Chocolate Banana
Peanut Butter Delight

Lucile Lenz, Lincoln, NE
Gold Medal, Winning State Fair Cakes

"The banana layer makes this a very moist cake. I serve the cake with a scoop of ice cream and a cherry to carry out the banana split flavor."

Click Here for the recipe!

Here are some tips on
Icing Consistency

If the consistency of your decorating ising isn't just right, you decorations won't be right either. Just a few drops of liquid will make a big difference in your results.

Stiff Icing

Holds a 3/ in. peak on the spatula. Use it for flowers with upright petals. If icing is not stiff enough, petals will droop.

Medium Icing

Is used for flowers with flat petals and for borders. When the icing is too stiff or too thin, you can't get the uniform designs that characterize a perfect border.

Thin Icing

Thin icingis used for writing, stems, leaves and for frosting a cake.

Presure Control

The size and uniformity of your icing design are affected by the amount of presure you apply to the bag and the steadyness of the pressure, i.e., how you squeeze and relax your grip ont eh decorating bag. Your goal is to learn to apply pressure so consistently that you can move the bag in a free and easy glide while just he right amount of icing flows through the tip. Use the back of a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or aluminum and practice... practice makes perfect!

No-Cook Fudge Frosting:

Stir together 2 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar, 1/2 cup Hershey's Syrup, 1/4 Hershey's Cocoa, 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Another
version (from a generic label) uses 1/4 cup milk instead of the syrup and recommends adding a teaspoon of instant coffee and/or more cocoa to make it darker and more sugar to make it thicker.

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Party BUZZzzz!
This weeks issue:

Mother's Day
Tea for Two or three or more!
Comfort Drawer
Coffee Filter Flowers
& More... Click here!

Favorite Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

2 bars (4 oz. total) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Unsweetened Chocolate Baking Bars , broken into pieces
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine (we recommend LAND O LAKES® Butter)
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice or distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease and flour two 9-inch-round baking pans or one 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

MICROWAVE baking bars in small, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute; stir. Microwave at additional 10- to 20-second intervals, stirring until smooth; cool to room temperature.

BEAT butter and sugar in large mixer bowl. Add milk, water, eggs, lemon juice, vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; beat on low speed until blended. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes. Beat in melted chocolate. Pour into prepared pans.

BAKE for 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans for 20 minutes; invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

Tips on Baking Cakes from
Gold Medal:

Using Butter

• Batter is rich and thick
• High volume, deep golden brown crust
• Fine texture
• Rich buttery flavor

  Using Margarine

  • Batter is thin
  • Flat cake with a pale golden crust
  • Coarse texture

  Using Shortening

  • Batter is thick
  • High volume, deep golden brown crust
  • Very fine texture

  Using Spreads

  • Batter is thin
  • Flat cake with wet ring on crust
  • Wet, tough cake
  • Spreads contain water which replaces part of the fat