Sometimes I wonder why I was born quite so technologically challenged. Do you know what I just did? Just one minute ago? I deleted this entire post. Not just a photo, not a paragraph, the whole thing. So lets try again! 

Welcome to the Banana Birthday Layer Cake extravaganza that was created for my friend Evie. She loves bananas and pancakes, and especially banana pancakes with maple syrup. So I knew she’d love the flavours in this cake! I didn’t quite expect her to eat five slices in one day though…but each to their own.

 So basically you are looking at the most beautiful banana birthday cake I’ve ever created. You are also looking at the only banana birthday cake I’ve ever created (shh). It is the softest, stickiest banana cake and the icing is amazing! I could eat it out of the bowl. The cake recipe is one I borrowed from Pastry Affair, and her chocolate glaze looks phenomenal! The icing however is the same as I used for my apple cupcakes, but this time with maple syrup instead of honey. In the middle fresh banana is sliced up to make it the most bananery cake in the land. The combination of maple syrup, banana and and cream cheese is such a winner!

I’ve mentioned how amazing the cake recipes from Ottolenghi (where I got the icing) are before, but if you didn’t get the message! It’s a super book with lots of great seasonal and fresh recipes.

This is my second ever layer cake attempt. This time I just stuck to two layers, and it was truly the easiest cake I’ve made in ages. The only challenge I had was trying to make it not resemble a sad caramel coloured rock on a plate, but I am not the greatest cake decorator in the world by any means. 

Make this cake for a birthday girl or boy who doesn’t like super sweet, super ridiculous traditional cakes. Make it for all the banana lovers out there. Make it for me if you can’t think of a better reason. 

 Banana Maple Birthday Layer Cake adapted from here and icing from here.

Ingredients: 4 bananas blended until smooth, plus one extra for slicing in the middle

310 grams (3.5 cups + 1 tbsp) plain flour sifted with 1 tbsp baking powder

100 grams (1/2 cup) white sugar mixed with 165 grams (1 +1/5 cups) brown sugar

110 grams (1/2 cup) butter, softened

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

120 ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk 

Preheat the oven to 170C and grease and line two 8 inch or 20cm sandwich pans. Beat together sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Slowly incorporate the eggs and vanilla, one at a time. Stir in the banana puree and the buttermilk. With a spatula, fold in gently the sifted flour and baking powder. Pour batter evenly into pans and bake for 25 minutes, until the tops are golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean. 

For the icing beat one 100 grams (1/2 cup) of butter with 100 grams (3/4 cup) of brown sugar and 100ml (1/2 cup) of maple syrup. Once smooth beat in 250 grams (1 packet or 1/2 pound) of cream cheese (or close if the packet is slightly different) until light and fluffy. 

Place one cake layer on a wide, flat plate. Smooth some icing with a knife over the bottom. Thinly slice the banana over the icing in an even layer. Place the other half of cake on top. Using a pallet knife, smoothly spread over the icing in swift, circular strokes, working down the sides of the cake evenly. Decorate with optional walnuts. Serves around 10.