The Story of My Cake

Posted on May 5, 2012

There is a massive British baking revival at the moment, with the popularity of ‘The Great British Bake-Off’ and with the Queen’s Jubilee. People are starting to find a love for baking and there are victoria sponges and shortbreads being baked in houses up and down the country. I LOVE baking and I love British baking, but I also love American baking and American flavours.

My winning cake incorporates my love for Stateside baking. It started out as a simple chocolate and banana loaf that I had tweaked from a regular chocolate cake. I played around with different amounts of bananas, different shaped tins, different types of chocolate until I found the right balance, however something was still missing! Then, by chance one day whilst scouring recipe books and Internet pages for ideas, it came to me…..peanut butter frosting! And then the cake, as it is now, was born.

Another reason I love making this cake, is because it is one of my son Louis’ favourites. Until last year, Louis was (at the age of 5) an extremely restrictive eater and lived on a diet of 11 foods – including plain toast, plain pasta and one brand of plain cereal. He didn’t eat sweet things and certainly didn’t eat cake!! It was impossible for us to eat together as a family or visit a restaurant, and we are the kind of family who like to celebrate with food!! We sought help and strictly followed an eating plan that enabled Louis to try different foods, and find a love for food. Along side this, I encouraged family baking and cooking. I now have a son who enjoys food, who enjoys baking and who eats cake!