Holy, Delicious Banana Bread

OK, so I really like bananas. I feel as if for the past 365 days, if there's a banana in sight Imma eat it (only one a day though, must save some for later). So you must understand how upsetting it is to wake up and find that your banana's are just a bit too ripe. You tear up a bit and then realize, they can still be used! To make this ........

Sighh, Isn't it just lovely? Initially, I had planned to used just this recipe for buttermilk banana bread. However, once the batter was all mixed up I saw chocolate chips. Just sitting in the cupboard. So, in they went. I'll admit I may have gone a bit overboard but it's chocolate so you won't hear me complaining.

While I was at it I thought I'd add a bit more sweetness and so I whipped up a quick cream cheese frosting and covered the top of the bread (cake) while still warm.

The quick cream cheese frosting
4.5 tablespoons of softened cream cheese
3.5 tablespoons of agave nectar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Mix it all up and you're done.

Enjoy!

For Mom

First weekend at the cottage and what a weekend it was. We celebrated Canada Day and my mum's birthday! WOOHOO! Typically, I would make something quite fun for my mum's birthday but I was faced with a challenge... our old cottage oven. This oven will burn everything. And so I stood there wondering, "how will I make something fantastic with this oven and Duncan Hines cake mix?" So I cake up with this.

For the icing I found some milk chocolate whipped icing in a tub. I marked the top of the cake with a shot glass and cut out the shape with a butter knife along with the burnt part on the bottom. I will admit it was quite the challenge and icing the first few crumbly cakes, I nearly burst into tears. However, everything payed off in the end. The mini cakes looked so much prettier and tastier than any cake that would have come right out of the oven. I finished off the mini cakes with some blueberries, raspberries and a scoop of a vanilla ice cream. And for those of you in the states (or just no-chocolate-people) you could make these vanilla for the Fourth of July. Hope everyone else had a great weekend and I'll leave you with another puppy picture.

A crowd of two - Smore Jar Cakes

This Friday night consisted of me and a friend playing tennis, watching Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 and making these cute smore cakes in a jar.

May I just say, oh my goodness this is such a creative, tasty recipe! When I found it roaming about foodgawker.com I immediately thought of the family cottage. Though I will run the second I hear the buzzzz of a mosquito I'm willing to risk a couple bites for a smore down at the campfire. For those of you that may not know a smore consists of a toasted marshmallow and a piece of chocolate sandwiched between two gram crackers. Yum.

So these cakes are exactly that in cake form and they're huge! They also turned out quite nicely though not quite cooked enough, oops, I couldn't wait any longer! That aside they were great.

I think that these would be great for a picnic. Everyone gets their own jar of cake, no plates with cake sliding of them required. Plus they pack really easily, just pop the lid of the mason jar back on and throw them in your bag with forks and spoons!

Happy Birthday Avery!

Today is my sister's 12th birthday. At her birthday part last weekend I enjoyed the company of several 11 and 12 year old girls, watched bride wars and heard all about the cute 7th grade boys. Though this pretty little cake was enjoyed at the party I didn't get around to blogging till now.

The recipe I used was off of myrecipes.com. It tasted excellent and was extremely rich! It was nearly the consistency of a brownie and VERY moist. However, it was quite a challenge to construct. Once I pulled the cake out it started to crumble and the chocolate marshmallow icing would stick to the crumbs. In the end the cake looked quite nice and everyone enjoyed it. I may consider making this one again if I'm feeling up for a challenge.