Sunday, August 26, 2007

Banana Cake

Saturday afternoon I had the pleasure of cooking with my 3rd guest chef - my 3 1/2 year old nephew Bryan:)! He was such a great help in the kitchen, he started off our session of making Banana Cake (which by the way is a household favourite around here) by what else but mashing the bananas!



After doing that for about 5 minutes he told me very politely that he was tired and needed a rest and went to join his Uncle Joe in front of the TV...but he was back before long to help me process the rest of the ingredients into the food processor.

The recipe is off another blog and turned out very well and just like the recipe assured it was super moist. Needless to say everyone enjoyed it!!

125g butter, softened (if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon salt with the flour)
330g (1 1/2 cups) sugar
280g (1 very slightly rounded cup) very ripe, mashed banana
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (1 teaspoon natural vanilla essence)
2 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
100ml (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) buttermilk
225g (1 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius fan-forced. If you don't have a fan-forced oven, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a 22cm diameter springform pan.

Place butter, sugar, banana, vanilla and eggs in a food processor.

Process for about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of processor. Add buttermilk and pulse to combine.

Sift flour, salt (if using) and bicarbonate of soda together into a large bowl. Add flour mixture to food processor and process until just combined.

Pour batter into prepared tin.

Bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer or knife inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Leave cake to cool on a wire rack.




Spread cooled cake with cream cheese icing. Store cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Icing
90g cream cheese, softened
45g butter, softened
210g (1 2/3 cups) icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice

Beat cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until creamy. Add sifted icing sugar and beat until smooth. Add lemon juice and beat to combine. Spread icing over top and sides of cooled cake.

For a buttermilk substitute, try using 90ml (1/3 cup + 2 teaspoons) of milk mixed with 10ml (2 teaspoons) of lemon juice. Combine the milk and lemon juice (the mixture should curdle) then allow to stand for 10 minutes before using.

(I did not prepare the cream cheese icing)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The cake turned out absolutely yummy. Bryan is an excellent chef's assistant and looks like a Chef in the making. Both Aunty and nephew in the kitchen together...lookout Jamie O.

Minah Drama said...

Does the lil chef make house calls.

Anonymous said...

Sorry madam....no house calls...ONLY at milee's kitchen...for now. Well guess credit goes to G'ma...all the good training of assisting..Well milee, Bryan's cake was just terrific...I had about 5pcs and jeff had double of that..nothing was left!!!By the way...Bryan claims he has some more cooking this w'end at your place.