Leon's banana bread

Hi all

On my way to the 9-5 in the mornings, I like to pop on my trainers so I can get off the tube a stop early then walk it into the office. I am sure you’re thinking, good for her trying to keep healthy and fit. This is just a side benefit as the only reason I am getting off early is for the shop Leon’s spelt and banana bread! Oh my gosh! I cannot explain how incredible this tastes; it is a sweet dense, smooth slice of bliss, which has telepathic powers, as it tells me to eat it before I reach the office! So when I saw Grazia magazine had printed the recipe I had to make this. In the orginal recipe it had pecan nuts, vegetable oil, and natural yoghurt. I had to change these due to what I had in my fridge and cupboards.


Ingredients

50g Walnuts
150ml Grapeseed oil
200g Dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
350g/5 ripe skinned bananas
75g Plain soya yoghurt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
225g wholemeal spelt flour
½ Banana peeled for the top
1-2 tbsp of caster sugar for the top

Preheat the oven at gas mark 3/150oc. Line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper and put to one side for later. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper, spread the walnuts over the sheet and toast in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Leave to one side to cool.

Whisk together the oil, dark brown sugar, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mash the 350g/5 bananas roughly. Add the yoghurt and mix well. Sift the bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cinnamon over the yoghurt mix then add the salt.


Add the banana and egg mixture together stirring well. Add the flour (I didn’t sift the flour, as I wanted make sure I kept all of the wholemeal) Chop the walnuts in small pieces and add to the mixture.
Pour mixture in the prepared loaf tin. Slice the half of the banana length ways and lay over the cake. Sprinkle the caster sugar over the top of the cake, I only used one tablespoon as I thought this was enough for me, if you want to add all three tablespoon you can.


Bake in the over on for 45-50 (mine took a little bit longer) or until springy to the touch and a skewer comes out clean when inserted. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out on a wire rack to cool.

I found the bread tasted better the next day, although not exactly the same texture as the one I purchased from the shop. So although I will be making this banana bread more often, I still will be getting off a stop early.

Bye for now!

PBx

Deck your plate with all things yummy!

I do love this time of year, the last few weeks to Christmas and New Year. It is were you start to wind down, make plans to meet up with friends and family before the year is out, avoid embarrassing yourself at the office party and working out goals you like to achieve for the coming year. But to be honest I am more concerned with how warm can I get my house! And what I'm I going to eat! With my friends and family of course.

December is all about the food, Mince pies (mmm! My weakness), ginger bread, my interpretation of my Aunts fruit cake, crispy roast potatoes, honey parsnips, roast chicken (I don’t like turkey) stuffing, gravy…. I think you get what I’m trying to say? As I’m trying to keep to a spelt or gluten free alternative diet, there are many things I will make myself. So it's time to roll up my sleeves and in embrace the festive gluttony. Bring it on!

Bye for now!

PB x

Bread & Butter Pudding

Hi All

I have been obsessing about make this for ageeees! But as it is wheat based and I never can eat just a little bit of it I really needed to make this when I had guest coming over. Oh well no guest came, so I went ahead and made it anyway, PB’s Banana Hard do Bread & Butter pudding.




I used to love Hard do bread when I was young, it is a Jamaica bread which is slightly heavier and sweeter than English style bread. I'd love to cut extra thick slices toasted with lots of butter and a thin layer of jam, mmmm!

Ingredients

Large eggs x3
Whole milk 600ml
Evaporated milk 1x400g can
Single cream 250ml
Caster sugar 200g
Light brown sugar x2 tbsp.
Nutmeg ½ tsp.
Mixed spice ½ tsp.
Ground Cinnamon pinch
Hard do bread 1 few days old, hand cut slices
Large bananas x3
Vanilla flavouring x2 tsp.
Unsalted butter as needed to butter dish and bread

I normally use natural vanilla extract, or vanilla pods in my cooking, but as this is a Jamaican dish from my childhood, I had to use the vanilla I grew up with and loved as a child.

Yeah I know it says Culinary Flavoring, Artificial Vanilla which is something I normally stay away from, but it just had to be done.

Method

Make the custard first. Whisk the milk, evaporated milk, caster sugar, eggs spices and vanilla in a pan over a low heat. Warm the mixture gently, lightly whisking constantly so the mixture slightly thickens, and doesn’t get any lumps. Add the cream and keep on whisking for another 5 minutes or when it is thick enough to leave a light film of custard on the back of a wooden spoon. Take the pan off the fire, and leave to one side until needed.

Preheat the oven 180C/gas 4, butter a large ovenproof serving dish, and leave to one side until needed.

Cut generous slices of bread, and then cut in half. Butter both sides and layer the bottom of dish with them, take one banana, peel and slice lengthways and layer over the bread, ladle over some the custard mixture and then sprinkle one tbsp. of brown sugar.

Add another layer of butter bread and press down in the dish. Peel the other banana and put lengthways slices over the bread. Ladle the rest of the custard mixture all over the bread making sure the bread is well soaked. Leave to sit for 10 minutes for the bread to absorb the custard. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar on top and put in the oven and leave for 30-40 minutes, or until it has risen and is nice and brown.

Serve with a big dollop of ice-cream and enjoy!

Bye for now!
PBX

Snakes on a cake

Hi All

I had forgotten to post these pictures from the other week. It was my cousins son’s 10th birthday the other day (I think that’s makes him my 2nd cousin? I get lost after the first.) The brief was an iced cake with jelly snakes on it; to be honest I don’t think the cake was that important as long as it had the jelly snakes on it, as that is was what I could hear him repeatedly shouting in the background while I was on the phone to his mother.

This was a short notice request and my brain was running overtime with ideas on how I wanted the cake to look. Remember, the brief was simple so I don’t know why I was running my brain overtime? (I just like to give myself hard work!) In the end I opted for a fruit cake and I wanted to have the snakes curling around and on the cake in a crazed fashion, however my edible glue that I needed to stick them down with did not arrive until two days after the cake was required. So I think the snakes look like they are on the cake in a lazy fashion, oh well, I still think it looks cute!

Bye for now!

PBx

Prune & Chocolate

Hi All

I spend the week counting down to the weekend with plans of spontaneity and excitement however it is here and I am too knackered to even pronounce those words let alone to fulfill them! However after dragging myself out of the house I found I wasn’t too knackered to give my purse a good workout at H&M! And to bake cake!

I had a look around in my cupboards too see what I have and decided to make a prune and chocolate torte.

You will see in the picture I have used spelt flour (I will explain why in a later post) however you can use plain wheat flour.

Ingredients

250g prunes, halved

4 tbsp brandy

25g cocoa powder

100g 70% dark chocolate, broken into pieces

50g unsalted butter

100ml hot water

175g caster sugar

4 large egg whites

85g plan flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp icing sugar (optional)

Soak the prunes in the brandy for at least 30 minutes. Butter a lose bottom sandwich tin put to one side until needed. Pre heat oven at gas mark 5.

Put the cocoa powder, broken pieces of chocolate, and only 140g of the sugar in a pot. Pour over the hot water and heat gently, stir until everything has melted and is smooth. Leave to cool slightly.

Whisk the egg whites until they are soft peaks then add the remaining sugar. Sift the flour and cinnamon gradually over the egg whites; gently fold in with a metal spoon until slightly combined. Fold in the chocolate mixture evenly, do not over mix. Pour in the tin then arrange the prunes over it and sprinkle any of the remaining brandy.

Bake for 30 minutes until just firm. Leave to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes then knock it out of the tin and cut a huge slice and serve with sprinkle of icing sugar on top or big dollop of cream and a cup of tea.

It is Fathers Day today, I am sure this would go down a treat with your pops!

Bye for now!

PBx

Birthday Bakewells

Hi All

I made a batch of cherry bakewells over the weekend for a friend’s mother birthday these are one of my favorite recipes, anything bakewell, pie, tart, cake, flapjack. It is something about the mix of flavours of almond and cherry together that make my taste buds go mmmm!

Bye for now!

PBx

Those things!

Hi All

I was reminded by one of my family members the other day, of something I used to make many years ago the conversation went like this:

F M: How comes you don’t make those things anymore?

Me: What things? (Slightly confused)

FM: You know those things! (Dumbfounded at my lack of memory)

Me: You need to be more specific; I used to make a few things before. (Even, more confused)

FM: You know! Those things!! Those things that taste like Twix! (Annoyed and impatient)

Me: Ooh! Millionaire squares, caramel shortbreads? (Light bulb moment)

FM: Yeah them! (Eyes glazed over and no longer mentally in the room)

Yes it was those things! I used to make these at least once a fortnight, for a friend who used to eat the whole tray to themselves! (Yes, they still have their own teeth!) So over the weekend I thought I give them another go however instead of staying with the original recipe of plain shortbread base caramel middle, and chocolate top, I wanted chocolate all the way through. Chocolate shortbread, chocolate caramel and chocolate top, feast your eyes!

These need a name, I think I will name these Trillionaire Squares. Hopefully my family member will remember it!

Bye for now!

PBx

Banana, banana, banana layer?

Hi All

I’ve finally gotten around to posting the results from my previous post Day Time Reality. I decided to make a banana layer cake, I have never been adventurous with my banana cake I just usually whip up a sponge textured cake and serve it just like that! However as I wanted to use up some of the left over ingredients I had lying in the cupboard and fridge I thought why not make a banana cake layered with cream cheese icing and banana curd? I have put a link for the banana curd recipe and didn’t bother with the topping as ahem! It didn’t come out too good. I’ve listed the ingredients for the banana cake and cream cheese icing unfortunately I work in cups grams and oz sometimes all in one recipe I think I’ve only use two here, I hope it isn’t confusing for you all?

Banana cake ingredients

3 cups of sifted plain flour

4 tbs of baking powder

Pinch of salt

4 eggs

1 tsp of cinnamon

3 medium sized bananas mashed

½ tsp of vanilla

200g unsalted butter

1 ½ cups of caster sugar

½ cup of whole milk

Cream cheese icing

2-3 cups of icing sugar

275g cream cheese

35g butter

Banana curd

Method

Make the banana curd a day in advance so it sets nicely to spread over the cake layers.

Pre-heat your over at gas mark 4 and line the bottom of two sandwich tins with grease proof paper and grease and lightly flour the edges, put to one side until ready to use. Make sure your eggs and butter are at room temperature. Mix all your dry ingredients in a bowl and leave to one side. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, beat your eggs in a separate bowl and fold them in gradually into the creamed butter and sugar mixture.

In another bowl beat the bananas with a fork, then gradually fold them with the vanilla into the creamed butter, sugar and egg mix. Then gradually add the mixed dry ingredients and the milk, alternating between them. Do not over mix. Spread them evenly between the two sandwich tins. Place the tins in the middle of the oven and cook for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

While the cake is cooking make up your cream cheese icing. Put your cream cheese in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, (you don’t have to do this, however I find it helps the icing stay thicker than having to add too much icing sugar). Beat the butter in a bowl until it is soft, mix in half the icing sugar a bit at time the start adding the cream cheese, then alternate between the cream cheese and the rest of the icing until it is all mixed together and there aren’t any lumps. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

Once the cakes have come out of the oven and cooled on a wire rack, cut both cakes through the middle in half and start layering. With the bottom half spread banana curd on it, on the other half spread the cream cheese icing then sandwich them together so they are both touching. Repeat this again, by spreading banana curd on the top of the already sandwiched cake, then the cream cheese icing on the bottom of the second cake layer then sandwich together as before. Repeat again for the last layer. If you have any more cream cheese icing then spread this on top of your cake, my supposed caramel chocolate and peanut topping needs more work!

As you can see from the top picture of the final cake, it came out a bit lets use the term rustic looking! I think this due to me not flouring the sides of my cake tins, oops!) I received the results from my independent judging panel who all said the flavours all worked will together. Just need to make it look less rustic next time.

Enjoy bye for now!

PBx

Day Time Reality

Hi All

As I have been struck down with some cold/flu/hay fever hybrid I was unable to attend my 9-5 for a few days this week. Instead I was subjected to the yawn fest… oops I mean delights of day time TV programs such as Cash In the Attic, Bargain Hunt, A Place In The Country which all appeared to have some magical affect of making me fall asleep, however Show Me The Monet which has been described as the “Beebs XFactor art show” nearly drove me to find my Oyster Card and jump on tube back into work (and this program started at 5pm!) I think that says it all!

Anyway it drove me up off the sofa and into my kitchen to see what I could eat I found some ingredients that need to be used up quickly, so I’m thinking what can make out of them. Mmmmm! Cough! Cough!

Bye for now!

PBx