Hummingbird Cake

Ok yum! I love banana's and with banana's being $16.99 at the moment it is a rare occasion to bake with them. Fortunately there is a small grocer close to home that had them for $8.99. They were bruised and spotty beyond all recognition which makes perfect for banana baking!

I decided to make a hummingbird cake from of course where else The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook! One of my favourites I think the reason being is all the recipes from there are flawless! So this is without adaption, pretty much. 

Oh by the way, sorry, the pictures aren't fantastic, it was late afternoon and the sun was like blaring through the window and my camera had a nasty red battery flashing at me...

The Hummingbird Bakery Hummingbird Cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 300g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 300ml vegetable oil
• 270g peeled bananas, mashed
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp of ginger
• 300 plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 100g tinned crushed pineapple
• 100g pecans, chopped, plus extra for decorating

ICING INGREDIENTS

• 600g icing sugar
• 100g dairy soft butter
• 250g cream cheese

METHOD 

• Grease and line 2 8" round spring form cake tins.
• Preheat oven to 170C.

• Beat the caster sugar, eggs, oil, bananas and cinnamon until incorporated.
• Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add this slowly to the wet mixture, followed by the vanilla, and mix until incorporated. 
• Fold in the pineapple and pecans.

• Divide batter between tins and bake for 30-35 minutes.
• Allow to cool before removing from tin.

• Beat the icing sugar and butter until well mixed.
• Add the cream cheese all in one go and beat on high for 5 mins until light and fluffy.
• Ice the cake, one tier at a time. Smooth out with pallet knife and decorate with pecans. 
• ENJOY!

Chocolate Cake

Now this isn't your dense mud cake, ganache frosting kind of cake. I am still on the journey to find one such as that. This one rather is more of a light sponge cake still with the rich chocolatey flavour and still really yummy especially for birthday cakes.

The Family Chocolate Cake

INGREDIENTS:

• 115g of butter, softened
• 280g of brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 225g of plain flour
• 1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp of bicarb soda
• 40g of cocoa powder
• 225ml of milk

 ICING INGREDIENTS

• 450g of icing sugar
• 150g of dairy soft butter*
• 60g of cocoa powder, sifted
• 80ml of milk

METHOD

• Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Line two 8" round spring form tins with baking paper. 
• In a bowl beat butter and half (140g) of the  sugar until pale and creamy. 

 This is one my junior baking aprentice did and it is nice and creamy pale.

• In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and vanilla, gradually beating into mixture.
• Add remaining sugar beating until all combined.
• Sift in the flour, cooca, bicarb and baking powder and fold in, alternating with the milk. 
• Mix until smooth and divide between two tins evenly.

•  Bake for 30 minutes. Leave to cool in tin, as the cake is so moist it is quite delicate :)
• Allow to cool completely before icing.
• To make the icing beat butter and icing sugar until well combined. Add cocoa and milk and mix on high spead until icing is light and fluffly. If you just beat until incorporated the icing will still taste yummy but in icing the sides the cake will come with it. I know this from experience, so at beat icing for at least 5 minutes.

• Ice the first layer of the cake by turning the cake's top onto the bottom. I find it easier icing the sides on the first layer. If you wait until both layers are on the icing is usually uneven and you can see the edge. Ice the second layer and decorate.
• I used a 6 star piping nozzle.

•  In the past I have also melted dark chocolate and using a fork in quick motions back and forth waved chocolate in a cross hatch pattern over the top.

Handy Tips: Lining a round cake tin

Okay well was going to post a cake recipe but rather than having a 2 page method I thought I would begin with the basics.

After making a egg free and dairy free cake for my niece a couple years back and having half of the cake stuck to the tin and the other half in crumbles on my cooling rack I decided then and there it was time to put the effort in and do things properly. After 2 years of lining my cake tins it takes 2 minutes to line the tin, the cake comes out beautifully and is a breeze to clean.

1. So depending on the size of your baking paper divide the paper into 3 or 4 even sections just with a tiny nick along the paper. Two of these I normally use (as I normally make 2 tier cakes) and the other one/s I keep in my pantry making it just that easier next time round.

2. Begin to cut roughly the length of your bench, take the tin that you will using and roll the paper like a swiss roll around the edge of the tin. Getting an idea about the length cut your sections to that length.

3. You should now have 3 or 4 long strips of baking paper. On each one fold the long edge over about 1-2cm. Take your scissors and make cuts every 1-2cm along the folded edge.

4. Take your tin and spray it with canola or grease with butter. Place your strip around the sides of the tin rubbing the paper to stick to the oil, with the folded edge on the base.

5. Get another sheet of baking paper and place your tin on top. Using a pencil (as pen doesn't work to well on baking paper) trace the shape onto the paper. Cut out your circle shape and place over the top. This will keep those little tabs down and stop batter from seeping through the gaps.

 WA-LA