A yummy mouth full...Rum Honey Soaked Banana Walnut Cake

My youngest crumb snatcher is addicted to bananas. I have to make sure and buy at least two bunches at every shopping expedition. The last time the bananas were so green it made me pucker just looking at them. So I decided to be fun and buy the baby bananas. 

First I'll tell you one thing...HARD to peel...second, they looked great on the outside but mushy and over ripe on the inside. Mark wouldn't go near them. Who could blame him right. So sitting on my counter sat two large bunches of baby bananas...I just knew the gnats were going to move in within seconds and carry us all off. 

What do you do, you make banana bread right? Okay, I was a little bored with that idea...so this scrumptious cake was born.

Rum Honey Soaked Banana Walnut Cake

2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon banana flavoring

1 1/3 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped

5 bananas or 15 baby bananas (extremely ripe)

For glaze sauce

1/4 cup Dark Rum

1/8 cup water

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup honey

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Grease and flour a bunt or tube pan well. 

Peal and mash bananas until it looks like a paste.

In a large bowl dissolve baking soda in buttermilk and let sit for 2 minutes. Be careful of foam over flow. If it doesn't foam, its okay. Doesn't always foam for me either. 

Combine sugar, salt, flour, oil, eggs, vanilla, banana flavoring, nuts and bananas to buttermilk mixture. Mix by hand, careful not to over mix. 

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until tester stick comes out with a small amount of sticky batter. Do not bake until tester is completely clean or you will have a dry banana cake. 

The last 5 minutes of baking time for cake. Bring all ingredients for glaze/sauce to a boil in a small sauce pan. Let boil for 3 minutes. Once cake is removed from oven, pour sauce over hot cake, especially around the sides. Let cake sit for 20 minutes before removing from pan to completely cool. Sprinkle cake with powder sugar and ENJOY!

**Freezes well

When life gives you lemons...Make Pound Cake!!

My husband truly has the largest sweet tooth known to man. He has always loved the pound cakes from Starbucks. Dense, sweet, and buttery...but I hate him paying for something I know I can make just as delicious at home. I've search the Internet up and down, back and forth to find a copy cat recipe...but alas nothing was found. Those that were did not measure up to his standards. Starbucks actually buys their cakes from Solana Beach Baking Company who has their recipes under lock and key. So I decided to experiment. 

Took me a little testing and some flops, but I finally have my own copy of their lemon pound cake down to a science. Melt in your mouth zesty lemon flavor and a dense, moist, and heavy texture as pound cake should be. Paired with the lemon icing...its just fabulous. Life can hand me lemons anytime...I'll just make pound cake.

Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Icing

1 2/3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons salted butter, softened

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Juice from two medium lemons (approx 1/3 cup)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Icing

1 cup plus 1 teaspoon powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons whole milk

1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9x5 loaf pan well. 

In a medium bowl mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder. 

In mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream butter.  Add sugar, eggs, vanilla, lemon extract, lemon juice and oil until mixed well. 

Add dry ingredient mixture to your mixer and blend until smooth. No not over mix. 

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 45-50 minutes or until testing stick comes out clean. Edges should be a dark golden brown and will crisp upon cooling.

Let cake cool before icing.

For icing blend powdered sugar, milk, and lemon extract until creamy. Ice the top of your cake and let the icing drip down the sides of your pound cake.  Let icing set before slicing. 

Simplicity at its BEST... traditional chocolate cake

Don't you always just drool over the cakes you see on TV or in bakeries? They are always so beautifully decorated and look like mini sculptures. You just know they are a chocolate lovers equivalent to Red Bull...they come with 4o million fillings and twice as many frosting choices. You sink your teeth into them with relish...then discover...its not as good as grandmas. Then you regret selling your first born child to afford the upscale bakery cake. 

Let's head back to a simpler time. A time where good cake was just cake.  No sugar roses or raspberry cream filling. Where all cakes were just good ole fashioned goodness. 

This is one of those recipes. Traditional and just perfect. It's light and EXTREMELY moist. And OH so very RICH. It really is the perfect chocolate cake recipe. And guess what, its easy....no...I'm serious, it take just a few minutes longer than your average box mix. Make this and you will never buy a box mix again. 

Basic Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar

2  1/2 cups sifted CAKE flour*

3/4 sifted baking cocoa powder

1  1/2 baking powder

1  1/2 baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup boiling water

Note* Cake flour makes cakes light and fluffy. If you want a denser cake substitute all-purpose flour by subtracting 2 tablespoons per cup of cake flour. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour, two 9 inch cake pans or 13x9 inch pan. Do not use 8 inch pans. Cake will over flow. 

In a large mixing bowl shift combine all dry ingredients. 

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on medium for approx. 2 minutes and batter is well blended. Do not over beat. 

Gently fold in boiling water (batter will be thin). 

Transfer to prepared cake pans and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes for 9 inch round pans or 40 minutes for 13x9 inch pan or until wooden pick comes out clean. 

Let cool 20 minutes before transferring to wire rack or cake plate. 

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting (VERY EASY)

This is a WONDERFUL frosting. Not the greatest for decorating, but I guarantee the taste will make you forgive its culinary fashion fau' paux. 

1/2 cup softened butter (real butter, no substitutions)

2 2/3 cups sifted confectioners sugar

1/3 cup milk 

1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup sifted baking cocoa powder

In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream butter.

Blend in cocoa powder, vanilla, sugar and milk. 

Beat until desired texture is achieved. 

NOTE* freezes well 

Happy Birthday Ryan!

What can I say about my big boy. We've been through so many trial with you. You've taught me so much about patience and understanding. You've a long road ahead of you my little man...just know I'm going to be with you every step of the way...holding your hand. Happy birthday baby.

He wanted a Dinosaur cake to, but with a volcano. Seems easy enough. LOL I don't know what it is with my boys and dinosaurs :)