Cake Slice Bakers: Banana Cake with Praline Filling and White Chocolate Ganache

The Cake Slice Bakers this month chose to make this Banana Cake.  It is actually a very small amount of banana that goes into the cake, but it was quite tasty.  I didn't get a picture of the interior this time, but it was a light speckled color, kind of like a very light banana bread.  

The filling is made from pecan pralines and was a bit intimidating to read about making, but was quite easy to do.  I will make my pralines this way from now on I think.   Basically, we boiled the pecans, then drained them, then coated them with powdered sugar and deep fried them.  Yes.  You heard me right.  Boiled then fried.  It was fun though and oh my, were they delicious!

Part of the pralines are then chopped up and added into the white chocolate ganache.  I have attempted a white chocolate ganache four times before this and failed miserably each time.  I finally had success this time by making sure I had plenty of time to wait and lots of patience.  I am pretty sure I failed all those other times because I rushed the process.

Either way, the cake and the process of making the components was fun.  I took this to my Mom for a belated birthday cake and everyone really enjoyed it.

Make sure to check out all the other beautiful cakes by visiting the Cake Slice Bakers blogroll. You can get the recipe over at Gigi Cakes.