The Cake Slice: Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I love chocolate, that is no secret. I also love bananas. So, that said, you would think that I would looooove this cake. In fact, I did like the cake itself, but surprisingly, to me anyway, the cake with this frosting was just waaaaay too sweet. Knowing my penchant for all things sweet, that may come as a shock. It certainly did to me. I thought the cake itself was very nice, but the frosting was tooth achingly sweet for me. Go figure.

That said, the cake and frosting were both a snap to make and I was glad to be able to participate in this month's round of The Cake Slice Bakers. I'm still playing a lot of catch up around here and hope to have many more posts up soon. I counted the other day and have at least 15 items just waiting to post, pictures and all, so hopefully I'll get on the ball soon.

Don't miss the rest of the cakes and how the other bakers thought it all turned out - visit the blogroll.

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

Banana Cake

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter, softened

1½ cups sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup buttermilk*

1½ cups mashed ripe banana

Chocolate Frosting

½ cup (1 stick) butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup evaporated milk or half-and-half

4 cups sifted confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

* If you don’t have buttermilk you can make your own by stirring 1½ teaspoons of vinegar or lemon juice into ½ cup of milk and leaving for 10 minutes.

To make the cake, heat the oven to 350F. Grease and flour two 9 inch cake pans. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and stir with a fork to combine well.

In a large bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat well, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one by one, and then the vanilla. Beat well for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally until you have a smooth batter.

Using a large spoon, stir in half the flour just until it disappears into the batter. Stir in the buttermilk and then the remaining flour the same way. Quickly and gently fold in the mashed banana and then divide the batter between the 2 cake pans.

Bake at 350F for 25 to 30 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched lightly in the centre, and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pans on wire racks. Then turn out onto the racks to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the butter, cocoa and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring often for about 5 minutes, until the cocoa dissolves into a dark shiny essence. Remove from the heat and stir in the confectioners sugar and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at low speed until you have a thick smooth frosting.

To complete the cake, place one layer, top side down, on a cake plate and spread about 1 cup of frosting evenly over the top. Cover with the second layer placed top side up. Spread the rest of the frosting evenly first over the sides and then covering the top of the cake.