First off I have to apologize for my long absence! It’s been a crazy March so far. But I had such a craving to bake that I went out and bought a new pan just for this cake! I had wanted to make zucchini bread initially, and growing up my Nonna always made the best. I had her recipe written down somewhere and couldn’t find it! So I decided to improvise and create something a little different. My mom’s been out of town this weekend, so this morning when I told my brother I was going to make zucchini bread, he asked if I could make banana bread instead. So I thought I would compromise, being the nice sister I am. I found this recipe and decided to give it a try. It’s super moist and I love the colors that come out of the combo of zucchini&banana. This is really yummy and I even got to use my brand new attachment! I had gotten it from Koko, back in June for my birthday and hadn’t tried it! I think I was scared, its the shredder and grater attachment for the Kitchen Aid mixer, and it’s so easy and works great!! Especially for zucchini bread or carrot cake when you have to shred lots! So if you have one, try it out on this recipe! It’s delish.

ps. I realize my cake is broken, or should I say “wrecked”. Needless to say one part of the cake got a wee bit stuck, but hey, perfection isn’t everything. It’s how it tastes!

Zucchini & Banana Bundt Cake

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup aw zucchini, shredded ( about 3 small )
• 1 cup mashed banana ( about 2 )
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans, if desired.

1. Shred zucchini and set aside.  Mash bananas and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, oil, and sugar.
3. Slowly add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and pecans.  Thoroughly combine.
4. Add zucchini and bananas until well blended.
5. Pour into greased and flowered bundt pan, and bake for 45-55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
6. Cool for 10 minutes in pans on wire rack.  Remove from pan and cool completely.

When life hands you lemons Grapefruits…

So I came across this mouthwatering recipe on Tastespotting a couple of days ago. And normally I wouldn’t have clicked on it, but the name intruigued me because we happened to have a whole bunch of grapefruits lying around the fridge! So I thought I’d check it out. And I’m glad I did! This is a yummy recipe and can be adapted for a lemon cake as well. It’s perfect for afternoon Tea…or afternoon nibbling, or morning noon and night nibbling for that matter. Give it a try.

Grapefruit Yogurt Cake Recipe

Stolen from Smitten Kitchen, Adapted from Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3 extra-large eggs
• 3 teaspoons grated grapefruit zest (approximately one large grapefruit)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease and flour the pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup suger, eggs, grapefruit zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile

Cook the 1/3 cup grapefruit juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the grapefruit-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.

Glaze Recipe

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and grapefruit juice and pour over the cake.

This recipe is really yummy! And it’s not too sweet and nice and light!

Enjoy! Alicia

I tried this sticky toffee pudding recipe before and decided it would be perfect for Christmas! So I made another one, only jazzed it up for Christmas! If you would like the recipe, from Joy of Cooking, click here

All this sticky tofee goodness is de-licious!

Try this..now!! Sure it starts with Pitted Dates..but this cake give them a good rep!

Thought I’d add some more pics of my lovely table decor!

Hope you had a good holiday break!..back to school and work now!

I thought this dessert would be very fitting for Christmas Eve, as I’m Italian and TIramisu “Pick Me Up” is a delicious Italian dessert! As tradition goes, Italians don’t eat any meat on Christmas Eve ( much like good friday) so we have a delicious feast of all things Seafood! Prawns, Mussels, Clams, Baccalà, Salmon and much more! (I’ll post some pictures of that too!) I had seen Tiramisu cakes before and thought it would be fun to try it as an alternative to the regular Tiramisu. Of course I found an excellent recipe in one of my favorite books, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I made a few adaptations which made it very delicious!

Recipe: Adapted from Dorie Greenspan Baking: From My Home to Yours

For the Cake:

• 2 cups cake flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• Cocoa Powder, for Dusting
• ADAPTATION: Lady Fingers ( Optional for the Middle Layer)

For the Filling and Frosting:

• 1 8-ounce container Marscapone
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp kahlua, amaretto or brandy
• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• Strong Cup of Espresso or Coffee for the Syrup

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My Version of Tiramisu Cheese Filling and Frosting:

• 1 pkg Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 tub Cool Whip, unthawed
• 1/2 pkg vanilla pudding ( 4 servings )
• 1-2 tbs Milk
• Vanilla 

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9×2 inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, tap out the excess, and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To make the cake:

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add the eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla; don’t be concerned if the mixture looks curdled. Reduce 

the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, adding the dry ingredients in 3 additions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients); scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed and mix only until the ingredients disappear into the batter. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans at the midway point. When fully baked, the cakes will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the centers will come out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them, and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right-side up.

To make the Syrup:

Brew a strong pot of coffee or espresso, add some sugar to it and let it cool. 

To make the filling and frosting:

Put the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur in a large bowl and whisk just until blended and smooth.

Working with the stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Switch to a rubber spatula and stir about one quarter of the whipped cream into the mascarpone. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream with a light touch.

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My Version of Filling:

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add Cool Whip slowly and mix until blended. Add Vanilla, about 2 tsp. 

In seperate bowl, stir Jell-O powder and 2 Tbs Milk until dissolved. Add mixture to the cream cheese and cool whip and continue to beat on medium until smooth. You can add more milk if needed. 

Stir until desired consistency. Set aside. 

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To assemble the cake:

Place the First layer right-side up on a cardboard round or a cake plate protected with strips of wax or parchment paper. Using a pastry brush or a small spoon, soak the layer with about one third of the espresso syrup. Smooth some of the frosting over the layer – user about 1 1/4 cups – Dust with Cocoa using a sifter.

Adaptation*** For the Middle Layer, I added Lady FIngers ontop of the 1st layer of cake, and brushed them with the coffee mixture, then spoon over top the frosting/filling and dust with cocoa powder. 

Put the Third cake layer on the counter and soak the top of it with half the remaining espresso syrup, then turn the layer over and position it, soaked side down, over the filling. Soak the top of the cake with the remaining syrup.
With a long metal icing spatula, smooth the frosting ontop of the cake, and around the sides. Dust the top of the cake with cocoa using a sifter. 

Adaptation** I placed lady fingers around the outside of the cake. Measure one and cut all of them the same size so they fit nicely against the cake. 

Refrigerate the cake for a couple of hours (or for up to 1 day) before serving – the elements need time to meld.

This seems like it would be a long process but believe me it isn’t! And my version of the filling is just as yummy and easier to make. Don’t be intimidated by the recipe, the results are delicious!

Enjoy! Hope you all had a delicious holiday!! Here are some pictures from our Italian Christmas Eve Feast!

Nonna Serving Up Something Delicious!

My Favorite!! Prawns! 
Clams and Mussels! 

It was all very delicioius! Thanks Zia!

This dessert is all the craze right now! I’ve seen it popping up on numerous dessert menus at restaurants like Moxies and now White Spot! It’s a British dessert, and it’s not actually pudding. Pudding literally just  means dessert. So this sticky toffee dessert is exactly what it sounds like! I’ve been wanting to make this one for a while now, and since I’m having a dinner tonight with my cousins I thought it would be a great time to try it out! I looked for an appealing recipe, but a lot of them called for making them in ramekins, which I didn’t really want to do. So I got this recipe from the Joy Of Cooking 75th Anniversary edition cookbook. This would make a great holiday cake for Christmas or Thanksgiving! Its warm and comforting, and best of all it has butterscotch toffee sauce!

Sticky Toffee Pudding

8 servings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour eight 6-ounce ramekins or a 9×2 inch square baking pan. (I used a fluted cake pan)

Combine in a small saucepan:

• 1 1/2 cups pitted dates, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups water

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in:

• 1 1/4 tsp. baking soda   ( i know this isn’t the greatest picture, but it just shows you how the mixture will puff up once you add the baking soda, it will be really airy and spongy.

  

Set aside. Whisk together in a small bowl:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Beat in large bowl on high speed until lightened in color and fluffy:

• 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons  ( 3/4 stick) butter, unsalted, softened

Beat in one at a time:

• 3 large eggs

Beat in:

• 1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low just until mixed. Stir in the date mixture, until just combined. Pour into the prepared dish(es).

If using ramekins, put them on a baking sheet. Bake until the pudding is a deep golden brown and a skewer inserted in comes out moist but clean, 20-25 minutes. About 35 minutes for a single larger dish. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the dish(es), then turn out the pudding and invert onto the rack, right side up, to cool slightly. Serve warm, each serving covered generously with warm Butterscotch Sauce.

 Warm Butterscotch Sauce:

Cook, stirring over medium-low heat in a medium heavy saucepan:

• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter ( 1/2 stick)
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Stir to dissolve sugar. Increase heat to medium-high and without sitrring, boil until as thick as corn syrup. about 3 minutes. Let cool slightly. Add:

• 2/3 cup heavy cream

Allow sauce to thicken on the countertop at room temperature for a while before serving. It makes it nice and gooey and delicious!!

I made this earlier in the day, and made the sauce earlier as well. The sauce needs to sit a while at room temperature to thicken up, i scooped a little on the cake at first and poked holes into it so it seeped in. I waited til the sauce was a little thicker to really pour it over the cake. I kept about 1/2 of it to pour over the individual pieces, with whipped cream. I suggest microwaving the cake slices and then putting a dollop of whipped cream and then drizzling even more butterscotch sauce! This was incredibly delicious!

Enjoy!

I made this for my mom in September, did you know it’s called a pie because it was first baked in two pie dishes instead of cake pans. Hense a pie, that is not a pie at all

Not sure which recipe i used, Sorry! Though this one from Martha Stewart looks delicious!!