Monkeyin' around

Happy birthday to two of my favorite crazy monkeys, Adam and Lauren!

Here's their birthday cake:

 It was pretty easy to make, and surprisingly tasty, even to me (I don't like bananas!)

Recipe: Monkey Cake from Smitten Kitchen

Preheat the oven to 350. Line the bottom of two 9" pans with parchment paper, then butter or spray with nonstick spray. Mix dry ingredients together. Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs one at a time. Add pureed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in two batches.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow them to cool pretty well. Then wrap them in saran wrap and let them sit in the freezer. Usually I do this over night, this time I did it while we were at church and that was plenty long enough. Unwrap them and use a serrated knife (I used a bread knife) cut out the pattern, leaving two ears.

While frosting, I always recommend putting a thin layer and as a "crumb coat" and letting it harden in the fridge/freezer for a few minutes (I did ten in the freezer for this cake) before icing the whole thing. It just makes it go on smoother. The recipe specifically says to ice the white part of the face first, but I was in a hurry and not paying attention. Fortunately for me, my white frosting was much stiffer than my chocolate, so I was able to layer it on top of the chocolate without it bleeding through.

Time on this is pretty minimal and it makes a pretty impressive looking cake. Let's just say it was completely gone by the end of the night.

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed golden brown sugar
4 large eggs
2 cups mashed or pureed very ripe bananas (5 to 6 large)
6 tablespoons sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting
4 1/2 cups powdered
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons half-and-half or whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

Mix all the ingredients except the chocolate together. Reserve about a couple of the frosting (for the face) before adding in the melted chocolate.