• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

  • Home
  • About
    • About Me!
    • Press
    • Privacy Policy & Disclosures
    • Contact
  • Recipe Index
  • Exploring
    • Exploring- Florida
    • Exploring- Boston
    • Exploring- Cruises
    • Exploring- New England
    • Exploring- New York City
  • Resources
  • Disney Fun!

cream cheese frosting

Pumpkin Cake Mix Sandwich Cookies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling

November 6, 2018

Pumpkin Cake Mix Sandwich Cookies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling- The perfect fall cookie treat that you can whip up in around hour. Fun and yummy!

So I was on the news last night!!

It really was so weird that I got to see myself on TV. But it was really cool too.

…

Read More

Filed Under: Cookies, Bars, and Candy, Pumpkin, Recipes, Thanksgiving Tagged With: cookie, cream cheese, cream cheese frosting, pumpkin, sandwich cookies

Banana Cake with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting

August 31, 2018

 

Let’s all say “awwwww” now

3, 2, 1…. “awwwww!”

…

Read More

Filed Under: Banana, Cakes and Cupcakes, Recipes Tagged With: banana, banana cake, cream cheese frosting

Individual Strawberry Monkey Bread with Cream Cheese Frosting

January 16, 2017

individual-strawberry-monkey-breads-with-cream-cheese-frosting

I am loving winter in Florida.

It’s a joke to call it winter. It’s been amazing out. We had one cold weekend so far and you would have thought the end of the world was coming. People reacted to at the grocery store the same way that people in Boston reacted to snow storms. Everyone at the grocery store was all bundled up and talking about how cold it was. I was standing there in a sweat shirt like “yo, you have no idea…” It was like 45 out. ha!

…

Read More

Filed Under: Breakfast and Brunch, Recipes, Strawberry Tagged With: Baking, cream cheese, cream cheese frosting, monkey bread, monkey bread monday, strawberries, strawberry

Peanut Butter Banana Bars with a Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

September 30, 2014

 Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-1

On Sunday night Price, Autumn, and I headed down to Rhode Island to Lincoln Woods State Park to meet our wedding photographer, Lefebvre Photo, for our engagement photo session.

In practice of late, I was not prepared at all. #ugh #storyofmylife

We went out to Kohl’s in the morning to get some coordinating clothes, mainly plaid shirts and a dress for me to wear. Of course, I couldn’t find anything to wear. I don’t mean I couldn’t find anything that I liked since I basically LOVE all of Lauren Conrad’s current line. I mean, I couldn’t find anything I wanted to wear for the photos. Of course!!! So mini meltdown later, I rushed out to Gap Factory Store and Old Navy after lunch and threw together a $6 white tank top, with a $12 (originally $45!) sweater, some jean capris and sperry’s. And wished I had a Xanax.

Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-2

Thankfully, the photo session was fun since I was a ball of nerves. The location was amazing with shafts of golden light shining through the trees. The leaves were a lovely mix of greens, oranges, and yellows above us and below our feet. Our photographer was great with setting up shots and getting us to joke around when deep down I wanted to throw up from nerves and just the thought of how corny all of it was. I went to college and worked with Danielle years ago so it definitely helped keep me semi calm as we recounted the worse boss in the history of bosses. Plus, we got to talk about our babies as her daughter is just 2 weeks older than Autumn. Besides Danielle’s wedding and engagement photography she also takes newborn and baby photos so incorporating Autumn into our photos was really easy. I’m looking forward to getting our photos in a few weeks. I’ll be sure to share them when I get them 🙂

Anyway, these bars are so delightful! They are the perfect combination of flavors. I think peanut butter and banana are best friends, better than peanut butter and jelly. Yep, I said it!!! Jelly is great but too sweet at times, and you can’t dip jelly into a jar of peanut butter, like how you can with a banana… wait, you don’t do that? Err, me neither…

Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-5 Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-6

Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-7 Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-8

These Peanut Butter Banana Bars are one of the best ways to use up past their prime bananas. I swear we always have past their prime bananas. I’d assume I should buy less bananas but when I do it’s the week Autumn has decided she wants 2x as many as usual and then I need to get more anyway. It’s like that when we buy milk… if I buy a 1/2 gallon for a month and we run out every week I’ll then buy a gallon and we will only drink a glass before it goes bad. #thestruggle

Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-9 Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-10

Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-11 Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-12

I loved the texture of these bars that the banana and the oats give it. The oats make it feel like fall. I[‘m sure that doesn’t make any sense but it totally feels like a fall treat. Now, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it all throughout the year but if you have it I’m sure you’ll think “Man, I gotta make these again this fall.”

Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-3

Seriously, this frosting.

You can skip the frosting but then we wouldn’t be friends as the frosting adds to much to the bars to enhance the flavors and texture. I just love biting into the bar and getting my teeth through the frosting first before getting to the fluffy bar. Plus, frosting always wins.

Peanut Butter Banana Bars with Frosting-4

Peanut Butter Banana Bars with a Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 16 servings

Ingredients

For the Bars

  • 1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 Cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 Cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 Cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

For the Frosting

  • 4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cup of powdered sugar

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and mix well.
  4. Mix in bananas and peanut butter, mixing just until combined.
  5. Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add the dry ingredients mixture, mixing just until combined.
  6. Transfer the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top.
  7. Bake 40-45 minutes, or until edges are browned and a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
  8. While the bars is cooling, prepare the frosting by beating together the cream cheese, peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat again. In small batches, add in the powdered sugar, mixing well after each batch. Evenly spread over the cooled bars. Cut into 16 squares and enjoy!

Bars Sourced from Bake or Break, frosting from I am a Honey Bee

Filed Under: Banana Tagged With: banana, banana bars, cream cheese, cream cheese frosting, peanut butter, peanut butter banana, peanut butter banana bars, Peanut Butter Banana Bars with a Cream Cheese Frosting, Peanut Butter Banana Bars with a Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting, Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Banana Bundt Cake- SRC

April 29, 2013

Banana Bundt Cake

Another Monday. Another exhaustive start to the week.

Pricer and I kicked some garden butt this weekend. He worked in back attacking weeds and digging out the million rocks and chunks of broken concrete in the ground there. (Major thanks to the contractors, who instead of having the chunks of the driveway they dug into hauled away, just threw all of it into the garden. THANKS d-bags.) I worked in front digging up part of the lawn to plant some flowers and some seeds for 5 varieties of flowers, including moon flowers and canterbury bells. Plus some container work transplanting some little trees into bigger pots and prepping for some summer veggies and herbs.

Banana Bundt Cake_07

Man, I wish I had a slice of this bad boy for breakfast today. It would totally jump start my week!

Banana Bundt Cake_01 Banana Bundt Cake_02

Moist banana cake topped with a dreamy cream cheese frosting. It would totally work for dessert or breakfast. Right?!?!

Banana Bundt Cake_03 Banana Bundt Cake_04

I just made this cake last week but I’ve already planned on making it again soon. I bought more bananas for them to chill out and get nice and soft so they can be whipped up into this stunning cake.

Banana Bundt Cake_05 Banana Bundt Cake_06

This month’s Secret Recipe Club recipe is from K&K Test Kitchen. Mother and daughter duo, Kim and Kelesy, started the blog in 2010 as a creative outlet to be able to document and share cooking adventures with family and friends. Since they they have made some fantastic recipes that had me really interested when i was browsing their blog.

It’s funny tho. As I scrolled through the recipe index I saw their Banana Bundt Cake and immediatly knew that tthe recipe that I would make. Still I browsed aorund and saw some great recipes that I wrote down just to give a try one day. Like this Sun-dried Tomato, Corn, and Bacon Pasta sounds awesome. And I think I’ll have to make this Strawberry Peach Sangria one day for Thirsty Thursday.

 Banana Bundt Cake_08

Stop by K&K Test Kitchen to check out this Banana Bundt Cake recipe along with many other scrumptious recipes!

Banana Bundt Cake

Makes 8-12 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups cake flour
  • 1 package vanilla instant pudding
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 cup greek yogurt

Process

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a large Bundt Pan by generously buttering and then lightly dusting the sides with flour.
  2. Whisk the flours, pudding mix, baking soda, and salt together.
  3. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugars and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg.
  4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas. Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients, all the greek yogurt, and then the rest of the flour mixture.
  5. Scrape the batter into the pan, rap the pan on the counter to de-bubble the batter and smooth the top.
  6. Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Check the cake after about 30 minutes, if it is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent.
  7. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding on the rack to cool to room temp.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Process

  1. Beat cream cheese and the powdered sugar until smooth.
  2. Add the milk and vanilla extract, beat again until it is thoroughly mixed and spreadable. Add more cream if you want a thinner icing.
  3. Spread onto the cooled cake.

Adapted from: K & K Test Kitchen

_____________________

Secret Recipe Club

 

Check out my previous Secret Recipe Club Posts

____________________

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Filed Under: Banana, Cakes and Cupcakes, Recipes Tagged With: banana cake, bananas, bundt cake, cream cheese, cream cheese frosting, vanilla pudding

Hummingbird Cupcakes

October 5, 2010

I previously wrote about Price’s birthday and how great a day it was. Well, the one thing that was missing was a birthday cake. I had originally planned on leaving early that day so I could make the cake before dinner, but that did not work out. Then, I intending to make it after dinner since I’m used to baking pretty late, but we drank quite a bit so that was scraped and we just went down the road for a little piece of cake. No worries, it all worked out but I still owed Pricer a cake. So the birthday cake became a First-Day-Of-Work cupakes. (I realized I left my can pans in CT in August for my dad’s Bday)

Back to Price… I told him to pick out a cake for me to make. So he picked out a few of my cookbooks and went to work. He picked a Hummingbird Cake from The Baking Bible: From the Oven to the Table. We had never heard of this cake before. I wanted to know why it is called a Hummingbird Cake, so I did a little research. My research yielded that the reason behind the name is unknown. It is suggested that is has to do with how sweet the cake is, being that hummingbirds eat nectar. The cake has Southern origins, but word spread about this cake when it was featured in Southern Living in the late 70’s.

The cupcakes were easy to make and produced a great result. The cupcakes were rich a moist- from the oil in the cake. While I like {cup}cakes with butter in them I appreciate baking with oil since I don’t have to wait for the butter to come to room temperature. And without having to cream butter and sugar together I didn’t need to use a mixer for the cake portion. The pineapple also made for a moist cake. However, the banana flavor was much more dominate than the pineapple flavor. I admit that just mashed up bananas and figured ‘close enough’… this just goes to show that measuring is really important! The frosting is a basic cream cheese frosting and it tied the whole thing together.

Hummingbird Cupcakes

makes 24 cupcakes
 
 
Cake
 
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups superfine sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1  teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sunflower oil
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup pecans, finely chopped, plus extra for decorating
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2-3 bananas)
3 oz/85 grams canned crushed pineapple (drained weight)
4 tablesppons pineapple juice from can
 
 
Frosting
6 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
4 tablesppons unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or line 2 12 cup cupcake pans.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and baking soda in a large bowl, set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the wet ingredients together. Incorportate the wet ingredients and chopped pecans into the dry ingredients. Mix throughly with a wooden spoon.

Divide the batter into the cupcake pans. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean

While the cupcakes are baking, make the frosting by combining the soft cream cheese and butter. Add the sifted sugar and vanilla extract, and mix until smooth.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost with the cream cheese frosting. Top all with chopped pecans.

 
 




Filed Under: Cakes and Cupcakes, Recipes Tagged With: bananas, cake and cupcakes, cream cheese, cream cheese frosting, cupcake, Hummingbird Cake, Hummingbird Cupcakes, Pecans, pineapple, southern

Some Seriously Amazing Cinnamon Rolls

December 24, 2009

 

Two weekends ago I ventured into the territory of baking with yeast. I learned how working with yeast can be a pain in the ass but if it works you get great results. My first attempt was a miserable fail with a sticky, dense, dead ball of dough. I figured out my milk was at 112 and the was way too hot for my yeast so I tried again at 100 and SUCCESS!!!

I went through all this trouble because I saw these amazing Peppermint Bark Buns at Fake Ginger. I could have gone for the peppermint and chocolate filling but I am not a big fan of white chocolate so I decided to stick with a cinnamon roll and this would be a springboard into making the cinnamon rolls.

 

 

 

These cinnamon rolls were worth the trouble since they were an amazing treat for the weekend. Plus I felt like I conquered a big fear with using yeast. I made an orange frosting for them which was good- a nice complement to the cinnamon but standard milk based frosting is more my thing. I think eggnog would be fantastic!

Seriously Amazing Cinnamon Rolls

makes 12 rolls

Ingredients

Dough

  • 1 cup warm milk (skim works)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter melted
  • 4  cups bread flour, 1/2 cup reserved
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 packet dry active yeast

 Filling

  •  1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup of brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons cinnamon
  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened

Glaze

  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • milk or orange juice until you have reached your desired frosting thickness
 

Process

  1. To prepare the dough, start by heating the milk per yeast instructions (between 100-110F). Melt the butter, set aside. Beat eggs in a very large bowl, set aside. Once the milk has reached the right temperature add the yeast and let proof per instructions. Mix in the sugar and melted butter into the eggs. Gently mix in the milk/yeast to the wet ingredients. In half cup intervals mix in the bread flour until 4 cups has been incorporated. With the remaining 1/2 cup, dust a clean smooth surface and coat your hands. Kneed the dough into a ball incorporating the remaining flour. Place into a greased bowl, cover, with plastic wrap and let double in size (several hours).
  2. While your dough is rising prepare the cinnamon sugar mixture by combining the sugars, cinnamon, and the softened butter. Set aside.
  3. Preheat oven to 350 and grease baking pans.
  4. Roll out dough into a 16 by 21 inch rectangle. Spread butter mixture evenly over dough. Roll up dough jelly roll style and divide into 12 rolls. Arrange evenly in pan(s), cover and let rise until doubled.*
  5. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
  6. While rolls are baking combine the cream cheese and sifted powered sugar. Add milk/oj to the cream cheese until it reached the desired consistency. Spread frosting over warm rolls before serving.

*I did not do this since I wanted them right then and they turned out fine. So this extra rise is up to you.

Filed Under: Pastries, Recipes Tagged With: cinnamon rolls, cream cheese frosting, yeast

Carrot Cake- Time to Celebrate August Birthdays

August 6, 2009

There are a lot of people who celebrate their birthday’s in August, including my family and the people I work with. I try to bring in a cake or cupcakes for the people I immediately work with to help celebrate their birthdays. But this time, 8 in one month was a lot to take on! So I figured that I could bring in 1 big one for the office to enjoy with the all the birthday people. I love to bake but I am not bakery! Especially with 4 birthdays in a row!

IMG_2927 IMG_2929

I made a massive carrot cake for the 8 people who have August birthdays. Requested by Kellie (August 8th birthday)

IMG_2931 IMG_2932

IMG_2933

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Serves 24 (but you can get 36 decent pieces out of it)

2 pound of carrots

3 cups of all purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

8 eggs

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups dark brown sugar, firmly packed

2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 cups vegetable oil

1 cup raisins

2 cups walnuts, finely chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Line and grease 2 11”x8” baking pans.

Peel and grate carrots (fine shred with a food processor is okay but a grater has the best results)

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In a very large bowl, beat the eggs until blended. Add the vanilla, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil and beat until well incorporated.

In three batches, add the dry ingredients, mix well.

Fold in the carrots, raisins, and walnuts until they are mixed evenly throughout.

Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, test for doneness.

Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Let it cool completely on a rack prior to icing.

Cream Cheese Frosting

24 oz (3 8oz packages) cream cheese, softened to room temperature, cut into small pieces

¾ cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into small pieces

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

8 cups of sifted confectioner’s sugar

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the vanilla extract to the mixture. Slowly add in the confectioner’s sugar. Beat until fully incorporated and smooth.

This recipe can be reduced in half.

The last time I made this recipe I left out the raisins and walnuts (afraidof nut allergies in the office) and it was a lot drier. This cake was very moist but not as easy to work with, especially when icing it!

It was nice that we were able to gather the majority of the office to get together for some cake and signing instead of our teams. We figure that we will now have a birthday cake for the month and it will be done during the staff meetings. hmmm what will I make for September?

Filed Under: Etc. Tagged With: cake and cupcakes, carrot, carrot cake, cream cheese frosting

Primary Sidebar

EMAIL NEWSLETTER!

Sign up HERE for meal planning suggestions & tips to take a great trip!

Top Posts & Pages

  • Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
    Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
  • Meghan Markle's Zucchini Pasta Sauce
    Meghan Markle's Zucchini Pasta Sauce
  • Easy Pepperoni Pizza Roll Ups
    Easy Pepperoni Pizza Roll Ups
  • Room Review: Cars Family Suite in Disney World's Art of Animation Resort
    Room Review: Cars Family Suite in Disney World's Art of Animation Resort
  • Southwest Orzo Salad with a Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette
    Southwest Orzo Salad with a Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette
  • New Haven Style White Clam Pizza
    New Haven Style White Clam Pizza
  • Pistachio White Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
    Pistachio White Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies
  • How To: Labeling Your Garbage Cans
    How To: Labeling Your Garbage Cans
  • The Ultimate Weekend Away Packing List for Babies and Toddlers
    The Ultimate Weekend Away Packing List for Babies and Toddlers
  • Churro Waffles with Dulce De Leche Whipped Cream
    Churro Waffles with Dulce De Leche Whipped Cream
collage of recipes of common ingredients
collage of soup stew and chilis bowls

Follow Us

Copyright© 2023 · Brunch Pro Theme by Feast Design Co.

 

Loading Comments...
 

You must be logged in to post a comment.