#pinaddicts challenge no. 6 - Pecans & Bananas

The #pinaddicts challenge works as follows:

Pin to your #pinaddicts board on Pinterest.

Choose something to make for the challenge.

In your post put the original image with original links.

Post your fantastic effort at recreating.

Link up and go and check out the other #pinaddicts!

This month we are linking up with Kerry at Life, As I Know It!

#pinaddicts challenge no. 6 - Pecans & Bananas

This month I have decided to go down the baking route. Partly because another project I have on the go is taking me way longer than I thought it would and partly because I have pinned so many scrummy treats to various Pinterest boards I thought it was about time I made some of them.

So, for your visual delight and to get your mouths drooling I have attempted the following...

http://www.justataste.com/2011/11/pecan-pie-bars/

Pecan Pie Bars

AND!....

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/04/banana-coconut-upside-down-cake.html

Banana and Coconut Upside Down Cake

Can you tell that sticky, caramelly, sweet, nutty things rock my tastebuds?!

I played around a bit with both recipes as the quantities didn't match my tin sizes, and also I had different ingredients in my cupboards, but the changes worked - phew.

For the Pecan Pie Bars I used...

125g butter and half a cup of dark brown sugar beaten together until smooth.

To this I mixed in 1 1/4 cups of plain flour and a pinch of salt until crumbly.

This mix was pressed into a 7" x 10" lined tin and baked at 180c for 20 minutes.

For the topping I melted about 100g butter, a cup of light brown sugar, about half a cup of maple syrup and half a cup of honey. My measures were approximate and I don't think it matters too much to be completely accurate for the sticky topping!

Once melted I stirred in about 120g of chopped pecans.

This mixture was poured over the base and baked for another 20 minutes.

Once it had stopped bubbling, cooled down and set it looked like this!....

*Drools*

The banana and coconut upside down cake was, erm, fun shall we say?!

There was a bit of stickage in the tin and rearrangement of bananas required so I would score it about 4 for presentation. But it was the taste that mattered and it was scrummy - especially warm with custard.

The original pin used a Betty Crocker mix (?!) but I know how to mix 4oz S R Flour, 4oz Stork, 4oz caster sugar and 2 eggs together so that's what I did.

In the bottom of a round cake tin I laid out 2 sliced bananas, poured over the syrup made from about 50g melted butter and half a cup of dark brown sugar. Over this I sprinkled a cup of dessicated coconut and then on went the cake batter.

This concoction was baked for about 35-40 minutes.

Once cool flip the tin and good luck getting it out.

Apologies for the mixes of measures but I was jumping from cups to scales to old fashioned cake mix recipes from my head.

Anyhows - ignoring the mess on top - this is how it came out...and look, it has been eaten so obviously tasted good.

So, are you drooling yet?!

x x x