Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Birthday Cake [Recipes]

2010 Feb 16
So, the chocolate part was nothing new to me, but as I mentioned in a previous thread, my sister-in-law asked for a Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cake for her birthday. I complied, despite the Norwalk virus attacking my insides (yes, there was lots of handwashing!)

Anyway, I thought I would share:

Devil’s Food Cake Cockaigne from Joy of Cooking 1975 edition

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cook and stir in a double boiler (I don’t have a double boiler, but I found out that one of my mixing bowls nests perfectly in my beautiful new stock pot – score!):
2 – 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1/2 c. milk
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg yolk

Remove from heat when thickened (whisk occasionally while it is cooking). Set aside.

Beat until soft:
1/2 c. butter, softened
Add and cream until light:
1 c. sugar

Beat in, one at a time:
2 eggs

Sift together (or mix with a fork, if you hate sifting, like me):
2 c. cake flour (I have gotten away with using normal flour, for what it’s worth)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together the following:
1/4 c. water
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla

Add the flour to the butter mixture in three (or more) parts, alternating with the milk mixture. Be sure to end with the flour mixture. Bake in two 9-inch pans for 25 minutes.

I multiplied the recipe by 1.5 for three layers, which it turned out was too many.

2010 Feb 16
Now, for the peanut butter part, I made a chocolate peanut butter "ganache".

12 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup creamy peanut butter
4 tbsp confectioners sugar

Heat the cream until it just comes to a boil.

Pour over the chocolate and stir until smooth.

Add in peanut butter and confectioners sugar and stir until smooth and mixed.

I-swear-to-the-gods this tastes like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, in liquid form.

If you want this to be more spreadible, let it cool before using.

2010 Feb 16
The banana part was kind of hard to figure out, but basically I determined that it would be easier to add banana to a frosting, rather than do a banana cake (which, IMO works better without icing).

I used my basic buttercream recipe:

www.marthastewart.com

(for shame, I know).

I then added 6 miniature bananas and 2 tbsp brown sugar and continued to mix the buttercream until smooth. I dyed most of it bright pink, and the rest yellow for piping.

Overall, it was a hit, though far too rich. Between six people we didn't finish half of it.

Anyone want half a cake?

2010 Feb 17
the cake looks good and so does the ganache. i'm not sold on the frosting though. won't the addition of fresh banana discolour and liquidfy too quickly, causing the frosting to slide off? i don't like artificial banana flavour, but maybe you could have done a chocolate layer and a banana layer with the ganache inbetween and then frosted it with a lighter topping then butter cream. just a simple layer of chocolate on top?

the strands of banana in the pink frosting looks like some kind of bloody pulp, but that is probably my monitor.

2010 Feb 17
HFF, I used miniature bananas that seem to be slightly higher in starch content. Because we ate the cake within an hour of frosting, I didn't add any sort of citrus, but you could add a tsp or two of lemon juice to the banana to keep it from discolouring. I wouldn't have coloured this pink normally (the yellow frosting, you can't see the banana at all), but my SIL is really into the colour. But, yeah, the cake is in the fridge and the banana isn't dark. So, I suspect that has to do with the starch content?

I could have done the multiple sorts of cake. But, really, one cake recipe, ganache and frosting was enough work. Also, the buttercream was actually not all that rich. What really did it was the ganache.