Spiced banana cake with coconut cinnamon frosting

Whenever there are super ripe bananas at home, I tend to make banana bread. But this time I decided to mix things up and use them to make a spiced banana cake. This is an impromptu recipe so no doubt tweaking is required.

Ingredients for the cake

Whipped coconut cream

2 C ground almond, sifted
2 tsp sweet mixed spices, heaped, sifted
2 tbsp coconut nectar

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

2 tsp coconut oil, heaped
4 large free range eggs
2 tbsp coconut cream, chilled in fridge

Ingredients for the frosting

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 C coconut cream, chilled in fridge

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp organic honey

2 tsp cinnamon, for dusting
pinch of demerara sugar, for dusting (optional)

Method

1. Mix the almond flour, coconut sugar, and sweet mixed spices in a bowl.
2. In a separate large bowl, whisk the coconut cream, eggs, vanilla, coconut oil, and mashed bananas.

   

   Coconut cream mix

3. Mix the almond flour mix into the coconut cream mix.

   

   Cake mix

4. Let the mix chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
5. Grease a cake tin if required. I’m using a 9” round silicon mould.
6. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
7. Pour the mixture in the mould and bake in a water bath for around 40-45 mins or until cooked.
   
8. Meanwhile, whip the ingredients for the frosting together (using an immersion blender or electric mixer). Set aside in the fridge to cool.
9. Take the cake out of the oven and let cool completely.
   
10. Cover the cake with frosting and dust with cinnamon and sugar.
    
11. Serve immediately or chill in the fridge to set the frosting more.

Notes

1. Initially a drier cake than the ones I've made before using almond flour. I think another banana (a total of 3 then) is needed. Having said that, after chilling the cake in the fridge overnight, it became moister, making it quite lovely. The flavour is subtle. I think another banana wouldn't go astray, neither would another teaspoon of the sweet mixed spices.
2. Usually I bake cakes at 170-175°C (electric oven with fan). This time I turned it up to 180°C as per a few recipes suggested. I don't think it worked as well. Next time I will stick to 175°C.
3. The cake also has a denser texture initially. I left out soda and salt as I read on a few blogs that since almond flour didn't rise like wheat flour, there was no need for soda. I do think, however, that even though almond flour doesn't spring like wheat flour, a bit of soda with salt does in fact help to create a fluffier texture, so I will continue using the combo.
4. Disaster with the frosting. I had purchased a new brand of coconut milk (I usually use Blue Dragon, but this time I used Tesco's own brand, which boasted of 60% coconut extract) and chilled a can in the fridge for two days. In the past, parts of the coconut milk would solidify and the solidified part is the coconut cream, which is used to make the frosting. This time, however, that didn't happen. When I opened the can, it was all creamy liquid. I decided to forge ahead anyway. Pouring the content of the whole can into a large bowl, I used an electric whisk the milk into cream, which did work (see the above picture) to create a soft peak. After chilling, I scooped out 2 tsp for the cake mix and set aside a cup for the frosting. The rest I put back into the fridge. I poured the cup of coconut cream into a chilled metallic bowl, and then I mixed in honey, vanilla extract, and sifted cinnamon powder and proceeded to whip with an electric mixer. The whole mix was wetter so it didn't whip as well, so I switched to an immersion blender, and after a couple of minutes, a soft peak did start to form. Then I added in the coconut oil. I was puzzled with the inclusion of oil when I came across this recipe, but since it worked for the poster, I added it into my whipped cream mix. All seemed okay when I started whisking, though the mix wouldn't cream. So I went back to the immersion blender. That was when disaster struck. The oil started to separate from the cream mix and the cream started to curdle. What I ended up with were small creamy oily lumps and a honey-cinnamon liquid. It was horrifying. I tried to pass this abomination through a sieve to see if I could salvage the cream. It was in vain. In the end, I chucked the whole thing out. Lucky for me I still had about half a cup of whipped coconut cream in the fridge. So when the cake had cooled sufficiently, I whipped the cream, added in 2 tbsp of honey, used the immersion blender to whip some more, and then spread the mix onto the cake. I then dusted cinnamon powder over the cake, followed by a little bit of demerara sugar. The end product didn't look so good, so I guess it wasn't a complete failure. But this has really put me off using coconut milk to make frosting. My past attempts have been dodgy as well. I might give it a go again with just the coconut cream (solidified after chilling my usual brand of coconut milk), vanilla extract, and honey. If success is still out of reach, I will just have to make do with dairy cream.
5. Re: the frosting, it's actually holding up quite well in the fridge. The lightness of the whipped coconut milk/cream complemented both the texture and subtle flavours of the banana cake. I guess it wasn't a failure after all!