Banana Bread Cake with Coconut Frosting

1 Sep

Oh, August, please don’t go so soon!

You’re a month to be reckoned with – a whirlwind of summer, and back to school time, and all the fuzzy, anxious times in between.  You took me all the way from Sacramento to Los Angeles,  down to Orange County and San Diego, and now you’re about to bring me home again with your wily ways.  I know it may not be something you set out to do, but you’ve been one of the greatest months so far this year, 2nd only to July.

I hope you forgive my resistance to fulfill all your plans for me at this time, but I think you can understand given my penchant for the ocean, Cafe Gratitude, and the freedoms that don’t often accompany a typical school or work schedule.  Just this once, I wish you’d bend the rules a little and bump any of my immediately upcoming obligations out to September instead.  No?  Fine.

So, school and work, it is, I guess.  I think I can forgive you, August, I know it’s not your fault.  Cake!  Coconut!  Coconut always makes things better!

I know coconut is pretty summery and tropical, but the banana is full-on fall, right?  I’ll work on it.  I’m still getting the hang of this September thing!

Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup margarine

* 1 cup brown sugar

* 2 eggs

* 1 tsp vanilla

* 1 cup mashed banana (2-3 medium)

*2 cups all purpose flour

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1/2 tsp salt

* 1/2 – 1 cup chopped pecans

* 1/4 cup coconut chips, for topping (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line a pan of 4 mini loaves (or 4 separate mini loaf pans) with parchment paper and set aside.

Cream together the margarine and sugar until fluffy.  Add in eggs one at a time, then mix in vanilla and banana until well incorporated.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl.  Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet, mixing between additions until batter comes together.

Bake 40-50 minutes, depending on your oven, and what pan you are using (you could make this in a regular sized loaf pan also, same temperature, for about 45-50 minutes).  Done when a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean!  Allow to cool completely, then trim straight edges all around the outside.  Fillet the mini (or regular sized loaf) horizontally through the center.  Frost the center layer, and then the entire outside of the cake.  Sprinkle with coconut chips.

Coconut Frosting

Recipe for this frosting originally posted HERE along with my coconut cupcakes, adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or dairy-free butter spread
* 1/4 cup Coconut butter (the thick portion at the top of the coconut milk can, or pre-made coconut butter in a jar)
* About 2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar
* Dash of salt
* 1 tsp vanilla extract
* 1/2 tsp coconut extract

Directions:

Cream together the butter or dairy-free butter spread and coconut butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Slowly add in the dash of salt and confectioner’s sugar by the spoonful until course, crumbly mixture forms. Add in the vanilla extract and coconut extract. Beat frosting until smooth, adding more confectioner’s sugar if the frosting is too thin, and more vanilla extract, coconut extract, or splash of milk of choice if it’s too thick.

Aaaaand, just in case you’re as in to coconut as I am, here are a couple other good way to put my coconut frosting to good use…besides spooning directly into your mouth –> Martha Stewart’s Coconut Cupcakes

Or maybe a banana something with just a little more coconut —> Coconut Chia Seed Banana Bread which, by the way, is awesomely gluten and dairy free!

Wishing you the most amazing September ever!

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