Sticky Date, Banana and Peanut Butter Cake
Try out this sweet treat by Melie's Kitchen, packed with bananas, sticky dates, peanut butter, and dulce de leche.
Ingredients
Sticky Date & Banana Cake:
1 ½ cups loosely packed dried dates, finely chopped
5 ripe Dole Bobby bananas (or 3 large Dole bananas)
3 large eggs
¾ cup soft brown sugar
¾ cup vegetable or canola oil
1 ¾ cups self-rising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ tsp baking soda
Mascarpone Peanut Butter Icing:
100g white chocolate, melted
250g mascarpone cheese
250g cream cheese
⅓ cup smooth salted peanut butter
2 Tbsp store-bought dulce de leche
To Decorate:
4 ripe Dole Bobby bananas (or 2 large Dole bananas)
⅓ cup store-bought dulce de leche
¼ cup smooth salted peanut butter (see tip below)
Handful of crushed roasted white chocolate (optional, see tip below)
Method
Preheat your oven to 170°C bake.
Grease and line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper, making sure the paper goes higher above the tin. Bring a full kettle to the boil.
Make cake:
Finely chop dates and add to a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for about 10 minutes, then drain well (discard soaking liquid). Peel bananas and add to a large bowl. Mash well, until no chunks remain. Add eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla and whisk well until combined. Add self-rising flour, baking soda and ½ tsp salt and whisk again, until just combined. Fold through the drained soaked dates. Spoon batter into the prepared cake tin and bake on the lower-middle oven rack for 45-50 minutes, until cooked through. A skewer inserted should come out mostly clean, with a few moist crumbs. Leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Make icing:
Add all of the icing ingredients to a large bowl. Using handheld electric beaters, beat on high speed for 1-2 minutes, until smooth and fluffy. Set aside until ready to use.
Assemble & Decorate Cake:
Cut bananas into 1cm thick slices and set aside. Once the cake has cooled completely, cut the cake into two layers. Get down at eye level and score the cake about 1cm deep around the outside, halfway up the sides (use a large, serrated knife). Using the score mark as a guide, cut all the way through the cake to create two even layers. Make sure the cake has cooled completely before icing it, otherwise the icing will melt. Place the bottom cake layer onto a serving plate. Spread over half of the icing. Spoon over half of the dulce de leche and swirl it into the icing with the back of a spoon. Arrange over half of the sliced bananas, then drizzle over half of the peanut butter (see tip). Sprinkle over half of the roasted white chocolate, if using. Place the second cake layer on top, then repeat with the remaining icing, dulce de leche, banana, peanut butter and roasted white chocolate. Garnish with edible flowers, if desired.
Tip* If your peanut butter is too thick to drizzle, add a few teaspoons of canola or peanut oil and stir it through. This will help to loosen it up. Pic’s smooth peanut butter is a good brand for drizzling.
Tip* to make roasted white chocolate, roughly chop up some white chocolate and add to a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake in the preheated oven for 7-8 minutes, until golden and caramelized.