Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday I baked a cake. And it was edible.

I guess now is a good time to come clean and confess that I'm actually not a very good cake baker. My cakes never turn out right - they're always burnt or so moist they fall apart. They often don't rise properly. They come out of the oven lumpy. What else can I say? Cakes are not my area of expertise.

I know what you're thinking. "But Steph, you bake cupcakes all the time" ... oh yeah sure I do, but cupcakes don't count. Cupcakes are easier because you can taste test them before serving them to your guests. You can take them out of the oven and taste one, and then shove the remaining eleven back into the oven for a few more minutes if need be. Full-size cakes, "real" cakes, intimidate me because once that sucker goes into the oven, you can't really taste it until you're serving it up to all your guests. I've never seen a cake brought out with one slice missing. No judgment if you happen to serve your cakes that way, I'm just saying ...

So, back to my cake. It all started with my desire late Monday evening to play around with my new bundt cake pan. When my hubby confessed he was craving chocolate cake, I decided to give it a go. I used a Betty Crocker recipe for regular chocolate cake, poured the batter into the bundt pan, baked it for 40 minutes, let it cool and voila! A perfect chocolate cake, much to my surprise. Moist and sweet, and just the right level of chocolate-y. Yum!

I'm not sure if it was the recipe, the bundt pan, my new KitchenAid mixer or just a perfect alignment of the stars that made this cake a success when all of my other cakes have been failures. Regardless, I'm inspired! Cake doesn't seem so intimidating anymore and now the sky's the limit!

Blueberry Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of my favorite things to bake because you can alter the recipe in a million different ways depending on the season, your mood and the things you've got lying around in your pantry. In the fall, for example, nothing beats pumpkin banana bread with crushed pralines. In the winter, I love a warm cup of tea with chocolate cranberry banana bread. And in the summertime blueberry banana bread is always a big hit. I made one on Sunday evening and we'll enjoy slices for breakfast all week.

I also love baking banana bread because it's so painlessly easy. The recipe I use is a low-fat Betty Crocker recipe (see below) but from what I've seen most banana bread recipes are pretty similar and I've never met a banana bread I didn't like!

Blueberry Banana Bread 

Ingredients

- 2 or 3 large bananas 

- 1/2 cup of blueberries (fresh or frozen)

- 1/4 cups of sugar

- 2 large eggs

- 1/2 cup of buttermilk (I used skim and it turned out just fine)

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla

- 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

- 1 teaspoon of baking powder

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- 1 cup of chopped nuts (I used walnuts) if desired.

Directions

- In a big mixing bowl, stir the sugar and butter until they're well mixed. Stir in the eggs until well mixed. Stir in the bananas, milk and vanilla; beat with a spoon until smooth.
- Stir in the flour, baking soda and salt until just moistened. Stir in blueberries.
- Pour batter into a 8x4 inch baking pan.
- Sprinkle walnuts or coconut on top, if desired.
- Bake the loaf for about an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool for 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack

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