Banana oat cupcakes

180g butter, softened

150g sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup milk

2 ½ cups self-raising flour

1 teaspoon bi-carb

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon  

2 very ripe bananas, mashed

1 ½ cups oats or muesli

You could also add in dried fruit, desiccated coconut or even chocolate chips for a bit of a different flavou as well. Just pop them in at the end. 

This recipe makes about 25 medium to large sized cupcakes. 

Preheat oven to 190C. Place patty tins into muffin trays.

Beat together butter and sugar until it’s fluffy and slightly lighter in colour.

Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well between additions.

Mix the flour, bi-carb and cinnamon into one bowl, and beat this into the sugar-butter batter at intervals with the milk and vanilla.

Beat it all well. Remove beater.

Using a spoon, gently mix in the banana and oats until well combined.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake tins.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until risen and browned on the top.

I decorated mine with a simple vanilla butter creamfrosting. They also just taste good on their own, kind of like a muffin.

Banana and carrot cake

This is good. So good in fact I have gotten two marriage proposals out of this bad boy. On the same day. It's really a pity Julia Gillard hasn't allowed same-sex marriages yet, otherwise I'd be in a bit of a conundrum.

Cake ingredients:

125g butter

½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract  

3 small bananas, very ripe, mashed

2 carrots, grated

2 cups self-raising flour
½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda

3/4 cup milk

½ teaspoon mixed spice

½ teaspoon cinnamon

(could also mix through some walnuts or pecans, or even blueberries at the end too)

Cream cheese frosting

125g cream cheese, at room temperature

50g butter, at room temperature

2 ½ cups icing sugar

2 teaspoons milk or water

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

(it doesn’t need the lemon rind, it just adds a bit of flavour but it’s more than delicious without it.)

Method:

Beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until pale and creamy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the carrots and banana, mixing in well with a spoon.

Mix the flour, bicarb and spices together in one bowl, and using a metal spoon, mix into the batter mixture alternately with the milk. You want to mix it so that it is just combined, don’t overwork the batter.

Spoon the mixture into a cake tin, about 25cm round, lined with baking paper.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out cleanly.

Allow to cool in tin for five minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, beat all the ingredients (except the lemon rind, if you’re using any) together with an electric mixture. You’ll need to cream cheese and butter to be quite soft (though not melted) so that it has a smooth consistency. Beat until thick.

Spread onto the cake, and the sides if you wish.

Decoration ideas?

Shredded or desiccated coconut, walnuts, pecans, sliced bananas, passionfruit pulp, berries etc.

I also cut my cake in half lengthways so that I could put icing in the middle because it’s so delicious.