Hi siao poh, Happy Birthday la.. hahahaha Sorry, pixelated your face kekekeke

A leveled up version I would say. It’s no longer layers of chocolate sponge, chocolate whipped cream and bananas. I mean, well, it still is in some way but I decided to play abit and make it a little more “sophisticated”.

oh, with peanut butter as well. Haha

It was for a friend’s birthday (about a month ago), she requested for a chocolate banana cake and I had some leftover of joconde layers from the Opera. *Actually I made extra just cause I knew I’d need to make a birthday cake later, and kept it in the freezer.

So this cake, is a combination of almond and hazelnut joconde layer , paillete feuilletine, peanut butter cream, chocolate cremeux, and a chocolate ganache glaze, oh, not forgetting the bananas.

[on a totally unrelated note, I need to tell u how I actually write my blog posts these days. Sometimes when I have some 10 minutes to spare (or 20 mins) I actually write the first part of the blog post, without pictures / recipes, and save it. The next day, or a few hours later. I continue. and subsequently a few hours later, another few more pics and recipes (If I’m at home), a few more “Save Draft”s later, I schedule the post and put it up the next morning because I usually actually finish the post by night or midnight. I can’t help but think, whether it’s an impromptu, or an over-planned thing. I have a few blog posts with only 10 lines to begin with lol. Ok fine. done]

Chocolate Banana Cake

(makes 1 x 6inch square entremet)

Joconde Layer

125g icing sugar
125g almond meal (I used 50% almond and 50% hazelnut meal cause I had insufficient of almond meal)
150g whole eggs
33g plain flour
25g melted butter
100g egg whites
16g sugar

Paline Feulletine
45g Praline Paste
30g Paillete Feuilletine (image here)
15g milk chocolate
5g unsalted butter
pinch of salt

Peanut Butter Cream
120g Crunchy peanut butter
130g non dairy cream *I find using non dairy more stable for this without adding any gelatin

Chocolate Cream
80g milk
80g cream
1 yolk
100g sugar
70g dark chocolate, melted
1 tsp gelatine
1 tbsp water
80g whipping cream

Ganache glaze
120g dark chocolate
160ml cream
15g butter

3-4 small – medium sized bananas, sliced half lengthwise

Method

1. Make joconde layer. Mix icing sugar, almond, hazelnut (if using) and whole eggs and whisk till light and ribbony stage. Fold in flour and melted butter lightly. Whisk egg whites and caster sugar till medium peaks, fold into the first batter. Pour into a lined tray / pan and bake for 220 C for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle some caster sugar on the surface to prevent it from drying out. Divide into 3 of 6″ squares, making sure all joconde slices are the same size.

2. Make praline feuilletine. Melt milk chocolate and unsalted butter in a microwave over low heat, or over bain marie. Add in praline paste and stir till dissolved. Mix in paillete feuilletine.

3. Make peanut butter cream. Whip cream till soft peaks, add in peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, up to you. I had crunchy on hand and I think that it’s nicer to have a bit of texture to the cake) Continue whisking the peanut butter and cream till stiff peak.

4. Make Chocolate cream. Dissolve gelatin with some water and let it bloom. Heat milk and cream in a saucepan. In another bowl, whisk egg yolk and sugar. When milk and cream comes to boil, gradually stream into egg yolk, stirring with a whisk all the time. Return mixture to the heat and warm up for 1 minute over low heat. Stir all the time to prevent curdling. Meanwhile, melt chocolate. Heat up gelatin in the microwave till dissolve. Remove the egg mixture from the heat, add in melted chocolate, stir. Add in gelatin, stir till well incorporated. Cool down mixture over ice bath while stirring. Whip cream to medium peaks. Lightly fold into the chocolate mixture.

5. Make chocolate glaze. Chop chocolates and put in a bowl. Bring cream to a light boil, then pour into the bowl of chocolates. Stir with a spatula till all chocolate has melted. Add in butter, stir. leave aside to cool.

6. Assemble. You can assemble this cake as you go. You don’t have to make everything and assemble at 1 go. Lay 1 piece of joconde in the cake ring. Brush simple syrup. Spread praline feuilletine to form a layer. Add peanut butter cream. Level it then let it rest in the fridge. Continue to make the cremeux. Remove cake from fridge, add a layer of joconde, brush with simple syrup. Arrange bananas on top. Pour 1/2 of the chocolate cremeux on top of the bananas. Add another layer of joconde and spread the remaining cremeux on top. LEt it chill in the fridge till it’s harden. Lastly, pour glaze over cake making sure it coats the entire cake. Chill for a few more house or till ganache has set.Decorate with banana chips!

I usually have a little sketch to visualize the cake before I do anything. Trust me, I have a few of these sketches but haven’t made the cake yet. This way, the assembly part is much easier, and u can ‘see’ the cake better. Lol But sometimes along the way, some parts dont turn out the same. Lol

So, yup. The cake it was. Lol.

Here are some food shots take at the restaurant. We were at Cristan. Check out our previous visit here.

Pork Burger with bacon, pineapple, minced and wedges yummmmm

Buffalo Wings

Nasi Lemak Fried Rice, one of their specialties. Good too!!

Ok that’s it! for now.

Happy Chinese New Year 🙂