Friday, December 18, 2009

Butterfinger Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

I was looking for something different and found this little delight. It's excellent, and quite easy to make. The layers come out of the pan beautifully (but make sure to grease and flour thoroughly), and the frosting is easy to work with. It is very sweet, so I added more peanut butter to the frosting and next time I would add more salt for a counterpoint. The recipe below comes from The Candy Bar Cookbook, but I am including it here with my changes.

Butterfinger Banana Cake with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cake:
6 (2.1 ounce) butterfinger candy bars
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup buttermilk
For the frosting:
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
To prepare the cake: Preheat oven to 350°F Grease and flour two 9" cake pans. In the food processor, coarsely chop the candy bars; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix in the mashed bananas and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk alternately to the egg mixture (in two to three additions each) and incorporate thoroughly. Fold in two-thirds of the chopped Butterfingers and divide the batter between the cake pans.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes on wire racks for 10 minutes. Invert onto a rack and cool completely before frosting.

To prepare the frosting: In a large mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese, butter and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the powdered sugar and peanut butter and mix until smooth.

To frost the cake, place one layer on a serving plate. Spread 1/4 of the frosting over the top. Place the second layer on top. Spread the remaining frosting over top and sides of the cake. Garnish with remaining crushed Butterfingers.

Makes 12 servings.

2 comments:

Alison... said...

Looks great but more importantly... what did you make for his birthday dinner????

Stephanie Carnes said...

Oh, you are going to be so impressed. I made nachos! He loves them, and every year on his birthday that's what he requests.