Morgan's Banana and Eva's Carrot

This week, I have been told by zillions of people (or like seven people) that I should post the recipes I used for my Tiny Cakes. So, with pleasure, I have typed them up here for your enjoyment. Note that I'm giving measurements appropriate for Tiny Cakes--not a whole cake!  If you want a whole cake, you might have to do a little math. 

The first recipe is from Morgan, who baked this banana bread for me a few years back that blew my mind. For the record, I don't even really like bananas. They're like my 12th favorite fruit. So it says a lot that this has become a fave. I loved her banana bread so much that I asked her to bake it for me for my 30th birthday and smother it with chocolate. Which she did. In the photo to the left, she is attempting to hide my cake while she puts candles in it.


And here, I am feeding her cake. Happy b-day, me! I seem to recall that Robb was worried all of the cake would be gone by the end of the night, so he took a slice of cake and put it in the end table drawer in his living room. (Which, thankfully, we found the next day.)

The recipe comes from a book called Eat, Drink and Be Chinaberry. I've adapted the recipe to make 4 Tiny Cakes, but if you want to make more, just use your multiplication skills. (This is one-third of the original recipe):

The Ultimate Banana Bread! (Tiny Cakes Edition)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 of an egg (I suggest beating the egg then eyeballing a third)
3/4 tablespoon milk
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
4 squares of chocolate

Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, beat remaining ingredients until smooth; stir in flour mixture until well mixed. Pour into greased and floured ramekins. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, then place a chocolate square on top of each Tiny Cake. Bake for another 10 or 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Spread chocolate evenly over the top. Cool before eating if you want.

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The next recipe comes from notorious Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria! The most recent issue of People Magazine fell into my hot little hands last week, and I came home and decided to give Eva's carrot cake recipe a whirl. If you don't know this, by the way, Eva owns restaurants and writes cookbooks. In fact, she has recently released a new cookbook called Eva's Kitchen. See the things you can learn in People Magazine?

I halved the recipe for Eva's carrot cake, which will make about 6 Tiny Cakes. Note that even a half recipe of the cream cheese frosting makes A LOT of frosting. All this week I have been eating the leftovers by the spoonful straight out of the fridge. I ain't too proud.


Mom's Carrot Cake (Tiny Cakes Edition)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups peeled and grated carrots (about 2 or 3 carrots)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 6 ramekins. In a medium bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Then in another bowl, beat oil and sugar. Add eggs and beat until well combined. Add the flour mixture and just stir until blended. Add carrots in small amounts, folding them in. Pour into the ramekins and bake until they're lightly browned on top and a toothpick comes out clean (about 25-30 minutes.) Cool in the ramekins for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the cakes to take them out. Cool them on racks, then frost with cream cheese frosting. You can top them with pecans if you want, but I didn't. 

Cream Cheese Frosting
8 oz cream cheese, at room temp
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 lb powdered sugar (or less, if you don't want it too sweet)
1 or 2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, blending between each addition. Mix in the vanilla and beat until very smooth, 3 to 5 minutes.