Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Sugar High Friday - Spice Up Your Life - Spicy Banana Cake; Yum-Yum Award


Pastrygirl of Dessert First is hosting Sugar High Friday (created by The Domestic Goddess) for October, with a theme of Spice Up Your Life. It's simple - make a sweet dish containing one or as many spices as you like.

I had quite a few overripe bananas living in my fruit bowl, so I wanted to incorporate them into my recipe. A quick Google search brought me to this recipe for Spicy Banana Cake - perfect! It contains cinnamon and cloves, along with bananas, raisins and nuts. I used a combination of hazelnuts and walnuts instead of pecans, because I had some that needed using up.

Here is a photograph of my finished cake, which I baked in a 9 inch springform pan instead of a 10 inch tube pan:

This is a wonderful, moist and huge cake! (The strange looking bit on one side is where a clump of banana rose to the top.) I don't like a heavy banana flavour, but this was not overwhelmingly banana-flavoured. The bananas and the raisins made the cake moist, and the nuts added a fantastic texture.

To spice up my life a little more, I added cinnamon to the water icing that I iced the cake with. Here is a slice of the cake (displayed on a plate instead of a napkin for a change!):
Mmm, mmm - don't you love the chunkiness and texture? I would gladly make this again (if I weren't so buy making new recipes all the time).

Don't forget to watch out for the roundup of recipes to spice up your life on Pastrygirl's site after the end of October.

In the meantime, I have been cross-stitching again, and made another baby album banner, this time for my work colleague Matt and his wife:



This teddy bear pattern came from p38 of the October 2008 edition of Cross Stitch Crazy.

Finally, my blogging pal Ivy from Kopiaste has awarded me the Yum-Yum Award:



Thanks Ivy!

There don't appear to be any rules attached to this award, so I will pass it on to the following people, whose blogs I find "yum-yum":


Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy

Susan of Food.Baby

Arfi of Homemades

Do visit these blogs if you haven't already - they all have great photos and recipes to enjoy.
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17 comments:

  1. The Caked CrusaderOctober 29, 2008 at 10:37 PM

    Yay - thanks for the award. I'd like to thank the Academy, my parents, my agent....

    Spicy banana cake - what's not to love! Looks yummy

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  2. SwatiOctober 29, 2008 at 10:38 PM

    Hi ... he cake looks so moist and delicious..
    Thanks so much for the Yum Yum award..its great to get an award from Ivy..she is a lovely and loving friend.. :))

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  3. AnonymousOctober 29, 2008 at 10:51 PM

    I like the idea of all of the spices and raisins with the moist banana :)

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  4. MaryOctober 29, 2008 at 11:40 PM

    Your cake looks delicious and I love the baby banner!

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  5. IvyOctober 30, 2008 at 1:17 AM

    I am tempted to make this cake. I've got some ripe bananas waiting for me to make something.

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  6. RosieOctober 30, 2008 at 1:22 AM

    I like the look and sound of this cake with its spices, raisins and banana!!

    Congrats on your award Cakelaw very well deserved indeed!! Many thanks for passing it on to me I am very honoured!! :)

    Rosie x

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  7. MariaOctober 30, 2008 at 6:11 AM

    Congrats and the cake looks fantastic!!

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  8. TammyOctober 30, 2008 at 6:45 AM

    wow, thanks for the award Cake law. You are so sweet (pun intended!!) and I am completely honoured!

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  9. Susan @ My Wholefood Family EssentialsOctober 30, 2008 at 1:27 PM

    Thanks for the award! That cake looks really tasty :-)

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  10. Big Boys OvenOctober 30, 2008 at 4:27 PM

    that slice looks so delicious, can I have it? lol! I wish!

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  11. UnknownOctober 30, 2008 at 6:52 PM

    thanks for the award, gaye. as usual, you're the queen of baking! you're always on the job!

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  12. CakelawOctober 30, 2008 at 8:46 PM

    Applause for the Caked Crusader - love your work.

    Thanks Swati.

    Hi Lorraine, I was a little unsure about it, but loved the end result.

    Thanks Mary.

    Hi Ivy, you won't be sorry that you made this.

    Thanks Rosie.

    Aww, shucks - thanks Maria!

    Well deserved Tammy - still lving your ladybirds from earlier in the week.

    Hi Susan, it is surprisingly good - and this from a non-banana cake fan.

    Thanks Big Boys - I would love to send it to you, if only I could.

    LOL - thanks Arfi.

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  13. The Blonde DuckOctober 30, 2008 at 10:44 PM

    The cake looks like a improved version of banana nut bread, one of my favorites. Wonderful as always!

    Congrats on your award! You totally are yum-yum! You spoil your co-workers rotten, by the way. Hope they deserve it!

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  14. AnonymousOctober 31, 2008 at 4:44 AM

    I love that you added cinnamon to the water icing. I've never had a banana cake with cinnamon before; usually it's more of the apple-cinnamon combo, so this sounds really good!

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  15. UnknownOctober 31, 2008 at 5:20 PM

    wow...the only spice i normally use with banana = cinnamon

    i'll try new things with banana ^_^ (my all time favorite baking ingredient)

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  16. Silvia - Magnolia Wedding PlannerNovember 4, 2008 at 12:36 AM

    ohhh! but his cake is absoloutely fantastic it looks sooooo delicios and that crossstich is just perfect dear! how can you be so good in everything you do? :-D really great
    Silvia

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  17. CakelawNovember 4, 2008 at 11:31 AM

    Thanks Blonde Duck - I work with a fun group.

    Hi Ovenhaven, this was unusual to me too - but I am glad that I found it.

    Thanks Rita - if you love banana, then this is for you!

    Awww, thanks Sylvia.

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Thanks for dropping by!