Banana Cake with Chocolate Buttercream and Coconut Custard

Banana cake is such a homey, comforting treat. Baked into loaves and drizzled with sour cream glaze and enjoyed with cafe latte, slices of banana loaf are available at almost every coffee shop for good reason. Baked into a cake pan and topped with rich, chocolate buttercream or cream cheese frosting, banana cake can be sliced into tasty squares and served after lunch. Or made into muffins, delectably studded with dark chocolate chips. The possibilities are endless for this home baked treasure.

Banana Cake hot out of the oven

This banana cake recipe comes from my Mom, who made it in a cake pan with vanilla buttercream for me and my sister to devour as a special after school snack. It had bananas in it, so it was healthy, right?

Banana Cake

Recipe by Barbara Rogalsky

Ingredients

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

3 small, ripe bananas

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Method:

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a blender or food processor, combine oil, eggs and bananas and blend until combined. You could do this with a potato masher in a bowl if you are energetic.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, salt and baking soda until combined. Add the blender mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour mixture into 2 small loaf pans, or 1 - 9" x 9" pan. Make sure to thump pan on the counter a few times to get rid of air pockets. I used an 8" round cake pan this time. Bake at 350° until a tester inserted into the centre comes out mostly clean. The timing will depend upon which pan you used; the recipe baked in my 8" round cake pan took 50 minutes.

Let cake stand in pan(s) for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool. When cake has completely cooled, wrap with plastic wrap or place in a covered container with lid. Or, spread with your favorite icing!

Banana Cake with chocolate buttercream and coconut custard

Chocolate Buttercream

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, softened

2 tablespoons milk

9 oz  bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled to room temp.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups icing sugar, sifted

Method:

Melt chocolate over double boiler, or in microwave. Let cool.

In bowl of a standing mixer, beat butter on medium speed until creamy and lighter in colour, about 5 minutes. Add milk and beat until combined. Add melted chocolate and beat again for 2 minutes. Add cocoa and salt and beat again until combined. Add vanilla and beat for 3 more minutes. Add sugar and beat on low speed until creamy. If icing is too thick for your desired consistency, add more milk 1 teaspoon at a time, beating well after each addition.

Coconut Custard

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups low-fat (1%) milk

1/2 cup unsweetened flaked coconut

1/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

In a heavy saucepan, bring milk to a simmer and immediately remove from heat. Add coconut, cover and let steep 20 minutes. Transfer to blender; purée until smooth. With a small sieve, strain out coconut for a smoother custard.

Whisk sugar, cornstarch and salt in small bowl until combined. Add to same saucepan. Gradually whisk in coconut mixture, then the egg. Stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Mix in vanilla. Cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap so that the wrap is touching the surface of the custard, so it doesn't form a skin. 

Serve with fresh fruit and a sprinkling of toasted sweetened coconut if desired.

Banana cake with chocolate buttercream and coconut custard

Putting the cake together

For this cake, I split the cake into 2 rounds and used Coconut Custard as the filling between the 2 layers. You can use whatever filling you like. Chocolate buttercream was lovingly gooped all over.

Place one round on your cake plate. Pipe chocolate buttercream around edge of cake to form a barrier for the custard. Spoon custard inside ring of buttercream; but don't allow custard layer to go higher than buttercream ring.

Place second round on top of custard layer, pressing down very gently (don't want to squeeze out the custard, do we!).

Put about 1/2 cup buttercream on top of the cake and using a spatula, distribute frosting all over cake top allowing some to gloop over edge of cake.

Using remaining frosting, frost sides of cake, adding more to top if desired. Don't worry if you have leftover frosting — that's breakfast!