Banana Bavarian Cake

I made this cake quite a while ago but I am trying to catch up on posts before the new year. I found this recipe over at Pastry Girl Without Borders and as soon as I saw it I knew I had to try it. I ended up using a cake round that was too large, so my cake wasn't as tall as the original so I should have used a 6 inch round not an 8 inch.  There are quite a few steps to this cake, but the end result is well worth it as it looks very impressive and who doesn't love the idea of piping banana puree in any pattern you want on cake batter before it's baked!

Banana Puree
2 large bananas, sliced
2 tbsp unsalted butter
4 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp rum
pinch of nutmeg

In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat.  Add in the sliced bananas, sugar and nutmeg.  Heat until the bananas start to break down, add in the rum and let cook for a few minutes.  In a food processor blend until smooth and set aside to cool.

Cake:
3 eggs
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325

Melt the butter in a small pan and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk the eggs for three minutes.  Add in the honey, followed by the dry ingredients, mix until combined.  Add in the melted butter.

Spread the mixture onto a parchment paper lined half sheet pan until it is about half a centimeter thick.  Place the banana puree into a piping bag and pipe whatever design you like over the cake batter, making sure to leave half of the puree for the cake filling.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned.

Bavarian Cream:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp gelatin
1 vanilla bean
1 tbsp water
1 cup heavy cream

Whisk the 1 cup of heavy cream until the soft peak stage and set aside.

Place the water and gelatin in a small bowl and set aside.

Add the half cup of milk and the half cup of cream to a medium pan along with the vanilla bean and half of the sugar, heat until the sugar has dissolved.

In a small bowl mix the other half of the sugar and the egg yolks together.  While whisking constantly, add around a 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolks, then return the warmed egg yolks to the pan with the milk mixture.  Whisk constantly until the mixture has thickened.  Strain into a large bowl and while it is still hot mix in the gelatin mixture, set aside to cool.

Once cool fold in the whipped cream.

To assemble the cake, cut out two 6 inch rounds (or 8 inch in my case) from the baked cake and one 4 inch (or 6 inch in my case) round for the middle of the cake.

Place one of the larger rounds into the bottom of the cake ring used to cut it out, and seal it by piping a ring of the banana puree around the edge of the ring.  Fill 3/4 of the ring with the cream mixture, place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Spread the remaining banana puree onto the smaller cake round, and place in the middle of the cake.  Top with the remaining cream and finally the last cake layer.  Place in the fridge for 3 hours before serving.