Honey Cake with Banana Cream, Dark Chocolate and Almonds / No Refined Sugar

Recipe for Honey Cake with Banana Cream, Dark Chocolate and Almonds

This honey cake with banana cream and dark chocolate drizzled all over it has been dancing around in my head for months.  I've been measuring cups of honey and pureeing bananas in my sleep trying to come up with just the right ratio of sweetness.  I finally decided to give it a try this past weekend because I wanted to take my best friend, Emily, a cake to celebrate the birth of her new baby girl.  It also happened to be my birthday weekend, so I made some extra cakes and cream and my husband and daughter built a beautifully wonky tribute of cake for my birthday celebration.  All the cakes, perfectly sculpted and otherwise, tasted amazing.  

Yield:  Makes one 9 inch cake or two 6 inch cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups plain all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1/2 cup unsweetened (or sweetened if you prefer) dark chocolate chips
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Ingredients for the banana cream

• 1 small whole ripe banana, pureed
• 1  cup whipping cream
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line one 9 inch cake pan with parchment paper and set aside.  Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.  In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the milk, vanilla and eggs and beat on medium speed for about a minute.  Add the softened bitter and honey and continue to beat on medium speed for another minute.  Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix until the ingredients are well combined and there are no lumps in the batter.  Scrape down the edges of the bowl with a spatula as you mix the batter.  Pour the batter out into to the cake pan.  Bake on the middle rack for 24 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cake.  Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.  

Once the cake is cool, prepare the banana cream.  

Puree the banana and set aside. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Add the mashed bananas into the whipped cream and on the low for a very short time.

Melt the chocolate over low heat, remove from heat.  Spread a layer of chocolate over the cake.  Place in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes, or just until the chocolate cools enough to hold the banana slices.  Slice a banana and layer on top of the chocolate.  Spread a thick layer of banana cream on top.  Sprinkle with almonds and drizzle with chocolate.