Recipe - Banana Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I absolutely loved MacsMom’s recipe for her Banana Cake.  It is super moist, very delicious and goes perfect with chocolate ganache…yum yum!  I’ve made it twice so far using it for the Safari Cake and the Ferrari cake..odd that they happen to rhyme.  Below is the recipe and here is the link to MacsMom’s gourmet flavors.  I modified the recipe slightly since I had a difficult time finding the banana cake mix and plain banana yogurt.  I noted the slight changes next to each ingredient.


Banana Cake (MacsMom)
1 box banana cake mix - couldn’t find banana, so I used a white mix (2 boxes in total)
1 box white cake mix
6 eggs
2 ¼ c cake flour
2 1/3 c sugar

1 ½ t salt

1 t baking soda
1 pkg banana pudding mix - used a large, 5oz box
2 (6oz) containers banana yogurt - used banana baby food (stage 2) instead
1-1/3 c vanilla coffee creamer
1-1/3 c water
1 T vanilla – also added 4 drops (medicine dropper) of the Banana Crème LorAnn Oil

3 very ripe bananas – used 2 ripe bananas since I was using the baby food instead of the yogurt

1/2 c butter, softened – used unsalted

Mix all dry ingredients by hand using a whisk in a very large mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat on low speed for 2 minutes (I like to mix all the wet ingredients together first then add it to the dry ingredients).

Bake at 325 degrees

Notes:

Cupcakes baked 19 minutes

9” Round Pan baked 30 minutes

With this recipe, using 2” tall pans, I was able to make…
2 - 9” rounds plus 28 cupcakes or
2 - 9” rounds plus 2 - 6” rounds plus 5 cupcakes

As for the ganache, weigh the ingredients instead of measuring it.

Ratio is 2:1 chocolate to cream (dark and white chocolate), 3:1 ratio for milk chocolate

Semi/Bitter Sweet Chocolate Ganache
24oz Ghirardeli 60% Cocao Bittersweet Chocolate
24oz Ghirardeli Semi-Sweet Chocolate
24oz Heavy Cream

Pour chocolate into a bowl.  Heat cream until it just begins to boil and pour over the chocolate.  Let the chocolate sit for 5 minutes to melt then mix until well blended (I like to use an emulsifier and whip it all together).  Cover and let the ganache set overnight.  Before using, stir until creamy smooth.  Use to fill and cover a cake.

Note: You can also whip extra cream, fold in some ganache, add flavoring (rum, vanilla, etc) and use it as a filling.

When covering the cake with fondant, cover the cake with ganache and let it set overnight before laying the fondant over it.

With this recipe, I was able to have enough ganache to fill and cover a 9" round and a 6" round with 3 layers of filling each.

Sorry, I don't have pictures of the process...at least for now :)