Scraps and Snippets ~ Banana Pecan Bundt Cake

I told you'd I'd have a bundt recipe for you today. Saturday was national Bundt Cake Day, and I needed to take a dessert to church for a missions conference. 

Let me tell on myself. I had two desserts to toss together and both were going to be bundt cakes but DANG IT I couldn't find my bundt pan. I gave up and put the Peanut Butter Mocha cake in a 9 x 13. 

Then I found the pan. Duh. Right where I put it. 

I'll share the Peanut Butter Mocha cake when I have a chance to tweak it and put it into the bundt cake scenario. 

But until then, here's a lovely, dense, moist Banana Pecan Bundt Cake. 

The cinnamon frosting glaze and crunchy pecan topping is pretty tasty. The texture is a nice mix of banana bread and cake. 

1 Cup non-dairy milk
2 TBSP ground flaxseed
2 teaspoons lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
1 1/3 Cup sugar (add more sugar if you want a sweeter cake. This is not a super sweet cake, but the topping and frosting are.)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/3 Cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 Cup shortening, coconut oil or Earth Balance
2 ripe bananas 
1/2 Cup chopped pecans 

In a small bowl mix the milk, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice with the flax seed and stir. Let sit while you cream the shortening and sugar. Add the bananas and mix well. Add the baking powder, salt and cinnamon and blend well. Poor the milk mixture and vanilla in the bowl and blend. Add the flour and pecans and stir until incorporated. 

Let mixture sit while you mix the following. Preheat the oven to 350.

Cinnamon Pecan Crunch 

1/2 Cup chopped pecans
1/4 Cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon sugar 
(Double if you want more crunch and sweetness.)

Mix and pour into a greased bundt pan. 

Pour the cake batter over the crunch. 

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

Remove and let sit for 20  minutes. 

Pop the bundt cake out onto a plate. 

Mix the frosting and pour over the cooled cake. 

Cinnamon Frosting

2 TBSP non dairy milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Cup powdered sugar

Mix. Add either powder sugar or additional milk until the consistency is right. 

Sprinkle with additional chopped pecans if you desire. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ National Bundt Cake Day

 is coming Saturday. And I have a potluck this weekend so guess what I'll be making? I'll share the recipe on the 17th. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ Baffle Me

  Recently I've noticed a few things that cause me ask why.  Why? 10X mirror? I mean, without it, I'd never be able to do my eyebrows again. So I appreciate this little product. But when I occasionally look up, down, left of right of my eyebrows I get a little start. Let's just say 10X mirrors magnify the good, the bad and the saggy to way bigger than life.

And then I am totally baffled by the object in the picture. I have three climate knobs and they each have the identical raised pattern. So I'm wondering. It can't be braille for a few reasons. 1) a person who reads braille should probably not be driving. 2) If all three knobs have the identical markings it can't be for identification purposes. 3) You push the entire knob and so anywhere you hit is going to get results. So, why?

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ First Snow for Pups

For some reason the snow and arrival of winter weather threw me. I mean, I live in an area that certainly gives huge clues of climate changes. And winter comes every stinkin year. There are degrees of winter, but, it isn't a "hmmmm, did we have winter this year?" kind of a place. Ya know. 

I spose I shoulda prepared the pups. But I just didn't think I needed to. Yet. 

Here are the degrees of winter awareness and acceptance. In this instance there are four degrees. 

The first response was porch statuing. That is where they refused to move and turned to stone. Once I stepped out into the white foreign substance they followed. (They'd probably make me test their food and drink if they could speak and owned scepters. No, wait. I think they do consider me a food tester. Except I'm eating people food that they legitimately think is theirs.)

Second was the discovery phase where they basked in the newness of it all. Many minutes in the still silence of the gray blanket of cold were punctuated with deep sniffing and snoodling. 

Thirdly was the discovery of this amazing, miraculous substance's perks. It's edible. Thin layers of it could be broken off and consumed. Greedy snow grazing commenced.

Finally, the marking of the snow. This is their snow. Nobody but nobody needs to doubt that. 

At least they didn't stand and bark at it. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Okay, Not Pretty, But EASY and Pretty Tasty ~ Vegan Chili Cheese Dogs

This is one of those almost embarrassing recipes. You know, open a bag, toss in a canned item, apply heat, Bammo!

Vegan Chili Cheese Dogs

1 Package LightLife Smart Dogs (Or other of choice) (8 dogs)

1 16 ounce can of chili spiced beans (I used chili sauced pinto beans)

Approx 1/2 Cup shredded Vegan cheese (I used Daiya's Pepperjack) 

Hot dog buns

Toppings: 

Ketchup

Mustard

chopped onions

dill or sweet pickle relish

Preheat oven to 350. Semi-slice the hot dogs longwise down the middle. Slice only half way through the dog. Open the dog and lay sliced side down and pop in the oven for about 10 minutes. I'd line the pan with parchment paper or grease the pan, as my hot dogs stuck a bit. 

This will heat the hot dog through a bit and give a nice warm surface for the beans and cheese. 

Flip the hot dogs over and spoon beans over the dogs. Sprinkle cheese over them. With vegan cheese, in my opinion, less is better. 

Place the pan back in the oven for 14 minutes. If desired, turn oven to broil until cheese is fully melted. 

Open hot dog buns, slide a chili dog onto each bun and top as desired.

Scraps and Snippets ~ Chocolate Fudge Cake Two Ways.

 This is the chocolate fudge decadent cake I made for my brother and sister-in-laws' wedding in October. It was dense, fudge, moist and delicious. All that was left on the plate was a few smears. 

A week or so later the little kids and I whipped up a batch as cupcakes. Delicious. Even after the near misses that happen when 7, 5 and 3 year olds are involved in a baking process. And even though the batch made enough cupcakes we had some several days out. 

Chocolate Fudge Cake and Cupcakes 

27-32 cupcakes (60ish mini cupcakes) or 3 round or 8 x 8 layers

2 1/2 Cups sugar

1 Cup and 2 TBSP of Earth Balance or coconut oil or mix

3 teaspoons baking powder

1+ teaspoon salt

1 Cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 Cups strong hot coffee

1 1/2 Cups milk of choice (chocolate soy or almond adds a nice punch)

1/2 Cup chocolate chips

3 TBSP apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla

In small bowl place milk and vinegar, set aside. In an additional small bowl pour the hot coffee over the chocolate chips and stir on and off until they are melted, add vanilla and set aside. Cream butter substitute and sugar together. Add salt and baking powder and mix well. Add the milk and vinegar mixture and incorporate. Pour in chocolate mixture and mix and finally mix in the flour and stir until the flour is fully mixed in. 

Grease and flour pans or line cupcake pans. 

Preheat oven to 350. Pour the batter into the pans equally or fill the cupcake liners almost 2/3rds full. 

Bake 20-25 minutes testing the cake/cupcakes with a knife that should come out clean for cakes. Cupcakes bake for 15-18 minutes (mini cupcakes 12-14 minutes) 

Remove and let cool

Frosting. 

Ratios because I do something different every stinking time: 

Approximately 1 cup vegan butter, vegan cream cheese or shortening to 3 cups powdered sugar (for fudge frosting use 2/3 or to taste cup of cocoa for powdered sugar). A splash of vanilla (about 1 teaspoon) (if you want wedding frosting taste use a half splash of almond extract, too)  Mix well. Add more powdered sugar or cocoa if wet or if too stiff add a TBSP or so of non-dairy milk (or coffee if you are making fudge and want mocha frosting) until you get the consistency you want. 

When the cake or cupcakes are cooled, frost. For the raspberry wedding cake I had washed and dried 2 cups of raspberries and placed them on the frosted cake. I then melted 1 cup of chocolate chips in a heated 2/3 Cup of non-dairy milk. Then drizzle over the raspberries and cake layers. 

Scribbles and Scrambles ~ NaNOWriMO Will I or Won't I?

So. I have two major reasons I'm not participating in NaNoWriMo this year. 

Can you guess what they might be?