It's a little stunner...

Well I must start this week’s blog by saying….WAHOO! :) The reason for this is that my Feijoa and almond cake recipe was recently published in The Sunday Star Times newspaper, within Niki Bezzant’s column. They omitted my credit, so a nameless recipe but hey ho, that’s the way it goes sometimes! The recipe is in my second post of this blog and you can view it by following this link http://thepassionategroup.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-to-do-with-these-beautiful-green.html

This little stunner of a recipe made it into NZ's National Sunday paper

With the success of my feijoa cake in mind and a fruit bowl bursting with bananas, my latest creation is below. Try very, very hard not to cut into it straight away – I know the smell out of the oven is divine, but once cooled and iced you’ll be really glad you waited. 


Enjoy. TPB X

Toasted coconut at its finest

COCONUT & BANANA CAKE WITH VANILLA BEAN FROSTING


100g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
150g self raising flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ cup desiccated coconut
1 cup mashed banana

FROSTING


25g butter, softened
100g cream cheese
250g icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste (I use Equagold)


3 tablespoons shredded coconut, toasted (optional)


1. Heat oven to 180Oc, then grease and line a 19cm round cake tin. 
2. Combine the butter and sugar until creamy; add the eggs, flour and baking soda stirring well. Fold through the cinnamon, coconut and banana. Pour into prepared tin & place into oven for 4-50 minutes until golden brown on top and a skewer comes out clean. Place onto a wire rack to cool .
3. For the frosting. Beat the butter and cream cheese for a few minutes until well combined, slowly adding the icing sugar until desired thickness is required. Add the both the vanilla extract and paste, stir well and place into fridge to thicken a little.
4. Once the cake is completely cooled, ice and top with toasted coconut, sprinkles or whatever you fancy.