Hummingbird Cake

Hello! Everyday, I'm receiving alerts on Facebook of new followers to my Double Dipped Sweets page. You are coming over from Pinterest, and I have to say, THANK YOU!

As a thank you gift, I finally made this cake that I've had my eye on for awhile. This cake is labor intensive. But, oh, my goodness, it's so full of flavor! It's a rich, dense cake; a mix between cake and bread. The flavors of banana and pineapple are perfect for this time of year, and it quickly became one of our favorites!

 Hummingbird Cake

 Adapted from boulderlocavore

Plan on 1-2 hours for prep and cook time.

Cake

3 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup fresh pineapple, crushed (see below)   ** I used canned crushed pineapple with a little bit of juice.
2 cups roasted bananas*, mashed (approximately 4 large or 6 medium-small bananas with peel left on; instructions below)
1 cup chopped pecans
Parchment paper to line bottom of the cake pan **I sprayed the pans with flour/oil


Cream Cheese Frosting  **I used my own time tested frosting. The cold butter used in the original recipe didn't blend very well.

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

1/4 lb butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

4 cup powdered sugar

1 ½ cups finely chopped pecans

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. *Place bananas on a cookie sheet with peels left on. Bake in the oven for 12 minutes until the skins are black (the bananas may leak which is fine). Remove and let cool until they can be handled. Peel bananas, place in a small mixing bowl and mash. Set aside. Leave the oven heated to 350 degrees.
3. Butter and flour 3-9 inch round baking pans. Trace the bottom of the pan (for all three pans) onto parchment paper, cut out circle and place in the bottom of each pan.
4. In a sifter over a large mixing bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Sift into the bowl. Set aside.
5. In a second large mixing bowl combine the granulated and brown sugar; stir to combine. Add the eggs and stir briskly by hand to combine all ingredients into a smooth mixture.
6. Whisk the oil and vanilla into the sugar/egg mixture until combined and smooth.
7. Add the flour mixture all at once and hand stir (do not beat) to combine the mixture fully.
8. To crush the pineapple: Place 1 cup of finely diced fresh pineapple in a medium mixing bowl and using a potato masher, crush the pineapple. Add the fruit and juice to the batter. Also add the mashed banana and the pecans. Stir just until combined; do not over stir.
9. Divide the batter evenly between the three pans. Tap the pans on the countertop to release any air bubbles and place in the 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes until cake bounces back to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
10. Allow to cool in pans on racks for 5 minutes then turn out onto cooling racks to fully cool before frosting. Be sure to peel off and discard the parchment paper.
Instructions for Cream Cheese Frosting:
11.  Blend all frosting ingredients together.
12. Fold in pecans by hand. 
Instructions for Cake Assembly:
13. Place the first layer of cake upside down (the bottom of the cake will be frosted) on the serving plate. Cover with 2/3 cup of frosting. This will be a thin covering.
14. Place the second layer of cake right side up (flat cake bottom onto the frosting) and frost the top of this layer with 2/3 cup again (note: I found I needed just a bit more to cover this layer).
15. Place the last cake layer with cake right side up and use the remaining frosting to cover top of cake and the sides.
16. 4. Allow cake to stand at room temperature 30 minutes before serving and store any uneaten cake in the refrigerator. Cake best when made the day prior to serving!

Enjoy!

Carrot Coriander Soup - Secret Recipe Club

Good Morning! Today is one of my favorite days of the month. Secret Recipe Club time! I was assigned a fabulous blog this month; The Gorgeous Gourmet! She is from South Africa, and has a wonderful variety of recipes. Her blog is clean and very attractive. If you click on the link, and it doesn't connect, try again on another computer. My computer at work doesn't allow me to go there, but I get to spend hours on her site at home! 

I had a hard time, as usual, picking my recipe.  The Pumpkin Fritters sounded really good...but I was out of pumpkin.  A lot of her recipes were similar to mine, and I was tempted to try hers to see which recipe I liked better, but ultimately I decided to try something new. I picked the Carrot Coriander Soup! 

I only made a change of adding more ground coriander.  Coriander is the seed of the cilantro plant, and this recipe uses both coriander and cilantro. The soup really needed more flavor, so I doubled the coriander.  I also added some heavy cream when serving.  The Gorgeous Gourmet mentioned doing this. This soup is light, and would be great with a grilled cheese sandwich!

Carrot Coriander Soup

The Gorgeous Gourmet

1 Tb oil

3 cups chopped carrots (they don't have to be cut too small because everything will be pureed)

1 onion, chopped

2 teas ground coriander

salt and pepper

1 liter (4 cups) vegetable stock 

1 cup fresh cilantro 

Heavy Cream to serve 

Heat oil in a large soup pan.  Add in carrots and onion, and cook until onion is translucent. Add in the coriander, salt and pepper, and the vegetable stock.  Bring to a boil, and simmer until the carrots are cooked through. Add in 1/2 cup chopped cilantro. 

Cool the soup slightly, and use a hand immersion blender or a stand blender to blend the soup. 

Serve warm, with the extra cilantro on top as a garnish.  Add cream to soup if desired.

Enjoy!

Savory Beef Stew

It's getting cold outside, and we've already had a few snow showers. Really, the only thing I love about this time of year is the food. Apples, pumpkin, cider, hot chocolate, and mostly, soups and stews. I crave warmth. Stew provides it!

This beef stew started from a need to use leftover beef. The flavors on the roasted beef were perfect in the stew. In the recipe below, I've added the seasonings to regular stew beef instead of making an entire roast like I did. Stew Beef can be found in grocery stores in the meat department. It's pre-cut chunks, ready to go!  The stew can be slow cooked in a heavy stock pot in the oven, or in your crockpot.

Savory Beef Stew
The Double Dipped Life

For the meat:
1 1/2 lb beef stew meat
2 teas sea salt
1 Tb olive oil
1 teas ground pepper
1 1/2 teas oregano
2 teas dried basil
1/2 teas crushed red pepper
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tb Olive Oil

Season the stew meat with sea salt, cover, and place in refrigerator for a few hours, or overnight.

Remove meat from the refrigerator, and use paper towels to dry the excess moisture from the meat. In a large bowl, mix the meat and all the above seasonings.

In a large stockpot, heat 1 Tb olive oil. Add the meat, and sear on all sides, until nicely browned, but not cooked through.

Add in the soup ingredients:

2 cups beef broth
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 can (14.5 oz) chopped tomatoes, undrained
8 oz baby carrots, chopped into bite-sized pieces
12 small red potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 bay leaf
2 Tb Worcestershire sauce
4 Tb hot sauce 
water pr stock as needed if stew is too thick

Mix all the ingredients together.  Place in a 300 degree oven for 5 hours, keep on the stove top for 2 hours, or throw everything into a crockpot and cook low for 6 hours, or high for 4 hours.

Serve with warm, crusty bread and Enjoy!

Carrot Cake

Have you ever had one of those dishes that you thought was just sooo good, that it had to be super complicated to make? My Grandma Arleen's carrot cake is just that good. I've never made it, because I knew that it must be so complicated, and way beyond my skills. This is seriously the best carrot cake I've ever had, and when I was married, hubby agreed.

Then, the other day at work, my coworker said that she had never had carrot cake! I couldn't believe my ears! It was time to buckle down and make this cake.

I opened the cookbook... found the recipe... took a deep breath...and What?!??! Is it really that easy? Why haven't I made this sooner? Turns out that this work of art is as simple as making brownies! Who would've thought?

Grandma Arleen's Carrot Cake

2 cup sugar

2 cup flour

1 1/2 cup oil (can substitute applesauce for the oil)

3 eggs

1 cup shredded coconut

2 cups walnuts, chopped

8 oz can crushed pineapple, drained

2 cup raw carrots, grated

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

Okay, here's the hard part. Are you ready?

Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl for 3 minutes.

That's it!

Pour into 2 round cake pans, or 1 9x13 pan.

Bake 20 minutes at 350,

then 40 minutes at 300.

After cake cools, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting and coconut:

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz package cream cheese, softened

1/4 lb butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

4 cup powdered sugar

Beat together and spread on cake.

Top with shredded coconut, and more walnuts if desired!

Note: Light cream cheese or non-fat ricotta cheese (whipped) works well and saves calories!