Lemon Cream Cupcakes

I am always paranoid about trying new recipes, mostly because I never know how they will rise during the baking process. I filled 3/5 full, as I do most recipes, but this one could have used a tablespoon more of batter since they did not rise much. I made a lemon cake with a light lemon-vanilla cream filling, topped with a lemon buttercream. I whipped the hell out of the butter today and it came out perfectly fluffy!

 I topped with my favorite white sprinkles and yellow sugar, yay! I'm getting better with a piping bag, I swear :P

Banana Pineapple Bread

I swear I am done with bananas for a while now :)

I was going to use a faithful Paula Deen Banana Bread recipe, then I remembered there was a Disney World Banana Bread recipe...turns out they were the same...then I thought 'hmm, I wonder if I could make this into a Hummingbird sort of loaf' and enter the pineapple!  I debated on the coconut, maybe next time

and Finished (this recipe does produce a darker bread, the hole is from me poking it with a fork)

Banana Pineapple Bread         makes 2 loaves

* 1 cup butter, melted
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups sugar
* 3 cups flour
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons water
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 24 medium ripe and mashed bananas
* 8-10 oz crushed pineapples, drained  (smaller cans are 8 oz, i had a 20oz can so I split it in half, obviously)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two loaf pans (i even grease my silicon, whatever)

 Sift together flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon, set aside.
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one.
Add water and butter.
Add bananas, vanilla and pineapple — Mix well.
Fold in flour mixture until well incorporated.
Grease 2 loaf pans and divide batter equally between the 2 pans.
Bake for 60-65 minutes or until center of loaf is firm and a toothpick inserted to the center comes out clean.

Banana and Strawberry Whoopie Pies

Can you see a pattern yet?  When my produce starts to die, I turn it into something.  I always have bananas on hand, and this week, strawberries.  I've already pureed and stuck the remaining in the freezer, stay tuned for later in the week.

I am already growling at the oven, I never have any luck with whoopie pies when it comes to spreading..The first tray came out nice, the second tray blobbed together

Finished!

The first, good tray

The bad tray, grr

Banana Cakes         about 12 whole whoopie pies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 medium mashed bananas
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip butter and sugars until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add 1 egg and vanilla, mix until combined.  Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, set aside.  Combine bananas and buttermilk in bowl, set aside.  Add banana mixture into butter mixture, alternating with dry mixture.  Do this in 2-3 turns until well combined.  Pipe out batter onto tray about 1 1/4 inch dollops, keep cakes at least 1 1/2 apart (more if possible).  Bake for 12-14 minutes until golden.

Strawberry Buttercream Filling

• 2 sticks butter, room temp
• 1/3 cup strawberry puree (or preserves)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Whip butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add vanilla and puree, whip until combined.  Add powdered sugar slowly until combined.  Add more or less, depending on consistency.  Pipe onto cakes and sandwich.  Dust with powdered sugar or chocolate drizzle. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Chocolate Banana with Peanut Butter Brown Sugar Buttercream

Again, another mouthful :D

In case you haven't noticed, I have a banana thing going on right now.  The truth is, I buy bananas for Sofie's lunch each week and never even go through half of them.  Instead of tossing them out, I decided to bake them into things other than the usual, boring banana bread.

This combo seemed pretty neat, even though I hate cooked frostings - so much work and so easy to f#ck up.  Mine actually came out a bit thinner than I would have liked so it's chilling in the freezer right now until it thickens up.

Here is the recipe:

Chocolate Banana Cake - yields 16

• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 cup  flour
• 3/4 cup  unsweetened cocoa powder (regular or Dutch-processed)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Heat oven to 350 and line cupcake tins.  Sift all dry ingredients in bowl and set aside.  Beat all wet ingredients until smooth.  Add in dry ingredients gradually until well combined.  Fill liners 3/4 full and bake about 20 minutes. (mine took 21 and came out with great domes!)

Seriously, what a nice rack!(aside from the dirty tins)

Peanut Butter Brown Sugar Buttercream

•  2 large egg whites 
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a heat proof bowl, whisk together egg whites, sugar and salt. Place over a pan of simmering water and whisk continuously until sugar is dissolved and warm to the touch. Pour mixture into bowl of electric mixer. Beat on medium speed until fluffy, approximately 15 minutes. Raise speed to high, and mix until stiff peaks form, about 5-7 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add peanut butter,  butter a tablespoon at a time,  and vanilla until fluffy. Pipe onto cupcakes. Dust with crushed chocolate cookie crumbs or shaved chocolate.

 Final Verdict of a 5 Year Old: Sofie dislikes the cake but loves the frosting..in my defense, she never likes anything I make

Banana Coffee Chocolate Chip Muffins

That's quite a mouthful, eh?

I had some browning bananas to work with and I've already made my Banana Cupcakes quite a few times and needed something new to try.  I knew bananas and chocolate went well together and I knew chocolate and coffee went well together...but how about a combo of the two?  I knew the flavors were there, but had no idea if these would rise and dome like a muffin.  What a nerve wracking 20 minutes this was!

So, here it is...the cake is a bit denser which is why I call it a muffin (and it has no frosting, so I would never label it a cupcake unlike my friend, Jennifer Foo)

*my pictures aren't always the best and my kitchen is always a mess when I bake*


Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins     makes 12-14

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 4 average sized mashed ripe bananas (3 if large)
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk (google on how to make the homemade version, if needed)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 teaspoons very strong coffee, cooled (I used instant espresso)

Chocolate Chip Topping

• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2/3 cup brown sugar 
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• (optional: nuts, coconut, oats, etc, etc)

 Preheat oven to 350.  Line muffin tin with paper liners, this recipe makes 12-14 muffins.  People always say to do this first, I always do it last. :)

Mix butter, sugar (white), and egg until fluffy.

Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt.  Mix until just combined, it will look a bit lumpy.

Add mashed bananas, vanilla, buttermilk and coffee.  Mix until well combined.  Batter should resemble cake batter.  The amount of coffee really depends on the flavor you want, start with 3 teaspoons and taste, add more or less, whatever you like.

Scoop batter about 3/4 full in each liner.  You want to leave room for the topping.

Spoon a heaping tablespoon of chip mixture on top of each muffin.  Add more or less, however you like it.  Feed the leftover topping to child, send child to grammy's for the day.

Bake for 20-25 minutes.

I really was worried about how these would rise.  Not the highest domes, but pretty good.  A tip from my friend Paula Deen, spray the top of your muffin pan with nonstick spray, this will make it easier to remove your muffins from the overflow, rather then fight and chisel with the melted sugar.  (of course, I forgot to do this...these pans should take me a week to clean)

I was going to add a coffee drizzle (espresso and powdered sugar) on the cooled muffin but ran out of sugar.

Cool and enjoy! No really, let them cool and harden a bit.(the crumbs on the plate are really bugging my OCD, heh)

 I also listed it as an Instructable, everyone should check out that site!

A quick post

I forgot to add what I made for Easter :)

Chocolate cake with Godiva liqueur buttercream

And the usual favorite, Vanilla with Vanilla buttercream

Super Bowl Sunday

I kept it easy which a white cake and vanilla buttercream...I think these are the Giants colors but I suppose I could be wrong :P

I also made a chocolate chip cookie dough dip that wasn't pretty enough for a picture...If you want any of these recipes, feel free to ask