QH Recipe of the Week
Banana Split Dreamcake
by Cutter & Squidge
Thursday 22 October 2015
Cutter’s favourite banana loaf sponge turned into a spectacular nostalgic dreamcake
This cake will make a 3 layer 8” cake
For the banana loaf sponge
300g Melted unsalted butter
400g Caster sugar
6 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla bean paste
500g Sieved plain flour
6 Ripe bananas
1 tsp Baking soda
3tsp Baking powder
Buttercream
600g Unsalted softened butter
400g Icing sugar
2tsp Vanilla bean paste
Drizzle
300g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
Option
Banana chips (we make ours but you can buy some from any supermarket to decorate)
Glace cherries
Wafers
For the sponge
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Whip the eggs and sugar together until pale and fluffy, this will take 5 minutes
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Mash together the bananas, melted butter, vanilla and bicarbonate of soda
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Fold into the mix the plain flour and baking powder until all incorporated. Your batter will be quite runny. Pour equal quantities into your grease and lined 3 8” tins. Bake on 180 for 40 minutes until the sponge springs back. Baking times will depend on your oven
For the buttercream
With a flat paddle beater add the icing sugar together for 5-10 minutes until fluffy. If it ever becomes liquid just put it back into the fridge for an hour. Once chilled rewhip.
Once the buttercream is fluffy add in the sour cream and vanilla beat on a high speed for 1-2 minutes.
To decorate C&S show shopper style….
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Trim the tops of your sponge with a bread knife so you have nice flat cakes
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Smear a small amount of buttercream on a cake board to stop the cake from moving on the board
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Place one sponge flat side down and evenly spread 200g of the buttercream onto your cooled sponge
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Add on the next sponge and evenly spread another 200g on top. Add on the final cake sponge, this time with the flat side faced up. This will help you have a nice flat top for your cake
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Now for the crumb coat to make sure your cake looks nice and white and free of cake speckles. Use 100-200g of the buttercream and spread it all over your cake. Filling in all the holes with the buttercream. With a plastic cake scrapper or a flat large palette knife, remove the excess buttercream so you can see the sponge and all holes are filled in
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Pop the cake in the fridge for 1hour
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With the remainder of the buttercream, add it on to the top of the cake. With a palette knife, cover the buttercream all over the cake as evenly as possible, don’t worry about making it smooth at this stage, just get it covered
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If you have one, use a turn table, if you don’t, try using a small bowl and another cake board sitting on top of it
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With a clean palette knife, use the edge of it to gently scrape away small amounts of excess buttercream. Turning the cake as you scrape. You will see that the cake will become smooth. Make sure to keep cleaning your palette knife after each scrape. Once the cake is smooth pop it back in the fridge for 30 minutes until cold to touch
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Just before you take your cake out make your chocolate drip. In the microwave melt together the cream and chocolate on high speed for 1 minute until the chocolate is melted and is drippable
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Pour the ganache onto the middle of the cake, pick the cake up and tip it from side to side to make sure the ganache drips down all sides. Pop the cake in the freezer for 20 minutes
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Once the cake is set, put the remaining buttercream into a piping bag and make 12 even peaks. Add on top of each peak a cherry, crumble banana chips and wafer around the edge of the cake