Lately, I've been working on finding a few 'go -to' recipes for delicious cakes made from scratch.
I'm not interested in the fancy decorated kind.  What I was looking for was more along the lines of something simple, yet special to make for those times when your grown kids and young grandchildren come over, just like my grandma used to make.

So, after sorting through and trying a few, I've found some keepers.

Starting with this Banana Cake by Cooking Classy

This one is a bit different than the one I used to make when the kids were younger.  

Though that was one tasty cake, this one is even better. 

 I think it might be the frosting.  The frosting in this recipe is killer!

Here is her recipe.  Head or to her site for all her tips and more recipes that look delicious.

Banana Cake 
Ingredients

• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Mashed overripe bananas
• Lemon juice
• Granulated sugar and brown sugar
• Butter
• Vegetable oil
• Eggs
• Vanilla
• Buttermilk
• Heavy cream
• Cream Cheese
• Powered sugar

How to Make Banana Cake

• Preheat oven and butter and line cake pans.
• In a bowl whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
• Mash bananas with 1 tsp lemon juice.
• In a stand mixer whip together butter, 2 Tbsp vegetable oil, sugars until pale and fluffy.
• Stir in remaining 2 Tbsp vegetable oil then blend in eggs one at a time.
• Stir in vanilla and mashed bananas.
• Stir in flour and buttermilk alternating with several additions.
• Divide batter evenly among prepared cake pans and spread batter into an even layer.
• Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 – 50 minutes.
• Allow to cool completely then frost with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting.

Baylee's 21st Birthday

  

Here is THE BEST chocolate cake recipe.

And this Cranberry Orange Cake.  I made it at Christmas time and we devoured it!  So delicious!   

I've made a few recipes from the Modern Honey site and they have all been very good.

New York Style Cheesecake

Serves 12

Crust:
8 whole graham crackers, broken into 1-inch pieces
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons sugar

Filling:
2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, cut into chunks and softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tsp juice from 1 lemon
2 tsp vanilla
6 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature

1.  For the crust:  Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325.  Process the graham cracker pieces in a food processor to fine, even crumbs, about 30 seconds.  Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of the melted butter and the sugar over the crumbs and pulse to incorporate.  Sprinkle the mixture into a 9-inch springform pan.  Press the crumbs firmly in an even layer.  Bake the crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, 10-15 minutes.  Cool the crust to room temp; about 30 minutes.

2.  For the filling:  Meanwhile, increase the oven temp to 500 degrees.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese on med-low speed until smooth, 1-3 minutes.  Scrape down the bowl and beaters as needed.

3.  Beat in 3/4 cup of the sugar and salt until incorporated, 1-3 minutes.  Beat in the remaining 3/4 cup sugar until incorporated, 1-3 minutes.  Beat in the sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla until incorporated, 1-3 minutes.  Beat in the whole eggs and egg yolks, two at a time, until combined; 1-3 minutes.

4.  Being careful not to disturb the baked crust, brush the inside of the prepared springform pan with the remaining 1 tablespoon melted butter.  Set the pan on a rimmed baking sheet.  Carefully pour the filling into the pan.  Bake the cheesecake for 10 minutes.

5.  Without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temp to 200 degrees and continue to bake until the center of the cheesecake registers 150 degrees on an instant read thermometer, about 1 1/2 hours.

6.  Transfer the cheesecake to a wire rack and run a knife around the edge of the cake.  Cool the cheesecake until just barely warm, 2 1/2-3 hours, running a knife around the edge of the cake every hour or so.  Wrap the pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, about 3 hours.

7.  To unmold the cheesecake, wrap a wet hot kitchen towel around the cake pan and let sit for 1 minute.  Remove the sides of the pan and carefully slide the cake onto a cake platter.
The recipe I used from America's Test Kitchen says to  let the cheesecake sit a room temperature for 30 minutes before serving, but I personally like my cheese cake more chilled, right out of the refrigerator.  This cheese cake tastes even better the next day.

For neater slices, clean the knife thoroughly between slices.  Serve with topping- recipe below.

STRAWBERRY TOPPING:
makes about 6 cups
I made the following recipe as it is only I used fresh raspberries with the strawberry jam instead of strawberries.  It was so good.

2 pounds fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and cut lengthwise into 1/4 to 1/8 inch slices
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt
1 cup strawberry jam
2 T juice from 1 lemon

1.  Toss the berries, sugar, and salt in med bowl; let stand until the berries have released their juices and the sugar has dissolved, about 30 minutes, tossing occasionally to combine.
2.  Process the jam in the food processor until smooth, about 8 seconds; transfer to small sauce pan.  Bring the jam to a simmer over med-high heat; simmer, stirring frequently, until dark and no longer frothy, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the lemon juice; pour the warm liquid over the strawberries and stir to combine.  Let cool, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 2 hours or up to 12 hours.  To serve, spoon a portion of topping over each slice of cheesecake.

Butternut Squash Soup

I recently made this soup for Sadie's baby shower, it's one of my favorites!   

Since a few people asked for the recipe, I thought I'd activate the blog and share it today.

Butternut Squash Soup

Serves 4-6 

Lightly tasted pumpkin seeds, drizzles of balsamic vinegar or cinnamon and sugar croutons make wonderful toppings for this soup. 

 4 Tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter 
1 large shallot, minced (about 1/4 cup)
 2 1/2 - 3 pounds butternut squash (about 1 large squash) cut in half lengthwise, each half cut in half width-wise; seeds and fibers scraped out and reserved. 
2 apples- peeled and seeded- cut in quarters.
 6 cups of water 
Table salt
 1/2 cup heavy cream 
1 tsp brown sugar 
pinch of nutmeg

 Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium to low heat. Add the shallot and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent, about 3 minutes. 
 Add the seeds and fibers from the squash and cook with the onions, stirring occasionally until the butter turns a saffron color, about 4 minutes. 
 Add the water to the onion and seeds and fibers and 1 teaspoon salt to the pot and bring to a boil over high heat.
 Reduce the heat to med-low. 
 Place the squash, cut side down and the apples into a steamer basket and lower the basket into the pot. Cover and steam until the squash is completely tender, about 30 minutes. 
 Take the pot off the heat and use tongs to transfer the squash to a rimmed baking sheet. 
 When cool enough to handle, use a large spoon to scrape the flesh from the skin. Reserve squash flesh in a bowl and discard the skin. Strain the steaming liquid through a strainer into a second bowl; discard the solids in the strainer. (You should have 2 1/2-3 cups liquid) Rinse and dry the pot. 
Working in batches and filling the blender jar halfway for each batch, puree the squash, adding enough reserved steaming liquid to obtain a smooth consistency. On my blender there is a setting for soup which smoothed it perfectly. If you don't have that make sure you blend until completely smooth leaving no texture or chunks in your soup. This will make it taste better and look pretty. 
Transfer the puree to the clean pot and stir in the remaining steaming liquid, the cream and brown sugar. 
 Warm the soup over medium-low heat until hot, about 3 minutes. 
 Stir in the nutmeg and make sure to season with more salt- (seasoning with more salt will really bring out all the flavors) 
Serve and enjoy. 
The soup can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Warm over low heat until hot; do not boil. 

 Note- if you buy your squash at Costco already chopped and ready to boil- that works too but doesn't give you all the seeds and fibers- in that case when I made it I grabbed a couple carrots that I had and put them in in place of all the squash guts  and it was just as tasty.

 Buttered Cinnamon-Sugar Croutons 
 2 slices hearty white sandwich bread, crusts removed cut into 1/2inch cubes (about 1 cup) 
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
 2 tsps sugar 
1/2tsp ground cinnamon 
 Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 350. 
 Combine bread cubes and melted butter in medium bowl and toss to coat. 
 Combine sugar and cinnamon in separate bowl, then add to bowl with bread cube and toss to coat. Spread bread cubes in single layer on parchment paper lined rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally ,until crisp. 8-10 minutes Let cool on baking sheet to room temperature.