This week was my husband’s birthday, so of course, I had to make another cake! Two flavours that my husband loves are banana cake and cream cheese frosting. I was inspired to combine those two elements with a bananas Foster filling, which contained bananas and toasted pecans in brown sugar and rum caramel.
For the cake, I used my Fluffy Banana Cake, which keeps from being too dense with the use of whipped egg whites and a combination of buttermilk and baking soda in the batter to give the cake a better rise. I’ve been making bananas Foster since I was a teenager with no particular recipe, so I estimated what I would need to make enough filling. I ended up using 3 bananas and made a quick brown sugar caramel to which I added some cinnamon, sea salt and rum and then flambeed the mixture. I wanted some texture in the filling so I also added some toasted chopped pecans.
For the frosting, I used my standard cream cheese frosting recipe but added a tablespoon of rum and some cinnamon to tie it into the filling. I could taste the rum a bit in the frosting when I tasted it by itself, but not particularly when I put it on the cake. I wouldn’t want to add more though, because it would make the frosting too soft. I decided to decorate the cake more simply since cream cheese frosting is softer than other buttercreams. After frosting the cake, I ran over the sides with a cake comb to create grooves. Then I decorated it with some caramel that I had leftover in the fridge and some more toasted chopped pecans.
The end result was exactly what I wanted from the cake. The cake was moist, but not too dense and had great banana flavour from both the cake and the filling. The caramel banana filling was balanced by the tangy cream cheese frosting. My husband loved the flavour and especially liked the textural contrast from the pecans.
Here is the recipe!
Ingredients
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For the Banana Cake
- For the Banana's Foster Filling
- For the Spiced Cream Cheese Frosting
- To Finsh
Instructions
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For the Banana Cake
- Adjust your oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350F/180C. Grease, line and flour 3 8-inch/20 cm round cake pans.
- In a small bowl, mix bananas and lemon juice. Set aside.
- Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, 150 g (1 3/4 cups) granulated sugar, and brown sugar together in a large bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, buttermilk, vanilla, and egg yolks.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, whip egg whites and cream of tartar on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-high and whip to soft peaks, about 1 minute. Gradually add remaining 50G (1/4 cup) sugar and whip until glossy, stiff peaks form, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Add flour mixture to the now-empty bowl. With the mixer at low speed, gradually pour in the butter mixture and mix until almost incorporated for about 15 seconds. Scrape down bowl then increase speed to medium-low and beat until smooth and fully incorporated, about 10-15 seconds.
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the banana mixture.
- Using a rubber spatula, stir one-third of whites into the batter, then add the remaining two-thirds and gently fold until no white streaks remain.
- Divide batter evenly between prepared tins. For accuracy, you can use a digital scale. Gently tap the pans against the counter a few times to get rid of any bubbles.
- Bake until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes.
- Let cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing from cake pans, discarding parchment and letting cool completely on rack. For the Bananas Foster Filling
- Melt butter and sugar together in a skillet over medium heat until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the ground cinnamon and salt.
- Add the sliced bananas to the pan and saute until softened, about 2-3 minutes.
- Pour in rum and cook for 1 minute, then stir in the chopped pecans. Let cool completely before filling the cake. For the Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese, butter, vanilla, rum, cinnamon, and salt until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined. Increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. If the icing is too soft, add up to 4 more tbsp icing sugar until the desired consistency is reached. Frosting may be kept in the fridge until ready to use. For Assembly
- Cut the tops of your cakes to create flat layers if needed.
- Place one layer on your cake plate or board. Add a thin layer of frosting over the top then pipe a higher rim around the circumference of the cake.
- Fill the centre with half of the banana filling.
- Repeat with the second layer of cake, frosting, and filling. Top with the third layer of cake.
- Spread a thin coat of frosting over the top and sides of the cake. Freeze for 30 minutes until this crumb coat has set, then top with a final coat of frosting.
- Top decoratively with caramel sauce and chopped toasted pecans.
Banana, pecans, rum caramel – yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum!!!