Bananalicious Muffins

I must start with the title: Bananalicious! Why? Because if you are a banana lover you will love this recipe. It's chock full of bananas and it's delicious!!  I love making banana muffins, but the thing is that my husband doesn't really like bananas very much. So every now and then when he isn't home I make them and enjoy them all by myself. (It's one of my guilty pleasures.) Let me tell you, every time is worth the wait. Enjoy; bon appetite! P.D. I didn't put a better picture of a single muffin because my guests started to eat before I was able to snap a picture. 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 cup of chopped walnuts
3/4 cup of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of canola oil
1 large egg
3 tablespoons of buttermilk
4 bananas mashed

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and spray muffin pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Add the all purpose flour.

Add the sugar

Add the baking soda and salt.

Add the chopped walnuts and mix well.

In another bowl put the four bananas.

Mash them well.

Add the canola oil.

Add the egg.

Add the buttermilk.

Mix all the wet ingredients.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and combine. 

Stir until the mixture is even.

Fill the muffin pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Banana Layer Cake

Well I love bananas and as soon as I saw this recipe I told my husband we were gonna eat a banana cake this week! He likes bananas but not as much as I do. I’m obsessed with them! I eat them in everything! Well if you are a banana lover you will definitely love this recipe!

Ingredients:

Cake:

2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour

2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 or 3)

1 teaspoons vanilla

2 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

Frosting:

8 ounces cream cheese

6 tablespoons butter, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease well and flour two 8-inch layer cake pans or a 9×13 inch baking pan.

Sift flour with baking powder, soda, salt and sugar into a large mixing bowl.

Add shortening, bananas and vanilla. Beat at low speed, just until combined. 

At medium speed beat 2 minutes, occasionally scraping side of the bowl with a rubber scraper.

Add the eggs and buttermilk. Beat 2 more minutes. 

Pour batter into prepared pans and bake layers 30-35 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed with fingertip.

Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool thoroughly on a wire rack. 

Fill with sweetened whipped cream and sliced bananas or with cream cheese frosting. 

Frosting:

Beat cream cheese with butter and vanilla until well combined. Gradually add powdered sugar until you reach the consistency and sweetness that suits your taste.

Spice Cake

 

Remember last night's brown butter recipe? Well this is the amazing spice cake that makes me feel like it's almost Christmas. Just like the brown butter frosting this was my first time making this cake, but it won't be the last. My husband and I decided to start a family tradition and make this the official Betancourt family Christmas cake!  If you love Christmas this is definitely the cake for you and your family. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1.4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1.4 teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ cup of unsalted butter 

¼ cup of shortening

1 ½ cups of sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 ¼ up of buttermilk

Procedure:

1) Preheat oven at 350 degrees F.

2) In a bowl sift and mix together the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground cloves and ground ginger. 

3) In the mixer bowl beat the butter and the shortening on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. 

4) Add the sugar and vanilla and mix until well combined.

5) Add eggs one at a time, waiting until each has fully incorporated into the mixture.

6) Add the dry mixture and the buttermilk bit by bit, alternating one then the other, making sure to always finish with the flour.

7) Put the mixture in 2 8x2 round baking pans

8) Put it in the oven for 35 minutes.

This is the way the cake is gonna look once you take it out of the oven.

Before you unmold remember to let the cake rest for 10 minutes first. Then unmold it onto a  wire rack and let it cool completely.

Once it's unmolded it should look like this.

Enjoy!

Buttermilk Chocolate Cake

Yesterday I gave you guys the recipe for the buttermilk chocolate frosting, today I will be posting the recipe for the buttermilk chocolate cake.  This cake is awesome! I found the recipe in the better homes and gardens book, 1996 edition. It’s sort of a cross between a chocolate cake and a big brownie. It tastes delicious. Let me know if you made it and how it went. :) Remember to use the chocolate buttermilk frosting recipe I posted yesterday!

Ingredients:

2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 cups of sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon of salt

1 cup of unsalted butter

1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup of water

2 eggs

½ cup of buttermilk

1½ teaspoons of vanilla extract

Procedure:

1   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2   Grease a 15x10x1 inch or a 13x9x2 inch pan.

3   Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in the kitchen aid mixing bowl.

4   In a medium saucepan combine butter, cocoa powder and a cup of water. Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.

5   Remove from heat. Add the chocolate mixture to the dry mixture and beat in an electric mixer on medium to high speed until thoroughly combined.

6   Add the eggs, the buttermilk and the vanilla. Beat for one minute, the batter will be thin. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

7   Bake the 15x10x1 inch pan for 25 minutes or the 13x9x2 inch pan for 35 minutes, or until the cake tester comes out clean.

8   Once out of the oven, you can make the buttermilk chocolate frosting recipe and pour it over the cake while it’s warm.

9   Let it cool thoroughly on a rack.

Blueberry/lemon bread with lemon glaze

blueberry/lemon bread lemon glaze and confectioner's sugar

Hi! Today's recipe is blueberry/lemon bread with a lemon glaze! My husband and his best friend were playing Wii at our house one night and I decided to make something new. They both love lemon but Allen, my hubby's best friend, takes it to another level! They couldn't wait to get their hands on the bread. Once finished, with the house smelling awesome, I took one of the loaves to my parent's house for them to taste it and by the time I got back my hubby and his best friend had eaten it all. Well, I guess it was pretty tasty, not that I would know... ;)

Ingredients:

1½ cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of baking powder

¼ teaspoon of salt

2 lemons zest

2 eggs

6 Tablespoons of unsalted butter

1 cup of sugar

2/3 cup of buttermilk

1 ¾ cup of blueberries (frozen berries are fine, but make sure not to thaw them before mixing them in)

Procedure:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2) Cream the unsalted butter with the sugar until fluffy (the butter will turn whiter in color and increase in volume).

3) Add the lemon zest with the eggs until mixed.

4) Then add the flour and buttermilk in small amounts, alternating them. Always start with flour and end with flour. Do not over mix the batter, after adding the last bit of flour one or two more revolutions should be enough.

5) Now fold (by hand) the blueberries into the mix.

6) Divide the mix between two loaf pans and bake until golden. (Approximately one hour.)

blueberry/lemon bread

 

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Lemon glaze

Ingredients:

¼ cup of granulated sugar

3 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Procedure:

1)   Put all the ingredients in a saucepan at medium heat and wait until the sugar dissolves.

2)   Once the sugar dissolves drizzle it over the breads while they are still warm.

With the lemon glaze

Tips:

Put a little bit of all-purpose flour on the blueberries before folding. This will help the blueberries to stay suspended in the bread instead of sinking to the bottom of the pan.