Good Morning! Ben and I are celebrating one of our anniversaries! Today is the anniversary of the day we met, sixteen years ago! Crazy, huh? Even though we also have a wedding anniversary every June and usually do not have big celebrations with either, this one feels more special to us. I think because for many years, this was the only anniversary we had. So we will usually have a dinner date, maybe some flowers or chocolates, and I’ll usually make a cake. And that’s about it! This year, I decided to go simple with a banana rum snacking cake with penuche frosting.

I’m not sure where I first heard of penuche, but I googled “penuche frosting” just to find out whether a frosting of penuche exists, and it turns out it goes very well with the banana and rum flavors, I think. I like to keep things simple! Anyways, I hope you enjoy! Penuche is usually a fudge that is made with milk, butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.

A couple of things about this cake. The image shows a half recipe version, which is made using a 6″ by 6″ by 2″ square pan. If you’d like to make it with this size of pan, cut down the ingredients by half. Otherwise, the recipe below is written for using an 8″ square pan. Also if you look closely at the frosting on the left side of the cake in the first picture, there is a slight tanning of the frosting, which is because after I had frosted it, I thought the frosting wasn’t even, so I tried to spread it around more, but realized that the frosting was cooler and didn’t spread, so I tried to get it warmer by using my blow torch on it, but stopped once I saw it started to toast the frosting. So just frost it immediately and don’t keep slathering it on after applying it, just be happy with it’s imperfections. Haha!

banana rum snack cake with penuche frosting

ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, optional, or to taste

1/4 cup dark rum 

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp.

2 eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 medium bananas, mashed, very ripe

penuche frosting (recipe below)

method:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter or grease an 8-inch square brownie or cake pan. Line with parchment paper with two long sides on opposite ends for easy removal of cake from pan. Set aside.

Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and cinnamon (if using) with a whisk in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat again until incorporated into batter.

Add the rum to the mashed banana in a small bowl or saucer. Make sure there are no large clumps of banana, so mash well.

Alternating between adding some of the flour mixture and the banana rum mixture, start by adding about 1/3 of the flour mixture to the creamed butter/sugar mixture. Mix on low and scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed.

Add about half of the banana/rum mixture and mix again on low briefly, just until incorporated before adding another 1/3 of the flour mixture, and scraping down the sides and bottom again.

Add the rest of the banana/rum mixture and mix on low again, and finally add the rest of the flour mixture, the final 1/3 of it, until all is mixed in and the batter is smooth with no dry clumps.

Pour into the prepared pan and use the back of a spoon to level the top surface off before baking.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes until a toothpick stuck into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Let cool while making the penuche frosting.

Frost the cake and cut into squares.

~~~

penuche frosting (from thespruceeats)

ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

2 cups sifted confectioners sugar

hot water (optional)

method:

In a saucepan, melt the 1/2 cup butter. Add the brown sugar and bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium-low and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove pan from heat and let cool somewhat, then add the confectioners sugar while beating until thick enough to spread. If it starts to get too thick, add a little hot water, sparingly. It is best to frost immediately because it gets harder to spread once it starts to cool.