As I quietly sat and read one afternoon, I began to hear the howling and hooting of little monkeys. Yes, monkeys 🐒.
I looked around, confused, and then I just smiled.
Later that day, as I descended the staircase into the building lobby, I saw those two little monkey smiling and swinging their legs from the big comfy chairs, casually waiting for Dad.
I said, “Were you two howling like monkeys earlier today?”
They blushed, smiled even bigger, GIGGLED, and responded coyly, “Yes!”
I’m so happy to have those little monkeys living right next door.
In fact, I go bananas for them – and a little chocolate crazy:
Chocolate Buttercream Banana Cake! 🐒🍌🐒
Chocolate Buttercream Banana Cake
3 large ripe bananas
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. sea salt
3/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (recipe below)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13″ pan or line with parchment paper.
Mash the bananas until fairly smooth.
Whisk the dry ingredients together and set aside.
Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugars and cream together. Add the eggs and vanilla. Continue to beat on medium speed, adding in the bananas. Slowly add in the dry ingredients form the cake batter. As you add the flour mix, alternate with the buttermilk. A few lumps here and there are just fine.
Bake for about 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool completely before frosting.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup heavy cream
Using a stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Cup by cup, add in the sugar and cocoa powder and continue to beat until smooth. Drizzle in the cream to loosen the texture just a bit. You’ll know when the frosting is ready to slather over your banana cake!
