It's been years since I baked a pound cake. I had the chance to make dessert (with dairy in it), so I decided to do it up right with a rich, dense pound cake scented with oranges. This cake delivered. My mom added homemade roasted strawberry buttermilk sherbet with locally grown frozen black raspberries as garnish. The orange flavoring stood up nicely to the other fruit flavors.

Grand Marnier Pound Cake

Serves 12, Adapted from Epicurious

Ingredients

3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup Grand Marnier liquor
zest of one orange
1 cup sour cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 12-cup bundt pan. Dust pan with cake flour; tap out excess flour.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter in a large bowl at medium speed until fluffy. Gradually add sugar and beat 5 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating just until combined after each addition. Beat in Grand Marnier and orange peel. Using rubber spatula, mix in dry ingredients. Mix in sour cream. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on rack 15 minutes. Carefully cut around cake in pan. Turn out cake.

Turn cake right side up on rack and cool completely. Cake can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Wrap in foil and let stand at room temperature.

Grand Marnier Pound Cake with Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk Sherbet and frozen black raspberries.

Oh man, if you have lots of bananas and like chocolate cake, do I have the perfect recipe for you. Dairy-free, super moist and delicious, this one is a winner. Plus it's packed with 5 bananas so it's almost a health food, right? I was looking for an easy and dairy-free dessert to share with my sister and brother-in-law. I stumbled across this beauty on Pinterest (everyone's already following me on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/evbecker/)? It's a quick and easy snackcake recipe that will offer endless variations. My next iteration will be a vanilla version with vegan caramel sauce drizzle, stay tuned for that one!

Choco Banana Snackcake

Adapted from Serena Bakes Simply, Serves 12

Ingredients

5 whole bananas, peeled and frozen, then thaw for 1 hour
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
2/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup black coffee
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup walnut or pecans, chopped (optional)
1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (To Sprinkle On Top)

Rich chocolate and banana snackcake heads into the oven.

Directions

Baker's note: I always have lots of bananas in my freezer. Before you begin making this cake, remove 5 frozen, peeled bananas from the freezer and allow to thaw for about 1 hour. In a pinch, you can take 5 ripe, peeled bananas, and microwave them for 2-3 minutes before beginning this recipe. You should have nearly the same results.

Preheat oven to 350 F and adjust oven rack to the middle position. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan (I used glass pyrex to great success).

Place thawed bananas in a large bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher until fairly smooth. Stir in brown sugar, canola oil, egg, vanilla, vinegar and coffee. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and kosher salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined. Do not overmix. Stir in 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips (I recommend Ghiradelli's 60% cocoa dark chocolate chips for this recipe) and chopped nuts if you are using them. Pour snackcake batter into the prepared pan and top with remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Bake for 40-50 minutes until a cake tester comes out mostly clean. Cool for 15 minutes before slicing.

I found that the banana flavor quickly disappeared. If possible, enjoy this cake the same day that you bake it.