Banoffi Pie

This is my first time making this dessert and the good news is that it is very easy to make, looks good and tastes great.

Ingredients

2 large bananas

For the top:

250ml cream

1 Flake or cocoa powder

For the biscuit base:

16 digestive biscuits

119g butter

For the caramel

Tin of evaporated milk (400ml)

125g Brown sugar

125g Butter

Method:

Begin by making the biscuit base. Grease and line a round or square loose bottom 8 inch tin.

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Crush the biscuits in a bag using a rolling pin or food processor. Add the biscuits and stir until combined. Add the mixture to the tin. When cooled place on the fridge.

Next make the caramel. Melt the butter and sugar stirring until the sugar has dissolved.  Lower the heat and gradually pour in the evaporated milk. Stir using a wooden spoon.  It will take about 30 minutes of stirring before the consistency thickens to a caramel sauce. Take it off the heat and cool.
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Once cooled add to the biscuit base, cover and return to the fridge. Next whip the cream in a clean bowl until thickened. Remove the tin from the fridge and slice the bananas on top. You could use up to 3 bananas and put a double layer of bananas on top depending on how much you like the taste!

Spoon the cream over the bananas. Return to the fridge. For best results leave this overnight so it sets fully.

When ready to serve sprinkle flakes of chocolate on top or sieve cocoa powder.

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Vanilla & Chocolate “Rose” Cake

This is a 2  tiered vanilla and chocolate sponge cake.  I don’t have a photo to show it, bit when you cut into the cake you get a checkered layered cake.  This was easier to do than I thought.  You just put the chocolate layer on top of the vanilla sponge layer and then cut the cake in 1 inch strips in parallel lines.  Next you swap each chocolate layer with vanilla to get a checkered look.

Make 2 batches of buttercream icing, one just plain vanilla, the other flavoured with chocolate or cocoa powder, but dark melted chocolate works and tastes best.

Put a layer of butter cream between each layer / to sandwich the cake together.  Then use a rose shaped nozzle to pipe vanilla and chocolate buttercream alternately around the cake.

It gives it a nice effect and is a tempting cake to look at.

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Strawberry Meringue

This is a strawberry meringue cake made at Christmas time as a lighter dessert than Christmas cake.  Meringue is handy to make when you have egg whites left over.  This tends to happen when I make custard which uses 4-5 egg yolks.  With 4-5 egg whites there’s enough to make a family sized meringue.

Ingredients
4 egg whites
200 g caster sugar

Make sure the egg whites are at room temperature.  Whisk them until stiff, add the sugar tablespoon by tablespoon until it is all combined.  The oven needs to be at a low temperature, 100 C.    It takes 40-45 minutes.  Then leave it in the oven until it cools.
I decorated it with cream and fresh strawberries.  You can use any fresh fruit that you like.

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Mickey Mouse Cake

I made this cake for my niece for her 3rd birthday as she is a huge Mickey Mouse fan.  I cut the cake freehand into the shape of his face and used a glass to cut out 2 large pieces of sponge for his ears.  I used sugarpaste to decorate the cake.  I used marzipan for his face and the colour came out well.  My niece loved it!

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Curious George Birthday Cake

My sister made this Curious George birthday cake for her daughter’s 5th birthday party.  Curious George is a big star in my niece’s house.  The cake was made using a simple vanilla sponge.  The decoration was done by hand using different icing colours and melted chocolate.  Chocolate buttons are planted around the sides of the cake, which children love.  My nieces enjoyed helping their Mam to make this cake together.  They were all very happy with the result.

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Viennese Whirls

I was inspired to make these delicious biscuits while watching the contestants struggle with this task on The Great British Bakeoff.  You can find the recipe here.  Their origin is unclear, they appear to be from the UK but are inspired from Austria.  I would have thought that the name was a giveaway.  If anyone knows of thir provenance, please get in touch.

They are surprisingly simple to make, the most difficult part is piping them so that they look symetrical and elegant.  Mine were not exactly symetrical but tasted delicious.  I put some melted milk chocolate on some of them for an extra treat.

I shaped them both traditionally in a whirl shape and like an eclair which is my preference – mainly because it is easier to eat!

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40th Spurs Birthday Cake

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This is a 40th birthday cake I made for my husband who is a huge Tottenham Hotspur fan.  This was made with 2 colours which works well.  The cake was a vanilla sponge with buttercream and a jam filling.  It fed about 15 people and was well received by all his friends in the local pub.

I  also made a Black Forest Gateau for a separate family party.

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Banana Bread

I never tried  baking Banana Bread until recently when I found I had lots of bananas in the fruit bowl and I thought I’d try making something ‘healthy’ for a change.

It turned out pretty well.  It is a tasty slice of bread, but it is something you might have every now and again.  It is good for a change.  I added some chopped walnuts which gave it an extra crunch and rich texture.  I’m just including a photo for now, but I’ll add the recipe another time.  I used a loaf tin.  It sliced easily just like a loaf of bread.  It could be eaten with a little butter, especially good when it is still warm.

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

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Financiers

I came across these little cakes recently at an Italian coffee shop in Dublin.  They are in fact French in origin and are really delicious.  So delicious that I thought I should have a go at making them and save myself the trip to the Italian coffee shop, which was becoming something of a habit.  I still go there and still buy them!  But no harm in knowing how to bake them too.

So I went on the Internet and found a recipe for them at this Blog http://www.cookrepublic.com/recipe-archive/raspberry-friands/.

These taste really moist and are quite heavy.  You are left feeling fulfilled.  There is little chance you would go for a second one and they make you pretty full.  They go well with coffee or tea of course.

So here are some photos of my attempt at the Financiers!  I used 2 frozen raspberries in each one.

financiers cakes

Financiers cakes cooling on a tray

Financiers

Financiers

The recipe made 12 exactly.  I only had a standard bun/muffin tin, so I didn’t get the nice almond shape that you will find in the coffee shop or bakery.  But I couldn’t justify buying a special tin just for these… or not yet anyway!

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Madeleines

I had a go at making Madeleines.  They are suprisingly easy to make and delicious. Like many good baking products, they are French, originally from the North East of France.  I read that they don’t keep very well and are best eaten on the day that they are baked.  I have often eaten these in France and thought they might be something worth trying out at home.  It turns out they were.

Madeleine

Madeleine

The recipe I used was from the BBC website available at www.bbc.co.uk/food/madeleines from the French Chef Michel Roux Jr.  I made the lemon version, which gives the taste a pleasant tang.  You will need a special Madeleine tray for these to cook correctly.  I got a silicon one which works really well.  They were impossible to eat in one day so I did freeze them.  This worked fine and they were defrosted and eaten within a week.

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