I’m a big fan of desserts, which I make for friends more than I actually eat myself. This recipe is delicious, the cake comes out incredibly moist. The original recipe had a brown butter frosting which was just too much, way too sweet. So I modified it and added a cream cheese frosting instead. This is another recipe where I’ve kicked it up a notch by adding a little banana liqueur.

Banana Bread Cake

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 stick butter at room temp.
• 2 eggs
• 4 bananas mashed, the riper the better.
• 2 tbsp banana liqueur*
• 2 tsp vanilla (not that fake crap!)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9×13 cake pan with non-stick spray. In a large bowl beat together the sugar, sour cream, butter and eggs until creamy. Add in the bananas, banana liqueur and vanilla and beat some more. Now add in the flour, baking soda and salt; beat for about 1 more minute.

Spread evenly in the cake pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool before frosting (recipe below).

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 16 ounces (2 packs) cream cheese at room temp.
• 1 stick butter at room temp.
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp banana liqueur

Directions:

In a bowl beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Scrap down the sides as needed. Add the vanilla and banana liqueur, beat until smooth again. Add in powdered sugar a 1/4 cup and a time, beating until smooth. If a little runny add a little more sugar. Refrigerate before adding to the cake or add it to the cake (if cool) and then refrigerate. Enjoy!

*OK the brand of banana liqueur you use can really make a difference. I used 99 bananas, which is a schnapps, the first time I made this as it’s what I had on hand for when I make bananas foster. Turns out it works really well for the foster, not so much for the frosting of this cake. A little too much harsh alcohol flavor. So I recommend using Dekuyper liqueur instead, it has less of the harsh alcohol taste.

I’m a big fan of heat, as you’ll discover following this blog. So a lot of the recipes I’m drawn to either  have a kick to them or I’ve added it. This recipe is based on a recipe from, of all people, the figure skater Brian Boitano. Again I’ve switched it up a bit, I like more spice that he has in his recipe and slightly different spice at that.

Spicy Brownies

• Non-stick cooking spray
• 2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet, dark chocolate, whatever you like)
• 2 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, in cubes
• 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt*
• 4 tsp ancho chili powder
• 2 tsp chipotle powder
• 7 eggs, 4 whole and 3 egg yokes only
• 1 tbsp vanilla (use real vanilla, not that fake crap!)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup regular sugar
• Flake sea salt (I like Maldons)

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray 2 mini-muffin tins with the non-stick cooking spray.

In a double boiler, which for me is a glass bowl over a medium size pot with some simmering water, melt the chocolate, butter, and espresso powder until sooth.

Whisk the flour, salt, ancho and chipotle together in another bowl.

Whisk the eggs, egg yoke, and vanilla in yet another bowl.

Once the chocolate mixture is done, take it off the boiler and add the brown sugar and regular sugar. Stir until well mixed and the sugar is somewhat melted. The mixture would be warm, not hot. This is important because we’re adding the egg mixture to it. If it’s too hot it’ll cook the eggs and you’ll have scrambled eggs in the chocolate. Once you have the eggs and chocolate well combined add half the flour and fold it in until just incorporated. Add the 2nd half of the flour and do the same. Let it set about 5 minutes or so, this will allow the flour to be completely absorbed.

With a small ice-cream scoop add the batter to the pre-sprayed muffin tins. The tins should be about 2/3 full. Sprinkle lightly with flake sea salt and bake for 15 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

*Why specifically say Kosher salt? Because regular table salt has iodine in it and this really changes the flavor and is a hold over from when people really didn’t get enough in their diet. That’s no longer the case so why ruin your food with a weird iodine taste? Kosher salt doesn’t have iodine added.