Banana Butterscotch Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

There are almost always bananas in my house– if not for eating out of hand (I like them best when there’s still a touch of green at the tips), then at least in the freezer, where I stash them when they get too brown for snacking on. There they sit until it’s time to make banana muffins for my daughter’s school snacks… unless, as happened this time, the freezer is full and there’s already a bag of blueberry muffins for her to eat, leaving no room for more!

What to do? What I always do, of course– make dessert.

Banana Bread Ice Cream… or Milkshakes

It never fails– I buy a bunch of bananas that are nice and green, figuring I’ll have plenty of time to eat them at my favorite stage (yellow with green tips) before they get overripe, but then life interferes and I’m stuck with a bunch of soft brown bananas with rapidly forming bruises that even my preschooler won’t touch. What to do? I’ve already made a batch of banana muffins and I don’t have any occasion to make a real banana cake. Then it hit me: ice cream.

Not the “freeze pieces of banana and then whirl them in the food processor” faux-ice cream that’s making the rounds on Pinterest (though I’ve made it and it’s not bad)– real ice cream. With caramelized banana puree, a swirl of salted caramel sauce, toasted walnuts, and chunks of banana bread to give me something to dig for. Sound good? I thought so.

The Cake Pop Chronicles, Part I: Blueberry Muffin Balls

So I was at Goodwill the other day looking for more pretty teacups for my mismatched tea set when I saw this: a Babycakes Cake Pop Maker for just $4.99. While I have absolutely no need for yet another small kitchen appliance (and no room), I picked it up anyway. I just can’t resist the idea of making adorable little spheres of food! Plus (I rationalized to myself), my daughter will think they’re awesome.