People who follow my blog know I have a love-hate relationship with bananas. Although I love eating fresh bananas, I HATE over-ripe bananas. I can’t stand them…I don’t like the way they look or the way they feel.
There’s something about them that’s just “icky” …lol.
Anyone else agree with me? 
If you hate over-ripe bananas just as much as me, then use them to make a banana cake roll filled with strawberry jelly and covered in buttercream icing. It tastes PHENOMENAL!
Making cakes and decorating them is fun for me or you may even say, it relaxes me. So, instead of just sprinkling powdered sugar over this roll, I decided to pipe a simple design on them.
Don’t they look just like pretty little beads? hehe
If you look closely, you will notice my pink icing does not have a solid pink color. You see… I didn’t want a solid pink color. I wanted a dual shade.
When I was adding pink color into my white icing, I didn’t mix it completely and used that dual colored icing to pipe… I think it looks cooler this way… right?
To make this delicious roll, you will need the following ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
2 over-ripe bananas(mashed)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
And here are the steps (my little one was too cranky and I wasn’t able to take pictures when preparing the cake batter 
) :
Step 1:
In a deep bowl, add eggs and sugar and mix until well-blended.
Step 2:
Add bananas and mix again.
Step 3:
Now, add flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix again.
Step 4:
Pour batter into a cookie pan (lined with wax paper) and use a spatula or a butter knife to spread out the batter coz it will be thick. Bake at 375 degrees for about 13 minutes.
Make sure you check your cake after 10 minutes of baking because you need to prevent over-baking. The cake needs to feel like a sponge so that you can easily roll it.
Now that your cake is prepared, you need to prepare to roll it. To do that, follow these steps (thankfully, my little one fell asleep and I was able to take a few pictures):
Step 1:
Sprinkle a lot of powdered sugar on a medium sized, very clean kitchen towel.
Next, take the cake out of the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the edges to loosen the cake and then, flip it onto this towel.
Step 2:
Peel off the wax paper.
Step 3:
Start rolling your cake with the towel from one end and keep rolling until you get to the other end. All that powdered sugar you sprinkled will prevent the cake from sticking to the towel,
Step 4:
Let this towel cake roll sit on a cooling rack and cool down. I usually let it sit for 2 hours.
Step 5:
Then, unroll the cake. Cut the edges using a very sharp knife.
Spread your favorite jam or preserve or icing or cream or whatever you prefer on the top. You can also sprinkle some freshly chopped fruits like bananas or strawberries.
Step 6:
Now, start rolling your cake again from one end and keep rolling until you reach the other end. Don’t roll the towel this time
Step 7:
This cake tastes great as is but if you want, you can also sprinkle some powdered or sugar or better yet, pipe this simple design in buttercream icing and your cake would not only taste delicious but it would also look gorgeous!
Fill two decorating bags with icing. One bag should be filled with pink colored icing. The other bag should be filled with white icing. Attach Wilton’s round tip (number 12). You can make your own icing or you can buy the store-bought stuff. I bought Wilton’s buttercream icing coz I like the way it tastes and I like its firm consistency. You can add a little water to make it a slightly thinner so piping is easier.
Anyways, all you do is hold your bag at a 45 degree angle, squeeze till icing comes out (about 2 seconds) and then gently pull away.
Squeeze for 2 seconds and pull away…
Squeeze for 2 seconds and pull away…
Squeeze for 2 seconds and pull away…
Get the idea?
Do this to make a line of pink beads and then do the same to make line of white beads and keep going until your entire cake roll is covered in this design.
And you are done!
May I offer you a slice? 
Well, this is how I use up my over-ripe bananas. What is your favorite way to use them? Do you use them in cookies? Muffins? Cupcakes? Do you have any favorite recipes? Please feel free to share 
Now, on another note….
A lot of you tell me that you are intimidated by cake decorating and can’t even imagine doing what I do. Well, I think it’s about time I share my story…
I have only been decorating cakes since 2010 after taking 2 basic cake decorating courses from Wilton. I didn’t even take the final fondant course. I didn’t go to pastry school and I never decorated cakes prior to those Wilton courses.
But, at the end of the day… it’s all about practice! After all, didn’t our parents tell us: “practice makes perfect” 
I am not going to lie and say decorating cakes is the easiest thing in the world. But, it’s not the hardest thing in the world either like …ummm… let’s say, delivering a baby (OUCH!!!)…lol
You see… just like any beginner, my early cakes were nothing special. I think some of them were downright awful but I learnt from my mistakes in each cake that I made. And that was the most important thing!
To really prove my point…. I have decided to share pictures of my first few cakes:
Do you see that first cake with a cupcake design? It’s covered in crumbs coz I had no idea how to ice a cake…lol
And that cake with the house… I call it the “Leaning tower of Pisa” coz it’s about to collapse any second…haha
And how can we forget my purple cake a.k.a the “dented” cake… it had these odd depressions all over!
And my first fondant cake… let’s just say that picture looks wayyyyy better than the actual cake. There was a BIG tear at the back which you can’t see…lol
While going through my folder, I also found my early cupcakes and cookies (be prepared to be confused by some of these UNUSUAL designs…hehe)…
Can you guess which cupcake is the sheep? Only my lovely dad figured out it was a sheep. Everyone else thought it was some sort of a monster.
In the words on my sister: “I like the blue monster with pasta legs” HAHAHA!
Here’s a hint… it’s in the third row 
Anyways… now you know that I started off just like any other beginner. I made mistakes along the way, ended up disappointed many times but I kept going.
I still have a long way to go but I am not giving up and neither should you 
So, my advice to you is to not get intimidated and just jump into it. If I can do it… so can you!
And with that, I am going to end today’s posting. Hope all of you are having a relaxing long weekend 
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