Going Bananas!

I'm still a little sick so I haven't been baking or cooking much this past week. I am doing and feeling better but I'm not running on all fours yet. I have a nagging cough that won't quit and I'm still pretty congested. I've been self medicating myself with little pills in all shades of the rainbow and drinking a few elixirs including but not limited to the all wonderful Alka-Seltzer Cough & Cold! And that is my excuse for the lackluster photos of this cake. blah.

The good thing is that I've regained my sense of smell, which means I've also regained my sense of taste! We've eaten nothing but sandwiches, soup and breakfast type foods for the last week. Luckily we went to my mom's last night where Mr. H and I had a real meal with the family. Thank you Mom! And I baked dessert--no surprise there :-)

I baked this supremely moist banana cake with a chocolate glaze from Southern Cakes. It was this month's choice for The Cake Slice Bakers and it was delicious! I'm not really into baked desserts with bananas so I wasn't that excited about this one but it proved to be a favorite by my family. It was supposed to be a layer cake but I wanted to bake it into my new silicone pan. I found it this weekend at a discount store and couldn't pass up the great price. It's made by KitchenAid and is called the Fancy Flute. I've never baked a cake in silicone but it turned out great.

The cake was really good and very moist and tender despite me being short on the amount of bananas called for in the recipe. In place of the missing bananas I added a little apple sauce. The batter was simple to mix up and it was in the oven in no time. Since I chose to bake it in my new Bundt type pan, I didn't want to frost it and cover up all the pretty detail. So I quartered the recipe and thinned it out enough to pour it onto the cake, like a glaze. Unfortunately it didn't set up like a glaze and stayed wet like a frosting should. It was super tasty though- like thick and creamy chocolate milk. So good! I would like to make this again though as the recipe was suggested with the full amount of bananas and frosting. mmm!

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

from Southern Cakes

Printable Version

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, softened
• 1½ cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 1½ cups mashed ripe banana

Chocolate Frosting

• ½ cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup evaporated milk or half-an-half
• 4 cups sifted confectioners sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

To make the cake, heat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to combine well.

In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat well, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, and then the vanilla. Beat well for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally until you have a smooth batter.

Using a large spoon, stir in half the flour just until it disappears into the batter. Stir in the buttermilk and then the remaining flour the same way. Quickly and gently fold in the mashed banana and then divide the batter between the 2 cake pans.

Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the centre, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pans on wire racks. Then turn out onto the racks to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the butter, cocoa and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes, until the cocoa dissolves into a dark shiny essence. Remove from the heat and stir in the confectioners sugar and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at low speed until you have a thick smooth frosting.

To complete the cake, place one layer, top side down, on a cake plate and spread about 1 cup of frosting evenly over the top. Cover with the second layer placed top side up. Spread the rest of the frosting evenly first over the sides and then covering the top of the cake.

NOTE: For a bundt/tube cake bake at 350F for 55-60 minutes.

In other banana related news (ha ha!) I made a banana pudding pie for my grandpa's belated birthday. They were in town this week to visit my cousin and I knew he would love this. And he did! Isn't he the cutest? Love you Grandpa!