Friday 11 October 2013

Spicy Autumnal Banana Bread

One of my lovely housemates had a few bananas that had gone a bit squishy so we decided to make some beautiful banana bread with a bit of an autumnal twist. I don't think there is a time of day when I would not like to eat banana bread, I love it for breakfast! Our banana bread only lasted a few days because we ate it so fast. This particular one is very moist and because of all the delicious spices tastes very autumnal. This recipe uses fruit that is past its best and lots of store cupboard essentials so is cheap, easy and delicious.

To make your own lovely banana bread you will need:

2 very ripe bananas
170g butter
170g sugar
 3 egg
170g self raising flour
60 ml milk 
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1 teaspoon runny honey
A few drops of vanilla essence

A greased and lined 2lb loaf tin

Begin by preheating your oven to 160 degrees c. 

Next melt the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together in a saucepan, don't let the mixture boil instead just allow it to gradually melt:



While the butter is melting add mix all the dry ingredients (flour, spices) together and then add the eggs and the milk. Allow the butter mixture to cool slightly (you don't want scrambled eggs in your mixture!) and then mix it into the other ingredients. Pour the mixture into your lined tin and bake for 50 minutes to an hour. I had the same issues with silicone tins that I did with my blackberry and chocolate cake so mine took a tad longer. Check that your bread is done by inserting a skewer into the center and checking that it is clean when you pull it out. 

Then you are finished, enjoy it hot or cold and at any time of day.




Happy Baking xxxx

Friday 4 October 2013

Blackberry and Chocolate Cake

There are very few fruits that say autumn as much as some beautiful blackberries and whilst I was cycling last week I got the amazing thought that blackberries and chocolate would be the perfect combination. I was inspired by this beautiful bundt cake by chasing delicious but sadly I still lack a bundt tin so I decided to go off piste and create my own blackberry cake. It turned out to be really delicious, the sponge is almost browniey in texture and the blackberries turn almost jammy to give the whole cake a bit of a lift. 

To make this delicious autumnal cake you will need:

330g plain flour
460g sugar
112g cocoa powder
240ml yoghurt
110g butter (melted)
1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
50 ml freshly brewed coffee
100g frozen red fruits (blended til smooth)
150g whole fresh blackberries

1 20cm x 20cm cake tin - greased and linned

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees.

Begin by mixing the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, bicarb of soda, baking powder) together in a big bowl (this makes quite a large cake so there will be a lot of mixture). 

Next add the eggs one by one, ensuring that each egg is combined before adding the next. Also add in the yoghurt, blended frozen fruit, vanilla essence, coffee and melted butter. Your mixture should be deliciously smooth and chocolatey and look a bit like this:


Next very gently fold in your blackberries without squashing them and pour all the mixture into your linned tin. I used a silicone tin (which I wouldn't recommend!) and because they do not heat up as much as a metal tin cakes take ages to cook in them. I let my cake cook for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, if you are using a metal tin then begin checking whether the cake is done (by inserting a skewer into the center and checking it is clean when you pull it out) at about 50 minutes. 


Once the cake is baked then turn it out onto a cooling wire and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. 



If you fancy more autumny bakes they try this sticky ginger traybake and don't forget for the love of baking now has its own twitter account so give it a follow for lots of cakey updates.

Happy baking xxx