Nutella banana bread is to die for

The girls love that I bake, and sometimes like to join in.  So this Nutella Banana Bread was a special request for one of them.  She remembered it from a few months back, and was sure it was to die for so wanted to have some more.

Personally I didn't remember it that way, but I'm not so keen on bananas as the kids are - though I am coming around to them slowly - but I do love chocolate, and Nutella.  We always have some bananas in the house (and Nutella for that matter) because they're such a nutritious, healthy and handy snack to have, so this cake may well have been made with some slightly overripe bananas - it doesn't affect the taste or texture of the final bake so I think it's a great way to use them up.

I like chocolate (did I mention that?) so I added in some totally unnecessary chocolate chips to the mix.

Then drizzled over lots of melted Nutella, in the middle and on top.

And baked it.

And shared it round.  Mmmm, that didn't last long (but it stayed deliciously moist while we had it). 

Golf and a 70th, how do you combine the two?

One of the school mums got in touch via the Facebook page to enquire about a cake for her father's 70th birthday.  He really enjoys playing golf and gardening, so whe wanted them included somehow.  And the grandchildren would be present to eat it, so the flavour was to be chocolate.  Fair enough, i said, and got my thinking cap on.  I Googled golf cakes and there were some stunning design ideas to be seen - there are some seriously talented cake makers out there in internet land!

I baked up my go to chocolate sponge recipe, and layered the two large cakes with lashings of luscious and thick green vanilla buttercream icing, to act as the background.  I knew I wanted grass on there too, as the customer had decided on an all buttercream cake.  I went to our wonderful local cake shop, The Cake Guru, and described the shade of green I had, and what else I had in mind.  I'm so pleased with Wendy's recommendation, as the grass tones in perfectly, don't you think?

As the cake flavour was chocolate, and the buttercream vanilla, I didn't feel that the usual strawberry jam filling would be suitable really.  I hadn't been warned of any allergies, so I slathered Nutella in btetween the layers - perfect choice with those flavours, don't you think?

Careful and prolonged use of the grass nozzle tip created the top layer and the decoration at the base edge, a little crushed biscuit for the sand bank and we were good to go.

I'm so pleased to say that the customer feedback was very positive - not only did they love how it looked, it was totally devoured on the day.  A very happy 70th birthday indeed.

New baby? No problem

I recently bought the cutest little sugarpaste cutters in baby designs, so was thrilled to get a baby shower order.  It was to be girly, but not too pink, and just to say 'Welcome Baby'.  I wanted to try out a new recipe, and went for Nutella cupcakes.  They had Nutella in the sponge, a scooped out section with pure Nutella in the middle, and finally Nutella wound through the rich buttercream icing.  Mmm... chocolate hazelnut overload!

I like that Disney Princess wallpaper - we at Becca Towers fully believe in fairy tales, and doesn't every little girl secretly want to be a princess?

I'm still working on the polka dots.  They went slightly elongated when I rolled them out again.  Do you know how to prevent this?  Please do tell.

Here's a closer look at the supercute baby bottle shape.  There were a few extra cupcakes in the batch, so I made this one especially for a good friend who'd recently had her first baby.  We particularly like the name she chose, as The Team have been watching the Disney Channel's latest hit movie, Teen Beach Movie, and the star is a girl called - you guessed it - Layla.  Although they spell it a little strangely, as Lela.

 Next up is the rocking horse, perfect for wee Ruby.

And finally we have the onesie/babygro shape.  And although everyone thought this was for me, it wasn't! Crazy I know, but there are other women out there who think Rebecca is a marvellous name  ;)
Congratulations to everyone, Prince William and Princess Catherine of the UK, who has just had a baby.  All together now, awwww....