Whoopie Pies for Elvis

Fresh out of the oven

sugar and butter mixture - should be crumbly before adding cream, honey, and lemon juice

Assembly line

Chocolate glaze

The Good, the Bad, and the Yummy states that "Elvis might have been horribly misguided about drugs and sequins, but he got one thing right—peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

I couldn't agree more. Elvis was a smart man with an even smarter mother. It is rumored that his mom used to prepare his favorite sandwich for him- a peanut butter and banana sandwich on hawaiian bread. My own father used to love to each peanut butter on ritz crackers, also very yummy and I love peanut butter and honey on wheat bread. How do you combine all three? Only in a whoopie pie of course!

My friend Taryn and I decided to tackle the idea of an Elvis whoopie pie. Banana Whoopie's with a layer of salted peanut butter spread and honey buttercream, to top it all off and really make it K Bakes style Taryn had the brilliant idea of dipping them in chocolate. It seems like a lot of hard work but they really weren't that difficult, and all the ingredients really make these amazing. By adding mashed bananas to the whoopie pies it makes for a ultra moist cake that isn't too sweet, once paired with the thick peanut butter spread and the light sweet honey buttercream you can't resist but to bite into these. I think even Elvis would be proud of the chocolate addition.

All recipes are adapted from the brilliant book "Whoopie Pies" by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell

Banana Whoopie:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole weat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 3 very ripe bananas, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift together using a strainer or a sifter both flours, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Set aside
3. In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a hand mixer if you don't have a stand mixer) beat together the butter, shortening, sugar, and vanilla until light and creamy. Add in the eggs and beat until combined.
4. slowly add in the dry ingredients, once combined add in the mashed bananas and mix on medium speed for about 2 min.
5. Using a spoon or a pastry bag with a large round tip drop about 1-2 tablespoons of batter depending on how large you want to make them onto the prepared baking sheets spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake on the sheets for about 10 min, or until the cakes begin to brown slightly. remove from the oven and let the cakes cool on the sheet for a few min before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Fillings!!

Honey Buttercream:

• 3 cups of confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 to 4 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons of honey (I use Savannah Bee Company's Winter White Honey)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• pinch of salt

In the work bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the confectioners sugar and the butter, starting on low and increasing to medium speed, until the mixture is crumbly, about 1 minute. add the heavy cream, honey, lemon juice, and salt and beat on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Salty Peanut Butter:

• 3/4 cup of creamy or crunchy peanut butter (I used reduced fat creamy peanut butter at it was great)
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt (if you don't want it to be too salty you could just do a pinch of salt)

In the work bowl fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the peanut butter and butter on low speed until smooth and creamy. add the confectioners sugar and the salt and beat on low to incorporate. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the filling is light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.

Chocolate glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter at room temperature

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat just until it bubbles. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl and stir until smooth. add the butter and stir to blend.

TO ASSEMBLE:

Put both your fillings into pastry bags fitted with a large round tip or in a ziplock back with the tip cut off. Pipe the peanut butter filling on half of the whoopie pie's and the honey buttercream on the other half. Assemble by putting the honey buttercream whoopies on top of the peanut butter ones (so the heavier side doesn't crush the buttercream) Once they are assembled dip each one into the warm chocolate glaze, then cool on a rack. Place a sheet of parchment or waxed paper under the rack to catch the drippings.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Sauce

What I am experiencing right now should be illegal. I have been craving chocolate like it's going out of style the past few days but I haven't been able to bake much since my kitchen has been closed for a few weeks. I know sad, but hopefully it will be back in full swing soon. Back to my need for chocolate - I had chocolate chips, peanut butter, and a can of sweetened condensed milk. Who knew that just by mixing those three things together you could have the most amazing chocolate peanut butter topping to pour, yes pour over ice cream. Since I decided to make this at the last minute my camera is dead and I didn't get any photos, but good news! The lovely Nigella Lawson is here to show you exactly how to make it step by step. I could listen to her gorgeous english accent talk about chocolate all day. Make this. You will love it. There is nothing more to say.

All you need:

• Chocolate chips
• 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
• Peanut butter
• Boiling water
• Crushed peanuts (optional)

Oh if I only lived in Canada...

...Then I would order a ton of cupcakes from Coco Cake Boutique! One blog led to another blog which led to another which is how I came to find Coco Cake. Coco Cake is a small cupcake catering company in Vancouver, BC. It's owner's name is Lyndsay Sung and from what I can tell she is incredibly talented. According to the website cococake.com all the cupcakes and cakes are handmade, baked from scratch and decorated with vintage aesthetic, which I love. I pulled together some of my favorite creations to share with all of you so you can drool from afar with me. I hope you find them as inspiring as I do. You can also check our Lyndsay's creations on her blog here.

note: all images are from cococake.com

Banana Nut Cupcakes with Cinnamon + Honey Frosting

Whew, thank god the week is finally over. Now a new one is about to begin and I thought I would at least end this one on a high note by posting a new recipe. Last week I was desperate for a cupcake and I had yellow cake mix and bananas, so once again I decided to make Banana Nut cupcakes, only this time I made regular sized cupcakes since I can pretty much eat a dozen mini cupcakes on my own :-) Or at least I felt like I might at the time.

So since the recipe wasn't new I decided to use a new icing recipe. A few months ago I went to Savannah for a visit and I went to one of my favorite stores the Savannah Bee Company they carry a full line up of different flavored honey's and all are amazing. The store itself is a sight to be seen, they have a oversized honey comb where children can go and play, a full honey bar where you can taste each honey with a choice of local cheese, apples, and raw honey comb, or you can view a informative honey film while you shop. On my last trip I picked up some of their Winter White honey since I like sweets it was love at first sight. It is unlike any other honey I have ever tasted, it is creamy and has a hint of cinnamon in it. I knew right away it would be great in a dessert so I bought two of the 3 oz bottles (since I flew with a carry on, hah) and I was on my merry way.

So you can imagine how excited I was when I opened the cupboard and saw the honey staring me in the face. Rather then using regular honey as I had originally planned on and would have been delightful I am sure, I thought I could really make it spectacular by using the winter white honey! This frosting is now one of my new favorites, and I hope you guys enjoy it as well.

For the cupcakes see my Banana Nut Mini post here and follow the cupcake recipe, you can make this regular sized or mini - up to you.

For the icing you will need:

• 1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon of honey - if you can get your hands on some of the Winter White Honey then use that here.
• 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream

In a mixer fixed with a whisk attachment beat sugar, butter, honey, and cinnamon for 3-4 minutes. Once creamed together add the heavy whipping cream. Voila all done! I doubled the recipe for the amount of cupcakes I was making which was about 24.

If you like you can throw a few tablespoons of butter into a saute pan and brown, add some cut up bananas and a half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Heat through place in a bowl set aside until they cool to room temperature. Place one slice on top of each cupcake.