For cake number one I made a choconana cake.
This is a variation of the mocha banana cake that I have made many, many times and which you can read about here. It's essentially a chocolate banana bake and for a little girl's birthday I omitted the coffee, added some chocolate chips and some chocolate butter icing, plus decorations.
The lovely cake stand was gifted to me by a friend who is selling her second home in France and moving back to the UK. She bought it some years ago at a French street market and I had admired it many times. The little pig decorations were given to me by another friend after a recent visit back to the UK. They are Percy Pig sweets that come from M & S. The little girl's grandmother helped with the decorating and although I had lots of other decorations she thought the pigs would be fun.
Ingredients
For the cake
8oz self raising flour
4oz softened butter or baking spread (I used Le Fleurier unsalted spread)
4oz caster sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tblsp milk chocolate chips (optional)
a splash of milk if needed
For the topping
2oz softened butter
6oz icing sugar
1 tblsp cocoa powder
1 tblsp warm water
a splash of milk if needed
Method
Butter and line the base of a 20cm (8") round springform cake tin. Preheat the oven to 180° C / 160° fan.
Put all of the cake ingredients except for the chocolate chips and milk into a large bowl and beat well by hand or with an electric hand held whisk, until well blended.
If the mixture seems rather stiff, add the milk and beat it in. Add the chocolate chips if using and stir in.
Pour or spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until done.
Remove from the oven and cool in the tin.
When the cake is cool, make the buttercream topping.
Beat the butter in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon until soft and sift in the icing sugar a spoonful at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mix the cocoa powder with the warm water to a smooth paste in a small bowl or cup. Add to the buttercream and beat in until evenly coloured. If it seems rather stiff, beat in a splash of milk.
Remove the cold cake from the tin, remove the paper from the bottom and sit the cake on a serving plate or cake stand.
Spread or swirl the topping over the cake evenly and decorate with candles, sprinkles and any decorations of your choice.
Serves 8-12 slices.
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My mum always said, in fact firmly believed, that all things come in threes. This cake was almost number three in a string of baking disasters, all within a single week!
Number one was when making the cream cheese topping for a carrot cake. I beat the butter and icing sugar together, added the cream cheese and on beating it in was horrified to see the whole thing turn to liquid within moments. More about that in another post.
Number two was when making a caramelised apple clafoutis (see here). The pudding had been in the oven for a good five minutes when I noticed the beaten eggs still in a bowl on the worktop. I whipped it out of the oven sharpish, stirred the eggs as evenly as possible into the pudding and put it back in the oven. It was fine.
Number three was when making this birthday cake. The mixture was in the tin ready to go into the oven when I adopted my usual practice of licking the spoon. It didn't taste very sweet but I wasn't sure as bananas are quite sweet anyway. A quick glance around the kitchen and I spotted nothing untoward so put the cake in the oven. As I turned to do the washing up I spotted the weighed out sugar still in a bowl next to the sink. I whipped the cake out of the oven sharpish, tipped the mixture back into the mixing bowl and beat the sugar in. After washing and re-lining the tin I got the cake back in the oven to bake and, as far as I know, it was fine!
Let's hope my mum's theory was right and, after three near disasters, that's it for now!
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