This month’s Cake Slice Bakers cake from ‘Cake Keeper Cakes’ by Lauren Chattman was the Cinnamon Pudding Cake. This is one of those odd – not to mention slightly scary – recipes that involve making a simple batter and then pouring gallons of hot liquid over the top of it.
I told you the concept was scary.
However, it was delicous to eat, simple to make and exciting to observe the transformation from batter swimming in brown liquid to risen, cinnamon-butter-brown sugar scented pud.
There was discussion amongst the Bakers about how best to eat it and some feedback that as a ‘cake’ it was erring on the side of dryness. The recipe reminded me so much of sticky toffee pudding and our other favourite (which I must blog about), lemon layer surprise pudding, that it didn’t occur to me to serve it as a cake.
Instead, I could use my dinky 4.5″ pudding basins, halve the recipe and serve them hot as pudding/dessert/afters.
A dollop of thick cream wouldn’t have been a terrible idea, but in its absence, it stands very happily as a luscious and substantial dessert that uses no odd ingredients – a store cupboard recipe if ever there was one.
Continue reading 'November’s cake – Cinnamon Pudding Cake'»
This is our new favourite ever dessert. I need to give you some perspective to enable you to grasp the enormity of this… Ian has a thing for cream brulee – if it’s on a menu, he’s going to order it – he’ll even sacrifice a decent main course to justify having such an indulgent dessert.
He ate one small bowl of this banana dessert with a dinky, melting ball of ice cream and declared that it just might be his favourite. That, dear friends, is profound. If anything, it occupies the same territory as a fruit crumble, but frankly, it’s in a league of its own.
I saw this recipe whilst perusing Bake or Break. It is a recipe from a magazine called Southern Living. Now, there’s no chance of me getting that shipped over here once a month, but if this is an example of their recipes, then holy tastebuds, Batman.
The title is misleading, because you do not make this with banana bread; rather it uses the same kind of ingredients that you would use in banana bread, but waves the Fairy Godmother wand over it. Amazingly, it takes no longer to make than banana bread, but has wow factor – wow factor that banana bread will never achieve.
Banana bread is a satisfying way to use up brown bananas, but this dessert is a good reason for speeding their demise by whatever methods are necessary.
A light, thin sponge base, brown sugar sweet, soft bananas and a brown sugared, pecan, oaty crisp topping all nestled together and topped with a milky vanilla ice cream. I could weep at the memory.
Continue reading 'Banana Bread Crisp'»
When is fudge called butter tablet? No idea, but this Ballymaloe fudge has become a firm favourite. Slightly more crystalline than the smooth fudge you get commercially, it has a deep brown sugar flavour, a snow-like juddering melt, rich with butter and heady with vanilla. It keeps well in an airtight container in the fridge and is perfect to give as a gift. It even converted a fudge refuser into a fan. That can’t be bad.
My Mum would commit murder to get her hands on this fudge. Worth knowing in case you need someone dispatched.
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Continue reading 'Brown Sugar Fudge'»
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