Art by the Creek

Preheat oven to 350*. With a flour/oil spray, prepare one 10-cup bundt pan. Best to make this cake the day before to let the syrup soak in and moisten the crumb.

Ingredients

6 tbs. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5 large eggs (1 liquid cup)
125 g. superfine sugar
66 g. cake flour
60 g. corn starch

Cointreau Syrup

66 g. sugar
2/3 cup water
1.5 fl. oz. Cointreau (3 tbs)

Preparation

Beurre Noisette

In a small heavy sauce pan over low heat, melt butter until the milk solids fall to the bottom and turn a very dark brown. Watching constantly so it doesn’t burn. When done, pour through a fine mesh strained lined with a coffee filter or cheesecloth to remove all of the browned solids. Cool to just warm. Add vanilla and keep warm.

Batter

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine sugar and eggs. Over barely simmering water, stir the eggs and sugar with your clean hand until the eggs are just warm. (you can also use a whisk for this, but be careful not to let the eggs get too hot.) Transfer the bowl to the mixer with the whisk attached and beat at high speed for five minutes. Meanwhile, sift together the flour and the corn starch. When the eggs are done, remove the bowl from the mixer, remove one cup of the eggs and whisk this into the butter/vanilla until fully combined. Sift half of the flour over the remaining eggs in the big bowl and carefully fold in, using a rubber spatula, balloon whisk, or slotted skimmer. When fully combined, sift the remaining flour over and again fold in, being very careful to not flatten the batter. Once the flour is invisible, fold in the butter batter. Transfer to the prepared pan, leveling the top with a small offset spatula and bake 20-30 minutes, until it just pulls away from the sides of the pan and is nicely golden brown. Remove immediately from the pan to a lightly oiled cooling rack.

Cointreau syrup

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and water. Bring just to a rolling boil, then remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Then add the Cointreau. When the cake is completely cooled, brush the syrup on the top and sides of the cake. Wrap or cover tightly. Best to serve the next day.

Preheat oven to 350*. Spray with oil/flour mixture one 9 X 2 inch round cake pan or 2 7 X 2 inch round cake pans. Line bottom(s) with parchment

Ingredients

Batter

1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (2 large)
½ cup sour cream
2 eggs, room temperature
zest from one lemon
1 ½ tsp. vanilla extract
170 g. sugar in the raw
½ cup canola oil
200 g. cake flour
1 tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt

White Chocolate Frosting

3 oz. fine quality white chocolate, chopped
4 oz. cream cheese, softened but still cool
2 tbs. unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1/8 tsp. almond extract

Preparation

Batter

Whisk together flour, baking powder/soda and salt. Set aside. In the workbowl of a food processor, process banana and sour cream until smooth. Add eggs, lemon zest and vanilla and process until combined. Scrape into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Add sugar and beat banana/egg and sugar at medium speed for 60 seconds. Dribble in oil and beat until fully incorporated. Sift the flour mixture over the wet ingredients and beat at low speed for 2 minutes, scraping as needed to fully incorporate. Scrape into prepared pan(s) and bake for about 30-40 minutes (25-30 if using 7 inch pans) until browned and tester comes out clean. Remove from oven and rest in pan on rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan to cool completely.

White Chocolate Frosting

Melt chopped chocolate in microwave at medium power in 30 second bursts, stopping when not completely melted. Stir until smooth and completely melted. Let cool just until room temperature, but still liquid. In the bowl of a food processor, process cream cheese, butter, sour cream until smooth and uniform. Add melted chocolate and process until completely incorporated. Pulse in almond extract.

When the cake is cool, frost and store refrigerated.

Note: If you choose to make the two 7 inch cakes, increase the frosting ingredients to the following amounts:

4 oz. fine quality white chocolate, chopped
6 oz. cream cheese, softened but still cool
3 tbs. unsalted butter, softened but still cool
3/8 tsp. almond extract

This one takes a little forethought and planning. Read through carefully being aware of timing. For instance, the night before baking, combine cognac and cherries. Four hours prior to baking, prepare chocolate ganache. One hour prior to baking, combine cocoa, chocolate and water for cake batter.

At least ½ hr. prior to baking, preheat oven to 350*. Line with parchment paper and spray with flour/oil two 9 inch cake pans.

Ingredients

Cherry Filling

¾ cup dried tart cherries
½ cup cognac or French brandy
¼ cup light corn syrup

Dante’s Ganache

108 g. cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
1 tbs. reserve cherry cognac
1 ¼ tsp. vanilla
7 oz. chopped dark chocolate (60-62% cocoa)
236 g. sugar
¼ cup boiling water
½ cup plus 2 tbs. heavy cream (4.5 fl. oz.)
2 ½ tbs. unsalted butter, room temp.

Cake Batter

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
63 g. cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
2 eggs plus 2 yolks, room temp.
¼ cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla
225 g. cake flour
326 g. light brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp., cut into ¼ inch slices

Preparation

Cherry Filling

Combine cognac and cherries in a jar with a tight fitting lid. Let soak at room temperature 8 hours or overnight. Drain well, reserving 1 tbs. cognac for ganache. Toss cherries with corn syrup and set aside.

Dante’s Ganache

Combine cocoa powder and boiling water in a small bowl. Stir until smooth add vanilla and cognac, stir to combine, then cover tightly and set aside.

Powderize chocolate in the workbowl of a food processor. Set aside.

Warm cream in microwave, keep warm. In a medium heavy saucepan, combine boiling water and sugar. Stir gently until sugar is dissolved, then over medium heat, boil until temperature reaches 370* and the syrup is a deep amber color. Remove from heat and carefully add warm cream (mixture will bubble and steam, be careful). Stir over very low heat until the caramel is completely dissolved. With the machine running, add caramel to chocolate powder, process until combined and smooth. Add cocoa mixture and process until just combined. Scrape out the ganache to a metal bowl and let rest for 1 hour, then cover and let thicken at least 5 hours until thick enough for frosting.

Cake Batter

In a small bowl (preferably metal), combine unsweetened chocolate, cocoa and water. Stir until smooth. Then cover tightly and set aside to cool to room temperature (about 1 hour).

In another small bowl, combine eggs, yolk, vanilla and sour cream. Set aside.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir at low speed 30 seconds until adequately mixed. Add butter and mix at low speed until it resembles strudel topping. Add egg mixture and beat at medium speed 90 seconds. In a steady stream and at low speed, pour in cocoa mixture, scraping out the cocoa bowl. Then raise speed to medium and beat 30 seconds. Transfer batter equally to the prepared pans and bake 30-40 minutes until the tester comes out clean and the top lightly springs back. Cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes, then turn out from pans and cool completely.

Compose Cake

Level the cooled cakes. Chop the excess cake into crumbs. Combine the crumbs with the reserved cherries as filling. Spread about 1 cup of the ganache on the top of one layer, the add the cherry/cake crumb filling, top with the other layer of cake, then frost the entire cake, top and sides.