Pay It Forward

***UPDATE. ONE spot left...*** 

I signed up for this cool little thing, I'm sure a lot of you have already heard about. It's a Handmade Pay It Forward. I joined on facebook through a friend's status update. So, I posted on my status, and only one person agreed :( How sad. So, I'm bringing it to the blog :) I don't have many readers, but I figure I can round another 4 people up on here, right?

So, here's the deal. You can copy this quote below, and post it on your blog, or facebook, or whatever. The rules are simple:

Pay it Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They in turn must post this and send something they make to the first five people who comment on their status. The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your five people sometime in 2011...

Then, get to work :)

If I get any replies to this, I will email you and get your address, or feel free to email me: ishouldbecleaningup at yahoo dot com

And, if you want, send me photos of what you make, and I will put a little post together here with all our handmade items...

Spread the handmade love!


***UPDATE. ONE spot left...***

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Banana Cake

This recipe was so amazing (lots of compliments). I've had banana bread before, but this was...cake! I couldn't find a recipe online that was close enough to this one, so I have to post it for you.  It's from the Women's Weekly Easy Baking cookbook. Great buy, by the way. There are appetizers and things for kids too. This cake is very moist, and very tasty.

Ingredients:
160g butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed banana (you need about 4 medium sized bananas)
1 tsp baking soda / bicarbonate of soda
2 tbsp hot milk
1 cup all-purpose flour / plain flour
2/3 cup self raising flour

Icing:
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2-4 tbsp passionfruit pulp

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C (160° fan forced), and grease a cake tin. I used a round tin 8" / 20cm, and some fun small shaped tins, but square will also work. Line with baking paper.
2. Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar together until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.
3. Mash banana together. I used 4 over-ripe bananas. I needed to use some old ones I had in the freezer, but it's best to use really soft fresh ones in this recipe, I think. Stir into mixture.
4. Combine hot milk and baking soda together, and add to banana mixture.
5. Stir in sifted flours, and pour mixture into baking tin.
6. Bake 45 mins, approx. Leave it to cool a few minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Make icing by adding passionfruit pulp into icing sugar until desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over cooled cake.

I think a lemon or lime icing would also work really well with this cake. Or add choc chips to the batter, and a chocolate ganache icing to make it really decadent.

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