Not just a Banana Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache | #BundtAMonth

I am pretty excited for this particular post as this is my first participation in any group event. I have been trying for a long time to do this but something (may be fear deep inside) was pushing me back all through. But this month, I wanted to overcome my fear and wanted to just go ahead and participate in the group baking event this month. I was surfing on the internet and came to know about this month's BundtAMonth bake event and I immediately decided to be a part of it.

I love Bundt Cakes and loved the idea of baking a Bundt every month based on a theme. The theme of this month is Tropical Fruits. I was pleased when I got to know about this month's theme as I really love baking with fruits. Having already baked an Orange Marmalade Cake before, I decided to go for bananas this time and bake a Banana Bundt Cake. I love bananas in the cake as the ripened banana makes the cake very moist. I had a recipe for Banana Bundt Cake by Jamie from My Baking Addiction which I had pinned long time back on my list of 'Things to Bake'. With the tropical theme on BundtAMonth, I decided to give it a try once the bananas were perfectly ripened for the cake.

This is NOT JUST ANOTHER Banana Bundt Cake, there are many things done differently for this cake. What caught my eye is the fact that the cake is baked at a very low temperature of 135°C/275°F for about 1 hour 40 minutes! You will love the smell of the cake while it bakes in the oven and even hours after the cake is baked. The cake is then transferred to the freezer for a good one hour as soon as it is brought out of the oven. This is not something you do for other cakes. Do you??? To top it all, the cake gets a frosting with chocolate ganache to go with bananas for a combination made in heaven. All these efforts pay off when you taste the cake, so wonderfully moist and soft and full of flavour.

Without taking much of your time, lets get straight to the baking.

Here's what you would need to make Banana Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache:

For Banana Bundt Cake:
1½ cup ripened bananas (mashed with a fork)

2 tbsp lemon juice
3 cup/ 390 gms all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup/ 170 gms unsalted butter, at room temperature (ignore salt if using salted butter)
2 cup/ 400 gms granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
1½ cup/ 360 ml. buttermilk (refer Note Below)

For Chocolate Ganache:

125 gms dark chocolate
½ cup/ 120 ml. low fat cream (I used Amul)

Note - To make Buttermilk at home, mix 1½ tbsp lemon juice/vinegar to 1½ cups of milk and keep it untouched for 10 minutes. You have the perfect buttermilk for the recipe.

Here's how you can make it:

For Banana Bundt Cake:

Preheat you oven to 135°C/275°F. Grease a 12 cup bundt pan with some butter.

• Mix lemon juice in mashed bananas and mix it well. Keep it aside.
• In a bowl, sift together all purpose flour, salt and baking soda and whisk it all together.
• In a separate large bowl (if using hand mixer like me) or in the bowl of your stand mixer using paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrap down the sides of the bowl as needed. After adding all the eggs, the mixture will turn very soft, smooth and light lemon in colour.
• Add vanilla extract and beat it all together until nice and combined.
• Add the flour mixture (in three additions) alternatively with buttermilk (in two additions), starting and ending with flour mixture. Fold the mixture after each addition until dry ingredients are completely incorporated into the wet ingredients. 
• Add the mashed bananas in the mixture and give it a good mix until the bananas are completely incorporated into the mixture.
• Pour the mixture in the bundt pan and bake it for about 1 hour 40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Take the cake out of the oven and keep it in the freezer (with the cake pan) for about an hour.
• Bring the cake out of the freezer and let it cool on a wire rack for about 3 hours to overnight. Invert the cake and prepare the chocolate ganache

For Chocolate Ganache:

Melt the chocolate. Add the cream. Give it a good mix until both the ingredients are well combined. Immediately pour it over the cake. Finish it with banana slice toppings.

Hope you would also enjoy making this cake as much as I did! Don't forget to share your experiences by way of comment on the blog or on FB! I would love to hear from you guys!

Happy Baking!