2 large ripe bananas
1/3 cup (80 ml) sour cream, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs,
room temperature
1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
2 cups (230 grams) cake flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
10 tablespoons (140 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room
temperature
From Joy of baking
To mix things up a bit I decided to make a three layer banana cake covered in chocolate ganache! I've never made ganache so I followed this video, How to make chocolate ganache for decorating cakes Inspired by Michelle Cake Designs, word for word and it came out perfactly yummy and was super easy to make. I used Cadbury milk chocolate but any chocolate will be fine.
I made one and a half times the recipe and divided it into
three lots, each baked in 23cm square pan.
This is where it started going a little wrong. To get
perfectly straight sides you have to trim the edges but I decided to trim one
cake at a time instead of all three at once. This resulted in a slightly wobbly
finish.
In the video she lets the ganache cool to room temperature,
refrigerates it over night and then brings it back to room temperature to use.
Since I was pressed for time I let it cool to room temperature and warmed it a
little so it was easier to spread. I spread the ganache in between the layers
and then finally over the cake and used a spatular to even it out.
As I said the cake was a bit wobbly on the sides and unlike
icing ganache doesn’t hide the flaws in the cake so the sides looked a little
uneven. I suggest putting the cake on a wire cooling rack and then pouring the
ganache over the top and letting it run. This way you don’t get a pool of
ganache like I did and the ganache spreads a lot more evenly.
Ta da! The finished product, not bad for a first attempt, the
hole on top is from the musical candle.
