Ketchup Cake

I had the honor of getting to make a really fun cake for my friend's kid's 4th birthday. All he wanted was a ketchup cake! You heard me.. A ketchup cake!

I had very strict instructions that it was not to be ketchup flavored simply shaped like a ketchup bottle.

I ended up using a wine bottle cake pan for the cake itself. I had bought this pan for my own birthday cake this past year and figured I'd never have a use for it every again!

The ketchup cake!

My black forest wine bottle cake!

I was actually thinking about selling it.. Glad I didn't as it worked perfectly! The pan itself is not quite as big as 2 8" cakes so with the leftover batter I also made a couple of cupcakes that made for great tomatoes.

I decided to mimic the President's Choice Ketchup bottle- as much as it was tempting to mimic the classic Heinz Bottle- I really wanted to showcase a Canadian product in my cake (even if the 4 year old has no idea) considering the exposure the cake would get and my strong stand on locally sourced products... It just seemed right.

I got some great feedback on my facebook page on this cake! 

Scott said: Thank you Nicole for this kick ass, amazing, non-ketchup made ketchup-cake you made for Ronan’s 4th Birthday cake. It was awesome and delicious

Judy said: Ronan loved his cake! Great job Nicole!

Kathryn said: Thank you Nicole, he loved it!

Angela said: Such a great idea for my kids next birthday lol

Natasha said: Love it it looks fantastic.

Colin said: I am really glad that cake wasn't actually ketchup flavored. Thanks.

Banana Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins

Enjoy them with a little bit of margarine or just on their own. These muffins are stuffed with vegetables to make you feel good about your snack! (Along with a little chocolate to satisfy your taste buds) 

This started off as an old family recipe for a good tasty banana loaf, I took it and ran with it. Added a few extra ingredients, tweaked existing ones to make it my own. 

One thing I love to have ready to go is some mashed up banana in the freezer. I will be starting a new job shortly so I took a little time off to enjoy the spring before starting at the bottom of the vacation pool again. First day one of the first things I did was take a bag of mashed banana and shredded zucchini out of the freezer!

It's been incredible having time to bake for fun again! Sometimes it gets a little exhausting coming home from work at 5pm stuffing some food in my face and baking a cake. I'm grateful that it's still something I enjoy doing and this little vacation was just what the doctor ordered.

Below is my recipe for these delicious banana zucchini chocolate chip muffins.

banana zucchini chocolate chip muffins