This weekend marked the last in an exhausting, but tasty, stream of birthday parties during the month of April. Also noteworthy, this was my favorite one because it was mine! I think I tasted what seems like a dozen kinds of cake this month. My mouth says “yum”, but my waistline is saying, “what the hell?” And while I won’t say I am totally sick of cake, for this party I was in the mood for something a little different. I’ve been having an odd craving for banana cake (odd because usually I’m a chocolate girl).
Playing with the idea of bananas, and chocolate, and ditching the usual frosting for something a little lighter, I came up with this concoction, which I have to say, turned out spectacular! Once again, I did not find any recipes that even closely resembled what I was thinking of, so I just made one up. It starts with a box mix, easy peasy. The three different textures in this cake worked great together and were really different than a regular cake. I’ll be honest and say I think I undercooked my cake a bit. Or maybe it was just the addition of the bananas. It came out of the oven light and fluffy and beautiful and as it cooled it sort of shrunk until it was about half the original height. I was a little worried about it. But, sometimes mistakes in cooking are happy accidents. This made for a slightly denser, brownie-like texture that I actually really liked!
Plan to make this a little early, or the day before, to allow the chocolate layer to harden. It would be good either way, but that added texture was a nice surprise! And the fresh whipped cream, slightly sweetened with brown sugar was, well…just icing on the cake!
Banana Cake Supreme. I would have taken a prettier picture, but people ate my photo shoot before I got the chance!
Banana Cake Supreme
1 box of white cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 cup water
3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 bars bittersweet chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp. butter
1 pint whipping cream
2-3 tbsp. brown sugar
Make the cake mix according to the package directions. The one I used called for 3 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, and a cup of water. Add mashed bananas. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. Pour into a casserole dish or large cake pan. Bake at 350˚ (or whatever the box says) for 35-38 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then remove from pan and put on a cookie sheet or cake plate. In a glass bowl break up the chocolate into small pieces. Eat one or two. Add 1/4 cup whipping cream and butter and microwave for 1 minute. Stir with a whisk until smooth. If you still have chunks of unmelted chocolate, nuke it a few seconds more. Pour chocolate over cake and spread to cover surface. Cover with plastic and put in the fridge to harden. I left it in there overnight but a couple of hours should do the trick if you’re short on time. Just before serving, beat whipping cream with brown sugar until thickened and fluffy. Pile on top of cake and spread to cover surface. Eat!
3hungrymonkeys 