Banana, walnut and chocolate chip cake with maple syrup cream cheese frosting

This is honestly the best cake I've eaten in a while and that's saying a lot! It came about by chance as I couldn't decide what to bake but I knew I wanted to bake with bananas. I didnt want to bake another banana muffin so I thought a cake would be better. I had a discussion with one of my work colleagues who loves cake as much as I do and we 'created' this cake together by discussing what ingredients she wanted in the cake!! I said I wanted to use bananas and she wanted chocolate, walnuts, honey and maple syrup. I thought about it and decided that I could make it work so I gave it a go! The results were truly amazing. I incorporated everything she wanted in the cake and added a cream cheese frosting as well. The cake was really moist and full of banana flavour. You can taste the walnuts and the chocolate chips in there which also added a depth of texture to the cake. Unfortunately you can't really taste the honey but you can clearly taste the maple syrup cream cheese frosting. 

The following week, my colleague who helped me create the cake told me what happened when she took a slice home for her house mate. She described the cake to her housemate who did not look impressed particularly as she does not like bananas. However, she decided to have a taste and after a few bites said "if I'd known it was going to be so good, I'd have taken it to bed with me!!" That's honestly how I feel about this cake as well and I'm definitely going to have to bake it again. 

I'm sending it to a few blog challenges this month...  

Love Cake hosted by Ness from Jibber JabberUK. This month is the anniversary of the challenge and the theme is For The Love of Cake. This is not a typical Valentine bake but it came about through our love of cake and it's definitely one of my favourite cakes ever. 

No Waste Food Challenge hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. This recipe uses up old bananas and ingredients from my cupboard. 

Cook Blog Share hosted by Lucy from Supergolden Bakes

Recipe of the Week hosted by Emily from A Mummy Too

 dry ingredients and wet ingredients 

 adding in chocolate chips and walnuts

 ready to go in the oven 

 I love how you can still see the chocolate chips and you can definitely taste them! 

 with the maple syrup cream cheese frosting 

 decorated with chopped, toasted walnuts 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

For the cake 
250g plain flour
100g brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
3 or 4 ripe bananas
250mls milk
80mls vegetable oil
2 eggs
100g chocolate chips
150g walnuts ( I left them whole for extra crunch but you can chop them up but not too finely!)
60ml honey

For the frosting
100g butter
100g light muscovado sugar
85mls maple syrup
220g cream cheese

To decorate
20-25g toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Grease and line 2 x 18cm round baking tins.
• Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
• In a large bowl, roughly mash the bananas with a fork. 
• Add in the milk, vegetable oil, honey and milk and mix well.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.
• Finally stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.
• Divide the batter evenly into the cake tins and bake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Place the remaining walnuts for the topping in the hot oven and roast for about 5-7 minutes making sure that they don't burn. 
• Allow the cakes to cool completely before decorating. 
• To make the frosting, beat the butter and sugar until smooth.
• Add in the cream cheese and maple syrup and continue beating until very smooth.
• Place a generous layer of frosting on top of the first layer of cake. Place the second layer on top and spread the remaining frosting on top of the cake.
• Sprinkle with the toasted, roughly chopped walnuts.

Chocolate Easter Eggs with a Twist

I'm really excited to share this Easter treat with you. I made it 2 years ago and everyone was so impressed by it I thought it was time to make them again.  It's a really simple idea but it's so effective and it's guaranteed to impress. Last time I made multi coloured pastel eggs but this time I chose to make chocolate eggs (cake) and some lemon ones too. I used my favourite Nigella's old fashioned chocolate cake recipe but substituted the sour cream for yoghurt as that was what I had in the fridge. I also made up a lemon sponge batter and made some lemon cupcakes as well.

The most time consuming part is saving the eggshells. I saved a total of 40 eggshells over the course of a few weeks. I poked a small hole at the top with a sharp knife and gently peeled back the edges to make a hole large enough to pour the egg out. You will need a skewer to help get all the egg out especially the egg yolk. Then rinse the eggshells thoroughly in water and place in a large bowl of salted water. The salt helps the eggshells sink to the bottom and also helps to clean them. Soak for at least 30 minutes.  Then rinse the shells again and dry them upside down (hole side down) on a paper towel until completely dry -this is very important as the shells will go mouldy otherwise. Store in an airtight container until you need them. 

Pipe the cake batter into the eggshells and bake in the oven for about 15-18 minutes until cooked. The cake batter will overflow as there is not much room for the cake to expand. If you underfill the eggshells, you won't get a full egg shaped cake but a half egg. Remove the excess cake gently and wipe the eggshells with a damp towel. I cracked a few eggs doing this so it was a good thing I had extra! I also have a lot of excess cake which is good for making cake pops.

I'm sharing this with a few blog challenges

We Should Cocoa founded by Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and hosted by Rachel from Rachel Cotterill. The theme this month is Easter.

Treat Petite hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi and Kat from the Baking Explorer. The theme this month is 'Spring into Easter' and these are perfect for Easter.

The Biscuit Barrel Challenge hosted by Laura from I'd Much Rather Bake Than... has the theme of 'fun' this month. These were really fun to make and especially fun to watch people's reactions on receiving the cake and eating them as you crack the eggs open to reveal cake inside.

Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes. The theme this month is Easter Bakes.

Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior where the idea is to make everything from scratch.

Easter Bake & Make Competition hosted by Ruth from The Pink Whisk and Two Little Fleas 

 

 Scrunch up a small piece of foil to use as a base to support the egg shells 

 Fill up to about 3/4 full of cake batter 

 Don't worry if they look like this when they come out of the oven! Just peel away the excess cake and wipe the shells with a damp towel 

 How cute are these? 

 Here's what the cake looks like once you've peeled the shell 

 They make great gifts for Easter - I also saved up egg cartons in addition to the eggshells and decorated them with Easter stickers and easter chicks and bunnies. You can also paint the eggshells. 

 I also made some lemon cupcakes with the extra batter. I spread some chocolate cream cheese on top and sprinkled over some green coconut 'grass' (leftover from my minecraft cake) and topped it with mini eggs. 

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Golden Syrup Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

The lovely people at Tala sent me a selection of Xmas baking goodies to review. This included cupcake cases, Christmas silicone chocolate mould, holly leaf plunge cutters and Christmas tree cookie cutters. I decided to make gingerbread cupcakes with chocolate gingerbreadman and candy canes and some cookies.

I'm not a fan of gingerbread or ginger but I know I'm in the minority so in the spirit of Xmas and sharing I made these cupcakes to give away. Most of the recipes I saw online have similar ingredients of treacle, dark brown sugar, ginger and spices. I chose this recipe from King Arthur flour which had good reviews.

I made a golden syrup cream cheese frosting with cinnamon as I thought it would pair well with the sticky gingerbread. The frosting tasted heavenly! The feedback I received from the cupcakes were that "It's Christmas in a cupcake". The cake is moist and sticky and full of ginger and spice. The frosting complemented the cake very well and everyone was amazed by the decorations.

The chocolate moulds were really easy to use - melt chocolate, pour in the mould and leave to set. They were easy to remove with no breakages. I sprayed them gold which really brings out the detail. The cupcakes cases are sturdy and strong and does not become transparent after baking which I was really pleased about.

Check back tomorrow/weekend as I have a very exciting project to share with you using the tree cookie cutters and a giveaway from Tala.

I'm sharing this with several challenges this month :-

AlphaBakes which I am hosting this month and co host with Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter this month is X and we are accepting any Xmas related bakes. These apparently are Xmas in cupcake form so I think it's perfect.

Tea Time Treats hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked and co-hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is Festive Food Gifts and I think these would make a great festive gift.

Calendar Cakes hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes and co-hosted by Laura from Laura loves Cakes. The theme this month is Jingle Bell Rock. These definitely rock! :)

 Treat Petite hosted by Stuart from Cakeyboi and co-hosted by Kat from the Baking Explorer. The theme this month is Happy Holidays.

Four Seasons Food hosted by Anneli from Delicieux and Louisa from Eat your Veg. The theme this month is Party Food and these cupcakes would be perfect for any party.

Let's Cook Christmas Party Food hosted by Nayna from Simply Food.

The Spice Trail: Cooking with Cinnamon hosted by Vanesther from Bangers & Mash.

Secret Recipe Club Holiday Treats Party

Cooking with Herbs hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage. The theme this month is cooking with Herbs and Christmas spices so I think my cinnamon in the frosting will qualify.

Recipe adapted slightly from King Arthur Flour
Makes 14 cupcakes

For the cupcakes

206g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
113g unsalted butter, softened
106g dark brown sugar
170g black treacle
2 medium eggs
125ml water

For the frosting 

60g butter

200g cream cheese

175g icing sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons golden syrup 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For the decoration

150g plain chocolate, melted

Edible gold spray

• Preheat oven to 175C. 
• Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
• Beat butter, sugar, black treacle and eggs in an electric mixer until pale and smooth.
• Add 60mls of water to the butter mixture and mix well.
• Add half the flour mixture and continue mixing.
• Add remaining water followed by flour mixture and mix well. 
• Spoon into cupcake cases and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool completely before decorating.
• To make the frosting, beat butter and cream cheese until smooth in an electric mixer.
• Add in the icing sugar and continue mixing.
• Add in the golden syrup (you may want to add more depending on taste) and ground cinnamon and continu mixing until smooth.
• Make the chocolate decorations by melting 150g plain chocolate and pour them into the moulds. Allow to set in the fridge or freezer until firm. Gold spray optional. 
• Use a round tip to pipe frosting on the cupcakes and decorate with a gold chocolate gingerbreadman or candy cane.

Disclaimer: I was sent the items above to review free of charge. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own. I paid for all the ingredients myself. 

Hummingbird Birthday Cake

As mentioned it was a birthday celebration weekend and here's the massive birthday cake for a really good friend of mine. She requested a hummingbird cake with dried pineapple flowers so here it is. I've not made this cake in a long time and it was nice to be reminded of the delicious flavours. It's a banana, pineapple and pecan cake covered in cream cheese frosting. We had a really big celebration lunch but everyone managed a hefty slice of cake (or two!)

We enjoyed the cake so much, I didn't take a picture of a slice or a cross section of the cake. You'll have to take my word for it that it was delicious. The layers rose beautifully and it was so soft and moist. The waitress commented on the texture of the cake as she was slicing into it as she expected it to be heavy and stodgy but was actually really light.

 

 making dried pineapple flowers. Slice pineapple thinly and dry in a low heat oven 

 I made a 3 layer cake 

 cake assembly 

 Slightly uneven frosting but it gets covered in roasted, chopped pecans

 delicious pineapple flower

For the cake
300g caster sugar
3 eggs
300ml sunflower oil
270g peeled bananas, mashed (approximately 3 large bananas)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus extra to decorate
300g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g pineapple, chopped into small pieces
100g roasted, chopped pecan nuts

For the frosting

500g icing sugar, sifted
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g cold cream cheese

To decorate

100g roasted, finely chopped pecan nuts

dried pineapple flowers

• Preheat the oven to 170C
• Put the sugar, eggs, oil, banana and cinnamon in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
• Slowly add the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and vanilla extract and continue to beat until everything is well mixed.
• Stir in the chopped pineapple and pecan nuts by hand until evenly dispersed.
• Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins and smooth over with a palette knife.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched.
• Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tins before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
• To make the frosting, beat the icing sugar and butter together until it's well mixed.
• Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated.
• Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.

Click here to see a step by step guide on how to make dried pineapple flowers

Carrot and Walnut Cake

It's birthday month again and as Kim's favourite cake is carrot cake, it was an easy choice. I used my tried and tested carrot cake recipe but added in some walnuts for flavour and texture. I also used them to decorate the sides and edges of the cake. Needless to say, the birthday girl was very happy and I've had a request to make this for someone else who tried it for next year! 

I'm entering this to AlphaBakes which I am hosting this month and co-host with Caroline from Caroline Makes. The letter is C for carrot cake. 

I'm also entering this to the One Ingredient Challenge hosted by Laura from How to Cook Good Food and co-hosted by Nazima from Franglais Kitchen. The ingredient this month is walnuts which influenced my choice of nuts as I usually prefer pecans in carrot cake but I have to say it was very tasty with the walnuts! 

And finally to Made with Love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior who asks us to make recipes from scratch. 

For the carrot cake
150ml olive oil
150g muscovado sugar
3 eggs
220g wholemeal flour
1.5 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
zest of 1 orange
100g raisins
250g carrots, peeled and grated
100g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped plus extra to decorate (about 80g)

For the orange cream cheese frosting
300g cream cheese
50g butter
150g icing sugar
zest of 1 orange
1-2 tablespoons fresh orange juice (depending on consistency of icing requred)

• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line 2 x 18cm sandwich tins. 
• In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, sugar and eggs until the sugar has dissolved and the eggs are slightly fluffy. 
• In a separate bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, bicabonate of soda and spices and add to the egg mixture.
• Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well. 
• Divide the mixture evenly between 2 tins (I usually weigh them to get even sized cakes)
• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until the cake springs back from the edge and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely. 
• Meanwhile make the frosting by beating all the ingredients in an electric mixer until smooth.
• Sandwich the cakes with frosting and spread a thick layer on top of the cake.
• Decorate with toasted, chopped walnuts on the outside and edge of cake.