OK, so I'm making a Christening cake for a friend of mine. She is driving from VA to New York with this cake. On the way there she'll be keeping it in cooler (to keep the buttercream from melting all over the place). The cake she chose is a dark, rich chocolate torte and she would like banana filling.
I'm a little worried about making a banana pudding with added bananas and cream filling. I WOULD if it weren't traveling so far and I could be sure it would get the refrigeration it needs, but I think I would be better off getting a sleeve of banana filling from my local bakery supply store. But...how does it taste any good?
Or, am I better off making a buttercream filling and flavoring it with banana oil?
She's buying the cake from me because she's heard great things, but I don't want to mess it up by buying junk to put in it... but I also know that there are times and places to use prepared stuff when food safety might be compromised.
HELP!!!!
Melissa
No one knows how the banana filling tastes in those sleeves???
melissa
What about adding a package of banana pudding mix to the buttercream?
I would be afraid... wouldn't using banana oil be better?
I can't STAND the way artificial banana flavoring tastes.. makes me want to boot my lunch just thinking about it.
I found this recipe.. but I have never used it so I can't comment on flavor, but it sounds like it'd be good.. and still taste like a real banana.
Banana Filling
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
5 tablespoons butter
2 ripe but firm bananas, sliced
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine confectioners' sugar, flour, and milk in a saucepan; cook, stirring, until smooth. Continue cooking until mixture thickens; transfer to mixing bowl, cover, and chill thoroughly. Beat butter into the chilled mixture, a tablespoon at a time. Fold in sliced bananas and vanilla.
Oh.. and I think it'll be fine traveling as long as she keeps it in the cooler.. maybe tell her you'd recomend she put some dry ice in there to make sure it stays really cold, but ice should be fine. Make it a larger cooler with lots of ice.
Thanks for the recipe - I have a similar one, but I'm not sure this cake can be refrigerated... I'll ask my friend for more info, but I'm trying to plan for all possibilities.
Melissa
Oh.. and I think it'll be fine traveling as long as she keeps it in the cooler.. maybe tell her you'd recomend she put some dry ice in there to make sure it stays really cold, but ice should be fine. Make it a larger cooler with lots of ice.
Well, for travel she'll have ice, but at the site of the christening, they might have it sitting out for awhile.. not sure if there's refrigerator space on the other end. Plus, I'm making it Thursday night, she's pickign it up Friday, driving to NY on Friday, and then it will sit until Sunday after mass. That's a lot of sitting for a perishable food item if I used milk and real bananas.
Melissa
How long is the ride? I'd have no issue with a cake with a perishable filling traveling in a cooler for a few hours.. even sitting in one overnight. Maybe find a way to suggest to her that, after thinking about the logistics, you feel a cake with this filling wouldn't be a good match for her travel plans? I know that if I ordered a cake with a banana filling and got artificially flavored banana buttercream I'd be disappointed.
Well, banana oil is not fake banana... it's like an extract, sort of - just not in alcohol... I don't want artificial either, look at my tag line!! LOL
Melissa
You have to think though.. that if the cake is cold when they take it out.. it will take a while (at least an hour or so) to come to room temp.. and then after that you have a bit of a grace period too before you have to worry about spoilage. The big thing I'd be more worried about would be the filling seeping into the cake layers.
That is the bigger issue too - Baked on Thursday, Travel on Friday, eaten on Sunday... I'm thinking the banana oil in regular buttercream might be the way to go.
Melissa
Yeah.. you are probably right. I'd just make sure that would be okay with her first.. she might decide something different if you present her with the issues.
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