Just a coffee please...

This weekend I was off to the country helping out at a party. I made six cakes - lemon drizzle , orange drizzle , chocolate and orange , chocolate, coffee and walnut, and banana choc-chip. I've posted most of these recipes before (click the links!) but here are the others:

Coffee and Walnut Cake:

• 225g butter
• 225g caster sugar
• 4 big-ish eggs
• 225g self-raising flour
• Pinch of salt
• Splash of strong coffee 
• 100g chopped up walnuts (keep them chunky)

Pre-heat oven to 180c. Mix the butter and sugar together really well then add the flour, eggs, salt and coffee and stir. Fold in the walnuts then tip the mixture into a tin (I used a loaf tin) and pop in the oven for around half an hour.

Coffee Icing:

• 125g butter (softened up a bit)
• 200g icing sugar
• Splash of strong coffee
• Pinch of salt
• Some walnuts for the top

Mix the butter, sugar and salt whilst adding the coffee in small splashes until it's nice and silky and a lovely caramel (...or coffee) colour. Spread it over your cake once it's properly cool and then sprinkle the walnuts on top, ta-da!

The banana cake I made was a little too stodgy for my liking so I won't post the recipe I used but instead lead you here . My mum sent me this link so I'm going to follow these tips next time. 

My favourite banana cake recipe is always this one as it's so moist and tasty and has a kind of carrot-cake vibe to it. Although the one I made was a little dense it still tasted pretty good, also the kids had picked most of the cream-cheese topping off it before it even reached the party and it still disappeared super quick so I'll not label it a complete failure.        

You're on your way out mister

ew.

When your bananas start to look like beaten up giraffes there is no way you're going to eat them, no matter how many times your mum tells you that they're sweeter like this. Instead of throwing them out it's definitely time to put your apron on and make a really moist and lovely banana cake. This recipe doesn't have any butter in so it's got way less fat than other ones, if you want to make it even better for you then skip on the frosting - it's such a moist cake it doesn't really need it (BUT the frosting is really good so I advise you to just go for it).

St Lucia Banana Cake

• 350g self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 175g light muscovado sugar/soft light brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200ml sunflower oil
• 2 large or 3 smaller sad-looking bananas (properly mashed up with a fork)
• 100g crushed pineapple (or chop up some pineapple chunks into teenier bits)
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 100g walnuts roughly chopped/bashed around a bit

Pre-heat your oven to 170c (fan oven) and grease up two 20cm cake tins. Sift all your flour, spices and sugar together and then, in a separate bowl, whisk your eggs and oil until they're nicely mixed up. Tip the eggy mixture into your floury mixture and chuck in the rest of your ingredients and stir really really well. Split evenly between the two tins and bake for 45 minutes until they're firm and spring back when your prod them.  Let them cool completely because otherwise the frosting will just slide off.

I make so much mess when I'm baking

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 400g medium fat cream cheese (this is about two normal sized packs, don't use the extra-light stuff because you're frosting will go really liquidy)
• 200g icing sugar
• handful of banana chips (you don't need these but they're delicious and look quite good)

Sieve your icing sugar to avoid lumps then mix it really well with the cream cheese, shove it in the fridge to set a little. Once your cake is completely cool divide the frosting between the two cakes, then put the best looking one on top of the other one and sprinkle with banana chips - done! 

went down a treat with my gorgeous girlies