Halloween Frosted Banana Cake

Halloween stopped being interesting to me after middle school. I just got tired of it. Many people love getting creative with makeup and props and dressing up – I am not one of those people. But I love the sport of Halloween, the effort put into costumes. But I am merely an observer, not a participant. I’ll gladly hand out candy at the door rather than shiver around town to collect it (my dairy-intolerance/wheat avoidance aside).

With that said, the weather today was nippy! Probably the coldest day we’ve had in a while. I found myself shivering in the house with the heat on, sweater zipped all the way up, patiently waiting for my tea to cool, blanket wrapped around me. I needed to warm up the house – why not turn on the oven?

I’m a firm believer in using things for their usefulness. I know that may sound redundant, but I hate the idea of buying or investing in something if it’s just going to sit there, you know? I like using up leftovers, making sure fruits and veggies don’t go bad (because it feels like such a damn shame when they do). So today when I realized there were two items in my house that we don’t usually have (Apple Cider and exactly FOUR bananas), I decided to put them to good use.

I found myself once again browsing Gluten-Free Goddess (her recipes are simply amazing) and discovered this scrumptious Frosted Banana Cake! Needless to say it turned out delicious, albeit a little on the sweet side. Maybe cut the sugar a bit if you plan on trying it at home. The ripe bananas and agave make it sweet enough! 😉

Roe Tip: I find that having the parchment stick to the glass pan makes for a overall better baking experience when pouring the batter. I used to spray Pam, just to add a layer of adhesiveness so the parchment paper would better form to the pan. But I always felt annoyed during clean-up when I had to scrub and really wash the pan to the get oil off. Today I tried something different and it worked great: Use water instead of oil. The water will act as an adhesive barrier between the pan and parchment, but will cleanly evaporate while in the oven!

Extra Roe Tip: Trim the the edges of your parchment paper as best as you can! If you leave them long and put them in then oven, they have the tendency to burn at the edges. FIre safety! This happened the me once – just burnt edges and an acrid smell, no fire – luckily. Ha!

Roe Tip: If you’re not big into icing, cut the icing recipe in half! That’s what I did and that’s what you see above. A little goes a long way; Often when I make icing I make too much – more than I know what to do with. (The cake is sweet enough as it is – you may not even need it) 😉

Author: Roe

28. Renaissance Woman. Born-Again Nerd. View all posts by Roe