Life (and so much more): {SO} SWEET- Monkey Tail Cake and a 1/2 Birthday!

This cake making experience was an interesting one.....
(I'll explain that in a minute!)

{SO} SWEET Week continues with another fabulous recipe!

Monkey Tail Banana Cake
(found here)

And the candles? Why Yes! It's my daughter's 1/2 Birthday!

6 1/2

(We use any excuse to make a cake around here!)

Here's What You'll Need:

Cake-

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

6 medium-size ripe bananas, mashed

1 (16 oz) sour cream

2 tsp. vanilla

4 1/2 cups flour

1 Tb. baking soda

salt (I omitted the salt because I didn't use unsalted butter)

1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 jar of Nutella

Frosting-

1 (8 oz) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups heavy cream

Here's How:

(all the 'interesting' things that happened are in orange!)

1. Preheat oven to 350* and grease 3 9-inch pans.

This is when I realized I only have two pans.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, mashed bananas, sour cream and vanilla until smooth.

I was also using sour cream in a side dish for dinner so I could not use the whole 16 oz. the recipe called for.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, soda and salt. Add the sifted ingredients to the banana mixture.

This is when I realized I had forgotten to buy flour. I only had 4 cups left. Panic. Then I saw my bag of whole wheat flour. Yep, I did it. Added the last 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour to my cake.

4. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide the batter evenly between the 3 pans.

Oops. I only have two pans. Time to make cupcakes too! That batter lasted forever! 2 9-inch pans of it and 14 cupcakes!

5. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack.

Don't have any more toothpicks so I used a wooden skewer. Not professional, but it worked! :)

6. Frosting: Whip the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Increase the mixing speed and slowly pour the heavy cream and beat until smooth and think- like whipped cream.

7. To assemble the cake, place 1 layer on a cake plate. Spread with 1/2 the container of Nutella and then top with a thin layer of frosting.

This is where you MUST have the cake cooled. Need I tell you what happens when you put chocolate spread and whipped cream on a warm cake????

8. Repeat with the second layer of cake.

9. Top with the final layer of cake and frost and decorate with more chocolate chips.

This is when I realized my calculations were off about the 1/2 birthday. TECHNICALLY, it's not till May 20. Oh well. It's cake. No one's complaining! Ha!

I assembled mine a little different since.... well, you didn't think there would be a WHOLE cake at a 1/2 birthday party did you?????

I cut my 2 cake layers in half. Then started assembling what was going to be a 4 layer, 1/2 cake. It was waaaaay too warm. The bottom layer oozed into oblivion. I scooted it out and then had a three layer cake!