Toffee Banana Family Tree Cake

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

63 people added this to their Recipe Box

This recipe makes 32 servings

Nutritional Info
Per each of 32 servings: about	-
cal	374374 cal
pro	3 g3g pro
total fat	20 g20g total fat
sat. fat	12 g12g sat. fat
carb	49 g49g carb
fibre	1 g1g fibre
chol	76 mg76mg chol
sodium	282 mg282mg sodium
% RDI:	-
calcium	44 calcium
iron	88 iron
vit A	1818 vit A
vit C	22 vit C
folate	1010 folate

Celebrate this summer's reunion with a cake displaying your family tree. To get it to the picnic, cover it with a cake dome, or place toothpicks at 2-inch (5 cm) intervals around top edge and drape with plastic wrap, then transport it in a cooler.

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups butter , softened1-1/4 1-1/4cups cupsbutter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar 2 2cups cupspacked brown sugar
3 eggs 3 3eggeggs
2 cups mashed bananas , (about 4)2 2cups cupsmashed bananabananas, (about 4)
2 tsp vanilla 2 2tsp tspvanilla
3-1/3 cups all-purpose flour 3-1/3 3-1/3cups cupsall-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder 1-1/2 1-1/2tsp tspbaking powder
1 tsp baking soda 1 1tsp tspbaking soda
1/2 tsp salt 1/2 1/2tsp tspsalt
3/4 cup buttermilk 3/4 3/4cup cupbuttermilk
1 cup toffee bits 1 1cup cuptoffee bits
Butter Icing:
1-2/3 cups butter , softened1-2/3 1-2/3cups cupsbutter, softened
5-2/3 cups icing sugar 5-2/3 5-2/3cups cupsicing sugar
3 tbsp 10% cream 3 3tbsp tbsp10% cream or milk
1-1/2 tsp vanilla 1-1/2 1-1/2tsp tspvanilla
Wilton Paste Food coloring:
1 1bottle bottleWilton Paste Food Coloring Buttercup yellow
1 1bottle bottleWilton Paste Food Coloring brown
1 1bottle bottleWilton Paste Food Coloring Red Red
1 1bottle bottleWilton Paste Food Coloring Royal blue
1 1bottle bottleWilton Paste Food Coloring leaf green

Preparation

1- Grease sides of 13- x 9-inch (3.5 L) metal cake pan; line bottom with parchment paper. In large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down side of bowl after each. Beat in bananas and vanilla.

In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and sa< stir into butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, making 3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of buttermilk. Scrape into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Place rack on cake; turn over and lift off pan. Peel off paper; let cool. (Make-ahead: Wrap in plastic wrap and store for up to 24 hours or overwrap with heavy-duty foil and freeze for up to 2 weeks.)

2- Butter Icing: In large bowl, beat butter until fluffy; beat in icing sugar, 1/2 cup (125 mL) at a time. Add cream and vanilla; beat until fluffy, about 1 minute. Tint 3-1/2 cups (875 mL) yellow; 1/2 cup (125 mL) brown, adding dab of red; 1/4 cup (50 mL) blue; and remaining icing green.

3- Place cake on tray. With serrated knife, cut in half horizontally. Spread cut side of bottom with 1-1/2 cups (300 mL) yellow icing; sprinkle with toffee bits. Replace top; spread remaining yellow on top and sides.

4- With toothpick, outline leafy area of tree; spread with 1/3 cup (75 mL) of the green icing. With toothpick, outline trunk and branches. Using piping bag fitted with plain tip (#4 or 5), pipe horizon of brown icing. Pipe remaining brown inside tree, moving in lines that resemble bark.

5- Using piping bag fitted with #1 plain tip, pipe blue names on branches. Using piping bag fitted with #67 leaf tip, pipe green leaves by placing tip on branches and squeezing bag to fan out icing from branch. Stop squeezing; pull tip up to a point. Change to plain tip; pipe grass along horizon line.

Source : Canadian Living Magazine: August 2005