My little world of tasty treats!

This world is for everyone to share recipes and ideas. Just send me a PM if you would like to be a guest poster ^^ you can post recipes or pictures of things you have cooked, or if you have any food themed art then that is welcome too!

Guest Posters: [Aishia][Angel Zakuro] [fma17] [twilight samurai][SweeTea][clueless101]

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes!

Finally, I decide to post another recipe! From one of my favourite cook books ^^ I halved the recipe as I only had one small banana, and they turned out just fine.

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
A pinch of salt
80g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120ml whole milk
2 eggs (medium)
120g peeled banana, mashed

Chocolate Frosting
300g icing sugar, sifted
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
40g cocoa powder, sifted
40ml whole milk
40g dark chocolate, grated with a cheese grater into shavings or sprinkles of choice

A 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with paper cases

Preheat the oven to 170oC/325oF/Gas 3.

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, salt and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined.

Slowly pour the milk into the flour mixture, beating well until all the ingredients are well mixed. Add the eggs and beat well (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula).

Stir in the mashed bananas by hand until evenly dispersed.

Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until light golden and the sponge bounces back when touched. [I tend to make the frosting/icing while the cakes are baking to save time, if i'm extra speedy I wash the dishes at the same time! Haha]. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the Chocolate Frosting on top and finish with chocolate shavings or sprinkles.

For the Frosting
Beat the icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Turn the mixer down to slow speed. Add the milk to the butter mixture a couple of tablespoons at a time. Once all the milk has been incorporated, turn the mixer up to high speed. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. The longer the frosting is beaten, the fluffier and lighter it becomes.

You asked for it.

BRING ON THE CAKE! 。◕‿◕。

Peanut Butter Cookies

[recipe from the hummingbird bakery]

[Makes 24 cookies]

Ingredients:
225g unsalted butter at room temperature
200g caster sugar
200g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
240g crunchy peanut butter
340g plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
75g chopped dark chocolate
4 baking trays, lined with greaseproof paper

Preheat the oven to 170˚C (325˚F) Gas 3

Mix the butter and sugars until soft. Add the eggs one at a time, mix well, then add the vanilla and peanut butter, continue to mix. Add the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well until a smooth dough is formed. Stir in the chocolate until evenly dispersed.

Arrange 6 equal amounts of cookie dough on each prepared baking tray. I made the dough into balls and patted them a little, but I think this mix would work fine if you just spooned out a good dollop, but it is important to make sure that the cookies are spaced apart to allow for spreading while baking. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges and quite flat. The cookies will get a cracked or crinkled surface when they are cooked.

Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies should be soft and chewy.

Carrot cake

I have never made carrot cake from scratch before, I have only used packet mix at work, so it has been fun to make a decent cake. [Recipe from here] Actually, my cake is baking in the oven as I type this :D so here is a random internet picture for now, and if my cake looks ok i'll plonk a photo of it here when i'm done.

[Ingredients]

175g Muscovado sugar
175g Sunflower oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
140g Grated carrots
100g Raisins
175g Self raising flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
Grated rind from one orange

[Method]

# Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4/fan 160C. Oil and line the base and sides of an 18cm square cake tin with baking parchment. The easiest way to do this is to cut two long strips the width of the tin and put each strip crossways, covering the base and sides of the tin, with a double layer in the base. [I didn't have any baking parchment, so I hope I greased the tin well enough!]

# Tip the sugar into a large mixing bowl, pour in the oil and add the eggs. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots, raisins and orange rind.

# Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then sift into the bowl. Lightly mix all the ingredients - when everything is evenly amalgamated stop mixing. The mixture will be fairly soft and almost runny.

# Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes, until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack.

[Icing]

125g butter [must be soft]
50g icing sugar
250g cream cheese

Beat together the butter and sugar, then mix in the cream cheese until soft. Chill the mix for a while until it is thick but also spreadable. Spread a thick layer on top of the cake. Enjoy!

A little too good...

clicky-here

That is a picture from PinkCakeBox ... I think it looks amazing!

And then there is candy-cakes...

... Looks like I could do with some practice XD