First Customer =)

I was requested to make a birthday cake for someone's 30th birthday and the first thing that went straight to my head was 'Wow, such a great compliment and it's the big 3-0' ! I was really really honored to do something like this and had to come up of a nice decoration.And Tadaaa...

It was rather stressful still at the kitchen because this is the 4th cake I baked and it didn't go as well as I wanted it to be! Anyway, here's the recipe I use for a 9" chocolate chip banana cake:





Ingredients:

Banana cake

• 4 medium eggs separated
• 400g bananas
• 250 Caster Sugar
• 340g plain flour / self-raising flour
• 170g soften butter
• 1 tsp baking powder (if using plain flour)
• 1 tsp bicarbonate soda (if using plain flour)
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 50g chocolate chip (optional)
• 50ml sour cream <---- this is the key to a tasty cake :)

Chocolate Ganache

• 100ml double cream / heavy cream
• 50g bittersweet chocolate
• 25g butter

Pink Vanilla Buttercream Frosting:

• 250g butter
• 2 tbsp milk
• 300g icing sugar
• 0.5 tsp pink colouring
  

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg (350F). Grease or line a 9" round baking tray.
   
2. Peel the bananas and mash them with a fork until they are really mushy. It's easier with ripe bananas but not essential.
3. Add sour cream, chocolate chips and vanilla extract to the mixture. Stand it aside
4. In a large bowl, cream the butter first and add Castor sugar slowly to the mix (use an electric mixer). You should get a pale and fluffy mixture. See Epicuriousdotcom video clip of the creaming method if unsure.
5. In 1/3 portions, fold using either a spatula or wooden spoon the following ingredients:
6. Egg yolks (whisk it to give a nice smooth texture to work with).
7. Mash banana mix with sour cream and vanilla extract.
8. Flour mix (use a sieve when mixing into the bowl)
9. With a clean beater, whisk egg whites until stiff. (Note that the bowl has to be clean and clear from any grease or yolk).
10. Fold egg whites into mixture.
11. Bake for around 25-30 minutes. Cake should be ready when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool for 10mins.

Chocolate Ganache

1. Pour the double cream and butter into a pot. Allow it to heat up slowly until it reaches just about boil stage.
2. While waiting, break the chocolate pieces into a bowl.
3. Transfer the cream into the bowl of chocolate.
4. With a small whisk starting from the middle of the bowl, start whisking the mixture slowly, as the chocolates get melted by the double cream.

Buttercream

1. Cream the butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add icing sugar bit by bit. This is to avoid splattering all over the kitchen oven ;)
3. Also add milk to mix slowly, as this will allow the mix to incorporate the milk.
 

I think I made alot of effort to hide the cake as I under baked it (again) for some reason. I quickly used the lasagna method so that I don't burn the top. Wish I could cut the cake to see what the inside looks like. Have been wanting to make it light and fluffy all these while but no success as yet. But I shall persevere~