I was super excited about this months Cake Slice bakers selection! This month two cakes tied! We could choose from "Banana Cake with Coffee Walnut Buttercream" or a "Classic Butter cake with chocolate frosting". I haven't had much baking practice with banana cake recipes, so I chose the banana.
This month was also my twin nieces birthdays, and this year I was in charge of the cake. Super happy about that! My sister ordered a "Tinker Bell" themed cake. I decided to upgrade the cake to two tiers, and make the top tier a banana cake using this recipe.
Since the cake was for a children's birthday party I decided to leave out the bourbon in the nut mixture.
I have made Italian buttercream before and this technique leaves a identical texture and flavor. Both pretty easy to make, at this point I don't prefer one over the other. They are equally delicious!
I absolutely loved this buttercream! I only used half of the espresso it called for, I was afraid of having a bitter result. It had a hint of coffee and walnuts, it was perfect!
I made sure it had a generous portion of filling and decided to give it a crumb coat too.
I had a lot of compliments, everyone seemed to enjoy it. I loved everything about this cake. Besides holding back a little on the coffee, I also used cake flour instead of all purpose. I wanted it to be lighter and not end up with a dense cake. I'm glad the guests enjoyed it, we had no leftovers or wasted cake.
