Charity Bake

A week ago I went to Church because a close friend of mine past away.

So I thought I'd say a prayer for him. I agreed to bake and have them ready for the next time I attended.

I normally don't attend mass because as beautiful as the service isI find it extremely difficult to pay attention. I managed to scrape off all the nail varnish off my nails while keeping a close eye on the time. I thought it would be really rude to play Words with Friends, even thoughI desperately wanted too. Besides all this I agreed to do this Great Bake thing. Any opportunity to bake is always a winner for me.

The Great Bake at Our Lady of Grace- CAFOD (Catholic Agencies of Overseas Development)So last week you were meant to buy something fair trade and use it in whatever you baked, and then sell them for a donated price. So I bought some fair trade cinnamon. Strangely enough I actually forgot about my commitment to the Great Bake. I mean I never forget anything... let alone baking.

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So Saturday afternoon I had myself a very impromptu baking session with myself. One of the best things about being obsessed with all of it, is that I tend to nearly have everything stocked and ready to go. I originally thought I'd make some banana muffins because I thought I didn't have enough butter for both the cakes and the frosting. But with muffins you need to use oil and that's not an ingredient that I normally stock so that was out of the question.

Banana cupcakes it is then. Thanks to Martha's recipe which I adjusted a bit, something I often do.

You will need:

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1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled) (188g)

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3/4 cup sugar (169g)

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1 teaspoon baking powder

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1/2 teaspoon baking soda

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1/4 teaspoon salt

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1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (113g)

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1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1

whole banana, for garnish (optional)

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2 large eggs

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1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Then you have too:

preheat your oven to 350F (180C for fan oven) (160C no fan)

Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
In a medium bowl sift the flour, sugar, baking power, baking soda and salt.

Martha says to make well in the centre of your dry mix and the add all the wet stuff in the middle but I didn't do that.

You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer for this.

In a separate bowl beat the butter till it's smooth, add the sugar and continue to beat until fluffy.

Add one egg at a time and mix well for each egg. Continue to beat on medium-high speed then add the bananas and vanilla extract. Once fully incorporated add the flour into the wet mixture. Make sure you do not over beat. I give it about a 20 second beat time and then I use the spatula fully incorporate the mixture without over beating it.

Fill the liners about half way. Martha said she baked hers for 20-25 minutes. But my oven is temperamental and I checked it at 18 minutes just to be safe. All in all it was 20 minutes all together.

Don't forget the frosting

1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar (156g)

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1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature (113g)

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1 tablespoon honey

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1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Martha is a bit neurotic about these kinds of things. I added about two tablespoons of milk and a lot more cinnamon than what she has. But in any case...

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer beat the butter un

til smooth. Add the sugar, honey and cinnamon. Mix together on medium-high speed. Add one tablespoon of milk at a time until you achieve the texture you want. This covers enough for 12 cupcakes.

Banana Cupcakes w| Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

I wish my had my digital camera but I don't so my iPhone camera will have to do.

Till next time..

Ruthless

xxx