Bavarian Banana Cake

Ingredients

• Stage 1: The Cake

Banana Cake

• 2 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• � cup corn oil
• 1 cup ripe bananas, mashed (approximately 3 bananas)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 egg yolks

Meringue

• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• � cup granulated sugar
• Stage 2: The syrup
• Banana rum syrup
• � cup banana rum or another kind of rum
• � granulated sugar
• Stage 3: Assembling the Cake
• Whipped cream frosting
• 2 cups whipping cream--use pasteurized not ultra pasteurized for the best flavor
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar--sifted first to prevent lumps
• 1/3 to � cup mascarpone or 4 T. cr�me fraiche--my tasters preferred the mascarpone

Banana filling

• 3 bananas, thinly sliced

Directions

The Cake

1. In a large bowl, whisk together sifted cake flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add corn oil, mashed bananas and vanilla. Beat 1 minute in mixer. Add buttermilk and egg yolks and beat another minute. Then make the meringue.

Meringue

1. In a separate bowl, with clean beaters, beat egg whites on medium. Add cream of tartar and while continuing to beat, add sugar gradually. Then beat on high until a stiff meringue forms. Fold the meringue gently into the cake batter until streaks just fade.
2. Pour cake batter into a jelly cake pan (large baking sheet with a high edge) that is buttered with the bottom lined with parchment paper and then floured. Bake in a 350 degree oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 17-20 minutes. It takes 17 minutes in my oven. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan on a cooling rack. Then, flip it out onto a cutting board. Stab the cake with a toothpick or bamboo skewer and brush and spoon banana rum syrup over the surface of the cake. Let cake cool for one hour.
3. Variation--for a subtle candy crunch, place the cake in the fridge after spooning on the syrup to allow the syrup to harden.
4. Stage 2: The Syrup
5. Pour sugar and rum into a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir and simmer until it thickens. Then spoon onto cooling cake.
6. Stage 3: Assembling the Cake
7. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl and set aside.
8. In a large chilled bowl, whip cream and mascarpone gradually adding the powdered sugar and vanilla. Whip ingredients together to firm peaks.

Putting it together

1. Cut the outside edges off of the cake to clean it up. Then cut the cake into thirds and then those thirds into half. Makes two cakes with three layers.
2. Place one layer on a plate. Fill a pastry bag with a large star tip with frosting and pipe frosting onto flat surface of cake and top it with a single layer of banana slices. Place another layer of cake on top and repeat. Place the third layer of cake on top and pipe frosting into straight lines or stars. Refrigerate. It tastes best when it rests in the fridge for a few hours up to overnight. Then serve.