My Dad's Favourite Things - in Cake

I know I haven't blogged in a while (understatement of the year). But now that I've got a little bit more time on my hands, I'm gonna try to write about the things that have come out of my kitchen over the past year or so.

So let's talk about birthday cake. My mum asked if I'd surprise my dad with a banana cake, as he is sort of a banana monster (It's true! No banana is safe when he is around). But well, you know me...why have banana when you can have banana and chocolate. And peanut butter. And popcorn. Just imagine the awesome combination of flavours. They also happen to be my dad's favourite things to eat, so it was a happy coincidence for all involved.

So I started with a good chocolate cake recipe. I've liked this one by Martha Stewert since I tried it for my own cake last year. It's rich, fudgey and not dry...you can actually use any chocolate cake recipe, but use one you would even eat on its own (no use hiding a not-so-good cake under tons of frosting, it'll still suck).

Ultimate Chocolate Cake (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Makes 3 two-inch layers, or 4 one-inch layers (9 inches in diameter)

·         1 cup (90-100g) good quality cocoa powder, plus more for dusting

·         3/4 cup strong coffee, boiling hot

·         1 cup milk, room temperature

·         2 3/4 cups (344g) cake flour (not self-raising)

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         1 1/2 cups (340g) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan

·         2 cups (400g) sugar

·         1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

·         4 large eggs, room temperature

1.  Place rack in middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (180degC). Butter two (or three, if you have them) identical round cake pans. Line with greaseproof paper. Butter the paper, and dust with cocoa powder; tap out excess.

2. Next, sift cocoa powder; whisk in boiling coffee and milk. Let cool. Sift together cake flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside..    

3. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add sugar and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Pour in the cooled cocoa mixture. Mix until fully incorporated.

4. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pans (I usually weigh out the batter to ensure it's evenly distributed, but that's just me. If you can guesstimate, by all means.) Bake each layer for 10 minutes, rotate the pans, and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center.

5. Remove the cakes from the oven, and allow to cool in pans for 15 minutes on a cooling rack.
Carefully run a small spatula or butter knife around the edge of the cakes to loosen them from the pan. Remove cakes from pans, and invert onto a wire rack. If you greased and lined the pans well, they should come out reaally easily.Let cool completely, about 1 hour.

So now you have your cake layers! Now to fill them with more good stuff: chocolate ganache and roasted bananas, and wrap the whole thing up in a peanut butter buttercream (that's quite a mouthful to say, but it's all good. Trust me.)



My ganache formula is simple: equal parts heavy (whipping) cream, and bittersweet chocolate.

• 250g bittersweet chocolate (I used one with a cocoa mass of 56%)
• 250ml (1 cup) heavy cream

You can melt the chocolate into the cream over the stove, or microwave the cream until it's simmering (not boiling!) and then mix in the chips. Leave to cool and thicken for at least an hour until the ganache is spreadable.

Spread about one centimetre of ganache onto each cake layer. Then top it with a layer of sliced roasted bananas.

I really don't have a recipe for the roasted bananas...I just sort of toss them with a few tablespoons of butter and brown sugar, and bake or grill them until they're softer and caramelized. If your bananas are ripe enough, you actually don't have to do this extra step, but I like the flavour.



All stacked and ready for frosting!


I used a Swiss Meringue Buttercream, which is a little bit more complex than other frostings, but the texture makes all the difference. It's smooth and light and you don't feel like you're crunching on grains of sugar.

Peanut Butter Swiss Meringue Buttercream (base recipe adapted from Sweetapolita. She's awesome.)

• 100g egg whites
• 170g white sugar
• 1 cup (227g) unsalted butter
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup peanut butter (I used chunky)

1. Using a paper towel and some vinegar (or lemon juice), wipe the bowl, spatula and whisk/electric beaters you will be using. This step is CRUCIAL because you need to remove all the grease/oil from your utensils. Or else, the meringue will not form.
2. In a heatproof (metal or glass) bowl set over a pot of simmering (not boiling!) water, whisk egg whites and sugar together. Heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches 160degF (about 70degC) on a candy thermomether. If you don't have a thermometer, the mixture should feel hot to the touch.
3. Take the butter out of the fridge and cut it into 1-inch cubes. It should be cool, but not soft. If the weather is insanely hot like it usually is around here, put the butter back in the fridge for a few minutes.
4. With an electric mixer set on low speed, beat the mixture until it cools slightly and becomes foamy. Turn up to medium-high speed and whip until the mixture turns white (like liquid marshmallow), and the bowl is completely cool to the touch.
5. Switch from the whisk attachment to the paddle attachment of your mixer, and slowly add one cube of butter at a time, waiting until each cube disappears before adding the next. If the mixture becomes curdled or too watery (if the butter is too cold or too soft), put the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes and then beat it again.
6. After all the butter has been added, beat the mixture until it is light and shiny. Add salt, vanilla, and peanut butter.

Slather on the buttercream (no it doesn't need to be that neat yet), chill the cake for about 10 minutes to set the frosting, then smooth it out as best as possible.


The cake is actually really nice even if you don't add any decorations to it. But hey, it was my dad's birthday. So to make the cake even more over-the-top, I melted some Nutella, toasted some leftover popcorn we had lying around, and wrote Happy Birthday in white chocolate. Ta-daa!


The flavour of the cake was amazing! All that chocolate, the slight tangy-ness of the banana, the creamy, slighty salty buttercream, and the crunchy popcorn. But...each slice was so huge that we couldn't eat more than one slice at a time!

What I would do differently next time: Add some of the buttercream inside the cake layers, to balance out the seriously fudgey cake and ganache. Also, I think I need to make smaller cakes. We took more than a week to finish this, and that was even after giving some cake away!