Ingredients
Method- 360 g cake flour
- 1 t bicarbonate of soda
- 1 t baking powder
- ½ t salt
- 1 t ground ginger
- 400 g sugar
- ½ cup coconut oil
- 4 free-range eggs
- 1 x 385 g pie apples can, crushed
- 5 bananas, mashed
- 4 T banana liqueur or 2 T banana essence
- 200 g pecans, roughly chopped
- 100 g hundreds-and-thousands For the Triple Sec cream-cheese icing:
- 3 cups cream cheese
- 400 g icing sugar
- 4 T Triple Sec liqueur or 2 T orange essence For the white-chocolate- coated popcorn:
- 100 g popcorn, popped
- 1 x 80 g white chocolate slab, melted
- 100 g hundreds-and-thousands
Method
IngredientsPreheat the oven to 180°C. Combine all the dry ingredients except the sugar and pecans in a large mixing bowl.
In a separate bowl, beat the sugar, coconut oil, eggs and pie apples using an electric hand-mixer until well combined.
Add the banana and banana liqueur and stir through. Toss the pecans in the dry ingredients, then slowly fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined.
Divide the batter between a greased 20 x 10 cm baking tin and a greased 9 cm x 5 cm baking tin. Bake the small cake for 15–20 minutes and the large cake for 35–40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool slightly before removing them from the tins and placing on a wire rack.
To make the icing, mix the cream cheese using an electric hand-mixer until creamy. add the icing sugar and mix until well combined, then add the triple Sec.
To make the white-chocolate-coated popcorn, place the popcorn on a silicone baking mat and drizzle over the milk chocolate. Sprinkle over the hundreds-and- thousands and chill until set.
To assemble, evenly ice the small cake and roll it in the hundreds-and-thousands to coat. Set aside.
Place the large cake on a serving dish, then ice the sides and top. Gently place the smaller cake on top of the bigger cake, then break the set popcorn into chunks and stack on the smaller cake.
I baked this cake for a friend’s 30th birthday a while back. It’s unbelievably moist and the pecans add a nutty flavour and just the right amount of crunch! Making the popcorn stack was a bit of a struggle as I didn’t have a silicone pad on hand, but otherwise a really simple bake. The cream-cheese icing is so moreish that you’ll want to have it on its own. I had enough of it leftover to spread over some cupcakes the next day. Definitely a cake to try if you want to wow a crowd, or just satisfy your sweet tooth!