Double Chocolate Butterscotch Banana Bundt Cake

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted any recipes. Not because I’ve forgotten or given up on baking or the blog, but I’ve simply allowed life to overtake things and not posted all the yummy stuff I’ve made. I hope we haven’t disappointed anyone. Since the last post, we’ve had our third child and she’s actually 10 months old now. I have had so many requests for this recipe that I am jumping back in so I can post it. I usually take photos of what I’m making, but I haven’t been blogging about them because my evenings are normally consumed with catching up on other work (photography, web design and the never ending housework). Oh, and having three kids…

So here it is. It’s a crowd favorite – all the neighbors have happily accepted and enjoyed it in the form of this bundt cake, a Halloween “haunted house” bundt pan, standard muffin size and most recently, a sheet pan. It always turns out great and each iteration is fluffy, chocolatey, moist and tastes so decadent. It originally began as a paleo recipe, but instead of coconut milk I have chosen to use my favorite So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Creamer, so there’s some cane sugar in there. When I want to make it look a little prettier, I drizzle melted Dark Chocolate Almond Butter by Maranatha. And butterscotch chips, which I wish were paleo. It’s pretty insane.

Let me know how yours turns out. I hope you enjoy it!

Double Chocolate Butterscotch Banana Bundt Cake

DRY INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups blanched almond flour

• 1 cup tapioca powder

• 1/2 cup cocoa powder

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon fine salt

WET INGREDIENTS

• 4-5 very ripe bananas, mashed

• 1/2 cup ghee, melted

• 1/2 cup So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Creamer

• 1/2 cup maple syrup

• 3 eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla

OTHER

• 1 cup butterscotch chips

FOR THE GLAZE

• 1/2 cup Maranatha Dark Chocolate Almond Butter, melted

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DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Generously grease a bundt pan with coconut oil or cooking spray with flour.

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. You can do this by hand with a pastry blender or with a stand mixer. Add all the wet ingredients and combine until smooth. Stir in the butterscotch chips.

2. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

   1. For muffins, bake for 24 minutes

   2. For a sheet pan, bake for 50 minutes

3. Allow the cake to cool for 15-20 minutes before inverting. Run a knife along the sides and middle of the cake to help it come out of the pan, then invert onto a cake plate. Let it cool completely before topping with the glaze.

4. For the glaze, microwave on half power stirring every 15 seconds, or over a pan of boiling water until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly before drizzling over the cake. Drizzle over the cake and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and/or powdered sugar, if desired.

5. Enjoy!

Holiday Bee Hive Cake

It's December and the temperature is finally starting to drop. We have our tree and all the trimmings up and I just want to bake! Here is one of my neighbor's recipes from her mother, who lived to be 98 years young. It's another one of those beautifully handwritten index cards - you may remember seeing one of these from my classic brownies post last year. The recipe is extremely simple and it was tasty. After the cake cooled, I put on my slippers, made myself a warm cup of tea and sliced me some cake. My glaze turned out a little too, shall we say, 'rustic', so I will need to rework that part again. Enjoy and stay warm!

KCULP PHOTOGRAPHY

KCULP PHOTOGRAPHY

RUTH'S BEE HIVE CAKE

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 lb salted butter, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups cake flour
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 cup milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar. Blend until fluffy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together cake flour and baking powder.
5. Mix together wet and dry mixtures and blend. Add milk.
6. Grease and flour a bundt pan of your choice and pour in the batter.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

KCULP PHOTOGRAPHY

Paleo Blueberry Scones

When it comes to breakfast, I'm pretty predictable. I typically enjoy two eggs and fruit, mostly berries, and a coffee. I would eat eggs any time of the day, but I almost always need and crave them to kickstart my day. Scrambled is my go-to, but if I need to make it quicker, I cook one in the microwave. If you want to learn my little secret, it takes just a tiny bit of trial and error to not have it explode on you. All microwaves vary, so this is the fail safe method that I use:

1. Spray/grease small bowl
2. Crack egg and break the yoke
3. Microwave on Power 2 for 2:20

This is the setting for my particular microwave, which is a 5-year-old Whirlpool Gold. If the egg is a bit too runny, try adding another 20-30 seconds, still at power 2. When done, add a pinch of salt and douse with Cholula Chili Garlic hot sauce - it's better than the Original flavor.

But this blog post is NOT about eggs - it's about the time I craved something a little different. Today, it was blueberry scones, especially after my neighbor generously gave me a couple of extra pints. Determined to create something fun but not let them go to waste and MY WAIST, I decided to make them grain-free, which feels a lot less guilty.

These are great for entertaining at brunch! I also got to try my new Lodge Cast Iron Wedge Pan. It did not disappoint! I love how it keeps all of the scones separated. I'm excited to also use this pan for a frittata recipe - but that's another post...

KCULP PHOTOGRAPHY + DESIGN

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cups almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberr ies

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, almond milk, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla.
2. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir until combined. If the mixture is dry, add a few more drops of almond milk. Gently fold in the blueberries.
3. Scoop batter evenly into the wedge pan. 
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

KCULP PHOTOGRAPHY + DESIGN

Mother's Day French Macarons

This post is probably a bit late for some due to the fact some prep is required, but if you have time on Saturday, these would be a real treat for Mother's Day. Everyone knows what French macarons are, since they've become one of the most popular treats found in virtually any bakery, or even your local coffee shop. For those who don't know how to pronounce the name of these sweet delicacies, it's "mack-a-rohn", not to be confused with macaroon, the coconut-based American dessert.

The macaron is a French sweet meringue-based confection made with egg whites, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder and food coloring. The macaron is commonly filled with ganache, buttercream or jam filling, sandwiched between two cookies. The name is derived from the Italian word macarone, maccarone or maccherone, the meringue.

I signed up for a 3-hour culinary class to learn how to make these sweet confections. My hubby and I made a date night out of it, and we had the best time. I wasn't sure how excited he would be at first, since he isn't really the baker in the house, but he was definitely up for the challenge.

One important thing to know is that these are not an easy dessert to make. We made three batches in class and only one turned out perfectly. It takes practice and then even more practice to learn how everything should look and feel. The meringue is easy to mess up when you're folding it into the almond mixture. A few folds too many and your cookies won't rise; not enough and they will crack. I still need to practice to get it just right.

Before I post the recipe, let me share the tips and tricks I got from class:

• Make sure your egg whites are at room temperature. If you forget to plan ahead, place them in a bowl of warm water - just make sure it's not boiling.
• Be sure to properly mix the egg whites to stiff peaks - test by stirring the whisk in, pulling it out and turning it over to see if the whites stand without flopping.
• It's really important that you sift all your ingredients. You don't want big chunks of anything in these perfectly smooth, delicious confections.
• Measure all your ingredients in grams because it's much more accurate and you need complete accuracy for this recipe  :-)
• When you fold the almond mixture into the meringue, you'll fold approximately 70-75 times. It might seem crazy to count but it will take you really close to being the perfect amount, and give you a better idea on when to stop.
• Don't forget to rotate the tray halfway through the baking so that they rise evenly.
• When you pipe the cookies, start at the center and keep the piping bag uptight. Squeeze slowly and watch it grow, leaving a fine edge before it touches the circle - the batter starts to spread on the tray so you don't want them to get too big.
• When the cookies come out of the oven make sure you have given them at least 30 minutes to cool. Otherwise, it's difficult to remove them from the parchment and you won't be happy with the results.

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FRENCH MACARONS

• 3 large egg whites (room temperature)
• 50 g (1/4 cup) fine granulated sugar
• 200 g (2 cups) powdered sugar
• 120 g (1 cup) almond flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 tsp cream of tarter
• For chocolate macarons: add 2 tbsp cocoa powder to dry ingredients when you are sifting.

Method

1. Measure out of all of your ingredients as accurately as possible.
2. Whip the egg whites until foamy. Add the salt, cream of tartar, and fine granulated sugar.
3. Whip mixture until completely stiff peak. 
4. Add food coloring as desired and mix well. Make sure to go a little darker, the color will lighten as we add the other ingredients.
5. Sift the powdered sugar and almond flour together into a bowl.
6. Fold egg whites into powdered sugar/almond flour mixture.
7. Gently fold approximately 70 times.
8. Place macaron batter into a pastry bag with a plain tip.
9. Pipe 1” - 1 1/4 “ rounds onto parchment lined sheetpans.
10. Firmly tap sheet pan 3 times.
11. Let sit 20-25 minutes until the outside has dried. When lightly touched, the batter should not stick to your fingers.
12. Bake at 300° F for approximately 20 minutes. Turn pan half way through the baking process to have more consistent baking.
13. Let cool, remove from parchment with a metal spatula.
14. Fill with desired filling. (ex. jam, ganache, flavored buttercream)

15. Keep refrigerated until ready to eat. They are even better if you wait and refrigerate 24 hours before eating.

After filled, macarons will last for approximately 7 days in the refrigerator. The shells unfilled can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for about 2 weeks. (as long as it is a cool dry place)

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KCULP

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FILLINGS

SIMPLE BUTTERCREAM

• 2 oz butter
• 1 tsp water
• 4 oz powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp extract (your choice of flavor - almond, vanilla, peppermint, etc.)

Method

1. Cream the butter until completely smooth with NO LUMPS!
2. Add the powdered sugar and mix until well combined
3. Add the egg white (or water) to smooth the buttercream
4. Lastly, addthe extract.

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GANACHE

• Chocolate, Semi-Sweet! ! 3 oz.
• Heavy Whipped Cream! ! 3 fl. oz.

1. Place the chocolate into a bowl.
2. In a small saucepan, boil the cream until it starts to climb up the sides of the pot. (watch very closely, this can easily boil over).
3. Pour the cream over the chocolate, mix until all the chocolate is melted.
4. Chill until firm and serve.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KCULP

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KCULP

whole roasted carrots

Not much needs to be said about this recipe. Just the fact that you don't have to chop them into tiny little pieces is a huge time saver. They are insanely delicious (and aren't they beautiful?), so we recommend you make extra. They're really that good. Even the kids will eat their veggies!

Based on recipe by PureWow. 
Serves 4. Duration: 45 min.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 bunches of carrots, peeled with tops trimmed
• 1 red onion, peeled and chopped into 8 wedges
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp red-wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a medium baking dish, toss the carrots with the onions.
2. In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil with the red-wine vinegar, cumin, thyme, salt and pepper to combine. Pour the mixture over the carrots and onions; toss gently to coat.
3. Roast until the carrots and onions are tender and browning at the edges, approximately 30 to 35 minutes. Garnish with a few sprigs of fresh thyme. Serve warm.