Banana Split Cake

I've been a bit absent from the internet since last week. I'm alive, don't worry!

Last weekend was the beginning of my much needed spring break. I know I've said it before, but this semester has been absolutely terrible for me. (Leave it to me to start off a blog post bitching!) But honestly, I have never been as stressed as I have been in the past few months. I keep telling myself that all of my hard work and crazy long days are going to pay off. That's how it goes, right? 

Anyways, I've been working like a machine since January and desperately needed time to just be. That's exactly what I've done — absolutely nothing. None of my friends have the same spring break at me, and my house is pretty empty most days, so I've been pretty much alone all break. With that said, I should probably be working on the two papers, homework assignments, and projects I have due next week, but what's the fun in that? 

I even tried baking a bunch of new recipes, but nothing really stood out enough to post. That should be a good indicator of the funk I'm in right now. That was until I made this.    

So I've recently become totally obsessed with ice cream. I've never been that head over heels for ice cream; I'm a much bigger froyo and gelato fan. But for some reason (that reason being my new tradition of monthly trips to Creole Creamery, New Orleans' best ice cream parlor), I've found myself totally infatuated with ice cream. 

Being the obsessive/addictive personality I am, I naturally decided to order my own ice cream maker and three special cookbooks at midnight a few days back. Yolo??? (If you have any amazing ice cream recipes, please send them my way!) 

Anyways, ice cream has been fresh on my mind for the past few weeks. I've been itching to bake something ice cream-inspired. Thus, the banana split cake was born! 

This cake is indulgent in every sense of the word.

The base is made up of one of my absolute favorite cakes ever. This banana cake is crazy moist and always delicious. The frosting though. That's some good shit. Vanilla bean paste + half and half are added to butter and powdered sugar to make the most amazing vanilla bean buttercream that tastes like melted ice cream. In between each layer is fruit (either strawberries or pineapple), hot fudge, crushed nuts, and waffle cone pieces. If that wasn't enough, I covered the whole cake with even more hot fudge, whipped cream, and maraschino cherries. Can you say sugar coma?!

banana cake 

adapted from Food.com

• 1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• a pinch of ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/8 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 275°. Grease and flour three 9" round cake pans. 

In a bowl, mix together the mashed bananas and lemon juice. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.

Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix in the banana mixture.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick placed into the cake comes out clean. (Note: the cake make take a little more or a little less time to bake depending on your oven. The best bet is to check it 5-10 minutes before just to make sure it's all good!) Cool. 

vanilla bean buttercream frosting

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature 
• pinch of salt
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 4 tsp. vanilla bean paste
• 2 tablespoons. half and half 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and salt until creamy. Gradually mix in sugar. Once all sugar is incorporated, add the vanilla bean paste and half and half. Mix. 

sundae extras + assembly 

• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• 1/2 cup pineapple, sliced
• 1 banana, sliced 
• hot fudge, storebought or homemade 
• chopped nuts — I purchased a "Nut Topping" mix intended for ice cream sundaes. 
• waffle cone pieces 
• whipped cream
• maraschino cherries

Place one cooled cake layer on serving plate or cake stand. Spread the layer with prepared frosting. Top layer with sliced strawberries, nuts, and hot fudge. 

Place the next layer on top. Frost. Top with pineapple, nuts, and hot fudge.

Place the final on top. Frost the entire outside of the cake. Once frosted, top with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream, cherries. Serve slices with extra nuts and waffle cone pieces. 

Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies

Hi friends. Yes, it's me!  My life has been crazy hectic lately. Right now I'm gearing up for midterms and every single one of my professors has decided to throw  homework assignments and tests and quizzes and papers all at once. Can I just have a second to breathe, please? This is honestly the semester from hell. Between all of the work, meetings, service learning, and time spent commuting, I haven't found much time to bake lately. 

Considering that Valentine's Day is coming up, I've been bursting at the seams, just itching to get back into the kitchen. That's been my personal mission for the week, even if that means baking when I get back home at 8:30 p.m. 

I've made these strawberry and white chocolate cookies twice this week. The first time, they all disappeared before I could photograph them to share with you guys! So last night, I decided to bake up another batch just for y'all! :) 

I took one of my favorite cookie recipes that includes the addition of instant vanilla pudding for extra vanilla flavor and perfect texture. From there, I added pulverized freeze-dried strawberries into the dough to for a sweet, strawberry flavor throughout. To top them off, I folded in chopped dried strawberries and mini and regular-sized white chocolate chips. Delicious. 

Seriously, make these — they're the perfect V-Day inspired treat! If you're doubting me, just know that I ate five of them in one sitting. (No shame!)

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Strawberry White Chocolate Cookies 

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons Instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1/4 cup freeze-dried strawberries, pulverized
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 1 cup good quality white chocolate chips 
• 1/2 cup dried strawberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla until combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients, combine. Fold in dried strawberries and white chocolate chips.

Place medium-sized scoops of dough on the prepared sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool and enjoy. 

Inside-Out Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

I know I've seemed to be rather silent on the recipe end lately. I would say that things are getting hectic again, but I have recently realized that a little chaos is going to be the status quo for me this semester. Oh well — at least the stress keeps me in the kitchen creating new desserts each weekend. 

February already? I mean, I don't really know where January went, but I'm glad it's gone. As the calendar flips to February, we finally have more holidays — specifically holidays like Valentine's Day that are built around the overconsumption of sugar. I'm not sure about you, but that's right up my alley.

My first Valentine's Day inspired recipe calls on a traditional V-Day treat: chocolate covered strawberries. First off, who doesn't like fresh, sweet strawberries? Nobody. Covered in chocolate? It's a no brainer. How do we elevate this already near perfect dessert? Make it into a cake! 

For this cake, I used my favorite, ultra-moist and fudgey chocolate cake recipe. (Seriously, it's the best.) The two cake layers are then wrapped inside a layer of the most deliciously sweet and refreshing strawberry frosting made from a puree of fresh local strawberries. On top of that goes a layer of chocolate ganache. And why not throw some fresh strawberries on top? Perf!  

Your valentine is sure to be impressed with this amazing cake. Or if you're eternally single like yours truly, you could eat a huge chunk of it with an oversized dollop of fresh whipped cream and call it a night. I mean, hey, who needs a boyfriend when you can have cake? 

Chocolate Cake

• 1¾ cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
•  1 tbsp vanilla extract
•  1 cup hot coffee

 In the large bowl of a standing mixer, mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt until combined. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla extract and beat until smooth (about 3 minutes). Stir in hot coffee with a rubber spatula. (This will make the batter very runny, don’t worry!)

Pour batter evenly between the two pans and bake on middle rack of oven preheated to 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool and ice with strawberry frosting. Top with chocolate ganache and fresh strawberries.

Strawberry Frosting 

•     2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold 
•     1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
•     2 lb. confectioners sugar 
•     1 tsp vanilla extract
•     1/8 tsp salt 

In a blender or food processor, puree strawberries until smooth. Set aside. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and salt until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners sugar, mixing until well combined. Add vanilla and 8 tablespoons of strawberry puree. Combine; the mixture should be thick. 

Chocolate Ganache 

•     8 oz. quality semisweet chocolate, chopped
•     1/2 cup heavy cream

In a double boiler of simmering water, add chopped chocolate to the heavy cream. Melt until combined, stirring occasionally. Note: If your ganache is too thick, you can thin in out by adding small amounts of heavy cream to the mixture.