the Nom Lab.

I used David Lebovitz's banana cake and subsituted the walnuts for chocolate chips. For the frosting, I just made buttercream and went mad with the maple syrup. Talk about ultimate autumn comfort food ?
Yum.

Then, I made a few mammothic cupcakes and decorated them cupcake-like. Afterwards I only had to saw the tops off with a string of floss and... Tadah ;)!


David Lebovitz's Banana Cake with Maple Frosting
Both, adapted

CAKE
2 1/2 cups all-p flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
6 tbsp plain yogourt
2 cups banana puree (about 3-4 very ripe bananas)
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

FROSTING
1 1/2 cup butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp brown sugar
6 Tbsp maple syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

Cake:
1) Preheat oven to 350F.
2) Line the bottom of two 9-inch round pans with circles of parchment paper.
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4) With a mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light yellow, fluffy and creamy (about 3 min.). Add vanilla and instant espresso powder.
5) Add eggs, one at the time, scraping down the bowl after each addition and beating well in between.
6) Mix in half of the flour mixture on low speed, followed by the yogourt and the banana puree.
7) Stir in the remaining half flour mixture and stir in the chocolate chips until just combined. Careful not to overmix here!
8) Divide batter into the two pans. Bake until golden brown (around 40 minutes)
9) Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Frosting:
1) Put butter in a big bowl and mix until whipped (this might take a little while)
2) Mix in powdered sugar and beat until well incorporated and beginning to turn light
3) Scrape down the sides and add in the brown sugar and maple syrup
4) Mix until frosting is fluffy and has desired consistency
5) Lick messy fingers and frost goodies :)!


.:.