Stand Out Dessert

I usually really like the desserts I bake.  Sometimes I love them.  And then, every once and a while, I make something new that automatically climbs to my list of top desserts.  If this cake isn’t one of those, it sure is close.  And without a doubt, I WILL be making the ganache again, and soon!

When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it.  Coffee and banana together?  That was a flavor combination I had yet to try but was very intrigued.  I’ll tell you right now, I was not disappointed!  Make this Banana Cake with Mocha Ganache and you will not be either.

This recipe is time consuming, but not very difficult if you have some baking experience.  I actually thought the ganache was much easier than the last time I made one (that could be because I was relaxed and not rushed, though).

This banana cake is worth trying, even if you already have a favorite go-to recipe.  The flavors are a little different with a richness from the coffee and the delicious scent of cinnamon.  This is what you need:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

Spray your cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper

You then need to sift your dry ingredients; I don’t have a sifter, so I improvised!

This worked out perfectly- goes to show you that you don’t need fancy tools to make delicious desserts

Sift all of your dry ingredients together

Flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt

Then whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside

Next up, cream together the butter and sugar

Do it for a few minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy

Then add the coffee grinds and vanilla

I’m telling you, this makes an excellent addition to the banana cake

Add in your eggs, one at a time

Then add in the half the dry ingredients, banana, and sour cream, mixing between each addition

Mix in the remaining dry ingredients just until combined; don’t overbeat

Divide batter evenly between two 8 or 9-inch cake pans

Bake for ~30 minutes, or until lightly browned and a knife comes out clean

Meanwhile, your ganache is made up of 3 simple ingredients:

You can get started on this while your cake is in the oven

Chop up the chocolate, coarsely, and prepare extra-strong coffee

Slice up your butter and set aside

Now set up your double boiler; bring water to a simmer

Place heat-proof bowl over the pot

Pour the coffee over your chocolate

Continuously stir until chocolate is melted and smooth

Remove bowl from heat and whisk in the butter

Your ganache will get very creamy

Then allow ganache to cool, stirring occasionally

You know it is ready when the mixture gets nice and thick

Time to put together your cake!

Run a knife along the edges of each layer to loosen cake from the pans

Take your serving platter and put it over your bottom layer

Hold pan and platter together as you turn over the pan; the cake layer should come right out

Remove parchment paper; notice that the bottom of the cake is nice and flat which will work nicely for layering

Use a large spatula to spread the ganache

Cover the entire layer

Use the same methodology to flip your top layer onto a separate plate

This way you will have the top layer right-side-up on the cake

To ice the rest of the cake, pour generous amounts of ganache on top and then spread

Be careful not to spread to thin, this will keep you from collecting crumbs on the outside of your frosting

Use up all the ganache, because you can never have too much frosting on a cake

Run the spatula gently around the sides of the cake to smooth out the edges

Store cake at room temperature for up to three days

Banana Cake with Mocha Ganache

Recipe from La Mia Vita Dolce, and originally from David Lebovitz

Serves 12-16

Ingredients:

Banana Cake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon instant coffee grinds

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons sour cream (I used reduced fat)

2 cups mashed ripe bananas (~5 medium bananas)

Ganache

10 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate

1/2 cup extra-strong brewed coffee

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Directions:

Banana Cake

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees

Spray your cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper

Sift dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt)

Then whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside

Cream together the butter and sugar for a few minutes, until the mixture is light and fluffy

Then add the coffee grinds and vanilla and mix

Add in your eggs, one at a time

Then add in the half the dry ingredients, banana, and sour cream, mixing between each addition

Mix in the remaining dry ingredients at low speed, just until combined; don’t overbeat

Divide batter evenly between two 8 or 9-inch cake pans

Bake for ~30 minutes, or until lightly browned and a knife comes out clean

Ganache

Make ganache while cake is in oven

Chop up the chocolate, coarsely, and prepare extra-strong coffee

Slice up your butter and set aside

Now set up your double boiler; bring water to a simmer in medium pot over low-medium heat

Place heat-proof bowl of chocolate over the pot

Pour the coffee over your chocolate

Continuously stir until chocolate is melted and smooth

Remove bowl from heat and whisk in the butter until creamy

Then allow ganache to cool, stirring occasionally

Ganache is ready when the mixture gets nice and thick

Build Your Cake

Run a knife along the edges of each layer to loosen cake from the pans

Take your serving platter and put it over your bottom cake layer

Hold pan and platter together as you turn over the pan; the cake layer should come right out

Remove parchment paper from cake

Put just under a cup of ganache onto the cake layer

Use a large spatula to spread the ganache, covering the entire layer

Use the same methodology to flip your top layer onto a separate plate

Then place layer gently over frosted cake

To ice the rest of the cake, pour generous amounts of ganache on top and then spread

Run the spatula gently around the sides and top of the cake to smooth out the edges

Store cake at room temperature for up to three days

Do you have any new favorite recipes?

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PB&C

PB&C, or peanut butter and chocolate, is probably my favorite flavor profile.  There is just something perfect about the flavors of a reeses peanut butter cup that I love to recreate in baked goods.  So what better dessert to make for my birthday than peanut butter brownies with chocolate ganache?

I previously have made this recipe from Smitten Kitchen without changing a thing.  This time, I decided I really wanted a traditional peanut butter cup flavor and switched over to milk chocolate for the chips and ganache.  How could these not make for a good birthday dessert?

My recipe is slightly modified from Deb’s.

To make the brownies you will need:

1/2 pound unsalted butter (2 sticks) at room temperature or a little soft

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used old school Jif- I actually think I prefer Skippy but Jif was on sale)

2 large eggs and 1 large egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpous flour

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

pinch of salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9×13 baking pan.

Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy with an electric mixer on medium speed.

Beat in the peanut butter on high.

Add the eggs, yolk, salt, and vanilla and beat on high.  I recommend cracking the eggs into a separate bowl first.  That way if you drop some shell in the bowl, you can remove it before it ends up in the batter.

Reduce the mixer to low speed and slowly add in your flour.  Pause to scrape sides of bowl and continue to mix until all flour is incorporated.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spread batter into pan, it will be thick.

Bake for 30-40 minutes. My brownies were done at 28 minutes.  When you use a dark baking pan your baked goods may cook faster. Brownies are done when edges are browned and a knife or toothpick comes out clean.

Once the brownies are cooled (about 2 hours later), it is time to make the ganache!  I used the recipe for Milk Chocolate Ganache from this cookbook I received as a wedding shower gift:

Usually I find ganache to be very easy to make.  However, you need to be focused enough so that when you are mixing the chocolate with hot cream, your temperature is right and the ingredients blend well.  If you don’t do this, you may end up with little fat droplets in your ganache (not so appetizing).  After hearing the sad news on Friday, I was rushed and unfocussed so my ganache did not come out as well as I’d normally like.  Retrospectively, I should have decided to start over once the ganache wasn’t right, but I was too impatient and went ahead with the batch I was making.

Ingredients for the Ganache:

10 ounces of milk chocolate chips or milk chocolate chopped (this is the type of thing where I would highly recommend weighing your ingredient)

1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons butter, softened

Directions:

As I said above, this is pretty straightforward, but requires patience.

Put chocolate into a heatproof bowl.

Heat cream in stove just until boiling.

Pour boiled cream over chocolate and whisk together until smooth. **

Stir in butter until completely mixed.  Your final product should be smooth.

Now if you have a problem with your ganache like I did, you can try to fix it without starting over.  The Lindt cookbook recommends chilling half of the ganache, heating the other half over a double boiler, and then combining.  Since I wasn’t in a very patient mood I tried to just fix it by mixing the entire batch over a double boiler.  It worked a little bit but I still had to pick out some leftover fat droplets.

Now, hopefully you have a nice and silky smooth ganache!  Spread ganache over brownies.

Once you finish, chill the brownies in fridge for 2 hours or overnight.  Ganache should harden.

Cut and enjoy!  I recommend cutting off the edges before serving.

Notes:

**This is where I made my mistake.  I thought that the lumps in my my melted chocolate were just air bubbles.  They were actually fat droplets and were not going to get whisked away.  At this point I should have started over with fresh ingredients!

I think next time I’d use chocolate chunks instead of chips in the batter, just seems like a better fit.

These are very similar to blondies in texture.  They’d go well with a glass of milk!

If you use this ganache recipe, you will probably have extra.  I bet you didn’t know that ganache is the base of making truffles!  Just refrigerate excess for a couple of hours or overnight.  Once chilled, scoop teaspoons worth of ganache and roll into balls.  Now you have truffles!

You could even roll these in cocoa powder, jimmies (yes, I call them jimmies) or chopped almonds to dress them up.

Have you ever made a baking mistake because you were in a rush?

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