Banana, Chocolate & Caramel Layer Cake

I came up with this cake yesterday when someone told me their favorite desserts would be anything with bananas, chocolate or caramel.  I decided to combine all three into a towering birthday cake! I wasn’t sure if I myself would be a huge fan of the results, but after one bite I was in love!  I don’t really consider myself to be much of a baker, so when I’m doing a big dinner party and have a lot to do, I often rely on box cake mixes and then doctor them up.  The results are always dependably delicious, but of course you are welcome to make your own cake from scratch if you prefer.  The chopped maraschino cherries are not really detectable in the final chocolate cake, but they do help make it extra moist.  I’m generally opposed to things so artificial like maraschino cherries, but I do like using them in chocolate cakes and figure eating a few of these little red dye #40 bombs a year, probably won’t kill me.  The banana in the yellow cake helped give it a banana flavor as well as making the cake nice and moist. I recommend making the vanilla pudding and caramel while you are baking the cakes.  I apologize for not having more pictures of the process, but I really wasn't planning to blog it until I tasted the final result!

Banana, Chocolate & Caramel Layer Cake

For Cakes:

-1 box Chocolate Cake Mix (plus ingredients called for i.e. eggs, oil, water)

-1/4 Maraschino Cherries, chopped (optional)

-1 box Yellow Cake Mix (plus ingredients called for)

-1 large banana, sliced into rounds

Cake Directions: Make chocolate cakes according to package instructions, adding in the chopped maraschino cherries.  Bake in two 9 inch rounds and cool on racks.  Make the yellow cake according to the package instructions, adding the banana with the other ingredients.  Bake in two 9 inch rounds and cool on racks.

For Vanilla Pudding:

-2 ½ cups half and half

-1 Vanilla Bean, split down the center or 1 Tbsp. Vanilla Bean Paste

-pinch of kosher salt

-1/3 cup sugar

-2 Tbsp. Cornstarch

-6 large Egg Yolks at room temperature

-6 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, cold and cut into 6 pats

Vanilla Pudding Directions:

Bring half and half, vanilla bean or paste(scrape seeds into half and half and then throw in the whole bean), salt and 3 Tbsp sugar to simmer in a medium saucepan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally.  In a bowl stir together remaining sugar and cornstarch, then sprinkle over yolks and whisk together about 2 minutes.  When half and half reaches a simmer, drizzle about ½ cup of hot half and half over the yolks, whisking constantly; then whisk the egg yolk mixture into the simmering half and half.  The mixture will thicken in about 30 seconds.  Simmer, whisking constantly, until a few bubbles burst on the surface and the mixture is thickened and glossy, about 15 seconds longer.  Remove from heat and whisk in the cold butter until incorporated. Pour the pudding into a shallow pan and place in the refrigerator to chill. 

Caramel Sauce:

-1/2 cup Unsalted Butter

-1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar

-1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar

-1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Directions for Caramel Sauce: Combine brown sugar and butter in sauce pan over medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved.  Add in heavy cream and continue to stir occasionally at a low simmer for about ten minutes, until sauce is a rich, deep golden brown.   Set aside to cool.

For  Cake Assembly:

-2 rounds Yellow Banana Cake

-2 rounds Chocolate Cake

-Vanilla Pudding, chilled

-about 3 bananas, thinly sliced into rounds

-2 or 3 cups of Heavy Whipping Cream

-Caramel Sauce at room temperature, or chilled

-4 wooden skewers

-Chocolate Sauce (nice quality, store bought)

-Crème Anglaise (optional for plating)

Cake Assembly: Place four strips of parchment paper around the edges of your cake plate. (This is to keep the plate clean while you are assembling and frosting.) Place one round of the yellow banana cake on your platter on top of the strips.  Cover with a thin layer of vanilla pudding and then cover that with the banana rounds.  Place a chocolate cake round on top and repeat with all remaining layers.  Holding the skewer up to your 4 stacked layers, trim all of them so that they are the same height as your cake.  Place the 4 skewers through the layers to prevent the layers from slipping once your cake is done.  Whip the heavy cream until you have medium peaks.  Fold in about ½ cup to 1 cup of the caramel, just enough so that you have the delicious caramel flavor.   Frost the entire cake with caramel whipped cream and then drizzle in one direction with the chocolate sauce and then in another direction with the caramel sauce.  (I put the sauces into squeeze bottles for easy drizzling and plating.)  After all of the frosting and drizzling is done, gently remove the parchment strips.  If you will be serving the cake immediately, garnish the top with some sliced banana rounds.  Once this beauty has been presented I like to place some crème anglaise on each dessert plate, sqeeze some chocolate sauce on top and then a squeeze of caramel sauce on the side.  Make sure you keep this cake in the refrigerator if you are making it ahead of time. 

Crème Anglaise:

-1/2 cup whole milk

-1/2 cup whipping cream

-1 tsp. vanilla bean paste

-3 large egg yolks

-3 Tbsp. Sugar

Directions: Combine milk, cream and vanilla bean paste in a medium saucepan.  Bring mixture to a simmer.  Remove from heat.  Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl to blend.  Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into yolk mixture.  Return custard to saucepan and stir over low heat until custard thickens and leaves a path on the back of a spoon when you draw your finger across it.  Don’t boil. Transfer to a bowl and cover, by placing a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface and then another piece over the top of the bowl.  This can be made two days in advance.