My Secret Recipes: Addictive Banana Squares

It's been awfully hot here, the kind of weather where turning on an oven is probably illegal. And a suicide mission. Probably both. Ottawa has never had this hot a weather and we broke quite a few records! (Something I wish I could be proud of)

All this to say that I haven't been able to bake for about a week, but thankfully I have a few recipes I have yet to post on...so...I uh...will. ya. :D

Ok so as I have shared with you guys before, I have a series of recipes that, if I say so myself, taste really really REALLY good. And for some reason that is somewhat foreign to me I feel a bit 'over protective' of these recipes, almost like a 4 year old who doesn't mind (in fact loves) to share all her toys with the neighborhood kids, but for some reason clutches greedily to that one special doll. And lord have mercy on your soul if you try to yank that doll away from her.

But I've been trying to be a good girl and learn to share a bit more. So from my list of uber secret recipes (that coincidentally happen to be my most requested recipes) I am slowly but surely trying to share a few of these with you. So if Banana isn't quite your thing (the insanity!:O ) then why not try my cinnamon bun recipe? Or perhaps some Hummus?

I made these babies to take to a family friend's house where we were invited for dinner. The final product was quite adorable (think little chocolate squares in cupcake liners topped with a swirl of chocolate frosting and a slice of banana!) but I wasn't able to catch a picture of them, so you will just have to take my word for it. :)

TIP: These banana squares taste EVEN BETTER the next day. So let them sit for a while...if you can stand it

Blogging is a way for me to connect with other foodies around the world and 'write down' my experiences and life through food, but it also serves the purpose of helping me keep track of my favorite recipes. Long story short I thought I had lost this recipe forever, and hopefully by writting it here I never will lose it again!

Enjoy!

The Most Addictive Best Ever Banana Cake


3 bananas
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
¾ cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

1. Mash up the Bananas really well. Beat in the sugar, egg and vegetable  oil.

2. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a separate bowl.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and make sure you mix REALLY WELL. You can also stir in some chocolate chips if you like.

4. Bake at 350C until lightly brown on the edges and toothpick comes out clean.


"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine

2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

Recipe Review: This is (clearly) one of my all time favorite recipes. It converted my banana hating sister into a banana cake eating crazy person! (To the point where you have to hide it from her!) What I love about this is its SOO easy to whip up, can be made in one bowl if you like, is fool proof and most importantly its SO yummy. When you have your first bite, you wont think oh my god insane! You will be like" hmm...this is good banana cake. nothing crazy...not sure what she was going on about..its just banana cake." But thats where you are wrong laddie. Ten minutes later you will find yourself reaching for another bite....and another...and another...They really are THAT addictive!

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Canada Day Cupcakes

We have been having some really odd weather lately. It’s almost July, but you wouldn’t know it…it was 15C (59F) this morning! Its kind of weird because for a few days we will have overly hot and humid weather(35C, 95F), that makes you want to do nothing but just lie around and …well….do nothing. And then for a few days we will have freezing cold weather were you need a jacket!

Global warming ya’ll. No joke.

So speaking of July, July 1^st is Canada Day for us here canucks. For those of you who are not Canadian, and don’t know what Canada day is, its sort of the equivalent of Independence day in the US. We celebrate the anniversary of the July 1, 1867 enactment of the Constitution Act, 1867, which united two British colonies and a province of the British Empire into a single country called Canada. (see mom? I listen in school :P)

That makes Canada a bit of a ‘baby’ country since its only turning 143!

Anywho, on to these lovely cupcakes. I used the same recipe that I did for the FIFA world cup cupcakes, and followed the exact same directions. The only difference is I sliced up some strawberries and put them in the middle. Make sure to cover the top of the strawberry with the batter, and not over do it with the strawberries, since this is a cupcake surprise.

 

TIP: For a more American Version, trying popping in a few blueberries with the cupcakes and when you bite in, there will be blue, red, and white colors! (blue and red for the berries, white for the cake)

For decoration I alternated between pouring red sugar over some in the shape of the flag, and using red maple leaf sprinkles, and topping some with just one single sprinkle.

I had a bit too much fun decorating these!

Happy Birthday Canada! :D 

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FIFA inspired Cupcakes!

My family is obsessed with soccer. 

I think its part of my Iranian Heritage. In Iran, soccer is like a religion to some  people. Soccer players are heroes, and a soccer game is a family event that everyone attends from grandpa to grandchild, all gathered around the tv.  I personally am not what you call obsessed, and I barley know the correct ‘soccer terms’ ( or football as they call it). In my family, my dad and my brother are crazyyyy about it, followed by my sister, and me and my mom last, who enjoy the brief update on who is playing who, but that’s about that.

I personally dont have the patience for watching an entire game. I mean, sit there and watch a 2 hour game where there is only one goal? If any? No thanks. I prefer the sweet 5 min recap with all the goals. :D

However, as this is FIFA season, and my brother and dad have been oh so spoiled with having access to a 50” TV, they are more than celebrating and enjoying the event. But how can I fully enjoy it? Well I’ll just bring my foodie passion in ;)

So…I made these cute little soccer ball topped cupcakes! They turned out very cute! (Though I’m sure soccer fans would cringe at such a description)

I used Magnolia’s cupcake and frosting recipe and as always, they were yummy! I’m posting just the recipe tonight, and will hopefully post the tutorial on how to make the soccer balls tomorrow!

So tell me foodies, who are YOU rooting for to win? Brazil? Argentina?  Uganda? Let me know!

Magnolia's Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes (depending on the size of your cupcake papers and muffin tin

• 
  
  
  CUPCAKES:
• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour ( I substituted here)
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ICING:
  
• Vanilla Buttercream (recipe follows) or Chocolate Buttercream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.
3. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.
5. Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing. At the bakery we ice the cupcakes with either Vanilla Buttercream or Chocolate Buttercream.

Note: If you would like to make a layer cake instead of cupcakes, divide the batter between two 9-inch round cake pans and bake the layers for 30-40 minutes.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

Makes enough for one 2-layer 9-inch cake or 2 dozen cupcakes*

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. 

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Extremely Moist Banana Cake with Sour Cream Chocolate Frosting

Don’t you just love when things turn out as they are supposed to?

If you are like me, more often than not, they don’t turn out as they are supposed to, and you deal with it. However, today I got a sweet little surprise! You see these pictures? To my delight and surprise I didn’t have to do much editing at all! 

Usually I don’t do any major editing, I feel if I do that I’m not being genuine and that if I need to seriously Photoshop a picture, then its my crappy photography skills fault, and thus I just ditch the photos all together. That may be a bit harsh (I probably have a good 50 sets of pictures that I have taken but will probably never post because I feel the photography skills sucked), but at the same time I think it’s a good thing. I feel like I’ve grown as a photographer because I keep pushing myself to create photos that are as natural as possible and need limited editing, and thus have learned how to improve. Anyways, I’ll stop bragging about this. It just really made my day :)

Now on to this cake, I made it way back in March for my birthday (on March 6^th) and it was very delicious. In my opinion, the best gift a foodie can give themselves on their birthday is a day in the kitchen! This banana cake was very moist; something that I usually find is missing in banana cakes. This has a special little part to it where you have to pop it into the freezer right after you bake it. I personally have never heard of this ‘technique’ and was quite intrigued. I don’t know if it’s the freezing that causes the moistness but either way it was pretty good. I also made a chocolate sour cream frosting to top it off which, as you can imagine, topped off this banana cake quite nicely! This recipe is a keeper folks! :)

Best Ever Banana Cake

(source)

Ingredients

    * 1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe

    * 2 teaspoons lemon juice

    * 3 cups flour

    * 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

    * 1/4 teaspoon salt

    * 3/4 cup butter, softened

    * 2 1/8 cups sugar

    * 3 large eggs

    * 2 teaspoons vanilla

    * 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 275°. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.

2. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.

5. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

I couldn't make up my mind with how to decorate it...a few royal icing flowers in the middle? no...one cute tiny one...no....I settled for banana slices and shaved dark chocolate! mmm :)

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Mothers Day Cupcakes and Free DIY Cupcake Toppers!

I’ve been feeling a bit down on my luck these past few days. Everything that I’ve had planned hasn’t been going, well, as planned. I’m starting to realize that life can’t always go as you want it to. I mean, that’s quite obvious, but I feel most of us – me especially- never take those words to heart. Life happens. You can’t change things. You just have to make the best of it. 

Thankfully I have wonderful parents who support me and try to push me to be my best, yet remind me that life can’t always go as planned; and since its Mothers Day on Sunday, I thought I would go into detail as to why my mom is so special to me! 

She is always supportive of me and my goals, and pushes me to be my very best and not accept ‘ok’ as a standard. She has sacrificed everything for the well-being of her children, and gave up her opportunity to a wonderful career in order to stay home and raise her children. For this I will always be grateful, and hope to one day be at least half the great mother to my own kids. Happy Mothers Day Mom!!!

To celebrate mothers day I made moist carrot cupcakes with soft cream cheese frosting, topped with cute little mothers day themed cupcake toppers! I’ve got lots of great ideas for this blog, and one of them is to create graphics to go with my recipes! (ex. Food themed calendars, labels for ingredients, and cut out cupcake toppers, to name a few) So, I’ve decided to make these available to everyone for free!

Just click here to get a pdf with 12 of them. Then cut and paste with little toothpicks on the back. I recommend using thicker good quality paper. If you do these, I would love to see pictures! :) Also, I was considering making a cupcake topper store on etsy…would anyone perhaps be interested? Please let me know in the comments.

So tell me foodies, what makes your mom so special?

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Chocolate Mayonnaise Cupcakes with Mocha Frosting

Hello,

Sorry about the lack of posts. I have been uber busy with somethings I've been working on. I shall hopefully reveal what these somethings are soon, but for now, I thought I should update.

These yummy nummy cupcakes were actually made over a month ago, but I just never got around to posting. I have so many pictures in the backlog of photos, Im going to have to do a "housekeeping" post with all of them in one big long post! lol

so...about this time I had bought myself a handy dandy ice cream scoop (that can unscoop itself!) as well as Wiltons twirly star tip # 1M! This in its self CALLS for cupcakes baking! So I obliged.

My thing with cupcakes is that they have to be moist. they have to be. THE WORST thing a cupcake can be is dry...in MY opinion anyways.

So when I saw a blog post describing how moist and yummy a Chocolate Mayonnaise recipe, to say I was intrigued would be an understatement. Mayonnaise, with its HIGH fat content MUST make the cupcakes uber moist, and uber yummy. So I gave it a shot.

Unfortunatly, it was a big dissapointment.

The cake was moist 'enough' but the next day it was actually very dry, and there wasnt much of a chocolate flavour AT ALL. I was thinking if I had maybe doubled the chocolate amount it would have been better? In fact, there were a few cupcakes left over that had to be thrown out (which is an EXTREMELY RARE occurence in my household). However, the frosting was still very yummy nummy. I sorta "made this one as I go", but it was pretty tasty!

I wont include the recipe for the cake....(because thats just mean! heres the link to the disgusting cake this person made :P)

Heres the Mocha Frosting:

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp instant coffee powder
2 tbsp hot milk
2 tbsp whipped cream

1) Dissolve instant coffee into hot milk.
2) beat butter Icing Sugar and Coffe mixture
3) add Cocoa powder
4) Add the whipped cream, and beat until smooth and creamy.

MMMM.....I want some of this frosting right now!


Also, my friend Jordan, has a new youtube account and hes been making a few random videos, and really wants some new viewers, he asked me if I could 'feature' his youtube account since my blog gets views and such, this was our hilarious msn convo:

(click to read)

So, I lead him to believe I wouldnt, but I'm not THAT much of a bitch am I? ;) I mean....I would OWN him for all eternity :D

So heres his link....I think you should visit him..he deserves it...for sucking up to me like that :D

haha!


Well that all for now! I hope to be able to post sooner rather then later next time :/

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