Baby Banana Cakes

There is no better scent than ripe bananas, vanilla, and cinnamon.

I love baking around the holidays; it gives me the best excuse to whip up tons of sweets. Though, now that I work at the computer lab at my college, I really don't need an excuse - there's always hungry students ready to taste test my kitchen experiments.

But this week I am home with my family for Thanksgiving, and I wanted a chance to try out this wonderful beauty that my mom also managed to score with her American Express Rewards.

Beautiful, is it not? I have waited years to get my hands on one of these babies, and now, I wanted to use it to bake up a more contemporary dessert midst the classic apple and pumpkin pies.

What's more contemporary than cake truffles?

Yes, I know cake pops are all the rage, but I love the tiny balls of delicious cake whether or not they happen to stay on a lollipop stick (since in my case, they usually fall right off the stick into the melted chocolate).


But what kind of cake truffles should I make for the holiday? Well, pumpkin was out since we make pumpkin pie, and I wasn't in the mood for apple so...

Banana!

Banana Bread is one of my favorite desserts of all time. It's not overly sweet, but it's warm and wholesome and oh so good. Not to mention I tried a banana cake truffle up in Chester that blew my mind.

I found this recipe for Banana Cake on Food Network, and apparently it's famous, from Flour Bakery in Boston. Having now made this cake, I see why. I used my BabyCakes Cake Pop Maker for these, but you could go the "authentic" cake pop method and bake the cake, mix it with frosting, and then form the balls. If I can tell you the whole truth though, I just like these kind of cake balls better. They are not so sweet that I feel like I need an insulin shot after I eat more than one. Now that's not to say that there's never a time or place for the others (because I can put those away when I'm in the mood), but I do love how much less time it takes to make beautiful little round cakes with the cake pop maker than by hand.

Then, it's just a matter of melting up some candy melts (or almond bark, which I've found is so much more affordable than the Wilton Melts) and dipping away. Fun, relaxing, and most importantly - yummy.

Or, if you're like me and manage to, once again, seize the entire bag of Wilton Candy Melts (Wilton, why do you make it so easy for me to do this?!) then these baby banana cakes are still delicious plain.I leave you with this wonderful recipe and I hope your Thanksgiving is full of family, friends, and delicious desserts.

See you all next week!

Banana Cake Truffles slightly adapted Via FoodNetwork
makes 36-40 cake balls

• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup oil
• 3 bananas, very ripe, mashed
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 
  
• 1-2 bags Vanilla Candy Melts or Vanilla Almond Bark

1. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. In another bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer) beat together eggs and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes)

3. Add oil and beat until combined. Add in bananas, sour cream, and vanilla, and beat until well incorporated.

4. Gently stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients.

5. Plug in your cake pop/donut hole maker, and once its preheated fill each cavity with approximately 2 tbsp of batter.

6. Bake for 3-4 minutes.

7. Remove promptly and let cool on wire rack.

8. Melt candy melts in 20 second intervals in the microwave or in a double boiler.

9. Gently dip balls and roll until coated. Tap off excess and place onto cookie sheet covered with wax paper.

10. Decorate and enjoy!