I’ve had company visiting for the weekend (which actually seems to often be the case!) so to make the “hey, sure, you can sleep in the spare bed” more like a bed and breakfast experience, I made some banana-bread like thing to snack on in the morning. I’m not sure if I should call this banana *bread* or *coffee cake* so I went with Bundt Cake, just because of the pan I used. Super light and fluffy; totally yummy.
At the farmer’s market last weekend, I came across these really small plums. They are only about the size of a walnut ball, maybe even a little smaller. They were too enticing not to buy. Plum cakes are actually very common in Germany and parts of Eastern Europe, so I thought that minimum, I would make one of my standard plum cakes before I came up with the idea of making an upside down cake. Turned out lovely. All the caramel and toffee bits you see in the photos is where the butter and brown sugar leaked out of my spring form pan (advice : don’t use a spring form pan!). If you can’t find mini-plums, regular ones will work just as well.
I’m not very good at making cake. Well, at the actual *baking* of the cake, I am ok, but I am not great at decorating. Much better at cupcakes. 🙂 But, once per year, I do actually make a cake, and seeing the combination of chocolate and coconut is one of my favorites, I decided to make this one here. The Mountain of Malt Balls is to hide my not-so-pretty frosting job.
Apple picking starts this weekend in my neck of the woods. I didn’t go, but that means that local apples are available, so when I found some local Honey Crisps, I decided to make this lovely apple cake. It’s not a *pie*, but a *cake*. Perfect for either breakfast coffee cake, or for afternoon tea. The spices are cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and just a touch of cardamom. PS: You don’t have to put the apple rings on the top… I just thought it would look nifty. Now I think it looks a little like octopus tentacles.
Sunday was another neighbor’s birthday and you know me, that is just another excuse to bake something yummy. In all honestly, I actually hadn’t remembered that it was his birthday and was going to make this cake anyway, but now I had an excuse to give it to someone. Because of the currants, it’s got that whole sweet and tart thing going, but mostly it is an overload of whipped cream (not a bad thing!). Because I really suck at actually frosting cakes (much better at cupcakes), I decided to go with the rustic, exposed sides.