skinned one and it was fine but I imagine a Meyer lemon, or even two because they tend to be smaller, would be wondrous in this cake. Do get the thinnest skinned as you an though so less pith and more flesh.

5oz/140g/1 1/4 sticks of butter softened 

5oz/140g/ 1/2 cup sugar

5oz/140g/1 1/4 cups white flour

1 level teaspoon of baking powder

2 large eggs whisked

1. Here's the interesting part - put your lemon in a small pan, cover with hot water and boil for about 20 minutes until very soft.

2. Drain and cut in half, remove the pips and put the whole lemon in a blender or food processor and chop until smooth but with some chunks - so don't puree it, allow to cool.

3. Add all the remaining cake ingredients into the food processor and blend until smooth OR if you don't have a food processor like me and you like to do all these things by hand cream the butter til very smooth, add the sugar and cream again and then add all the rest of the ingredients and cream until smooth.

4. Add half of the lemon pulp and mix evenly.

5. Like I said earlier I made one small cake in one layer - so - butter and flour a 6" diameter cake pan and dollop all your batter in, smooth the top.

6. Bake for about 45 - 55 mins. until nice and golden brown and a skewer pricked into the centre of the cake comes out clean AND the cake is shrinking a little from the edges of the pan - at about 30 mins. check the cake and if it is browning too much, as mine was, put a hat of parchment paper or foil to stop it getting burnt.

Just out of the oven

7. Leave to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes then turn over onto a wire rack to cool - I decided to use the bottom of my cake as the top because it was so smooth so no need to turn the cake back over from the wire rack.

8. Whilst your cake cools you can make the filling.

  THE FILLING:

1oz/28g/1/4 stick soft butter

6oz/175g/1 1/2 cups icing/confectioners sugar

 5oz/150g/well mounded 1/2 cup creme fraiche or marscapone - I prefer the creme fraiche for the slight tanginess.

the rest of the boiled chopped lemon

 1. In a food processor blend the butter and sugar, by hand cream the butter and slowly add the sugar to cream mixing well between additions - eventually it will be hard to blend anymore so then....

2. Add the creme fraiche or marscapone and blend really well.

3. Add the remaining chopped boiled lemon and blend well - to be honest mine looked a little curdled but it didn't go too far and it tasted really good - with butter and lemon in there I can't imagine it would ever not be a little curdled.

 ASSEMBLE YOUR LOVELY CAKE:

1. Make sure your cake is completely cool or the filling will melt.

2. Mark your cake for two cuts and then be brave and cut into three even horizontal discs:

A close up of the cakes texture

  3. Slather the filling almost to the edges of one of your cake discs, pop the other on top and do the same, pop the final disc on top thus:

 Now make your topping:

3 1/2ozs/100g/heaped 3/4 cup icing/confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon or more lemon juice 

Put the sugar in a small bowl and add the juice bit by bit until you get a smooth and flowing but slightly stiff icing then pour it forth onto your cake top - sprinkle the sugary zest over - I then added some chopped crystallized ginger for a little bite - a good bite - a nice addition.

It's a lovely sophisticated cake - the whole lemon gives it an elegant flavour, a little marmaladey because of the pith - it is neither too sweet or too tart, it is moist and light but toothsome - and I bet it will taste even better tomorrow!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

If you are interested in either of the prints you see in the background on these pics - Blue Rhapsody and Pink Quilt Design - you can find both at my Spoonflower shop in fabric, wallpaper, wrapping paper and wall decals and in my CafePress shop on all manner of items - Thanks You!

 

My new design "Gilding the Lily" - please vote for me at Spoonflower!

Here is my latest design/illustration called "Gilding the Lily" - a title I think is self explanatory!
 I originally hand painted this in watercolour on paper and then scanned, cleaned and Photoshopped the files ready to be uploaded both to my Society6 and Spoonflower shops to make it available as iPad and iPhone cases, framed and stretched prints, tote bags, fabric, wallpaper and so much more.

Here are pictures of some of the items with links to purchase them below the images:

Indoor and outdoor pillows available with and without inserts HERE

Shower curtains available HERE

Women's and men's t's are available HERE in a plethora of colours.

 Kids t's are available HERE and Baby Onesies HERE

Allover printed tote bags HERE

Samsung Galaxy S4 and iPhone cases HERE

Mugs are HERE

Rugs are a brand new item at Society6 and they are available HERE

 

Stationery cards are HERE

For other items and designs in my Society6 shop please click HERE 

Gilding the Lily is also available as an archival print, hand signed by me - with personailzed signature if requested - from my ETSY shop

Coincidentally this weeks recent competition at Spoonflower was a call for Lilies so I created my original design into an allover repeat and entered it into the competition - I would be ever so grateful if you would be kind enough to vote for me by clicking on this

VOTING LINK

You can only vote once, I can't tell you where my design is as it shuffles for each person voting, you click on the tick/check mark upper left, the border goes green and then put in the code at the bottom of the page!

Here's the design to look for:

 and here is that design in repeat:

I think I'll be trying this design out with perhaps a blue ground to see how it looks as an alternative/addition to the black.

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Thanks for stopping by - next up is an interesting twist on Hot Cross Buns for Friday IF they work out - well I've changed my mind since I wrote this post (I think I'm doing a very lemon cake instead for Easter) but if you want gorgeous Hot Cross Buns please check out my friends Anne blogpost about such at Carrington Lane Bakery. Here's a pic of her perfect buns:

 In the meantime if you would like to bake a faboo cake for Easter why not try a Simnel Cake bursting with dried fruit and oodles of marzipan - click HERE for my recipe.

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