MONDAY MORNING RECIPE POST - BANANA STRAWBERRY CAKE

This recipe was a great cake and we both gave it a ten out of ten.  I have been looking around for a few new recipes to make for company, also desserts. It came from Kitchen Divas hosted by Karen and Ken. You will find the original recipe here.

BANANA STRAWBERRY CAKE 

Servings: 12

Calories: approximately 443 calories per serving

1-1/2 cups very ripe bananas, mashed and ripe

1-1/2 cups fresh strawberries

1 tablespoon lemon juice

3 cups flour 

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1-1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder  

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 butter at room temperature 

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

3 large eggs 

2 teaspoons vanilla 

1-1/2 cups buttermilk 

1/2 to 3/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting:

1/2 cups buttermilk butter, room temperature 

1 package (8 ozs.) cream cheese, softened

4 cups confectioners sugar

Decorations:

1/4 to 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped 

6 to 10 large fresh strawberries, sliced or diced

Instructions:

For the cake:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Prepare your 9 x 13 inch pan with grease and flour. Set aside.

In a small bowl combine mashed bananas, cinnamon and lemon juice and set aside.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on high speed until smooth and creamy, a few minutes. Scrape down the sides of your bowl if necessary.

Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until combined. Add dry ingredients, alternating with buttermilk.

Once thoroughly combined gently add in your mashed bananas and strawberries with a wooden spoon. Do not over mix. The batter will be thick and lumpy. This is okay.

Pour your batter into your prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow cake to cool in the pan for about 5 or 10 minutes before dumping on to a rack to cool completely. 

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting:

Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth using your mixer.

Gradually add icing sugar and beat on low to medium speed until combined.

Once icing is well blended, spread all over your completely cooled cake. 

Decorate top of iced cake with nuts and strawberries if you would like to.

Kitchen Divas note:

You will need a 13 x 9 inch CAKE pan to make this recipe. An old, regular 13 x 9 inch pan will not be deep enough. Newer 13 x 9 inch pans are all made to be at least 2-1/4 inches deep. Make sure yours is before you start, to prevent the possibility of your cake overflowing over the sides of your pan.

Freezes beautifully but don’t add the strawberry decoration until completely thawed. Add them right before serving.

This was a 10 out of 10 and we both thought it was delicious.

I have never cooked a cake at a lower temperature than 350 degrees F. but it turned out perfect at 325 and was perfectly cooked. The tip of my knife came out clean, no uncooked batter.

It was also a very moist cake.

I didn’t want any strawberries left so I probably added an extra cup.

A few changes: I had no brown sugar (I thought I had but couldn’t find it anywhere).  I replaced it with regular sugar, so 2 cups of white sugar instead of one cup. A one time thing as have now added brown sugar to the shopping list. It will be interesting to see if it makes a difference.

I measured out 1-1/4 teaspoons of baking powder instead of just 1. I didn’t think it would make a difference. It didn’t but I am a little compulsive over exact measurements. 

Gregg thought this would be too rich for him with the icing. I left that off and if you didn’t know, you wouldn’t miss it.  

I also left off the decorations. Probably would add both for company.

A light dusting of confection sugar would look pretty, but there again, not necessary as this cake stood well on its own.

The Kitchen Divas said this is the cake you can freeze, so that is what I did with the rest of it. 

Husband was very happy as it’s been a very long time since I baked a cake.  I only bake them for special occasions, and I extended his birthday week!  

A small portion goes a long way!

I always recommend checking these websites out. So many good recipes on there, and they always give great tips for each one. There is a video showing the steps.

Their address is below.

https://kitchendivas.com/banana-strawberry-cake/

MONDAY RECIPE POST - BUTTER CAKE

 

The first time I made this cake was in the wintertime, so my notes are from then.

  On Saturday afternoon, when the weather was so cold that I didn't feel like poking my nose outdoors, I declared it would be my baking day.  I found this recipe at "Just A Pinch" at this link.   Please go visit as it is always worth looking at the original recipe for any good tips I may not have shared, and besides that there are lots of other delicious recipes you can try.  The recipes are actually a collection from several good cooks. I am thinking of making it again for Easter.  I have a cute bunny cake plate that is ready and waiting.  

Butter Cake  -  Serves 10

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

3 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup of buttermilk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softend
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
4 eggs, room temperature

Butter Glaze:

1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar (white sugar, not powdered)
3 tablespoons water
1-1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract


Turn oven on to 325 degrees F.

Get your bundt pan, grease well with butter and add a couple of tablespoons of flour.  Roll the flour around until flour coats all the pan. Knock the excess out.  It is important not to skip these steps, otherwise your cake may stick.  

With an electric mixer combine the cake flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and mix to combine.

Add the buttermilk, butter, vanilla and almond extracts and eggs. Mix well.  Do not over do it, mix just until ingredients are combined.  It takes about three-and-a-half minutes but use your own judgement.  If you feel everything is mixed in properly then stop.

Pour into the prepared bundt pan.  

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour to 1-1/4 hours, or until tester comes out clean.   Mine took the longer time but oven heat varies. Another tip suggests checking after 50 minutes.


Glaze instructions:

Combine all the ingredients except the vanilla in a saucepan.  Bring to a slow boil over medium heat.  Stir in vanilla, set aside to slightly cool.  I started this process about 20 minutes before the cake was due to come out of the oven.  

Using your favorite oven mitts, carefully take the cake out of the oven and place bundt pan on a cooling rack.  While it is still hot and leaving the cake in the pan, pierce exposed cake all several times with fork tines or a bamboo skewer (I used a pointy chopstick).  Pour half the glaze slowly over the cake and let the glaze drip into those holes.

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then unmold onto a cake plate.  

Pour the remaining glaze slowly over the cake.  Let cool and serve with fruit or ice cream and refrigerate any leftovers.  

Apparently the longer this cake sits and matures, the better it will be.

Notes:

If you don't have any cake flour there was a very clever substitution tip which produces great results.

Cake flour substitution: 

All-purpose flour (just under 1 cup)
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Place two tablespoons of cornstarch in a one-cup measure.

Fill the rest of the cup with all-purpose flour.

Use in place of the cake flour in any recipe.

One cup of substitute is equal to one cup of cake flour.

What did we think?  It came out beautifully and was a delicious cake.  I can see it will be a favorite to prepare for company.  The glaze alone was delectable, and I was very happy with the texture and taste.

I didn't have any ice-cream or fruit, but if I am going to prepare this for company, I would definitely dress it up with our favorite vanilla ice-cream and fresh strawberries. To be perfectly honest it can stand alone as is but looks prettier dressed up a little.

The almond taste isn't overpowering, very subtle, which was a big plus in our book

I decorated simply by putting raw almonds on the top at intervals.  They made a nice tasty nugget to eat with a slice. 

With any leftover cake, I cut into slices and individually wrapped for the freezer.  

Thanks for looking and have a great week!

MONDAY RECIPE - RASPBERRY ALMOND CAKE

I don't bake but rarely, so when I saw this cake recipe and that it had almond paste as one of the ingredients, along with raspberries, I knew I would make it for friends the next time they came over for dinner.  I found it at a blog called The Merchant Baker hosted by Ramona, and you can see the original recipe here.  

Raspberry Almond Cake

Yields 1 (9 inch) cake
Servings: 8 to 12

1-3/4 cups of all purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
7 ounces almond paste (make sure it is almond paste and not marzipan)
1 cup sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups fresh raspberries, washed and thoroughly dried
1/4 cup sliced almonds
Confectioner's sugar for dusting the top of the cake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.  Spray a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray or lightly grease.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Crumble or grate the almond paste into the mixing bowl.  Add sugar and beat on medium speed until combined and there are no longer any lumps of almond paste.  

Add in melted butter and beat until well combined.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.  

Add vanilla and mix until combined.

Gradually add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Pour 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly to the edges.  Top with raspberries, making sure they are evenly distributed over the batter.

Spoon remaining batter in small mounds,  evenly spaced on top of the berries.  There is no need to spread it.

Sprinkle with the almonds.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 15 minutes, then remove the sides.

When completely cool, dust with confectioner's sugar and serve.  

Store covered at room temperature.

Thank you Ramona for a great dessert.  Ramona has a few notes at the end of her recipe I think you'll find interesting.  Follow the link at the beginning of this post if you want to take a look.

If you enjoy the taste of almond paste and enjoy raspberries, I can highly recommend this recipe. The cake was delicious and there was none left when the evening was over.

I didn't do this but apparently you can make this ahead and freeze.  I like this idea a lot and will try freezing next time.

For more delicious recipes at The Merchant Baker, you can follow this link.