Low-fat, but still delicious Banana Bread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
2 slightly beaten egg whites
1 cup mashed banana
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cooking oil

Note: I don't add salt; and I usually use egg beaters or the whole egg because I don't like wasting the yolk.

1. In a medium mixing bowl stir togther the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl stir together the egg whites, banana, sugar, and oil. Add dry mixture to banana mixture, stirring just until moistened.

3. Spray an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan with nonstick coating. Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.

Putting it all together

This is my first idea to balance out the different colored cakes. All three cakes are cut in half (although you can't tell from this angle), and the top cake was cut to make a smaller-diameter tier. So, these aren't exactly even. If I were doing this for real, I would not have cut corners and it wouldn't be as messy-looking. But still, I think it looks yummy! My lovely taste-tester approves, and even said that it was the best cake that I've ever made :) The bottom cake is a chocolate cake with black raspberry filling and chocolate buttercream, and the top two cakes are white cakes with black rasberry filling and french vanilla buttercream. I love the flowers, they are from some Tucson plants just outside my place.

Chocolate Buttercream

This recipe is from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CUBAN-OPERA-CAKE-108593, which itself looks amazing and someday, we should try out the whole recipe. This time, I changed this recipe quite a bit, but next time, I think I will try to follow it more. I just didn't have all of the ingredients. This one still came out fine, but pretty sugary. If you use shortening in place of butter, I think you have to add some powdered sugar to stiffen it up. The combination makes the frosting easier to work with, and not melt so quickly.

Buttercream
8 ounces imported milk chocolate, chopped (I just used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1/2 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks (I used 2 eggs)
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature (I used all vegetable shortening)
(+ I added some powdered sugar to make it firmer, just enough to get the consistency I want)

For buttercream:
Melt milk chocolate in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from over water. Whisk sugar, egg yolks, 2 tablespoons water, and corn syrup in medium metal bowl to blend. Add 1/4 cup butter. Set bowl over saucepan of simmering water; whisk constantly until mixture reaches 170°F, about 4 minutes. Remove bowl from over water. Using electric mixer, beat until completely cool and thick, about 6 minutes. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup butter, about 1 tablespoon at a time, fully incorporating each addition and stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in lukewarm melted chocolate.

French Vanilla Buttercream

This one came out really good, and I think it is a real buttercream that is easier to make than typical American buttercream. The consistency is much softer than Wilton's Buttercream that only uses shortening.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Milk
1 cup cold butter (I used 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening)
1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract
Makes: Icing serves 2 cups.

instructions
1. Place sugar, flour and salt in saucepan and mix thoroughly, stir in milk.

2. Cook over medium heat and stir constantly until very thick.

3. Remove from heat and pour into a medium mixing bowl.

4. Cool to room temperature.

5. Add 1/2 cup butter at a time (cut into several pieces) and beat at medium-high speed until smooth.

6. Add vanilla and beat well.

7. Chill icing for a few minutes before decorating.

8. Iced cupcakes must be refrigerated until serving time.

I always freeze the cakes before I frost them, I think this helps with the frosting not getting all soft before you are finished. Right after, I put the cakes in the refrigerator.

Rasberry Cake Filling

This recipe is adopted from www.wilton.com (by the way, they have a ton of great recipes on their website), but again, I changed it slightly.

Ingredients:

1 pkg (16 ounces) frozen raspberries packed in sugar thawed : I used 2 12 oz packages of black raspberries not in sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons Cornstarch
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice

Makes: Filling serves about 2 cups.

instructions
1. Drain raspberries, reserving liquid. Since I got the kind that didn't have sugar in it, I added a little sugar as it was thawing, which helps the raspberries drain. Mine sat out on the counter for several hours, and I got about 1/2 cup of liquid.

2. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 1/4 cups.

3. In large saucepan, combine liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well.

4. Heat and stir until mixture boils and thickens. (note: The thickness of mine was like a dense syrup)

5. Cool completely.

6. Stir thawed raspberries into cooled mixture. Mine still contained a lot of liquid, so I boiled the mixture again.

7. Fill cupcake or cake.

Note: This reminds me a lot of a jam, which may be another use for this recipe...what do you think?

White Cake

This is my favorite recipe for white cake so far, and it is indeed very rich, elegant, and perfect for a wedding. This recipe is adopted from "The Wedding Cake Book" by Dede Wilson, and changed slightly. The recipe here is for two 6x2 inch cakes.

2 1/3 cups unsifted cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
4 large egg whites (this is the only thing I changed - instead I used Wiltons Meringue powder, following their recommendations)
1 cup whole milk (oh yeah, I used skim milk with a little heavy cream)
5 1/3 ounces (slightly more than 1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare pans with cooking spray (I use Wiltons Cake Release, which works wonders). Combine flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Whisk together the egg whites and milk in a small bowl and set aside.

Place the butter in the bowl of your mixer, and with the flat paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed. Add the sugar gradually and beat until well blended. Scrape down the bowl once or twice and beat in the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients and the egg white mixture alternately, scraping down the sides several times. Continue to beat on medium speed just until smooth. Scrape the batter into the pans and bake about 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick tests clean. The edges will be slightly brown and will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool, place on cardboards, and wrap with plastic and/or foil.

Note: I do not recommend filling the cake pans up past halfway. These cakes will rise in the oven.

The BEST Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Recipe adopted from Gourmet | July 2007