Honey & Walnut Cake

I was fortunate to get a space at the recent Edinburgh Cake Ladies event held at Bon Papillon. This involves 20 ladies bringing along their baked goods then everyone getting to eat the cakes whilst chatting away. This is my idea of a perfect night out.

The theme for the evening was Towers of Terrific Tray bakes. This should have been an easy assignment however I was in Newcastle when asked to submit the name of my entry and with no cook books to hand I had to rely on my not so good memory. After a few minutes of contemplation I was convinced that I had a honey and walnut cake recipe ripped out of a recent Asda magazine. Turns out my memory isn't as bad as I first thought as I did indeed have the recipe.

The cake batter does look a bit lumpy but please don't let that put you off as it smells delicious when baking and tastes fab. I did a trial a week before the event which I took into my work and it was devoured in minutes.

The evening didn't start well of me - stuck in traffic, my car got a puncture and then to top it off Colin Firth made an appearance at Bon Papillon and none of us noticed. However, I ate plenty of cake and met loads of lovely ladies.

Honey and Walnut Cake

(Makes 12 slices)

Ingredients:

100g Walnuts

175g Butter

100g Clear Honey

100g Caster Sugar

3 Large Eggs

225g Self Raising Flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 160C / Gas Mark 3. Line or grease a 20cm shallow square tin.
2. Put the walnuts on a baking try and lightly toast in the oven for 5-6 minutes. Chop roughly and set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a pan. Add the honey and sugar, heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then pour into a bowl and leave until lukewarm.
4. Lightly beat the eggs and add to the honey mixture using a wire whisk to make sure they're evenly mixed in.
5. Gently stir in the walnuts and flour.
6. Pour into the tin and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the top spring back when lightly pressed. Cool on a wire rack then cut into slices.

Chocolate Chip Banana Loaf

Thanks to my sister in law Alison for giving me this recipe.

I made this Chocolate Chip Banana Bread on Thursday night as I was heading to Center Parcs with mini me and my parents for a long weekend.

It is perfect for using up banana that would otherwise end up in the bucket.

You can use chocolate chips or walnuts. I like to have both.

Alison ices the cake once it has cooled down but I keep mine au naturel.

It should keep for about a week in an airtight container. This one didn’t last that long. We munched away at it whilst watching Harry Potter on DVD.

Chocolate Chip Banana Loaf

(Makes a 2lb loaf tin)

Ingredients:

2 Cups Self Raising Flour

1 Cup Caster Sugar

2 tsp Baking Powder

¼ tsp Salt

2 Eggs

1 Cup Mashed Ripe Bananas (about 3)

1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil

¼ Cup Milk

1 Cup Chocolate Chips (or Walnuts)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 180C / Gas Mark 4. Grease a 2lb loaf tin.
2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. In another bowl beat eggs, banana, oil and milk.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet a bit at a time. Stir until moistened.
5. Stir in chocolate chips (or walnuts).
6. Bake for 50 minutes until the edges come away from the side of the tin.
7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool completely.