Tuesday 4 March 2014

Banana Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Four week's ago my sister and I decided to take the Wilton Method decorating courses that were being offered at a local Bulk Barn. We both love to bake, but when it comes to decorating neither of us have learned to even fill a piping bag! With my two boys and the busy schedule that came with them I also realized I need some me time and a hobby away from them. If you have children, I'm sure you can relate! From zero experience layering and icing a cake, four weeks later I now can create one that looks pretty decent..I'm actually kinda proud of myself:)

The classes were held at 9am Saturday morning, so after  long nights of no rest as I went back forth from my six month old to my two year old I'd down a cup of strong coffee and take off with all of my supplies to the class. It was a great experience, and now I've signed up for the second level which starts this Saturday..I'm excited!

Anyway, during the second class we had to bake a round cake to class where we cut filled, frosted and decorated it with these neat little templates we were given. It was actually a lot easier than it looked in the book. I decided to make a banana cake with cream cheese icing. You may have guessed by now that I absolutely love anything baked with banana, and you will definitely see more banana-y baked goods later on..that's a promise!

The recipe I chose comes from wiveswithknives.net, and was originally taken from taken from the 1968 edition of the McCall's Cookbook. I replaced the two eggs with two tablespoons of plain greek yogurt. Of course I added some cinnamon, cloves and all spice to make it taste a little stronger and soothing..I guess you can say it's my signature:)

I used the cream cheese icing to fill the layer and make the top of the cupcake, but it was a little too runny to frost the whole cake and pipe the borders with. For that I had to run out during class and grab some store bought buttercream frosting.

The result was a delicious moist banana cake with a rich tangy cream cheese icing...scrumptious!

Ingredients
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1 cup ripe mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
1/2 cup buttermilk

Frosting
8 ounce package cream cheese
6 tablespoons softened butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Directions
 Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two eight inch round cake pans. (or just one and you can use a muffin tray for the remainder of the batter)
Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl, and all wet ingredients in another. Put them together and beat on medium speed for about two minutes until the mixture is incorporated. Pour the batter into your pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. If you are using muffin trays, bake those for 20-25 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for about ten minutes and then transfer it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Beat all ingredients for the frosting until combined.
 Frost and enjoy your cake!

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