Monkey's Favourite Cake

Over the past two years, it has already became a family routine that we visit the library almost every weekend...and I must say, the library can be a dangerous place...at least for a cookbook lover like me!!

I simply couldn't resist the temptation to try out the various recipes whenever I leaf through pages and pages of beautiful illustrations and photographs of gorgeous desserts. Be it cakes, breads or muffins, they have never failed to entice me to make an attempt to replicate what I have seen. Some of them may not eventually appear on my breakfast table, but at least the recipes are safely kept in my folder...waiting to leap out anytime when the opportunity arise. As a result of my frequent visits to the library, it has become very apparently...no matter how hard I try not to notice...that my BMIndex has been 'bullish' ever since. I bet this index will remain bullish, judging at the rate that I am going ;(


I have been quite lucky lately...to be able to pick up very brand new cookbooks at the library, which means that there will be less chance of me looking at a book that comes with several missing pages!

I happened to pick up this newly published cookbook "Cooking for Kids" a couple of weeks ago. What caught my attention half-way browsing the book was the name of this cake....Monkey's Favourite Cake! After reading thru what are the ingredients that go into the making of this cake, I was immediately sold. This recipe was placed right on top of my ever growing to-do list!


You see, although this is simple banana cake, it comes with fillings! I thot it was really unusual and I like that the filling is made with not only mashed bananas but also some ground almonds. I was a little greedy and thought that I could use a large banana instead of a small one as stated in the recipe. It was a mistake. The filling was too 'runny'...I tried to salvage by adding more ground almonds to the mixture. Fortunately, by doing so, I was able to adjust the consistency to get a thicker paste.


It's a very simple and straight forward cake to make. The cake tasted delicious with the fillings. The only fault I could find was that the fillings turned to a darker shade when I left the cake overnight. Even though with lemon juice added, it didn't really preven the banana from turning black...maybe I should have added more lemon juice?



Ingredients:
(make one 18cm cake)

125g butter, room temperature
125g caster sugar
125g self-raising flour
2 eggs, bring to room temperature, lightly beaten
2 large bananas, mashed
icing sugar for dusting

Filling:
50g ground almonds (toast at 100 degC for 10mins)
50g icing sugar, sifted
1 small bananas, mashed
1/2 tsp lemon juice


Method:

1. Grease and flour the sides of a 18cm pan. Line the base with parchment paper.
2. Sieve self-rising flour, set aside.
3. Toast ground almonds at 100 degC for 10mins, stir it halfway to ensure even toasting, set aside.
4. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
5. Slowly dribble in the eggs gradually, mix well after each addition.
6. With a spatula, fold in the sifted flour. Mix until flour is fully incorporated into the batter.
7. Add in the mashed bananas and mix well.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in pre-heated oven at 180 degC for about 30-35mins until the cake springs back when lightly pressed, or a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Remove from oven, unmold and let cool.
10. To make the filling, mix ground almonds with icing sugar (sifted), then add mashed banana and lemon juice. Mix to form a smooth paste.
11. Slice the cake horizontally into 2 layers. Sandwich the layers with the filling. Dust with icing sugar.