So how does the Duchess celebrate a year of blogging bliss? Cupcakes? Bananas Foster? How about both!

Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the Bananas Foster Cupcake. Isn’t she cute? I think I’m in love.

Start with a few bananas…give ‘em a slice.

Then proceed to caramelize them in butter and brown sugar. Oh yeah.

Fill the cupcake liners about half way up, then top with a few caramelized banana slices and a sprinkle of butterscotch chips.

And then top with some more batter before popping in the oven. The result?? Warm banana perfection!

I have to say, these cupcakes were amazing! Next time I make them I’m going to add more bananas to the cupcakes. The sweet buttery bananas were the best part.

I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as I’ve enjoyed blogging for the past year. Here’s to another great year of fabulous recipes!
The Duchess

Umm..yeah, I’d say that’s chocolatey! So what makes it a “breakfast cake,” you ask? Well, this cake is actually a pound cake. When I was growing up, my Granny Flash would often eat sliced and toasted poundcake for breakfast with coffee. So, in a round about way, this cake is perfect for breakfast.

You can also eat it any other time of the day. Got it? Good.

German Chocolate Breakfast Cake

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray two 8-inch loaf pans with cooking spray, then dust with flour. Shake out any excess flour and set pans aside.
2. In a large bowl, blend cake mix, butter, milk, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer on low speed for about a minute. Increase speed to medium and beat two more minutes. Stir in pecans and coconut, then divide the batter between the prepared pans, smoothing out with a rubber spatula. Place pans in the oven side by side.
3. Bake loaves for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely before removing from pans.

Makes two large loaves

Now, you know this would make the perfect breakfast.

Hope you enjoy! Have a great Thursday. The Duchess

I was browsing one of my favorite blogs, Picky Palate , and came upon a recipe for Peanut Butter and Jelly White Chocolate Blondies. Hold the phone! Those are the three most heavenly things on this earth, all put into one scrumptious treat. I’m not surprised…Jenny is the queen of sweets, after all!

These blondies had a texture similar to pound cake, which is just fine by me.

You all know that I’m obsessed with peanut butter, right? I could eat it at every meal. I try to limit myself to 1 serving (aka 2 tablespoons) per day, but sometimes I can’t do it. I love getting a spoonful of peanut butter and dotting it with white chocolate chips.

These blondies are sorta like that, but people don’t look at you as funny.

Hope you all enjoy! Have a fabulous Thursday and wonderful weekend. I’ll be trapped in my house doing homework. BLAH! The Duchess

We visited Betty Owen’s twins’ school for their 8th grade awards ceremony.

Shout out to Ben…he wanted to be on the blog!

And sweet Sarah, too.

Uncle Bill cooked Indian food…a family favorite!

Mom and I were able to spend a gorgeous Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, along with our friend Margaret (it was Margaret’s first time in NYC).

No trip to Manhattan is complete without lots of great food. We found an awesome (and inexpensive) Thai restaurant in SoHo, then of course ended the day with sweets.

And finally, I towed a Crumbs cupcake (caramel apple…to die for) all the way home to Florida for the Duke to enjoy. Am I the best wife or what?

These pictures took forever to upload! I hope you enjoy. And if you’re the praying kind, please send up a few for my aunt. She needs a miracle to recover…doctors don’t know what’s going on, but are saying her brain is basically “asleep.”

Enjoy your week, and thanks for stopping by.
The Duchess

The Duke and I had been dating for about a year and a half, and we’d been talking about marriage. We both knew it was going to happen, but I just didn’t know when he would pop the question. I was in my senior year of college at the University of Florida, and was home for Spring Break. Along with my parents, I hosted the Duke and his parents for dinner. Mom made her famous Garlic Fried Chicken and I made this cake.

That would be the one and only Hummingbird Cake. This cake is a staple in the South. It’s moist and rich, thanks to the mashed banana, crushed pineapple, and decadent pecans.

After that spring dinner with the Duke and his folks, my sweet Granny Flash leaned over to me and said, “If that meal doesn’t get you a ring, I don’t know what will.” Granny was right. The Duke proposed about two weeks later!

To make this cake, make sure you’ve got plenty of good pecans, preferably from Georgia.

This recipe first appeared in Southern Living in 1978, and it continues to be one of the most-requested recipes by readers. I’ve tried a few different forms of the recipe, but this time I used one that I found on Oprah’s website. Art Smith, her long-time personal chef, authored this sweet recipe.

The batter was thick and oh, so sweet. I inadvertently baked the cake it two 8-inch pans, instead of the 9-inch pans that were called for. They came out ultra thick, which is something that I find hard to achieve. I was so thrilled with the thick layers!

Can you see why the Duke continues to request this cake? I make it every once in a while, for special occasions. The cake is so sweet that I don’t really think it needs to be iced all the way around. Plus, I love the look of the layers. It looks really homemade and rustic.

You have got to make this cake this Spring!! It will be the perfect dessert at your Easter dinner. And if you get the urge to make Hummingbird Cake, this is the only recipe to use. Like I said, I’ve tried a few recipes before, but this blew all others out of the water!

Have a great week! I’m off to ladies’ lunch. Life is so good when you’re on vacation.
The Duchess

Well, here is a fabulous cake to bring the Irish Spirits to life today. It’s loaded with Bailey’s Irish Cream and is sure to get the party started. The recipe is the brain child of none other than Paula Deen. This also fits the My Girl, Paula! Challenge this week. We were told to cook anything related to the Irish Holiday.

I made this cake over the weekend for our impromptu dinner party. It honestly doesn’t get any easier. You start with a box of cake mix (this is becoming a trend in my baking) and jazz it up with a few ingredients. The toasted slivered almonds are the perfect salty crunch on the outside of the sweet and decadent frosting.

I guess I was so overcome by how easy this cake was that I completely forgot to add the oil! I realized it after the cakes had been in the oven about 4 minutes. I pulled those suckers out, scraped out the batter, added the oil, put the batter back in the pans, and they were on their merry way. It tasted and looked great after that ordeal!

If you like coffee desserts, you’ll really enjoy this cake. It doesn’t have to be just for St. Patrick’s Day, either. Any coffee-lover would enjoy this year-round.

I’m off to field trip world. Have a great day! Remember to wear green, or someone will pinch you The Duchess

At any rate, the Duke and I had a fabulous weekend. We celebrated his 31st birthday on Saturday with food, food and more food (and a little karaoke with friends ). We went to Ruth’s Chris with our parents for dinner, but unfortunately I don’t have any photos to share My camera was malfunctioning. But let me tell you, it was a darn good meal. I rarely eat red meat, so when I do, I make sure to make up for lost time. I ordered the ribeye and the Duke ordered the petite filet. The waiter that brought us our steaks thought he had it mixed up. I didn’t even eat a quarter of the steak, but it was so delicious. There’s nothing like a salty, fatty steak. Oh yes.

I didn’t make the Duke a birthday cake this year, but I did make him a fabulous Paula Deen recipe that he took to work on Friday. It’s another gooey butter cake. Paula make lots of different varieties and they’re all sinfully good. We’ve tried lemon, pumpkin, and now, German Chocolate. Since this version has pecans, it’s perfect for this week’s My Girl, Paula! challenge for nuts.

Believe it or not, this recipe also starts with a box of cake mix! The bottom layer is a wonderfully chewy chocolate cake, and the filling consists of cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, pecans and coconut…need I say more?

OK, I have to brag on myself here. I didn’t have one single bite of this cake! I’ve really been doing well with my Lent fast (no desserts). I almost had to get the Duke to cut it for me, because it was just too tempting. But, I rose above the urge and was able to cut the cake without sneaking a single taste.

The Duke’s coworkers really enjoyed this funky spin on a classic cake, and I’m sure you will, too. With that, I hope you have a wonderful week. Can you believe it’s already March??? Crazy!The Duchess

I know I’ve been going on and on about my weight and kicking my butt into gear, but I’m completely ignoring that for today’s recipe. I’ll be posting my health goals tomorrow (which do include a little indulging every now and then). This week’s My Girl, Paula! challenge allowed us to make any Paula recipe of our choice. My aunt happened to be in town this last weekend, so I figured I’d make Paula’s Mama’s Pound Cake (my aunt’s fave). Let me just tell you, Paula knows how to make a pound cake! I got compliment after compliment from my mom, aunt and Granny.

Making a good pound cake is the goal of any Southern woman. The five eggs, 2 sticks of butter, half a cup of crisco and a cup of milk ensure that this cake is moist through and through. I have to admit that I had about 1/8th of a sliver, and I can attest to its moisture.

I know that a lot of you are dieting and watching what you eat, but if you have an excuse to make something sweet in the near future, I highly encourage you to make this cake! Calories don’t count on days that end in “y,” right?

Click here for Ms. Paula’s Recipe. You won’t be sorry, I promise. As if this cake isn’t good enough for dessert, try toasting a piece with a pad of butter for breakfast. They don’t call it Pound Cake for nothin’, y’all.The Duchess

By the way, my 50th balloon came from www.principalspage.com. The Duchess

Today is my special day! It’s my birthday, which means I get to be the queen for a day (as If I don’t have that mentality every day). Can’t you tell I’m a Leo?

My sweet husband gave me a trip to San Francisco for my present! I’m so excited… we’re going to go right before Christmas, because I’ll be out of school on Winter Break. I’ve never been to Northern California, so I’m pumped. We’ll spend 5 days in the city, and take day trips into Napa for some much-needed vino! If any of you have any suggestions for hotels and restaurants in the Bay area, let me know. We’re allllllll the way across the country, so I’ve got no clue.

More importantly, let’s move onto my birthday cake! Is it sad that I made my own? Well, I couldn’t decide if I wanted cookies or cake, so I did both. I brought it into the office and it got rave reviews. My co-worker also made chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes, and my boss brought in a cake, too. We were all on major sugar highs!