Chocolate Banana Cream Cake

I woke up last Sunday morning, got my daughter dressed for church with grandma then found myself with a few hours to kill. Being that it was my mother’s birthday I figured I would whip her up a cake. She loves bananas and chocolate. I flipped through my new favorite book, Taste of Home Baking, and settled on the Chocolate Banana Cream Cake.

Chocolate, bananas, pudding… this cake is full of all things delicious.

Admittedly, I haven’t made many cakes from scratch. This particular recipe called for 2 egg whites whipped to stiff peaks, I thought that was… different. However, I planned on following the recipe exactly so I whipped away.

My cakes ended up baking perfectly so there was no need to level them. One less step. Yay 🙂

I did want to follow the recipe exactly, however, it called for frosting out of a can and if I was making a homemade cake I certainly wasn’t going to use store bought frosting. Instead, I flipped through my book, found a recipe for chocolate ganache and made that instead.

With my banana pudding, chilled chocolate ganache, and lemon juice covered bananas… I started assembly.

The frosting made decorating so easy. It was the perfect consistency. As for the bananas… that lemon juice did something magical. I’ve never tasted bananas that good. All in all I ended up using a total of 11 bananas (way more than the recipe calls for). The five I used for filling were definitely overly ripe but they really helped to make the banana flavors pop in the cake.

Happy Birthday Mama!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• FILLING/FROSTING:
• 1-1/2 cups cold 2% milk
• 1 package (3.4 ounces) instant banana cream pudding mix
• 1 can (16 ounces) chocolate frosting
• 2 medium firm bananas, sliced
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Beat in the bananas, sour cream and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
• In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Transfer to two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
• For filling, in a small bowl, whisk milk and pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.
• In a small bowl, beat frosting until light and fluffy. Place bananas in a small bowl; toss with lemon juice.
• Place one cake layer on a serving plate; spread with 3 tablespoons frosting. Stir pudding; spread half over the frosting. Top with half of the bananas and the remaining cake layer. Repeat frosting, filling and banana layers. Frost sides and decorate top edge of cake with remaining frosting. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 12 servings.

Recipes courtesy of Taste of Home Baking