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Tuesday 20 January 2009

Banana Cake with Praline Filling& White Chocolate Ganache ~ The Cake Slice Bakers!

January seems to have deluded me and all good plans I had made seemed to have failed me until now. I have been taking a short break, due yet again to my ongoing back problem; but hey ho upward and onward and the baking commences in Rosie’s kitchen once again!! So please do join me in celebrating yet another great bake from ‘The Cake Slice Bakers! This event is hosted by two lovely ladies Giggi and Katie. The nominated book we are baking from this year is, Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne. Most importantly the cake this month being baked is; ‘Banana Cake with Praline Filling& White Chocolate Ganache’.


I didn’t find this cake finicky or over imposing to create in effect it was much simpler than I had thought and a dream to make. The sponge has banana and cinnamon flavours running through and everything just seems to work well together; Oooooh the sugared coated pecans are simply gorgeous; but mixed with a little white chocolate ganache for the filling puts a whole new dimension to a blissful experience! Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better it does with the cake being covered with *slurp* white chocolate ganache!! Decorated with sugared pecans and I added a little edible gold glitter and a few gold sugared balls for decoration. A must bake for any cake lover out there!.......



Banana Cake with Praline Filling& White Chocolate Ganache

Sourced from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne. I haven’t got x 3 -9 inch (23cm) cake tins so I used x 3 -8 in (20cm) cake tins instead without any problems


The Cake:

Makes a 9-inch triple layer cake

3 cups of cake flour ** see below**
3 and 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup of ripe mashed bananas
8 ounces of softened unsalted butter
2 cups of sugar
7 egg whites


Praline Filling:

1 cup sugared pecans, cooled
1 and 1/2 cups white chocolate ganache


Sugared Pecans:

1 and 1/2 cups pecan halves
3 cups vegetable oil
1 cup confectioners sugar


White Chocolate Ganache:

8 ounces of white chocolate chopped
2 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream (double cream)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


**The recipe calls for cake flour and if you only have all-purpose (plain) flour on hand, you can substitute ¾ cup (105 grams) all-purpose (plain) flour plus 2 tablespoons (30 grams) cornstarch (cornflour)**


CAKE:

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Butter three 9-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper or wax paper.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside dry ingredients. In a food processor or blender, process the milk and banana into a smooth light puree. Set aside.
In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. On medium high speed, beat in egg whites 2-3 at a time until smooth. Scraping down the sides of the bowl between egg additions.

With the mixer on low speed add the dry ingredients and banana puree alternately in 2-3 additions, beating until just blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat on medium-high speed for 1-minute. Divide the batter among the cake pans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean when inserted into the centre of each cake. Let the cake layers cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto a wired rack and remove the paper liners. Then cool completely one hour.

To assemble the cake, put one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or serving plate. Cover the top evenly with half of the praline filling, leaving a 1/4"-inch margin around the edges. Place the second layer on top, again flat side up, cover it with remaining filling. Finally add the third layer and frost the sides and top with the white chocolate ganache. Garnish with sugared pecans.


Praline Filling

With a large chef's knife chop the pecans. Or pulse in a food processor being careful not to turn into paste. Add the sugared pecans to the white chocolate ganache and stir to mix well.


Sugared Pecans

Place the pecans in a medium sauce pan, add water to cover, and heat to a boiling. Boil the pecans slowly until they are swollen and soft 5-8 minutes. Drain the nuts well in a sieve for about 5 minutes. (Do not pat dry; the nuts must remain damp.)

While the nuts are draining, heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan or deep fat fryer t0 350F degrees.

Set half of the nuts aside. Dust the remaining nuts in the sieve with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Shake the sieve to coat the nuts evenly, letting any excess sugar fall away. Immediately add the coated nuts to the hot oil. Fry until golden brown about 2-3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon scoop the nuts out and drain them on several thicknesses of paper towels. Repeat the process with the remaining nuts.

White Chocolate Ganache

Put the white chocolate in a medium heat proof bowl. In a small sauce bring 1/2 cup of the cream to a boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let stand for 1-minute, then whisk until smooth. Let the white chocolate cream stand until cooled to room temperature.

In a chilled bowl with chilled beaters beat the remaining 2 cups of heavy cream and vanilla until softly whipped. Stir in the white chocolate cream and beat until fairly stiff. Taking care not over beat, which would cause the ganache to separate.

If you would like to view more Banana Cake with Praline Filling & White Chocolate Ganache made by other members of The Cake Slice, then please visit our blogroll site: The Cake Slice Bakers!



37 comments:

Gigi said...

Rosie: Your cakes are always so DELICIOUS looking! I wish I could have a big slice of cake with a glass of milk. Awesome cake!

Anne said...

Mmm the cake looks and sounds delicious, especially those pecans, I could happily eat them right now!

Hope your back feels better soon x

Katie said...

Your cake looks wonderful Rosie. I love how you decorated it with the silver balls and pecans. Looks so professional.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

This cake looks gorgeous! what great falvors!

Cheers,

Rosa

Anonymous said...

Wow ,what a professional icing Rosie..I completely love that one..Would have been lucky if you were my neighbour.

Caroline said...

Lovely cake, as usual Rosie! I'm glad you're feeling better and baking again. I love the praline as well. Great job!

Sweet Treats by Dani said...

very yummy looking :)

Maria♥ said...

Hi Rosie

It's nice to see you back blogging. I have also had a break due to being unwell with flu and it feels like ages since I last baked or blogged!!

Your cake looks absolutely gorgeous and what delicious combination of flavours.

Love
Maria
x

Jo said...

Great job and beautifully done. Love the decorations.

Jo said...

Great job and beautifully done. Love the decorations.

Finla said...

When i didn't see any new posts here i did think your back must be giving you trouble.
I have never made any cake which is covered with cream etc....I always think it is too dificult to make them.
As you wrote they were easy to make , i will bookmark to make them in a far future.
Love the tip about the cake flour too.
Cake looks huge and beautiful and delicious.

Anonymous said...

Wow! you have a kick butt posting. And the cake looks good also.

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

Sorry to hear about your back problems, Rosie. But I'm happy to see you back; you've been missed. And this cake sounds just fabulous!

Maria said...

Glad you are back. I Hope you are feeling better. The cake looks wonderful. I love the flavors!!

Maggie said...

Pleased to see you back again, and in fine form too, judging by this excellent cake.

Beth (jamandcream) said...

Sorry to hear you haven't been feeling great. Cake looks great x

Gloria Baker said...

Hi Rosie, I hope you are OK,this cake look absolutely awesome!!! xxGloria

J.L. Danger said...

I am sorry that your back is at it again. Take care of yourself. And send me that cake!

grace said...

excellent work, rosie! as usual, i'm impressed, and once again, i'm sorry i didn't have a chance to make the cake--it looks like a winner!

Sherry Trifle - Lovely Cats said...

What a beautiful cake! Good job.

Hornsfan said...

Rosie - this is beautiful, somehow you make it sound very easy to make such a great looking cake!

Rachel said...

gorgeous as always

Vijitha said...

Lovely looking cake! looks so beautiful.

natalia said...

Ciao ! these cakes are a wonder ! Complimenti ! How do you join the group ?

glamah16 said...

OH la la. Bananaas and Praline! Love this/ So glad you are feeling better. Take it easy.

lubnakarim06 said...

What a luscious cake.... Love it.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

looks fantastic!

Dewi said...

Cake with praline filling and white chocolate ganache, I can not imagine someone will say "no thanks".
Cheers,
Elra

Rosie said...

Thank you for such lovely comments everyone. I always have a spring in my step and smile on my face these days and that's due to the entire lovely *friends* I have here.

Natalia, if you click The Cake Slice logo on the right hand side of my blog it will lead you to our blogroll - there should be Gigi/Katies emails on there to contact them.

Best wishes Rosie x

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Welcome back! Sorry to hear about your back...hope it's feeling better soon.

Your cake looks wonderful! You did a bang up job convincing me this is something I need to make especially with bananas ripening on the counter!

I like how you make a collage of your photos as the bottom!
~ingrid

Jacque said...

I'm glad to hear you're back at it. It's hard to stay out of the kitchen.

Your cake looks terrific!

Peter M said...

The title alone draws me to this cake...bananas, praline, pecans? Yum!

Rosie said...

Hi Ingrid, I'm feeling muich better now thanks :) The collage of your photos as the bottom of this post is a widget - if you click on what is linkwithin it will take you thir page and how to add the widget to a site.

Thanks so much Jacque :)

It was a lovely cake Peter from the wonderful sky high book.

Best wishes to you all - Rosie x

test it comm said...

This cake sounds amazing! Great flavour combinations.

How To Eat A Cupcake said...

Oh wow it sounds absoulutely delicious! I'm adding you to my blogroll! :D

The Caked Crusader said...

Good to have you back (no pun intended!)
Cake looks awesome - I'm trying to decide which component excites me the most!

Bimmer said...

Hi Rosie,

this looks really good! I'm sure it tastes even better!