Time for some homemade treat
Being creative in the kitchen is always fun to do. And besides being fun, it's also often tasty. In addition, you are busy with it for a while and that is always good to do something different than sitting behind your PC. Browsing the internet, reading interesting articles, well you know it. It takes up a lot of our time. Not a bad thing, because you also get something in return. But if you then feel the need to do something different, I think it's always a great idea to get creative in the kitchen. And there are many fun things to think of. The advantage of that is, it's fun, it's tasty, and when you're done and sit down with your homemade treat and a cup of coffee. Then you can write a blog about it again! Very practical! The only thing I have to think about a lot more is … that I have to take pictures of my creative activities in the kitchen. And that's where it usually goes wrong.
This time I tried to think about the photos. So that I could share it with you later.
My boyfriend's idea
I had been looking for a nice recipe idea on the internet for a while to make with the fresh strawberries we have in the garden. Strawberries are seriously one of my favorite fruits and I'm very happy that we can finally enjoy them to the fullest this year. Not that we didn't have strawberries before, that wasn't the problem. But we had 2 dogs there that took every strawberry off the plants before they could even ripen and turn red. Lexxieboy and Rowan scored every strawberry away before we got a chance to enjoy it. And yes, we could have done something about it by putting the strawberries higher, putting a fence around them. Or do I know a lot about other measures. But in all honesty I must say that we actually thought it was really cute to see those two boys standing together at the strawberry plants and scoring every strawberry before we wanted to. It became a sport to watch, and when we saw a green strawberry that almost started to turn red, we hoped that this time it would get the red color… only to see another dog run away with the still green strawberry. Even though we wanted to enjoy strawberries ourselves of course, it had also become a source of entertainment to see those two boys enjoying this delicious summer fruit.
Now, however, the strawberry-scoring dogs have become a “Golden Memory”. And the 3 dogs we have now walking around, suddenly don't care about the strawberries anymore. Skipper never saw the other two because he wasn't here then. And Myla and Lana don't like it without Lex and Rowan, they now much rather run after balls.
So it's time for us to enjoy this summer fruit ourselves. And that made me look for a delicious recipe for a cake or a dessert in which strawberries should be used. I had been browsing for a recipe for two days, and believe me. I found a lot of them, but not really an idea where I immediately said "That should be it!". And apparently, the search took a little too long for my friend's feeling. Because the next day he suddenly came back from shopping with BANANAS.
Done searching, now time for ACTION
He had been to the supermarket and had seen Butter Cake there. But didn't buy it because at that moment it suddenly crossed his mind that it seemed nice to make a butter cake, with bananas processed in it. Because of course, we don't have a banana tree, he did buy bananas … but left the butter cake. So when he got home he said; ¨You wanted to do something creative in the kitchen?”. And put the bananas in front of me. With a package of ready-made Butter Cake mix from Dr. Oetker. Once he had explained what the idea should be, I thought it would be nice. So the next day I got going.
In the kitchen
If don´t have Dr. Oetker mix for butter cake, don't worry at all! What you need for a butter cake is not that much. And they are all easy ingredients too. The result is very tasty, so I would say, give it a try.
- 250 grams wheat flour
- 200 grams of (white caster) sugar
- 200 grams unsalted butter
- vanilla extract 1 teaspoon or 1 sachet vanilla sugar
- 1 egg
- small pinch of salt
- 24 / 26 centimeter spring form
And in my case, this time it was a Dr. Oetker mix for Butter Cake, and I added ... 2 Bananas
Now it was very simple, first, make the recipe as I have made before. Start by mixing the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until smooth and airy. Then add the vanilla extract. Beat the egg well and add to the mixed butter and sugar, don´t add all the egg because you´ll need a little at a later time. When the egg is fully mixed, start adding the flour, adding a little at a time each time. so that everything mixes together for a smooth and airy dough.
When I had done this it was time to mash one of the two bananas and mix it into my dough. I beat the dough much longer than I normally would. But I also suspect that this has provided an extra light-hearted result.
So after a banana had been mixed through the dough, and the dough was nice and smooth and airy without coarse pieces of banana, it was time to put my dough in the springform. When you have the dough evenly distributed in the springform pan, use the last bit of egg you left out of the dough at the beginning. Brush the top of your butter cake dough with this before putting it in the oven.
I cut the second banana into slices and placed them on top of the dough in the springform. Sprinkled with some cinnamon ... and bake for about 20 / 30 minutes at 185 degrees. And now that everything was ready and the butter cake was baking in the oven, it was time to let my little Myla Mouse enjoy. Because even though I'm just doing my things, I'm also thinking about her health. She is noticeably aging, and age-related ailments are increasing. Making memories while we still can!
Coffee with Butter Cake
The Butter Cake was allowed to cool after it came out of the oven. And it was a good thing my friend was still at work. Because I'm sure that when he smelled what came out of the oven, he immediately yelled that we had to cut it, while something cold is really better.
When he came home from work it was time to cut my Butter Cake, and together we celebrated the start of the weekend while enjoying a piece of Butter Cake with a cup of coffee.
The butter cake was very much appreciated. The bananas were indeed a very nice addition and the taste with which my boyfriend has been eating his butter cake is the biggest compliment you can get.
Missed opportunity
This butter cake recipe will certainly be made more often… although it is of course true that I also really have to find something with strawberries to make. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the strawberry milkshakes I made yesterday.
Maybe one day I'll learn to remember to take pictures of the creative excesses in the kitchen. In any case, it is again a reason for me to say, “I have to work my food photography up about 3 levels”.