Lots-of-Ways Banana Cake with Blackberry Buttercream and Blackberry Sherbet

The weekend before we moved, a couple of my friends and I got together for a little party.

I was debating if I had enough time in-between packing and everything else, to bake a couple of things for our get-together. Well, of course- I had time.

The day of the party, I made this cake and sherbet, Honey-Peach Ice Cream (which will post next tuesday) and one of the most phenomenal desserts ever- Coconut Dacquoise with Roasted Pineapple (that will post a week from tuesday).

I like bananas. But, they have to be just the right texture for me to eat them out of the peel. If I see a brown spot on the peel, I set them aside and decide that they will be used for baking.

I had a couple of bananas that were begging to be made into something delicious and also had lots of fresh blackberries, because the price really great on them at the store. I spotted the frosting recipe and thought it looked beautiful and sounded really good. I have made this banana cake before and it is really versatile, so I knew they would be a great combination.
And since I was making all of this stuff anyway, I decided I might as well throw in a simple sherbet recipe just for fun.

You can use whatever you have on hand to make the cake- coconut milk, whole milk, buttermilk, plain yogurt- anything. I have made it with coconut milk before and it was delicious. I don't even remember what I used this time, but it was good. I also added chopped, toasted pecans to the batter.
The frosting was a lovely color and everyone raved about it, but I thought it could have used a little bit more of the actual blackberry flavor.

The sherbet was so, so easy. I have used this method before where you just blend the ingredients up and freeze it for a little while, then process it in the food processor and either serve it or freeze it for awhile longer. It is a really easy method.
The sherbet called for buttermilk and that gave it nice sourish tang- I would use a little bit less sugar next time- I thought it was a little too sweet. Nice color and also raved about from my friends.
It was a fun night. Good friends and dessert- what could be better?
(btw- I miss you guys!)

Lots-of-Ways Banana Cake from Baking:from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsps baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbls) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar (or granulated sugar)
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 Tbls dark rum or Malibu coconut rum (optional)
About 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (you should have 1 1/2-1 3/4 cups)
1/2 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk, regular (stir before measuring) or "lite" (or whole milk, buttermilk, sour cream, or plain yogurt)
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, preferably toasted (or an equal amount of moist, plump fruit, such as currants, raisins, chopped apricots, cranberries, blueberries, or halved cherries, or a combination or coconut and dried fruit)

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter two 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. (I used Crisco Baking Spray with Flour). Put the pans on a baking sheet.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg together.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fit with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugars and beat at medium speed for a couple of minutes, then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, followed by the vanilla and rum. You'll have a beautiful satiny batter.
Now lower the speed and add the bananas-the batter will curdle, but that's fine; it will come back together as you add the remaining ingredients. Still on low speed, add the dry and liquid ingredients alternately, adding the flour mixture in 3 portions and the coconut milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients).
Mix just until everything is incorporated. Switch to a rubber spatula and gently stir in the coconut. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans.
Bake for about 45 minutes (mine were done in 42), or until the cakes are a deep golden brown. They should start to pull away from the sides on the pans and a thin knife inserted into their centers will come out clean. Transfer the cakes to a cooking rack and cool for 5 minutes, then unmold and invert onto another rack to cool to room temperature right side up.

Blackberry Buttercream from Southern Living
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup fresh blackberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (16-oz.) package plus 1 cup powdered sugar

1. Beat first 5 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended and smooth after each addition.
Note: Be sure to wash and thoroughly dry blackberries before adding to frosting

1-2-3 Blackberry Sherbet from Taste of Home magazine

4 cups fresh or frozen blackberries, thawed

2 cups sugar (I would use less)

2 cups buttermilk (I used low-fat)

1. In a food processor, combine blackberries and sugar; cover and process until smooth. Strain and discard seeds and pulp.
2. Stir in buttermilk.
3. Transfer puree to a 13x9-inch dish. Freeze for 1 hour or until edges begin to firm. Stir and return to freezer. Freeze 2 hours longer or until firm.
4. Just before serving, transfer to a food processor; cover and process for 2-3 minutes or until smooth.

Up Next- Asian Patties

TWD- Dorie's Blueberry Sherbet and not Dorie's Blueberry-Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

This week's recipe, Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream, was chosen by Dolores over at Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity. I made that Ice Cream for the 4th of July, to go along with that delicious Blueberry Pie. So for the recipe, go to Dolores' blog or go to this post when I made it 6 weeks ago. I was planning on making it again because it really is that good and I think making homemade ice cream is easy. But, then, as I was thumbing through a cookbook, I saw a recipe that was Dorie's, that she gave to her friend Nick Malgieri, and it was for Blueberry Sherbet. I decided that I would make that and it could still count since it was a Dorie recipe and I wasn't really trying to get out of making the ice cream, since I have already made it. Too much info? Sorry.
I decided that as long as I was making sherbet, I might as well make frozen yogurt too, since there was a recipe I had been wanting to make that I saw it in the local paper. It didn't require the ice cream maker, so I threw them both together and we did a taste test. The kids preferred the sherbet because it was slightly sweeter. I liked both, but liked the yogurt a little bit more, since it wasn't as sweet. The straining step is essential in the sherbet recipe, I think because it uses frozen berries, the skins don't puree as well. In the picture below, the sherbet is on the left (no visible skins or seeds) and the frozen yogurt is on the right.
In the picture below, the frozen yogurt is on the left and the sherbet is on the right.

Confusing? Maybe, but very tasty! Go to the TWD Blogroll to see all the other delicious ice cream!
"A gift from my friend Dorie Greenspan, author of the award winning Baking with Julia. this recipe uses frozen berries...."

Dorie's Bluberry Sherbet found in Perfect Light Desserts by Nick Malgieri and

David Joachim

1 cup water

1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 Tbls light corn syrup

1/3 cup strained lemon juice

1-pd bag frozen blueberries, thawed

1-Combine the water, milk, sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan and whisk to mix. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

2- Pour the syrup into a bowl and cool it to room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the syrup until it is very cold.

3- Stir the lemon juice and blueberries into the syrup.

4- Puree the mixture in batches in a blender. Strain the mixture to remove the skins and seeds.

5- Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

6- While the sherbet is churning, place a bowl in the freezer. Empty the churned sherbet into the bowl as you remove it from the ice cream maker. Press plastic wrap against the surface and freeze the sherbet.

Texture is best if served within 24 hours.

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

3 cups fresh blueberries (I used 2 cups blueberries, 1 cup strawberries)

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup water

2/3 cup plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

In a saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Let cool completely. Wash and stem blueberries and puree with yogurt. Mix with the syrup mixture.

Freeze in a shallow metal cake pan for 4 hours or until firm (only took 2 1/2 hours, I used a 9 by 13-inch pan). Break into chunks; puree in food processor. Pack into airtight containers and refreeze for 4 hours or until firm or for up to 2 days.