Flavour of the Month: Banana Chocolate Chip

We haven't been baking much. We've been too busy getting back to school. But what we have baked has been banana chocolate chip flavour. 

Over the years, the boys, and in saying that I include The Bavarian, have become very limited in the cakes they request. Brownies, carrot cake and coconut tray bake are their usual requests when I make the mistake of asking what they'd like. The only times of year they ask for biscuits are Advent and Easter. 

But recently they took me very much by surprise by asking for a banana and chocolate cake with coconut sprinkles. When I mentioned having to look up a recipe, Number One decided to play the parent on me and said "Before you do that, I have three questions for you". 

Me: OK

Him: Have you ever made banana cake or bread?

Me: Of course

Him: Have you ever made chocolate cake?

Me: You know I have

Him: Aha, and have you ever put coconut sprinkles on a cake or on buns?

Me, finally seeing where this is going: Yes

Him: So what do you need a recipe for? You can do it.

Pep talk over, he put on his coat and went to school, safe in the knowledge that his capable mother wouldn't let him down and knowing that Number Two was still at home to ensure I didn't try to change the plan. 

What the boys didn't now was that I have a recipe for a chocolate chip banana cake  in one of my notebooks. But under the watchful eye of Number Two I didn't feel I could go rooting it out and using it. We made a basic bun mixture, mashed in one and a half bananas, stirred in about 100g of chopped dark chocolate and baked it as a tray bake. When it was cool, I cut it in half and make a sandwich cake with chocolate ganache in the middle and on top. The whole thing got a good dusting of coconut and I awaited the verdict. 

It looked far from spectacular, but the boys loved it, as did our visitors. We were hard put to keep a slice over for The Bavarian, but he was very pleased we did. I am under instruction to make it again. 

A couple of days later, with the cake still fresh in our minds, I saw that Sinead from Bumbles of Rice had posted the recipe for her banana oat cookies with chocolate chips. I mentioned the combination to Number Two and he insisted we try them straight away. It was 8.45am. Normally at that time on a kindergarten morning I would try to put him off immediate baking, but these seemed so quick that we could get them made and baked before having to leave the hosue at 9.20am. And we did. 

Number Two did most of the work, starting with chopping chocolate into chunks. "I'll just taste it to make sure it is still good" is his catchphrase for these kind of jobs.

Mixing the banana, oats and chocolate chunks was a tougher job than Number Two thought. Luckily he had his Batman bicycle glove on to protect his hand, as you do while baking.

The mixture needed a final beating by mammy's strong hand to get the consistency right before being dolloped onto the baking tray.

After 12-15 minutes the cookies were ready to remove from the oven. They taste best left to cool fully and crisp up a bit on the outside. 

Number Two promptly packed a few straight into his lunchbox for kindergarten. Then he made the mistake of tasting them still warm. "Yuck" was his first reaction. Later in the day when he noticed me, Number One and Number Three tucking in, he gave them another go. This time round he enjoyed them better. So much so that we made another batch after dinner. 

So that's been our flavour of the month. I wonder what next month will bring.

A Family Camping Holiday in Frankonia, Germany

We recently returned from our second family camping holiday. It was our first with all three of the boys and it was a great success.

The Bavarian was responsible for the choice of location since 

a) we were going camping with Bavarian friends in Bavaria, and 

b) he wanted to do some fishing while we were there.

In the end he chose See* Camping Langlau, a campsite directly on the Small Brombach Lake in the Frankonian Lake District, not too far from Nuremberg, approximately a 2 hour drive from Munich and 3 hours from Karlsruhe.

*See is the German word for lake.

On Friday afternoon as soon as school finished up, we headed off, having loaded up the car in the morning. Thankfully traffic was reasonably good and the children too excited about the prospect of sleeping in a tent to argue much. We stopped for  a break after a couple of hours, the heat having got to us all a bit. 

Everything but the kitchen sink, as they say.

Our view as we devoured chips and stretched our legs before continuing our journey.

After a stop at the local fishing shop to top up on tackle and find out what works best when for which fish (or if you are me, after a 35-minute aimless wander round a fishing shop trying to entertain three children and keep them from breaking expensive sunglasses and binoculars), we finally reached the campsite, checked in and began to set up camp. This is when we realised that a canoe makes an excellent playpen.

We are by no means seasoned campers. Our tent has only had three outings, the first of which was in our garden. But we have good intentions and our levels of skill and organisation have increased from trip to trip. This time round, we had the tent up quite quickly. As the Bavarian and our friend set it up, the boys and I got to work unloading the roll-table, the fold-up chairs, the rucksacks and cool boxes.

I had put quite a bit of thought into the food for the weekend. With camping I am torn between cooking food outdoors and bringing food that just needs heating up or can be eaten cold. Both have their ups and downs. In the end we opted for a combination. We brought ready cooked pulled pork for Friday night and we had a barbecue on Saturday night (buying the meat locally on Saturday, the fishing expedition having proved unsuccessful in terms of catching). I made a couple of cakes (a banana-chocolate chip tray bake and an iced lemon loaf) that would do us just as well for breakfast as they would for with a coffee later in the day for a snack for the children. Both the cakes and the pulled pork went down a treat. The campsite shop sold fresh bread rolls in the mornings and we made coffee on our one-ring electric cooker (a bit of a cheat but the fishing shop had run out of gas canisters for the gas cooker).

Banana chocolate chip tray bake,squeezed into a lunch box.

My slow cooked pork joint, reheating in the marinade, ready for pulling and scoffing.

After we had set up camp and eaten our fill of pulled pork, salad and rolls, we set off at the onset of twilight to explore the lake shore. On booking we had requested tent spots near the lake and the ones we got were prefect. In less than a minute's walk we were at the small sandy beach of the lake. The four older children headed straight for the water and busied themselves with building a dam. The silouette of their playing was magical to watch and certainly put me in a holiday mood.

Our walk over, we put the children to bed. Within minutes all five were sound asleep. My concerns about Number Three not settling vanished when I saw how comfy he was in my sleeping bag with this brothers in theirs on either side of him. The adults returned to the camping chairs and made plans the following morning - fishing (the men) and beach (women and children).

A quick bit of exploring in the tent before falling sound asleep.

The rest of the weekend was an incredibly enjoyable, relaxed affair with plenty of sun, splashing, fresh air, good food, and a fair bit of fishing. We didn't have to leave the campsite all weekend and barely used the fantasic playground, so busy were we with the beach, the canoe and the fishing.

Sailboats on the lake on Saturday morning.

Suncream on the lens created this dreamy look of my boys playing on the beach.

For our two-night stay, each family paid approx. €60. That covered the two nights' tent spot, the car, two adults and two children over 3 each.  The campsite was clean and quiet, the washrooms regularly serviced with no need to queue for showers or toilets and the shop sold everything we needed. In addition to the playground, there is a surf-school and a reasonably-priced Italian restaurant on site. We ate at the restaurant on Sunday afternoon before heading for home and were quite impressed with the food. 

By the end of the weekend, I was left with a feeling of "why don't we do this more often?" and I have a feeling that now we will. 

This Week I've Loved....The Garden, Party Planning and Paddling

July is always a busy month in our house. With two birthdays to celebrate, holidays to pack for, fruit to be harvested in the garden and high temperatures luring us to the pool or the lake, we are kept on our toes. 

The past week has been especially busy but in a fun way - the ideal kind of busy. 

Our apple tree has been dropping hard, unripe apples all week, our kohlrabi plants are ready for harvesting and our Turkish plum tree has come into crop. The boys and I have spent a lot of time in the garden, alternately picking fruit and paddling in the paddling pool. With temperatures well over 35°C, we had to keep in the shade as much as possible. Where better to do that than under a plum tree?

Number Three was fascinated with the paddling pool and couldn't get enough of it. He was so brave, standing and splashing away with his hands, even though he is barely ten months.

We also celebrated Number Three's birthday with a Lego Movie themed birthday. Despite it being near 40°C we had a brilliant afternoon of fun with him and six of his friends. I find the German birthday party rule of thumb great - the number of children should be approximately the same as the age of the child. Number Three turned seven and invited six friends  - seven children. It makes for a manageable party and since most people go by that rule, there is no pressure to invite the whole of his class at school. 

Those were the highlights of my week. Tomorrow's bake sale at school should be lovely, seeing all the children queue up for cake with a Euro or two in their hand. This is my contribution (sorry for the bad photo). Dolphins are the latest craze with my boys. 

This is Motherhood #2

Enjoying spending three hours serving cake and doing the washng up at the kindergarten bring and buy sale because it means you managed to get out of the house dressed nicely, made up and with no children hanging out of you.

Squidgy Chocolate Pavlova Cake

Looking for a dessert with a wow effect that won't take up much of your valuable time? Or a cake to serve the grown-ups at a children's birthday party? This squidgy chocolate pavlova cake is quick, easy and delicious. Other than giving you the recipe, you don't really need me to say any more, do you?

OK, in case you are not convinced yet, let me say a few more things. I made this in 35 minutes (excluding time in the oven) while Number 1 was a school, Number 2 was drawing at the kitchen table and Number 3 was in the sling.  It is fuss-free and leaves very little to be washed up afterwards. There is no kneading, rolling out, cutting or piping required. And did I mention that it can be prepared a day ahead of being eaten, serves 6 to 8 people and tastes delicious?

Pavlova:
3 egg whites
150g sugar
2 heaped dsps cocoa powder
1/2 tsp cider vinegar or wine vinegar
Custard Filling:
40g custard powder
2 dsps sugar
500ml milk
100g really good quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa)

This really couldn't be handier to make. Pre-heat the oven to 140°C and line two baking trays with baking parchment. 
Whisk the egg whites till stiff. Add the sugar a spoonful at a time, making sure that the sugar crystals have dissolved before adding the next spoonful. Once all the sugar has been added and there are no specks of crystal visible, fold in the cocoa powder and the vinegar. 
Spread half of the mixture into a circle shape of 18-20 cm diameter on each of the baking trays and bake for 50 minutes. Switch off the oven and leave the pavlova in there to cool for an hour. Then remove it from the oven to finish cooling. 
If you are making this a day in advance of eating, then leave the pavlovas on the baking parchment after they have cooled fully, fold it around them, stack them and wrap tightly in clingfilm. Then place the pavlovas carefully somewhere where they will not get damaged before being used.
To make the filling, prepare custard with 500 ml of milk according the the instructions on the pack. I usually make custard in the microwave as it leaves no mess and is very quick. Once the custard is made, melt the dark chocolate and pour it into the custard. Beat it well with a whisk to combine the two. Then cover the surface of the custard with a sheet of greaseproof papaer or baking parchment to prevent a skin developing. Leave to cool but do not refrigerate unless you are making the custard a day in advance of assembling and eating the cake.
To assemble, place one pavlova on a flat plate or cake stand. Whisk the chocolate custard well until it is smooth and creamy. Spread all the custard onto the pavlova. Top with the second pavlova. Just before serving, sieve icing sugar over the top. 
If there are leftovers, they make the perfect mid-morning treat with a cuppa the next day. Ultra squidgy - you need the cuppa to wash it down.