Sunday, October 24, 2010

Banana Bread ~ Cake

This is a quick and easy recipe for Banana Bread/Cake - absolutely a go to for when those Bananas that are turning from their wonderful yellow to brown and spotty and no wants them anymore...

I have been wanting to make this for several days now.....

I use a 9 x 13 glass pan - sprayed down with a cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl combine:
2-1/2 cups of All Purpose Flour
2 Cups of Granulated Sugar
1 Cup - Vegetable Oil 
4 Eggs - Large
6 Mashed Bananas ( I take a potato masher or fork to them-works for me!!!)
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon salt
**Mix till well blended
Add a cup of your favorite nuts chopped, I like pecans in my cake, some like walnuts...you choose!

Now pour all of this into your baking dish add some additional nuts to the top of the cake and bake at 350' till pick comes out clean - slice and serve

Delicious.....The house smells absolutely wonderful and delicious - Try it today - If you do not have enough bananas, cut recipe in half and put into an 8 x 8 pan..

I guarantee this is a winning recipe that you will share over and over -----
Happy Baking....

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Frosting Bowl: CupCake Camp Comes to the Inland Empire

CupCake Camp Comes to the Inland Empire: "An event for cupcake lovers to bake or buy cupcakes to bring or just come to eat and help a good cause. November 7, 2010, from 1pm to 4pm -..."

Keep watching this website for CupCake Camp - I will be posting photos of the event that day - it will be an exciting day.

If you have time - come on down to the Mission Inn in Riverside for the event - enjoy a day of sweets and treats for the Susan G. Komen cure benefit...

White Cake - Test Kitchen Now Closed


Testing Complete....for now!!!
I continued to bake on Sunday, Dan had gone to work to take care of things that needed to be done, it was raining on and off so it was a good day to have the oven on and the mixer going....I was on a mission to bake the best White Cake I could...
Several days and hours of perusing over the Internet, pulling out all my cookbooks, looking for recipes, I started to find recipes that were the same, exactly the same... Found some new ones...Now which ones to choose today to bake.... Do I have all the ingredients to make them, yes....

I find it amazing that all these recipes have essentially the same ingredients, all different amounts of this and that, and what a difference it makes to the ending product... I was beginning to think it was just me, maybe I was not doing something right in the blending and mixing and baking....No, I was following the recipes to a "T"  - I found several blogs, websites, seems everyone is looking for that perfect White Cake....

Well, I think I have found it - at least for now - a recipe that is not too sweet, rises well, good texture, even baked throughout, no after taste, came out of the pan perfect, cuts nicely, firm and tender at the same time....Could it be, the Perfect White Cake....Time will tell.

This is the Perfect White Cake - So far that I baked..













































Cupcakes came out great too...

In the oven baking - looking good so far...



Looking good....
A photo of some of the cakes I baked - and then yesterday, I found two more in the refrigerator....


The Taste Testing Plate - my husband Dan was very supportive in this venture....each day I baked the layers, I would place them on a plate marked only with the initials of the recipe for him to taste for me....



For now the Kitchen is closed on White Cake - Glad for now it is over....
Now the kitchen must begin testing Chocolate Cake and then on to Red Velvets.....

Happy Baking!!!!

Friday, October 15, 2010

White Cake Testing Week

Last weekend I embarked on finding the perfect made from scratch White Cake recipe.  Who knew this would be so challenging to find a recipe, tweek it to get it to taste just the way you want....
It has also been a learning experience  in the science of baking -
learning about Baking Powder, Baking Soda, different types of flours and why they are used in combination with other ingredients that make the cake rise, fall, become dense, light and fluffy, tender, dry and hosts of other events that happen as you learn the basics of cake baking...
What I thought would be simple has certainly made me realize that baking is a true science unlike cooking....adding a pinch of this and a little of that is not what you want to do when designing your scratch recipe.

The baking will continue....see you in the kitchen...