Banana Choc Hazelnut Cake

Banana Choc Hazelnut Cake

The recipe in the magazine instructed that I beat mashed bananas, eggs and butter mixture into flour, which was an unusual way of making cake. I have had enough baking failures from testing magazines and cookbooks recipes but I really wanted to try this recipe out because I love banana choc cakes. I looked at the recipe on and off for months before I decided to unscramble it and put it together into something that may or may not turn out good.

I whipped the whites with some sugar and cream of tartar (so it'll hold up stiffer and longer), then beat the butter with sugar till light and made up for the reduction in butter by adding canola oil. Reduced the ground hazelnuts substantially rather than end up with 20g (because they come in packs of 100g here), used all the yolks rather than throw the odd one away, reduced the sugar by 25% and used cake flour instead of plain flour. The result was a cake that had a slight hazelnutty texture and a yummy banana-choc flavor, definitely a cake that I'll make (and eat) again and again. And Kenneth, whom I made this cake for (his Xth birthday), loved it too.

A Ingredients
250g cake flour
100g ground hazelnuts
1 t baking powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/3 t salt
--sift cake flour, baking powder and baking soda together into a bowl. Add the salt. Add the ground hazelnuts and stir well to break up any hazelnut clumps.

B Ingredients
80g fine sugar
5 large egg whites
1/2 t cream of tartar
-- whisk by machine till stiff.

C Ingredients
150g fine sugar
225g unsalted butter (firm but not hard)
1 t pure vanilla extract
5 egg yolks
1/4 cup veg oil
380g peeled bananas, mashed well (I used pisang emas)
-- hand-whisk sugar and butter together by machine till light and fluffy, add the vanilla and then the yolks one by one, whisking all the time. Finally add the oil and the bananas, whisk to mix well.

1. Line a 14" x 14"/35cm x 35 cm square cookie tray (only 1"/2.5 cm) deep with paper and grease the sides. Or use two 8" x 5"/20cm x 12cm loaf tins, bottom and sides lined. (This cake breaks very easily so it is not easy to make a large square or round cake. You'll have to join sections into one large cake. I made a very long loaf cake with the cookie tray.) Switch oven on to 170 C.

2. Fold A mixture into C mixture,mixing well with a spatula. Then mix (using your hand) 1/3 of the beaten egg whites (B mixture) in, then mix another 1/3, then the remaining egg whites in, stirring well and quickly.

3. Pour batter into the prepared tray/tins and bake 30 (for tray) to 40 min (for loaf tins), testing with a wooden skewer at the end of cooking time. If there's batter sticking to the skewer, allow another 3 min or so and check again. Let cake cool.

Filling and Frosting
400g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
300 ml heavy cream
7 T Nutella
-- Put choc and cream into a thin-base pot, put the pot over a simmering pot of water and melt the choc, stirring to mix the cream in. When choc is fully melted, remove and let it cool. Mix in the Nutella.

To Assemble
1. Cut the cake into three long equal strips if baked in a tray. If baked in a loaf tin, layer it into 3 layers. This cake is quite friable.

2. Sandwich the layers with a thin layer of the filling (the loaf cakes can be joined, using the filling) and frost top and sides also.

3. Drizzle some melted white choc all over the top and chill before serving.