Goin' Bananas

Yum, I love bananas! It just happens to be one of my favorite fruits to eat, because it's good with peanut butter and is even better with some vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. Except this time around it's going to be in a cake! I love it already.

Now for me I'm always looking for a cute new idea and inspiration everywhere, whether it be looking at what other people have done or by looking at images of patterns or pictures. In this case it's both. I saw this cake  made by Alisha of Sweet Bakes (she has a lot of adorable cakes!) and I loved the cute little monkey on top with the little bananas against the pretty blue frosting. This is what gave me the idea to do a monkey cake. The only thing though is that I'm not a fan of copying the work of others and wanted to make it my own, the only question was how? Well on Pinterest (obviously) I was searching for patterns and prints to give me more ideas when all of a sudden I came across this beauty! And then I knew that I had what I was looking for to make this cake a reality.

If you are having a difficult time trying to find inspiration, just look at your surroundings, because inspiration is literally everywhere! Just put your mind to it and you will find something that will be amazing!

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Banana Cake

Makes 4, 6 inch layers

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter

4 eggs

4 bananas, ripe

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*F. Line and grease 4, 6inch cake pans. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Gradually add in the eggs and vanilla and mix until fully combined. Add in the bananas and mix until combined. In a large bowl sift and combine all of the dry ingredients. Add the flour and buttermilk, alternating between starting and ending with the flour. Evenly spread the batter between the 4 cake pan and bake for about 40 minutes, making sure to turn the pans halfway through the baking time.

NOTE: I like to use ripe bananas that are frozen mainly because when you thaw them out the bananas will be a little more wet which will add more moisture into the cake to make it more soft like when you eat it.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Either in a double boiler or in a microwavable bowl, combine the cream and chocolate chips and melt down until smooth and there are no visible chocolate chunks. Cover and put into the fridge for about an hour or until you can scoop it out with a spoon and it keeps it's form. Place the chocolate mix into a bowl of an electric mixer, add the vanilla and use the whisk attachment and whip for about 5 minutes until stiff. Add in the powdered sugar and mix until combined. 

Assembly

Level the cakes. Fill and stack with the chocolate ganache and completely ice the cake. 

You can always crumb coat and refrigerate and then continue icing the cake if you want a smooth finish.