Coconut-Banana Sundae Cake

So now that I'm done with school and I had a few bananas getting overripe and about to go really bad, I turned to one of my favorite baking books for a good recipe I could make. The credit for this cake goes to the recipe "Lots-of-Ways Banana Cake" from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. The cake turned out very yummy, looked delicious (it's a two-layer), I saved four bananas from going in the trash, AND I had lots of fun playing around with the cake when dressing it up.

Although it doesn't say it in the recipe, I filled and drizzled the cake with chocolate ganache and topped it with maraschino cherries. But, I did follow the suggestion of frosting it with whipped cream. Basically, the cake reminded me of a sundae and that led me to give the cake a new name, hence the title. Now that I think about it, you can even top it with chopped nuts!

This cake has a lot of ingredients, so I suggest gathering everything you need before you start (I actually do this anytime I bake so nothing is accidentally forgotten).

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup (packed) light brown sugar (or you can use granulated sugar)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• About 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (you should have 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups)
• 1/2 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk, whole milk, buttermilk, sour cream, or plain yogurt (Note: I love this recipe because of the fact that you can choose from a variety of options in case you don't have one of the ingredients - I used sour cream when I made it)
• 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, preferably toasted (or an equal amound of moist, plump dried fruit, such as currants, raisins, chopped apricots, cranberries, blueberries, or halved cherries, or a combination of coconut and dried fruit - Note: I used only coconut)
  

1. To get ready, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour, and tap out the excess. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg together.

3. Working with a stand mixer, preferrably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy.


4. Add the sugars and beat at medium speed for a couple of minutes, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla. You should have a satiny batter.


5. Now lower the speed and add the bananas - the batter will curdle, but that's fine; it will come together as you add the remaining ingredients.


6. Still on low speed, add the dry and liquid ingredients alternately, add the flour mixture in 3 portions and the coconut milk (or whatever liquid you used - remember to begin and end with the dry ingredients).


7. Mix just until everything is incorporated. Switch to a rubber spatula and gently stir in the coconut. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.

8. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the cakes are a deep golden brown. They should start to pull away from the sides of the pans and a thin knife inserted into their centers will come out clean.


9. Transfer the cakes to a cooling rack and cool for 5 minutes, then unmold and invert onto another rack to cool to room temperature right side up.

10. You can fill and frost the cakes with a variety of frostings, but as mentioned before, I chose to fill it with chocolate ganache and topped it with sweetened whipped cream. You can find the recipes for both below.

After we dug in! :

In fact, you don't even have to frost it because you can serve one layer sprinkled with confectioner's sugar accompanied by ice cream or whipped cream and/or hot fudge sauce. The fun is that it's totally up to you!
The cake will stay at room temperature for 4 days, but if you frost it with whipped cream, make sure it stays refrigerated!

Chocolate Ganache Recipe (Makes about 1 cup)

Ingredients:
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp heavy cream
1/4 stick (2 tbsp) unsalted butter, cut into little pieces, at room temperature

1. Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil, then pour half of the cream over the chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds.


2. Working with a whisk or rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate and cream together in small circles, starting at the center of the bowl and working your way out in increasingly larger concentric circles. Pour in the remainder of the cream and blend it into the chocolate, using the same circular motions.

3. When the ganache is smooth and shiny, stir in the butter piece by piece. Don't stir the ganache any more than you must to blend the ingredients - the less you work it, the darker, smoother, and shinier it will be.


4. After it's done, let it sit until it thickens to the desired consistency.

Note: It can be tightly covered and kept in the fridge for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. Let the ganache stand at room temperature to bring it back to the consistency you need; stir gently before using. You can warm it in very short spurts (5 seconds each) in a microwave, or put the ganache in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Whipped Cream Recipe (Makes about 1 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:
1 cup very cold heavy cream
1-5 tbsp confectioner's sugar (to taste), sifted
1/2 -1 tsp vanilla (to taste, optional)

Working with stand mixer and whisk attachment or hand mixer, beat the cream and sugar together just until the cream starts to thicken. Start beating the cream slowly - don't rush the process - and inrease the speed as the cream gains texture. Continue to beat until the cream reaches the desired consistency (high peaks for a consistency to frost the cake). Make sure to not overbeat or else the whipped cream will become grainy and look like it will sepearate. When it is just about ready to be at the right consistence, quickly beat in the vanilla.