Hummingbird Cake

        Being broke and more or less unemployed (I took a job waiting tables at 6:30 in the morning for $40 a day so according to my bank account I'm still unemployed) I've found myself with plenty of time and unable to leave the house. Basically I'm bored of out my tree and just about ready to hang myself from one! I've done the whole binge watching Netflix thing (check out Broadchurch, so good!), yoga videos, reading, working on acting stuff, I even knit a tea cosy and of course, I've baked. It's tricky being right after the holidays because no one in my family wants much sweet stuff around, well we want it we just know we ought not to have it, so I've been aiming for lighter, less rich items like this fruity Hummingbird Cake.

   Two summers ago I bought a Taste of Home cookbook at a silent auction and I've tried quite a few recipes from it. So far, I've been very impressed and some of the recipes have even managed to become favourites. There are quite a few items in it that call for pre made or packaged ingredients such as cake mix, store bought dough or pudding mix. These are a huge pet peeve of mine and I don't consider them recipes. I'm sorry but store bought mixes taste awful and any "recipe" or "baker" using them loses all credibility in my opinion, if you couldn't sell it in a bakery you didn't bake it. Enough of my rant, onto the cake!

 I halved the recipe for my family of three and we are post holiday so huge slices of cake aren't the best way to fit back into one's jeans. The recipe posted is for the full cake, so if you want to cut it in half just use smaller pans. I used two 3inch rounds so I could still stack with the yummy icing in the middle which worked perfectly, but you could also stick it all in one 9x13 if you wanted to do it as a sheet cake.

For the cake:

2 cups mashed ripe banana

1 1/2 cups canola oil

3 eggs

8 oz crushed pineapple, undrained (or pineapple chunks in a food processor!)

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Beat the bananas with the oil, eggs, pineapple and vanilla until well blended.

  2. In a separate bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cinnamon.
    Add the flour mixture to the banana and beat until well blended. Add the walnuts.

3. Pour into three 9 inch round baking tins. Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely before icing.

The original recipe (found here) called for a pineapple icing with shortening, but I was feeling the carrot cake style cream cheese goodness. I used the recipe from the classic carrot cake but added a bit of extra butter and less cream cheese to make it more of a cream cheese/buttercream hybrid.

For MY icing (or what I can remember, I was winging it):

1 package cream cheese

1/2 - 2/3 cup butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 -2 cups icing sugar

1. Beat the cream cheese and the butter until smooth. Beat in the vanilla and then gradually add in the confectioners sugar. Adjust the amount of sugar according to the consistency of your icing. Ice your cake as you desire to do.

Ta Da!

I have absolutely no idea why it's called a hummingbird cake but regardless of the name it's delicious and moist and perfect for an afternoon cup of tea.

-Holly

This Bread is Bananas

I have discovered the mother of all banana breads which is very poetical as the plethora of bananas I used to make it came from my mother. At the end of her visit in London she found herself loaded with very ripe bananas destined for the bin. Not one to waste anything and being an avid baker herself she bestowed them upon me to freeze and use for later baking endeavours. As my time in this particular flat in London is coming to an end I needed to use them up stat. I'm having trouble as it is finding storage for the things I'm not willing to lug back and forth without adding a small corner of the freezer for five overly ripe bananas to the list of requests. I searched my beloved Pinterest for banana bread recipes and was, of course, drawn to the one with cinnamon and sugar. Also I was too cheap to go buy chocolate chips. 

It turned out so moist, and delicious that I ended up using the remaining bananas originally allocated to try a different recipe to make a second batch weeks later. It was a huge hit with all who tried it. One friend even exclaimed that it was so good she felt she should've paid £5 for it. I informed her she was welcome to, but sadly it never came to be. 

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread
Original Recipe courtesy of Shari Blogs

3 medium or 2 large overripe bananas, smashed

(if you freeze and thaw them before smashing it makes the bread nice and moist)

1/3 cup melted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp milk or almond milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

dash of salt

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup bread flour

CINNAMON SUGAR

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC)
2. Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with grease proof (parchment) paper
3. Melt the butter and let stand while you mix the bananas, egg, sugar, milk and vanilla. Mix in melted butter.
4. Gently stir in baking soda, salt and flour just until combined. If you over mix it will lose it's fluffiness. 
5. In a separate dish combine cinnamon and sugar.
6. Pour half the banana batter into your loaf pan and sprinkle it with half your cinnamon mix.
7. Add the remaining banana batter topping with the rest of the cinnamon sugar.
8. Bake for 40-50 minutes depending on your oven. It should be just to the point where a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean for optimal texture. 

-Holly