Desserts, desserts, desserts!

I don't know what is making crave so much sweets but there has always been some kind of baked good in the house in the last month. About 3-4 weeks ago I stumbled upon a recipe on the food network for a Banoffee Mess, or as I am used to hearing, a Banoffee Smash Pie. YUM! I used to eat this a lot when I was living in England and the shear memory made me run to the store to buy what I needed.

I made it for my parents, brother and sister in law and all of them ate it up like a piece of heaven. I was proud, though I must say I have very little merit! OK so it was pretty long to make, but it couldn't have been easier. A layer of homemade Dulce de Leche (condensed milk boiled for 3hrs) over top a graham cracker crust, topped with slices of fresh banana (fair trade and organic!) and slightly sweetened whipped cream. OH...MY...GOD! YUM. No picture yet again, but you will have to trust me on this... Get the recipe here and whip it up like...yesterday!

Two weeks ago I finally baked those spice cupcakes I had been meaning to make from the Red Velvet recipe. I simply replaced the 2tbsp of cocoa with 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp nutmeg and 1/2 tsp cloves..oh and 1 tsp ginger. I also added grated candied ginger and iced them with an almond scented butter cream. YUM! I ran out of icing, but I have 4 cupcakes left in my freezer!

Finally, last Tuesday I decided to bake (again with the Red velvet recipe) some black forest inspired cupcakes. I added 1/2 cup of Cocoa to the cupcakes instead of the 2 tsp, which made them denser as I didn't want to cut down on the flour. It may also have been because of the half butter and half margarine mixture... I guess you shouldn't play with a good recipe! For the cherries I re hydrated these tart cherries my mom found at Costco (see right)... they are awesome!

I simply simmered them on low heat in a simply syrup scented with vanilla. When the cupcakes were baked I cut out a hole, poured 2 tsp worth of syrup and packed in three cherries. They were iced with whipped cream and grated chocolate. Very good, but not worthy of great. I'm still looking for a variation of that Red Velvet that will blow my mom's socks off just as much without being so... dull to the rest of us. Nothing wrong with Red velvet, but I like a little more exotic :P

I'm thinking of making Easter basket cupcakes for next Saturday. My family is coming over for the traditional pineapple ham and cupcakes are still omnipresent in my mind for dessert. Maybe I will whip up that lovely pumpkin-carrot cake mix in cupcake form... What dessert is traditional for Easter in your household?

Happy Egg Hunting!