Banana Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction

Frosted Pecan Banana Bread

Ingredients:
115g (½ cup) unsalted butter
150g (¾ cup) brown sugar
2 eggs
80g (1/3 cup) yogurt
480ml (2 cups) mashed bananas (about 4 bananas)
1tsp vanilla extract
250g (2 cups) plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp baking soda
¼tsp salt
½tsp cinnamon
70g (½ cup) pecans, chopped
For the frosting
112g  (4 ounces cream cheese)
60g (¼ cup) unsalted butter
120g (1 cup) icing sugar
1tbsp milk
pinch salt

2tbsp pecans, chopped, to sprinkle on top


Method:
1. Grease and line a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 180◦C/350F/mark 4.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the yogurt, bananas and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt ad cinnamon. Gradually fold into the wet ingredients. Briefly mix until there are no more flour pockets, then fold in the pecans. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, cover with foil, then continue to bake for a further 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes away clean.

4. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

5. For the frosting, beat together the cream cheese and butter until soft and creamy. Sift in the icing sugar and beat until combined. Add the milk and salt and more icing sugar as required to reach desired consistency.

6. Spread the frosting over the cooled banana bread and sprinkle with the additional chopped pecans.

Raspberry & Pistachio Cake with Mascarpone frosting

My 100th post! I've been sitting on 99 posts for over a week, with recipes and photos ready to post, trying to think of a post which could be appropriate for the occasion. Anyway, what occasion doesn't call for a cake? And this one's pink inside...

Recipe from Camille Styles


Raspberry & Pistachio Cake with Mascarpone frosting

Serves 4

Ingredients:For the cake
360g (3 cups) plain flour

1 tbsp baking powder½ tsp salt
240ml (1 cup) milk
120ml (½ cup) raspberry jam
red food colouring
350g (1 ¾ cups) caster sugar
240ml (1 cup) canola oil
1tsp vanilla extract
3 eggsFor the frosting115g cream cheese
340g mascarpone
455g (4 cups) icing sugar, sifted
1 small punnet raspberries
60g (½ cup) shelled pistachios, chopped

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/mark 4 and butter and flour two 9-inch cake pans.

2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, jam and food colouring.

4. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, vanilla extract and eggs until pale and smooth. Alternating in thirds, mix in the dry ingredients mixture and the wet ingredients, starting with the dry ingredients.

5. Divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cakes comes away clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and leave to cool completely.

6. For the frosting, beat together the mascarpone and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Mix in the icing sugar and beat until smooth.

7. To assemble, slice each cake in half to produce four layers. Sandwich the cake layers together with some of the frosting and the raspberries and pistachios, reserving some for decoration. Cover the top and sides with the remaining frosting and top with raspberries and pistachios.

Ginger Carrot Cake

I had been craving carrot cake for a good week or so, and had a half-tub each of cream cheese and mascarpone left over from making this cake (as well as a little of the ginger cream cheese/mascarpone frosting).
Anyway, the only sensible solution was a little too apparent... grab a couple of carrots and whip up a carrot cake, heavy on the ginger. I had only two and a half pecans, so decided to make the cake heavier on the ginger, incorporating fresh ginger, and left out any fruit and nuts.
The recipe for the cake was adapted from a recipe found on Bisous a Toi and the frosting was adapted from the one for this cake.

To make this into a round layer cake, double up the ingredients for the cake and triple the ingredients for the frosting. Bake in a round cake pan and slice into layers.

Ginger Carrot Cake

Ingredients:
For the cake
150g (¾ cups) granulated sugar
180ml (¾ cups oil canola/vegetable oil
2 eggs
156g (1 cup) plain flour, sifted
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
1tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp salt
150g (1 ½) cups carrots, grated
1tbsp fresh ginger, finely grated
For the frosting
1.5cm fresh ginger, finely sliced
10g caster sugar
10ml water
35g unsalted butter
100g icing sugar, sifted
75g mascarpone
100g cream cheese
½ tsp ground ginger

Method:

1. Grease and line cake pans. Preheat the oven to 180◦C/450F/mark 4.

2. For the cake, beat together the sugar and oil, then add in the eggs and mix to combine.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in the carrots and fresh ginger and mix to incorporate evenly.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

6. For the frosting, place the ginger, sugar and water in a small saucepan. Heat gently until dissolved, then bring to a boil and remove from the heat. Once the syrup has cooled, remove and discard the ginger.

7. Beat together the butter and icing sugar (this may be most easily done in a food processor). Add the mascarpone, cream cheese, ground ginger and ginger syrup. Beat until homogeneous and use to frost the cake.

Carrot Cake Muffins

King Arthur Flour, found on Positively Splendid

Carrot Cupcakes

Makes 12

Ingredients:For the filling
250g cream cheese
50g granulated sugar
½ tsp vanilla extractFor the batter350g plain flour, sifted
100g granulated sugar
55g dark brown sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¾ tsp nutmeg
¾ tsp salt
2 eggs
180ml water
80ml vegetable oil
240ml carrots, grated
30g dessicated coconut

Method:1. Preheat the oven the 200C/400F/gas mark 6, and line a muffin tray with muffin cases.

2. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the cream cheese on low power for 30-40 seconds. Mix in the sugar, vanilla and salt and set aside.

3. For the batter, whisk together the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, water and oil. Fold in the dry ingredients and then fold in the carrots and coconut.

4. Place about 2 tablespoons of the batter into each muffin case, then top with a generous tablespoon of the filling and the remaining batter.

5. Bake for about 18-20 minutes in the centre of the oven, or until the tops are bouncy and a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean. Leave in the trays for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely, for at least half an hour.

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake

Recipe from Bakers Royale

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

390g plain flour

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 pinch salt

115g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

160g light brown sugar

2 eggs

360ml mashed banana (about 3 large bananas)

160ml buttermilk

250g milk/dark chocolate chips

For the cream cheese frosting:

340g unsalted butter

225g cream cheese

2tsp vanilla extract

450g icing sugar, sifted

Method:

1. Butter and flour two 8 inch cake pans. Preheat the oven to 180◦C/350F/mark 4.

2. Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Gradually mix in the egg and mashed banana. In alternating thirds, mix in the flour mixture and buttermilk. Once well combined, fold in the chocolate chips.

4. Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the the centre of the cakes comes out clean. Leave for 10 minutes before removing from the pans to cool completely.

5. For the frosting, beat together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until light and fluffy. Mix in the icing sugar.

6. Slice each cake into two layers and sandwich together with the frosting. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake and dust with a little extra icing sugar.

Carrot Cake

Recipe adapted from Food Network

Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake

400g caster sugar

320ml canola/vegetable oil

3 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

390g plain flour, sifted

2tsp bicarbonate of soda

2tsp cinnamon

1/4tsp ginger

1/4tsp nutmeg

1 ½ tsp salt

1tbsp plain flour

150g raisins

110g pecans/walnuts, coarsely chopped

450g carrots, peeled and grated

120g pineapple (fresh or canned), diced

For the frosting

250g cream cheese

225g unsalted butter

1tsp vanilla extract

3-4tbsp milk

450g icing sugar, sifted

To decorate

20g pecans/walnuts, coarsely chopped

1-2tsp orange zest

1tbsp icing sugar

Method:

1. Butter and flour three 8 inch cake pans. Preheat the oven to 190◦C/375F/mark 5.

2. Mix together the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until pale and smooth.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the (390g) flour, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until completely incorporated.

4. Coat the raisins and nuts in the tablespoon of flour and fold into the batter, along with the carrots and pineapple.

5. Divide the batter between the pans and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the middle of the cakes comes away clean.

6. For the frosting, mix together the cream cheese and butter until softened and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla extract and icing sugar. Add enough milk (one tablespoon at a time) to achieve a smooth, spreadable consistency.

7. Once the cakes have cooled, sandwich the layers together with the frosting and spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Sprinkle the chopped nuts and zest over the cake and dust with icing sugar.

Ginger & Blueberry Layer Cake

The recipe(s) for this cake seem rather involved, as a whole ensemble, but it was far less time-consuming than I had anticipated.

The flavour combinations are wonderful, and the frosting is reminiscent of a favourite cheesecake of mine. I found that the cake could have done with a touch more ginger, so would up the number of ginger slices in the syrup a tad. 

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For the sponges, I used two rather shallow almost-8 inch cake tins. I was a little worried that they wouldn't be big enough, but the fit was perfect. You could also use a deeper pan, and bake the cake for about an hour.
After having soaked the sponges and allowed them to cool, I sliced them in half and refrigerated them for about 20 minutes or so. This was to ensure they were sturdy enough to handle when assembling. Fewer layers could also be made (e.g. you could just fill two sandwich tins with the batter and not slice the layers).

Recipe from Poires au Chocolat

Ginger & Blueberry Layer Cake

Ingredients:
For the sponge
250g unsalted butter
250g caster sugar
5 eggs
100g greek yoghurt
335g plain flour
2tsp baking powder
3tbsp milk
For the ginger syrup
6 slices ginger (about 4mm thick)
100g caster sugar
100ml water
For the blueberry filling
250g fresh or frozen blueberries
100g sugar
1tbsp water
zest and juice of half a lemon
For the frosting
1.5cm fresh ginger
15g caster sugar
10ml water
75g unsalted butter
200g icing sugar
125g cream cheese
125g mascarpone
½ tsp ground ginger

A small punnet of blueberries, to decorate

     

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/mark 3 and grease and line two 8 inch cake pans.

2. For the sponges, cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until completely incorporated. Fold in the yoghurt, and once combined, sift in the flour and baking powder. Begin to fold in the flour and baking powder, add the milk, and continue to combine. Once homogenous, transfer to the cake pans and bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes (if baking in one deep pan, bake for 1 hour-1 hour 20 minutes). Once baked, the sponges should be golden, risen and a skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean. Leave the sponges to cool for 15 minutes before pouring over the ginger syrup.

3. For the syrup, place the ginger slices, water and sugar into a small pan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little. Once the cakes have cooled for 15 minutes, poke the surfaces of the sponges all over with a skewer and pour the ginger syrup over the tops of the sponges. Leave the sponges to cool completely.

4. For the blueberry filling, heat the blueberries, lemon juice and zest, water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Pour into a bowl and leave to cool.

5. For the frosting, start by making another, more concentrated, ginger syrup. Chop the ginger into little chunks and heat gently with the caster sugar and water in a little saucepan. Once the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat and bring to the boil.  In a large bowl, freestanding mixer or food processor beat together the butter and icing sugar until the sugar is evenly distributed. Beat in the cream cheese, mascarpone and ground ginger and mix in the ginger syrup. Refrigerate to firm up a little before icing the cake.

6. To assemble, remove the sponges from the pans and slice in half. Place the sponges (without separating the new layers) into the fridge to become more manageable.  Sandwich up the layers of cake with the blueberry filling without spreading any on top of the top layer. Spread the frosting on the top and sides of the cake. Decorate with the fresh blueberries.

Cranberry Blondies

Like most blondies, these are very sweet and so should be consumed in moderation- I used half the amount of the ingredients from Taste of Home, so the one I've written up makes about 18 small(ish) triangles.

The cranberries go really well with these, as they counterbalance the brown sugar and white chocolate with their slight tartness. The sweetness could be reduced a little by using a lighter sugar- light brown soft, brown caster, or even white caster would do the trick, though they wouldn't be as soft or dense.

Cranberry Blondies

Makes 18 pieces

Ingredients:

85g butter

160g muscovado (or other sugar)

1 egg

½tsp vanilla extract 

135g flour

¾tsp baking powder 

¼tsp salt

¼tsp cinnamon  

30g dried cranberries

85g white chocolate, coarsely chopped (or chips)

Topping:

110g cream cheese

55g icing sugar

85g white chocolate, melted

30g dried cranberries

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180◦C/ 350F/ gas mark 4 and line a 7.5 inch/19cm square tin with buttered greaseproof paper (or use a disposable foil tin).

2. Melt the butter and stir in the sugar; leave to come to room temperature.

3. Beat the egg and vanilla into the butter and sugar. Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and stir until well incorporated. Fold in the chocolate pieces and cranberries.

4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skin has formed and a skewer inserted near to the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool for about 15 minutes before taking out of the tin and cooling further on a wire rack.

5. For the frosting, soften the cream cheese in a small-medium bowl and sift in the icing sugar. Beat together and add half of the melted chocolate, cooled slightly.

6. Spread the frosting on top of the blondies, then sprinkle on the cranberries and drizzle on the remaining melted chocolate. Place in the fridge and leave for about 15 minutes before slicing into portions.

Store in the fridge