The Great Cake Part III: Banana

     

     The last layer! The final piece! The end! Well, not the end. After all, there is frosting and all that jazz to go. But still, getting to the last layer of cake is pretty exciting. Ya, ya I know there are only three layers. But I've never done this kind of cake project before. Picking all the layers myself, doing them one at a time and freezing them. I am just an amateur, and now I'm going to be amateurishly gleeful at getting to the third layer of my three layer cake.

     All this glee was compounded because AN and I actually made the chocolate and banana cake layers on the same day. We are so efficient! And I made a lot of other food! (Recipes to come later). Man, it was a good day. Making anything with bananas is also so satisfying. AN was pureeing (i.e. mushing) up the bananas and the smell that comes from that is just like baby food - in the best possible way. It's so homey and comforting and simple. Yes, I'm waxing eloquent on the smell of mushed up bananas. But, they really smell super good! Try it.

     So why did I decide to do a banana layer on my cake? Other than the joy of mushing up bananas? I suppose banana cake is less common than banana bread. It is just the moister, sweeter, slightly fancier version. Mine included a little bit of expresso powder, which I guess elevates it, but you can put that in banana bread too. Banana cake is just an excuse to take banana bread further. To take it into the realm of icing filled desserts instead of just homey comforts. The banana deserves recognition too! And where best to get that recognition? My cake of course. And I just love banana-y desserts. I made banana bread this day too, don't think I don't love it. Happiness all around in banana land.

     Also, I went a little crazy taking pictures of bananas. I don't really know why. I think it was because I was actually cooking/photographing during the day time, so I could actually take pictures that didn't look completely awful. Yay! This is when I actually like taking pictures. And then I tried different effects...ya it was fun. I call this: Banana Cake Sits Calmly Amidst The Mess That Is My Apartment. 

     

     So, after a very short period of time of mushing bananas and mixing batter and adding expresso powder, my banana layer was done. Again, I'm just going to put a link to the original recipe below, and then will give my (halved) recipe later when I put together my whole cake for you. Are you excited? You should be, it was utterly gorgeous. And look at these things AN and I made all in one day! YAY!  

Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Honey Toasted Almonds

From Baking with Buttermilk