White Chocolate Banana Cake with White Buttercream Frosting

So I've been sitting on this recipe for a while now. Every time I came across it I have always wanted to throw it out. I just never thought that chocolate and bananas would be a good combo you know other than in a banana split. Well needless to say I am very glad I did not throw out this recipe because chocolate and bananas do go VERY well together!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.


What you'll need:
2 cups cake flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 oz. white chocolate
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, mashed

You'll need to grease two 8 in round cake pans and then line them with wax paper.

Next you'll need to cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.


Add eggs one at a time. In a microwave safe bowl melt the white chocolate for about 20-25 seconds and then 10 seconds at a time until melted. Let it cool for a few minutes and then add it into the batter.


Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.


Add the dry ingredients to the batter. You can dump it in all at the same time like me or you can alternate between the batter mixture and the mashed bananas.


Stir in the vanilla next.


Pour into the cake pans and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until cake is done. Cool for 10 minutes, then gently remove from pans and set on wire racks. Remove the wax paper also.

Now you're going to make the white buttercream frosting.


What you’ll need for the frosting:
2 lbs (8 cups) sifted powdered sugar
1 ¼ cups vegetable shortening
½ cup cool water
2 Tbsp. corn syrup
2 tsp. clear vanilla extract
2 tsp. butter flavor extract
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

In a mixer cream the salt and shortening until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing after each cup. Then add the vanilla and butter extracts and mix well.
Slowly add the water while you mix and add the corn syrup. Beat on high for 20 minutes then beat on low for about 2 more minutes.

Next you're going to place your cooled down cake on wax paper.


Next add a good size scoop of frosting on the cake. Frost all the way to the edges of the cake. Add the second cake on top and frost.


Frost the whole cake.


Using a food processor chop up the nuts into little pieces.


Now you'll coat the cake with the nuts. You can coat it anyway you like either the whole cake or just the top or sides.


Oh man can I just tell you how surprised I was by this cake. I really didn't think chocolate and bananas would be good but I was very delightfully proven wrong.


I hope you will enjoy this cake as much as I do..err did.



Missy

Chocolate Chip Cookies

So there are a few things that I always have to have in my house at all times.
Joe-Joe Treats and chocolate chip cookies. We have a lot of friends and family who are always stopping by, so I have to make sure that there is enough cookies to go around.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

What you'll need is:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup old-fashion oats



Beat butter, sugars and vanilla until creamy. Next add the eggs one at a time.


Next add the flour, baking soda and salt. I like to sift it all together. I like to sift. I'm a shifter.


Next is the chocolate chips.


And then the oats.


Drop about a Tablespoon onto an ungreased baking sheet.


Now bake the cookies for about 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. I have a super sonic oven so I have to cook everything a minute or two less then what the recipe says. I cook my cookies for about 8 minutes. Now you're going to cool them for about 2 or 3 minutes on the baking sheets before you move them to the wire racks to cool completely.


Now you can do one or two things with these lovelies. I like to eat them while they're still warm with a nice tall glass of milk or you can decide to go the "Oh my, I just died." route and add a scoop of ice cream between two cookies and make and ice cream sandwich. And if you're really feeling adventurous roll the ice cream sandwiches in sprinkles, nuts, M&M's or whatever you have handy.


Hope you enjoy them, I know we do!

Missy