Banana Chocolate Cake with Dulce De Leche Cream Cheese Frosting

When life gives you overripe bananas, you know you are having a happy day ahead! I love seeing bananas turn grotesquely black and mushy and squishy. Because that means some overripe goodness is ready for baking.

I took my game a little more serious this time – a banana and chocolate layered cake with dulce de leche cream cheese frosting. I used my go-to banana bread recipe and chocolate devil’s food cake recipe for the cake layers. Oh, how I love the striped pattern! Such a show-stopper! It’s totally delicious to go with simple cream cheese frosting. But I loooooooove dulce de leche! Adding a little of this goodness in the cream cheese frosting not only yields a lovely light golden color to the icing, it also brings out a hint of caramel flavour.

 

You can easily make your own dulce de leche. Just pour a whole can of sweetened condensed milk into a shallow baking dish. Cover it with aluminium foil. Place the dish into another larger pan. Add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the small dish. Bake for an hour at 425F or until the milk becomes browned and caramelized.

Like I said, because I’m addicted to dulce de leche, I also drizzles a little more on the icing between the cake layers. Totally unnecessary! I know. But… there is no buts…

Ingredients (one 5-inch 6-layer cake):
Banana Cake
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large very ripe bananas, mashed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Chocolate Cake
1 1/2 cup cake flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup boiling water
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pack 8-ounce cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups dulce de leche
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Others
5 banana slices
1 tablespoon toffee bits
1 tablespoon chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease three 5-inch cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
To prepare banana cakes, in a bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, banana, oil and vanilla until smooth.
Sift in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir until just combined.
Divide the batter and pour into the prepared cake pans. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Remove from oven. When cool to handle, release cakes from pans and place cakes on rack to cool. Clean the pans. Grease them and line with parchment paper.
To prepare chocolate cake, in a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In another bowl, whisk the boiling water and cocoa powder until smooth.
Beat butter and sugar together on medium speed in a bowl of a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in buttermilk and vanilla extract.
Reduce the speed to low and beat in half of the flour mixture, followed by the chocolate mixture. Beat in the remaining flour mixture until just incorporated.
Divide the batter and pour into the prepared cake pans. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
To prepare cream cheese frosting, place butter, cream cheese and 1/4 cup dulce de leche in a mixing bowl. Beat until soft and well incorporated. Add powder sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy.
To assemble the cake, place one chocolate cake layer on a serving plate, spread 1/4 cup cream cheese frosting on top, then drizzle 2 tablespoons dulce de leche on the frosting. Alternate with a banana cake layer, frosting and dulce de leche, until the last cake layer is placed. Frost the cake top and sides with the remaining buttercream.
Slowly spoon the dulce de leche over the top of the cake. Use an offset spatula to gently push the dulce de leche over the sides of the cake to create the dripping effect.
Garnish with banana slices, toffee bits and chopped pecans if desired.
Cover and refrigerate the cake. Leave out in room temperature for at least an hour prior to serving.

7 comments

  1. This beautiful has everything my husband and I love! I think I will try to make this soon! :D

  2. SHOW STOPPER!!! Beautiful deliciousness, I hope to be able to make soon. And how easy you make us feel it is to make. :) xo

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