I buy lots of bananas in my house. Many times we get through them before they get overly ripe, however when they get too many brown spots I am not particularly fond of the texture and neither is anyone else in my house. Years ago I began to put them in the freezer when they get to this overly “ripe” state. This works perfectly so when I do have the urge to make banana bread, a banana shake or in this case a banana cake I have the perfect, overly ripe banana.
In the case of this banana cake, I cheated by doctoring up a yellow cake mix. I know, I know it’s not hard to whip up a cake batter…but I was feeling lazy and trust me, this is delicious and super moist. I love the caramel frosting that tops the cake and inside the cake I made a chocolate caramel frosting to give the cake a nice flavor addition.
Banana Cake with Caramel Frosting
Ingredients
Butter, for greasing the pans
flour, for dusting the pans
1 package plain yellow cake mix, (18.25 ounces) (I like Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 medium-size ripe bananas, peeled & mashed (about one cup)
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
Caramel Frosting (directions below)
Chocolate Caramel Frosting (directions below)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two 9-inch round cake pans with butter then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set pans aside.
Place the cake mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add the mashed bananas, water, oil, and eggs. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for one minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for two minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look well blended and the bananas should be well pureed. Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Place the pans in the oven side by side.
Bake the cakes until they are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of each layer comes out clean, 30 to 32 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for ten minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow them to cool completely 30 minutes more.
Make the chocolate caramel frosting and spread it on top one of the cake layers. Top with the remaining cake layer and frost the top and sides of the cake with the Caramel Frosting. Garnish as desired. I used some fresh fruit and chocolate wafer crumbs.
Chocolate Caramel Frosting
Ingredients
1/4 lb. CC Confectionary Chocolate Truffle Caramel or other fine chocolate caramel
1 T. half & half
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted
2 T. butter (softened)
1 T. chocolate syrup
Directions
In a microwave safe bowl add chocolate caramel and half & half. Microwave in 30 minute increments until it is smooth. Like this:
In a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachemnt, combine the caramel mixture, powdered sugar, butter and chocolate syrup. Mix until fluffy. If you find the frosting to be to stiff, simply add half & half a tsp. at a time until desired consistency is reached.
Caramel Frosting
Ingredients
1/2 lb. CC Confectionary Madagascar Vanilla Caramel or other fine caramel
2 T. half & half
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar, sifted
4 T. butter (softened)
Directions
In a microwave safe bowl add caramel and half & half. Microwave in 30 minute increments until it is smooth.
In a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachemnt, combine the caramel mixture, powdered sugar, and butter. Mix until very light and fluffy – about 3 minutes. If you find the frosting to be to stiff, simply add half & half a tsp. at a time until desired consistency is reached.
I love Rice Krispy Treats. Ever since I was a little kid I remember begging my mom to make these confectionary gems. Little did I know just how simple and easy they were to make.
I decided to make some Rice Krispy Treats that were extra special by adding some caramel to the mix and topping them with some more caramel and chocolate. They are a decadent and delicious treat that I am sure you and your family will love.
Caramel Rice Krispy Treats
Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows
– OR –
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 lb. CC Confectionary Madagascar Vanilla Caramel or other fine caramel, divided into 1/4 lb. pieces
6 cups Rice Krispies
3 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
1 tsp. half & half
Directions
1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Add half of the caramel and melt into the marshmallow mixture on low. (See the picture below for what your mixture will look like.) Remove from the heat.
Add Rice Krispies. Stir until well coated.
Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool.
In a microwave safe bowl combine caramel & half & half. Microwave in 30 second increments until melted. After each 30 seconds, remove caramel from microwave and stir. Drizzle over Rice Krispy Treats.
In another microwave safe bowl add chocolate. Microwave in 30 second increments until melted. After each 30 seconds, remove chocolate from microwave and stir. Drizzle over Rice Krispy Treats.
Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.
So I think by now you have figured out that I have a slight infatuation with caramel. For me, it is one of those ingredients that adds a special something to the ordinary and I love to add it to desserts to give it that extra “oomph.”
So with that, I have to introduce my recipe for Salted Caramel Ice Cream. Imagine luscious vanilla ice cream and then flavor it with delicious, buttery, creamy, slightly salty caramel. This ice cream is divine. Generally I am not one to brag, but I have to toot my own horn on this one. It is really, really, REALLY good. Toot, toot!
Salted Caramel Ice Cream
Ingredients
1 pound CC Confectionary Madagascar Vanilla Bean Caramels with Fleur de Sel or other fine butter caramel with fleur de sel
2 1/4 cups half & half, divided
1 cup milk
1/4 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
Directions
In a microwave safe bowl add salted caramel and 1/4 cup of the half & half. Microwave in 30 second increments until it is smooth. Let cool.
Meanwhile, bring remaining half & half, milk, and 1/4 cup sugar to a slight simmer, stirring occasionally.
Lightly whisk eggs in a medium bowl, then add half of the hot mixture in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Pour back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until custard coats back of spoon and registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer (do not let boil). Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl, then stir in cooled caramel.
Chill custard, stirring occasionally, until very cold, 3 to 6 hours. Freeze custard in ice cream maker (it will still be quite soft), then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to firm up.
No, this is not a typo. These are really called Samocolate Chip Cookies. You see, I love Samoas and I love chocolate chip cookies – so why not combine the two? These are some ridiculously good cookies…
Samocolate Chip Cookies
Yields approximately 4 dozen cookies
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup (160 grams) bread flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups (9 ounces) chopped semisweet chocolate
½ cup (2.5 ounces) finely chopped milk chocolate
2 cups toasted coconut (to toast coconut, place in the preheated 350 degree oven for 6 minutes until lightly browned)
1/2 pound CC Confectionary Madagascar Vanilla Bean Caramels or another variety of fine caramels
Directions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center of the oven.
Cut your caramels into pieces that are approximately 1/2″ x 1/2″. You should get approximately 48 pieces. Roll each caramel ball in the toasted coconut. The will look like this:
Once completed, set aside the remaining toasted coconut, which will be added to the cookie batter later.
Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until mixture is light and fluffy, about five minutes. Stop the mixer and use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and the paddle itself a couple of times. Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract on medium speed until thoroughly combined, two to three minutes.
In a separate bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add both chocolates and remaining toasted coconut to the flour mix and toss to combine. Turn the mixer to low speed (or continue to use a wooden spoon if mixing by hand) and slowly blend the flour-chocolate-coconut mixture into the butter-sugar mixture. Mix until the flour mixture is totally incorporated and the dough is completely mixed.
Using a 1 T. ice cream scoop, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about 3 inches apart. Place one caramel square in the center and top with another tablespoon of dough.
Bake until cookies are lightly golden brown on the edges and soft in the center, approximately 9 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days. The unbaked dough can be stored for up to a week in an airtight container in the fridge.
This September a major hurdle has come in my life – both of my boys are in school full time. Like most moms I have had days when this day couldn’t come soon enough and I have also dreaded this day like you can’t imagine. Someone once told me, “the days go by slow, but the years go by fast” and boy is that true. I remember tripping over countless squeaky toys while stressing out about whether or not my newborn infant was getting enough tummy time to have a strong neck and how will I ever get them to sleep through the night. Now, it is so much different. Will they be OK at recess? Will they have someone to play with? If they fall, who will kiss their scrape and hold them?
My babies are growing up and I have some sad days. Today was one of them, so I decided to make myself a special treat to warm my insides up. It is a Cinnamon Café au Lait with Spiced Whipped Cream. It was nothing close to having the arms of one of my boys wrapped around me, but for now, this will have to do – and it is pretty, darn good.
Cinnamon Café Au Lait with Spiced Whipped Cream
1 ½ cups low-fat milk
3 cinnamon sticks
5 whole cloves
4 cups strong coffee
2 T sugar + ½ T. Sugar
1 ½ t. pure vanilla extract + 1 t. pure vanilla extract
1/3 c. very cold heavy whipping cream
¼ tsp. grated nutmeg
Directions
Bring the milk, cinnamon sticks, and cloves to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the milk mixture to steep for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture, discarding the spices and bring it back to a simmer. Add the brewed coffee, 2 T. of the sugar and 1 ½ t. of the vanilla, and stir over medium-low heat until the sugar melts and the flavors are blended, about 5 minutes. It will look like this:
Meanwhile, beat the cream, nutmeg and remaining sugar and the remaining vanilla in a bowl, just until soft peaks form.
Pour the hot coffee into the heated mugs and add a dollop of the spiced whipped cream. Garnish with more nutmeg or cinnamon if desired.
Also, I had to add a picture of the angels I miss so much. They are the best…
