Sticky Toffee Pudding with Orange Custard

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // April 8, 2015 // 22 Comments

Rich toffee sponge pudding covered in sinfully sticky sauce, served warm with orange flavoured custard.

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Let’s talk about pudding again, shall we? I’ve talked before about how in Britain the term “pudding” means any kind of dessert, well we also have a type of pudding called pudding – because why keep things simple and easy to understand! This type of pudding is generally sponge based and usually steamed, there’s lots of different types including the ever giggle inducing spotted dick and well known Christmas pudding! Sticky toffee pudding is probably one of the most loved though, it’s hard to resist that deep toffee flavour and gooey, sticky sauce it’s covered in!

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Banoffee Muffins

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // February 18, 2015 // 38 Comments

Insanely delicious and moist, these Banoffee Muffins are full of yummy banana and sweet toffee flavour – with perfect high muffin tops

I love smooshing words together to make one new word, which is probably why I say y’all every other sentence even though I’m painfully English! For those of you who don’t know what banoffee is – first of all, I’m sorry, because that means you’ve never had the heavenly experience of banoffee pie! Banoffee is a combination of Banana and Toffee, banoffee pie is a no bake pie with toffee, fresh bananas and whipped cream and it’s to die for. I actually have a recipe for it that I posted last year. This year though I decided banoffee would be an amazing muffin flavour and boy was I right!

It’s no secret that I like to buy bunches of bananas and leave them in the fruit bowl to go brown so I can bake with them – I don’t actually like eating bananas by themselves. So I had 4 bananas getting very, very brown and I had to decide what to do with them, my first thought was chocolate banana ice cream and these muffins. I made the chocolate banana ice cream first and while it was it was delicious I couldn’t stop thinking about this muffin idea! Especially since I had a bag of Heath Toffee Bits that I brought back from America with me that would be perfect for them. So out to buy more bananas I went – supermarkets should really have a section of very ripe bananas so I don’t have to play the waiting game! I mean, they sell still green ones so why not already brown ones?!

These muffins were totally worth the wait though. The little bits of toffee melt into the muffin making them indescribably moist and bursting with sweetness all over. The toffee is perfectly balanced with the amazing banana flavour in every bite, the two flavours really do compliment each other in the best way. And while these muffins are incredibly moist, they’re not too dense or heavy, they have the perfect muffin texture with high, chewy muffins tops. There are also semi sweet chocolate chips dispersed throughout, to cut through the sweetness of the banana and toffee and also because I like my banoffee pie with a tad of chocolate (just the way I like life too!).

And don’t just take my word on how good these muffins are. My mum’s work colleagues are my willing taste testers and one of them referred to these muffins as “stunning and better than sex”, which is a pretty good testimonial in my book! So trust us on this one, make these muffins and everybody who tries them will be your new best friend – got your eye on a promotion at work? Pop a basket of these muffins on your boss’s desk and you’re a shoe-in…. not that I’m advocating bribery (nothing wrong with a little buttering up though, hey?).

The one and only downside to these muffins is you can’t buy Heath Toffee Bits in the UK, so I’m waiting on the best friend to mail me over a few bags so I can make these again. In the mean time though I might try experimenting with toffee products I can get here in the UK, or perhaps I’ll try making my own toffee crunch. If you can’t get Heath Toffee Bits where you live and you decide to experiment with other things (which I highly encourage, even if they don’t come out perfect I’m willing to bet the experiments will still be delicious!) please do let me know how it turned out. And hey, if the makers of Heath Toffee want to send me some Toffee Bits they’d be very warmly received -wink wink-

A muffin isn’t a muffin with a nice high, chewy top so I can’t ever post a recipe for muffins without including how I make sure I always get one – the secret is to fill the muffin cases or holes to the top and baking on a higher temperature for the first ten minutes of baking. Because of all the moistening factors in these muffins I used bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and vinegar as my leavening agent so they wouldn’t end up too dense, it really gives them a great lift.

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Banoffee Muffins

2015-02-17 22:32:27

Yields 12

Insanely delicious and moist, these banoffee muffins are bursting with sweet toffee and banana flavour.

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Ingredients

220g plain flour (all purpose)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 bag of Heath Toffee Bits (8oz/225g)
200g semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 very ripe bananas
125ml Vegetable oil
1 tbsp white vinegar
2 large eggs
100g brown sugar

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 230C/450F. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with papers.
Add the flour, cinnamon and bicarb to a bowl and whisk to combine. Remove 1 tbsp and put in medium bowl. Set both aside.
Mash the bananas in a large bowl (you can also put them in blender if you want them smooth, I like a few small lumps in mine).
Beat in the oil and vinegar until combined.
Add the eggs one at a time and beat to combine.
Add sugar and beat to combine.
Add flour (not reserved 1 tbsp) and gently beat until just combined (do not overmix).
Remove 1-2 tbsp of the toffee bits and set aside, add the remaining toffee bits and chocolate chips to the bowl with the 1tbsp flour mixture and stir to coat (this helps stop them all sinking to the bottom of the muffins)
Gently stir the toffee bits and chocolate chips into the muffin batter by hand until evenly dispersed.
Spoon batter into muffin papers, up to the top. Sprinkle the tops with the reserved 1-2 tbsp of toffee bits.
Bake for 10 minutes at 230C/450F. Without opening the oven door, turn the oven down to 200C/400F and bake for a further 10-15 minutes, until muffins are golden brown and skewer comes out without wet batter.
Cool in tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
Yummy served warm or cooled

Notes

It's important not to over mix the batter, the less you mix it the lighter your crumb will be
I used Heath bits o' brickle toffee bits, but I'm sure the milk chocolate ones would be good too
Store in air tight container for 3-5 days

By Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake

A Tipsy Giraffe https://www.atipsygiraffe.com/

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Brown Sugar & Pecan Caramel Bundt Cake

by giraffescanbake // June 13, 2014 // 61 Comments

Oh my god you guys, Oh. My. God. It’s is Fiesta Friday #20 and I have brought something really special! This brown sugar & pecan caramel pound cake, it is amazing. You NEED to try it. It’s a pound cake but it’s so, so light and moist, and the brown sugar combined with the toffee and caramel is to die for. I will be making this cake again, several times.

Leah’s mum has been asking me to make her this cake for a while now after she saw a photo of one on Facebook and I finally got around to doing it for her. I wish I hadn’t waited so long, so many missed opportunities to enjoy this cake. Luckily for me I made enough batter for two bundt tins so I got to have one too!

There is a lot of sugar in this cake, mostly brown sugar. And it has chopped pecans nestled inside and lots of yummy heath toffee bits! Then it’s topped with a very generous helping of caramel sauce. So much sweet, caramel flavour in this cake it’s like heaven… and definitely not for the health nuts! But everyone deserves a treat every now and then right?

Father’s day is this weekend too, and if this isn’t a perfect father’s day cake I don’t know what is! Who needs hallmark when you have this much caramel to indulge in!

And the best part? It’s so easy to make! You just beat the butter, cream it with the sugar, beat in the eggs and add the dry ingredients and the milk. Stir in your pecans and toffee and bake! Then the caramel sauce is just as easy to make, just heat the condensed milk with sugar, whisk in the butter and vanilla and you’re done. You want to pour on the caramel sauce while it’s still hot as it does harden a little as it cools.

I’m not sure what else I can say about this cake that isn’t just me gushing about how much I love it! So instead I’ll let you guys try it out for yourselves. It is Fiesta Friday after all, this week’s is co-hosted by Fae and Suzanne so make sure you go check them out! And, of course, a big thanks to Angie for bringing us this wonderful party every week!

I recently updated this recipe with new photos and made it gluten free, make sure you check it out here!

[recipe title=”Brown Sugar & Pecan Caramel Pound Cake”]
Ingredients

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup caster sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
1 bag heath toffee bits (8oz)
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

For the caramel sauce:

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14oz)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 160C/325F. Grease your bundt pan(s) well.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside
Beat the butter until pale and creamy. Beat in sugars until fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined.
Add the flour mixture and milk alternatively, starting and ending with the flour. Beat until just combined.
Stir in the toffee bits and pecans.
Spoon batter into pans and bake for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, until skewer comes out clean. After 50 minutes of baking, lightly cover with foil to stop it browning too much at top. Leave to cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack.
While cake is cooling make the caramel sauce. In a medium saucepan, combined condensed milk and brown sugar and bring to the boil over a medium high heat, whisking often. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes, whisking often. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. Leave to cool for 5 minutes
Pour the caramel sauce over the cooled cake, you want to do this while the sauce is still hot as it hardens slightly as it cools.
Garnish with more pecan halves, serve

Notes:

Make sure you grease your pan well as this is a very moist cake and it can be a bit of a pain to coax out without breaking! I use this home made pan release and it’s great.
This cake is great eaten right after you’ve added the sauce, when it’s all warm and gooey (be careful the sauce isn’t too hot, don’t want any burned tongues!)
This recipe will make one 12 cup bundt pan cake, or almost two 6 cup bundt pan cakes (I had one slightly smaller one)
Store in an airtight container for 3-5 days

[/recipe]

Banoffee Pie

by giraffescanbake // March 16, 2014 // 6 Comments

As you probably know, yesterday was Pi Day. I’ll take any excuse to eat pie and it has no calories if I make it myself, right? I went with Banoffee Pie because it’s so yummy and there’s no need to fuss with any pastry if you don’t want to. Banoffee Pie is an English dessert, it’s made from bananas, toffee and fresh whipped cream. Mine also has an oreo crust and shaved chocolate because I’m a firm believer that chocolate makes almost everything better!

In case you hadn’t guessed it yet, it gets its name from smooshing banana and toffee together, like a perfect marriage that rivals even your biggest OTP!

I did make this pie on Pi day, but we had a busy day yesterday and after stuffing our face with these amazing black bean flautas (I know this is a baking blog, but you definitely need to try them they’re so good) it was 11:30pm by the time I finished baking the pie, hence why you’re getting this post a day late!

It’s been a very stressful few days for me. I’m in Atlanta right now and I was supposed to fly home to the UK on Thursday night, but I got to the airport only to be told by the checking in agent that they wouldn’t allow me to fly because my passport had been damaged! And I can tell you this now, it’s a very scary thing to be told you’re being denied permission to fly! It’s going to work out okay, I’m still in the US but I’m taking a trip to the British Embassy on Tuesday to get an emergency travel document so I can fly home without a valid passport on Thursday. It’s going to cost me a small fortune and I’m missing a Fall Out Boy concert, but that’s where pie comes in to make me feel better!

The caramel toffee in a banoffee pie is traditionally made by boiling cans of condensed milk but I have never made it that way, it’s not that hard to do but I’m too impatient to wait the few hours it takes – plus there’s also a danger the can could explode if you don’t keep it fully submerged and that sounds like something that would happen to me! I made my caramel by cooking butter, brown sugar and condensed milk until a caramel formed. I’ll be honest with you, I did over cook mine a little and so I ended up with a very hard caramel, which isn’t necessarily bad it’s just a bit hard to eat in pie form! You want to remove it from the heat once it turns thick and golden.

I used an oreo crust, which I just made by crushing whole oreos and mixing them with melted butter (you can crush them in a food processor or, if your food processor is full of spicy avocado dip like ours was, you can get your happy helper to crush them in a bag like I did, thanks Leah!). Then you press it into your pan and allow to cool and harden. You then pour in the caramel and top with a few banana slices (I like some of the banana to get all set in the set caramel yum) and put in the fridge for at least an hour, until completely cooled. Then top with more sliced bananas, whip up some cream and stir in yet more sliced bananas and spoon it over the pie, then just decorate with shaved chocolate

You can, of course, present this much more neatly. You can pipe on the whipped cream and arrange the bananas on top in pretty patterns instead of stirring them into the cream, but I like it all mixed up in the cream. And honestly, I like the messy rustic look for this pie! You obviously want to keep it chilled, just take it out of the fridge about 15 minutes before you plan to serve it. If you’ve never had banoffee before, trust me you’re gonna love it. There’s something about banana and toffee together that tastes so good, honestly toffee without banana just tastes wrong to me! It’s the perfect end to a very stressful week!

[recipe title=”Banoffee Pie”]

Ingredients

For the base:

300g Oreos, finely crushed
90g melted butter

For the toffee:

100g butter
100g light brown sugar
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (396g can)

For the topping:

3 ripe bananas, sliced
250ml double cream
Shaved chocolate

Method

Grease a 22cm springform tin and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Mix the butter and crushed Oreos and press into the tin to make the crust. Place in the fridge while you make the toffee caramel
To make the toffee, melt the butter and sugar in a non stick pan over a low heat, stirring continuously.
Once the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved, add the condensed milk and mix well.
Bring to a rapid boil, stirring constantly, until you get a thick golden caramel (about 5 mins)
Pour onto the Oreo base and press a few banana slices into the toffee, allow to cool, chill for at least an hour
Remove the pie from the tin and transfer to your serving plate
Place more banana slices over the top, lightly covering it
Whip the cream until you have stiff peaks and gently stir in the remaining sliced bananas
Spoon the cream over the top and sprinkle shaved chocolate over the top (you can use a grater to do this or, to get curls, run a potato peeler down the edge of a bar of chocolate)
Keep chilled and remove from fridge 15 minutes before serving

[/recipe]