Have you ever tried a new recipe that turned out absolutely amazing? That happened to me a few weeks ago when I made the fluffy banana cake recipe I found on the Mama Gourmand blog here.
I love banana bread and used to make a banana cake when I was younger, but somewhere along the way, I lost the recipe. I was so happy to find this similar one; I think I like it even better than the original version.
This cake is so light and fluffy that it would be beautiful for any spring party you have coming up, including bridal or baby showers. It’s easy to make it look so classy and pretty! You can embellish it any way you want, or even add a light pastel frosting to make the cake perfectly fit the occasion.
I was going to half this recipe, so I halved all the ingredients . . . except the second to last! So I had to go back and add the other half of the ingredients to the other bowls. Making this cake was definitely a labor of love! If you try this recipe, you can plan to spend a little time on it, but it’ll be so totally worth it.
If you give this recipe a try, let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear how it turned out for you!
Fluffy Banana Cake with Fresh Banana Curd Filling
Prep time: 1 hour
Cook time: 4 hours
Ingredients
Cake:
¾ cup butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, separated and room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups flour, or all purpose gluten free flour (I highly recommend Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour)
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1½ cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon juice
1½ cups mashed bananas
Fresh Banana Curd:(double recipe if like a thicker filling)
3 eggs, room temperature Coupons
3 tbsp. butter, room temperature
1½ tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 /4 cup + 2 Tbsp. sugar
3 ripe bananas
Whipped Cream Frosting:
⅓ cup sugar
1 tbsp. cornstarch
3 cups cold heavy cream
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ c. sweetened coconut, toasted (optional)
Instructions
Cake:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray 3 8 inch cake pans with cooking spray. Line each bottom with a cut-to-size parchment circle. Spray again and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice, set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream ¾ cup butter and sugar until light and fluffy, at least 4 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture.
In a separate bowl beat the reserved egg whites until stiff. Fold ⅓ of the egg whites into the banana batter, then gently fold in the remaining ⅔ until no streaks remain. Gently pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake 28-30 minutes until toothpick inserted at center comes out clean. Turn onto wire racks and cool completely.
Fresh Banana Curd:
Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until fully incorporated and smooth. If you have an immersion blender, you can put everything in medium sauce pan and just blend it in there.
Pour mixture into medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir frequently until the mixture becomes very thick and starts to boil, about 10-15 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool completely. If you are using it for the cake I recommend chilling it in the refrigerator for a few hours until cold so it will stick to your cake layers better.
Whipped Cream Frosting:
Place the sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Whisk in ¾ cup of the cream. Place the pan over medium heat and, whisking constantly, bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla, and let cool completely, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, place the remaining 2¼ cups cream in the bowl of a stand mixer and refrigerate.
When the cornstarch mixture has cooled, fit the chilled bowl of cream onto the stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whisk on medium speed until tracks begin to show in the cream, about 2 minutes. Add the cornstarch mixture and continue whisking until stiff peaks form, about 1 to 2 minutes more.
Assembly:
Place cake layer on serving platter and pour ½ the banana curd filling in the middle and smooth out until it reaches the edge. Gently place 2nd layer on top and repeat. Place top layer on and smooth whipped cream all over the outside of the cake.
If you wish to add the toasted coconut to the sides, I folded a sheet of aluminum foil in half to make it sturdier. Then I placed the foil at the bottom of the cake as I sprinkled the toasted coconut on the sides to catch the coconut falling off. Rotate the cake and repeat around all the sides.
Gluten Free adaptions: Substitute an all purpose gluten free flour blend, like Cup 4 Cup gluten free flourfor the cake flour. The cake layers may have to bake a few minutes longer, watch carefully.
Make ahead instructions:
You can make the cake layers ahead, cool completely, wrap tightly and freeze until you are ready to assemble the cake.
The banana curd will stay for a couple weeks in the fridge, stored in an airtight container. If you have any leftovers it’s great on pancakes, toast, oatmeal, or yogurt.
The whipped cream frosting is very stable and can be stored covered in the fridge for a couple days in an airtight container.
You can make this using 9 inch cake pans, but cake layers will be a little thinner and you will have to reduce baking time.
Recipe adapted from iambaker.net
Notes
Recipe via Mama Gourmand