Quick and Easy Dessert Cake made of Bananas

Summers are a time to relax and enjoy cool dishes and drinks with your family and friends. The good news is that you don't have to sweat for hours to cook cool summer dishes to take to the next pot luck party in preparing a dessert like banana cake recipe. Given below is a super tasty and super easy to prepare banana split cake recipe that you can prepare in no time and leave in the refrigerator to cool.

Items needed for the crust: 

- 32 graham crackers (you can substitute the crackers with Oreo cookies, vanilla wafers or almond flour, or any of your favorite crackers)

- 1/2 cup of melted butter

- 1/4 cup of sugar 

Items needed for the filling: 

- 1/2 cup of softened butter

- 2 cups of confectioner's sugar

- 1 tablespoon of milk

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla

- 2 kgs. of fresh strawberries

- 3 large ripe bananas

 - 2 cans of pineapple 

Items needed for the topping: 

- 2 cups of heavy whipping cream

- 2 cups of confectioner's sugar

- 1 1/2 cups of chopped walnuts

Preparation:

- Preheat the oven to 350F.

 - Finely blend the graham crackers in a mixer or food processor.

- Take the crushed graham crackers in a mixing bowl and add sugar to them.

- Mix well and pour in the melted butter.

- Use a wooden spatula to mix everything together to get a crumbly mix.

 - Line the crumbs on the base and edges of a 13 x 9 inch glass dish.

- Lightly press along the edges to achieve an even thickness.

- Bake the lined dish in the oven for about 5-8 minutes.

- Remove from the oven and cool.

To prepare the filling:

- In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar and whip up till fluffy.

- Add the vanilla and milk to the mix and whip some more to mix everything.

- Slice the ripe bananas in 1/4 inch thick discs.

 - Finely slice the fresh strawberries.

- Drain the pineapple and crush them coarsely.

- Fill the prepared filling in the baked crust.

- Refrigerate the filling for an hour.

- Top with crushed pineapples.

- Decorate the top with sliced round bananas.

 - Add the sliced strawberries.

To prepare the cream topping:

- In a bowl, whip the whipping cream to get soft peaks.

- Add the confectioner's sugar and beat to get hard peaks.

- Top the fruits with the whipped cream and cover on all sides.

 - Liberally sprinkle the chopped walnuts on the top.

- Chill in the fridge for about 4-5 hours before serving.

- Sliced strawberries can be replaced with strawberry glaze. 

 

 

 

 

Special Cake for your Special Someone on Valentine's Day

Red is the traditional and time honored Valentine's Day color and what better way to bake a delicious red velvet cake recipe to surprise your loved one on your anniversary or on Valentine's Day. Here is the red velvet cake recipe from scratch that turns out perfectly every time.

Items needed:

- 500 ml of beet juice
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 tablespoon of vinegar
- 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
- 115 grams of softened butter at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups of granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup of buttermilk
- 2 1/4 cups of cake flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla

Preparation:

- Grease and flour two 9-inch baking pans.
- Separate the egg whites and yolks in different mixing bowls.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- To the egg yolks, add the sugar and butter and beat them together to get a fluffy mix.
- Add the buttermilk to the mix and beat well so that the sugar dissolves.
- Stir in the beet juice and mix well.
- Sift the cocoa powder and blend the mix well to get a nice red color.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to form soft peaks. 
- Add vinegar and salt to the mix and beat some more.
- In another bowl, sift the cake flour and baking soda together.
- Add the flour mix to the red batter and mix well. You can use an electric blender for this process.
- Now add the egg white mix to the batter and mix with a wooden spoon. Do not over mix; just enough to blend everything.
- Pour the batter in the prepared cake pans.
- Bake them in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 350F.
- Remove from the pans and cool before cutting in slices to serve.

Substitutions:

- You can use instant hot chocolate mix instead of cocoa powder.
- Use 1/2 cup Crisco instead of butter.
- Replace beet juice with 2 bottles of red food coloring.

Serving:

Red velvet cakes are traditionally served with cream cheese frosting but you can also try it with:

- Chocolate frosting or a glaze.
- Fluffy white frosting with toasted coconut.

Here is the recipe for making toasted coconut:

- Line a baking sheet with foil.
- Spread 1 1/2 cups of sweetened and shredded coconut over it in a fine layer.
- Bake for about 6-8 minutes at 350F. Toss the coconut in between for even cooking.
- Remove from the oven and cool.
- Sprinkle on the frosted cake to cover from all sides.

To prepare red velvet cupcakes:

- Grease and flour 24 cupcake molds.
- Pour the batter in the molds and bake at 350F for 10-15 minutes.