Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Banana Loaf

I feel like I have not baked with bananas for a while so I made two quick recipes recently.  I love adding fresh fruit to banana bread and I love experimenting with different flavours.  This is not outside the box but raspberries and dark chocolate are definitely a match made in heaven. They worked really well in the banana loaf and it felt healthy (ish) and decadent at the same time. The bread was moist and flavourful and I love the tartness of the raspberries to contrast the dark chocolate and sweet bananas. I used spelt flour to make it a little healthier but you can of course use plain flour. 

I missed out on one of my favourite challenges Simple and in Season last month so I'm sending this along as raspberries are in season at present. Chocolate is always in season for me but perhaps that point is debatable? Simple and in Season is hosted by Ren from Fabulicious Food

I'm also entering this to Calendar Cakes which is hosted by Rachel from Dolly Bakes this month and co-hosted by Laura from Laura Loves Cake. The theme this month is British summertime and raspberries definitely scream summer to me!

I haven't made anything for Made with love Mondays for a while as I've been baking with restricted ingredients! However, this is made from fresh ingredients and should fit the bill for Made with love Mondays hosted by Javelin Warrior.

 fresh raspberries and some brown bananas

 adding dark chocolate chips.. 

 then the fresh raspberries... 

 sprinkle a few on top

 delicious! 

An original recipe by bakingaddict

250g spelt flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
200g brown sugar
60g butter
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup yoghurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g dark chocolate chips
225g fresh raspberries

• Preheat the oven to 175C.
• Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar.
• Add the eggs, one at a time.
• Stir in roughly mashed bananas, yoghurt and vanilla extract.
• Fold in the flour mixture until just mixed - be careful not to over mix the batter.
• Gently stir in the chocolate chips and finally the fresh raspberries (you can reserve some of each to decorate on top)
• Bake for approximately 50 - 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

Toblerone Cupcakes

I've been wanting to make these cupcakes for the longest time so I'm pleased that AlphaBakes this month is T. I love toblerone chocolate and I love cupcakes so this really was a no brainer :)  It's essentially a basic vanilla sponge with bits of chopped toblerone in the batter. After my sweet and savoury combination, I decided to make this super sweet and paired the cupcake with a honey buttercream frosting. It was actually too sweet for most people but I enjoyed it :) You may want to pair it with a sour cream chocolate frosting or maybe a toblerone chocolate ganache. 

As mentioned these were made for AlphaBakes which is a monthly challenge hosted by myself this month and by Caroline from Caroline Makes on alternate months. The letter this month is T for Toblerone.  

I'm also entering them to Cupcake Tuesday hosted by Liz from Hoosier Homemade

 the star ingredients 

 adding chunks of toblerone to the batter 

 ready to bake 

 ready to frost 

 feels like something is missing... 

 ... another triangle of toblerone!

 cross section 

Makes 18 cupcakes

For the cupcakes

250g butter

250g caster sugar 

250g self raising flour

3 large eggs (or 4 small eggs)

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (optional)

4 tablespoons milk

170g bar of Toblerone chocolate, chopped (if you are using the small 100g bars, use 2 x 100g) 

For the frosting

275g butter

400 - 450g icing sugar

2 heaped tablespoons of honey (adjust to taste) 

To decorate

18 triangles of toblerone chocolate

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Add the vanilla bean paste and milk.
• Mix in the flour.  
• Finally, stir in the chopped chunks of toblerone chocolate.
• Spoon into cupcake cases and bake for approximately 15 - 18 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Allow to cool completely.
• Make the frosting by mixing all the ingredients in an electric mixer until smooth.
• Pipe the frosting on top of the cake and finish with a triangle of toblerone.

Real Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries and Apple Cake

Karen from Lavender and Lovage invites us to visit the beautiful and diverse county of Yorkshire for Best of British this month. We've already been to Cornwall when I made clotted cream & strawberry tart and cookies and last month to Scotland where I attempted Scottish Tablet.  For Yorkshire, I decided to try this simple yet delicious recipe from Wensleydale Creamery. It uses Real Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries cheese in the cake. Yes real cheese in a cake!! I have to admit I was a little nervous trying the recipe out but I do know that apples and cheese go well together so why not in a cake? 

It is so amazingly delicious I don't know why it's taken me so long to try this. Honestly, this is one of the best cakes I've eaten in a while and that's saying a lot from a sweet toothed gal like me.  The cake is sweet and savoury at the same time. I love the tartness of the apples and cranberries and the lovely creamy taste of the cheese especially the slightly browned bits at the edges! Everyone was impressed with this cake and it disappeared in record time.  I ate one slice warm straight from the oven as it smelt so good baking I just couldn't resist and it was delicious with a capital D! I ate another slice the next day and it was just as good. Writing about it now, I wish I had more cake to enjoy - guess what I'll be baking this weekend? :) 

The Best of British Challenge was created by Fiona from London Unattached and Karen from Lavender and Lovage which will run for 6 months. Each month, a county or region around the UK is selected. To enter, blog about your interpretation of a recipe or dish from that region. The challenge is sponsored by New World Appliances and there is a prize of a £50 Amazon voucher. 

 The star ingredient - delicious on its own 

 cake batter with chunks of apple 

 crumbling in the cheese 

 almost ready to go in the oven... 

 just needs a topping of apple slices and a sprinkling of sugar 

 

Recipe from Wensleydale Creamery

150g butter
175g golden caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tbsp milk
175g self raising flour
2 apples – peeled, cored & sliced + 1/2 apple for the topping
125g Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries
1 tbsp Demerara Sugar (I used brown sugar)

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Grease a 20cm / 8" cake tin.
• Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy
• Add the eggs one at a time, then beat in the milk and flour.
• Fold in the apples and crumble over the cheese.
• Spoon the mixture into a tin.
• Arrange the apple slices (from approx 1/2 an apple - depends on your cake tin size) on top and sprinkle with Demerara sugar.
• Bake for 55 minutes until risen and golden brown.
• Leave to cool in the tin.

Cherry Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

I have been wanting to make Hershey's thumbprint cookies for ages. I actually bought a pack of Hershey's kisses whilst I was in America earlier this year in anticipation and I finally got round to it many months later. The opportunity of course is for my AlphaBakes challenge as the letter is T for thumbprint cookies. AlphaBakes is co-hosted by myself and Caroline from Caroline Makes. This month we have a special prize so make sure you get your entries in on time for a chance to win!

I chose a cherry and almond flavoured cookie (even though it's not my favourite) so I could also enter it to We Should Cocoa where the theme this month is cherries.  We Should Cocoa is the brainchild of Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog and Chele from Chocolate Teapot. This month it is guest hosted by Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen. This is probably the first time I've not scoffed tried most of the cookies myself as I don't like the flavour combination but everyone else thought it was great! They do look really cute too :)

I'm also entering these to United Bakes of America hosted by Gem from Cupcake Crazy Gem. She is baking her way through her book United Cakes of America and has asked us to join in either using an American recipe, ingredient or a recipe inspired by a state favourite. Hershey's of course are American so I think these cookies will fit the bill nicely.

 cherries and chocolate 

 lovely red cherries 

 made with lots of kisses :)

 making thumbprint cookies 

Recipe adapted from food.com

Makes approximately 50 cookies (can't quite remember now - sorry!)

225g butter
200g icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon milk
280g plain flour
200g glace cherries, chopped
50 Hershey's Kisses
optional : granulated sugar
optional : red food colouring to get red cookies - perfect for Christmas :)

• Preheat oven to 175C.
• Grease and line 2 baking trays.
• Cream the butter and sugar until creamy.
• Add the almond extract and milk.
• Stir in the flour.
• Finally fold in the chopped cherries.
• Use a small ice cream scoop to place round balls of dough spaced apart on your baking tray.
• Gently indent the cookie with your thumb as shown above.
• Sprinkle some granulated sugar before baking (this is optional)
• Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.
• As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, place 1 Hershey's kiss in the middle of each cookie where the indentation is.
• Allow to cool completely. 

Another AlphaBakes Giveaway

I am very excited to announce another prize for our AlphaBakes challenge this month. We have been fortunate enough to work with the lovely people at dotcomgiftshop. If you've not discovered this amazing site for gifts then don't blame me if your bank account is overdrawn! I have lots of things on my wish list already :) So without further ado, here's the prize for 1 lucky person this month (UK based only)

A set of 4 botanical measuring cups with flowers & butterfly illustrations in 4 complimentary colours soft pink, blue, green and cream.

How gorgeous are these? For your chance to win just send in your entry for AlphaBakes to the usual email address alphabakes@gmail.com by 25th August 2012.  Each AlphaBake entry counts as 1 entry to the prize draw. If your blog is not .co.uk or immediately obvious that you are in the UK, please mention in your email if you are eligible for the prize. A winner will be picked randomly from all entries.

This month's AlphaBakes challenge is the letter "T"

A reminder of the rules :

1. Post your recipe on your blog and link it to The More than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes, stating the relevant month's host. If you do not have a blog, email us a picture and a brief description of your entry which we will include in the round-up at the end of the month.

2. You can use your own recipe or someone else's recipe. The recipe can be sweet, savoury or a mixture! Anything goes as long as the random letter is predominantly featured in the recipe as one of the main ingredients or flavours or in the name of the bake itself (i .e . not as a garnish , or using 'flour' for the letter F!) You can also republish old posts/recipes but you must include the information for this challenge as stated in these rules.

3. Add the logo to your post and add 'alphabakes' as a label to your post.

4. Email your entries to alphabakes@gmail.com by midnight (GMT) 25th of each month. Please include:

Your name (that you want included in the round up or we will use the name of your blog)
Your blog post URL
Recipe title
Photo of recipe (to be included in the round up)

5. You can submit as many entries as you like.

6. You do not have to participate every month to join in.

7. You may submit your entry to other challenges as long as it complies with their rules.

8. If you use twitter, please use the tag #alphabakes and mention @bakingaddict and @Caroline_Makes. We will retweet all those that we see.

9. Have fun! :)

Chocolate Hedgehog Cupcakes

As soon as I saw these super cute chocolate hedgehog cupcakes on one of my favourite blogs Not Quite Nigella I knew I had to make them. They were bumped up to the top of my to bake list and I'm glad I did as they are really fun to make and tastes deliciously chocolatey. It's a chocolate mud cupcake with a chocolate sour cream frosting decorated with even more chocolate in the form of Twirl bars - a true choc-a-holic's heaven :)

As I used Twirl bars which contain the letter "T", I am entering them to AlphaBakes which is hosted by myself this month and co-hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes. There will be a very special prize for AlphaBakes this month so check back later to see what it is and get baking in the kitchen for a chance to win - trust me you won't want to miss it :)

I'm also entering this to bookmarked recipes hosted by Jacqueline from Tinned Tomatoes who was recently voted top vegetarian food blogs by Red magazine online - congratulations!

As these are cupcakes, I'm entering them to Cupcake Tuesday hosted by Liz from Hoosier Homemade, the Cupcake Lady!

 The batter will be quite liquid but don't worry

 Lots of cracks but no one will know once you've decorated them :)

 making the sour cream chocolate frosting - yum! 

 I used twirl bars as they are one of my favourites - you can also use flake bars which might look more realistic. I used a tube of white chocolate writing icing for the eyes and edible black 'eyes' that I bought at Cake International earlier this year. 

 Smooth the icing on top of the cupcake - don't worry about neatness. Form the eyes and nose as shown 

 add chopped twirl bars vertically to create a hedgehog effect 

 so cute! 

 2D version  as I ran out of twirl bars and only had the crumbs left! 

Addendum 4/8/12 - My friend Kate loved these so much she decided to make a giant hedgehog cake for her sister-in-law's birthday! Awesome job! 

 Victoria sponge cake with chocolate buttercream decorated with flakes and M&M's 

Recipe from Not Quite Nigella

Makes 15 cupcakes 

For chocolate mud cupcakes

165g butter
120g dark chocolate broken up into pieces
225g light brown sugar
1 cup water
1 cup plain flour
30g cornflour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 egg

Chocolate sour cream frosting

40g unsalted butter
85g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
150g icing sugar
1/2 tablespoon golden syrup
65 ml sour cream

To decorate:

8 twin twirl bars, chopped into 2cm/1 inch pieces and crumbled up
Edible eyes 

White chocolate writing icing

1. Preheat oven to 150c fan forced or 170c non fan forced.

2. Place butter, chocolate, sugar, the water in small saucepan over low heat until melted and combined. Cool for 15 minutes.

3. Using a whisk, add flour, cocoa and then egg (at this stage it will look like liquidey dark chocolate ganache). Spoon into cupcake cases. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool in tin.

4. To make the frosting, melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler or in a microwave. In a food processor, whizz the icing sugar to get rid of any lumps and then add the sour cream, melted chocolate and butter and golden syrup.

5. Spread over the cupcake generously (you will need it a thickish coating to allow the chocolate to sit up. Refrigerate to make the icing a bit firmer.

6. Decorate as shown above.