The Olympics for 2016 are gone but not forgotten. September's meeting of The Melbourne Cake Club never happened, but the theme was going to be Olympic Cakes. I decided to make a Brazilian Cuca (Banana Cake) for the occasion, using a recipe given to me by a lovely Brazilian lady, Patricia.
Patricia's Cuca is different to most recipes for Cuca that you will find online in that it doesn't have a crumb topping. The recipe for Cuca is thought to have come from the German immigrants to Brazil and been adopted as a national dish.
Because Patricia's Cuca does not have a crumb topping, I could decorate my cake in a non-traditional fashion by icing it with vanilla buttercream and placing a very appropriate gold medal on top. The medal was made from a Mint Pattie, topped with a fondant "1", sprayed with edible gold paint, and "hung" from a fruit rollup lanyard. I had fun making it.
Patricia critiqued my cake and said that while it tasted good, it wasn't quite like hers. For starters, she said that her cake is taller. I have to admit that I struggled to get enough mixture to make the layers. She also said that she would have baked it longer. Oh well, given that I had no idea what I was doing, I am happy with the result.
Patricia's recipe for Cuca is as follows:
10 tablespoons wholemeal flour
8 tablespoons brown sugar
100g butter
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
6-7 bananas, sliced lengthways into thin slices
2 eggs
250ml milk
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and either prepare a regular 20cm round cake pan (or, as Patricia suggests, use a silicone pan). Do not use a springform pan like I did, as the mixture bakes out.
Mix the flour, sugar, butter, baking powder and cinnamon together in a large mixing bowl with your hands to create the batter.
Spread one third of the batter over the base of the cake pan. Top with a layer of bananas. Repeat. Mix the eggs and milk together in a separate bowl and pour over the top of the cake batter.
Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours or until cooked through. According to Patricia, the cake should be fairly dry when properly baked. (Mine was moist, but hey, I liked it that way!)
There you have it - a Brazilian cake from a Brazilian lady's recipe to celebrate the 2016 Brazilian Olympics.
7 comments:
I think it looks great! And did she bake it in a smaller tin?
Hi Lorraine, That part I did not understand, because Patricia's directions said to use 22cm pan - but my experience is that a smaller pan like an 8" would be better.
I think it's wonderful that you still decided to celebrate, Gaye and your cake looks quite yummy indeed. I think the "medal" is quite creative too:) I'm amazed at the amount of bananas in this recipe it must taste quite banana (i.e.) lol...
Thanks so much for sharing, Gaye...
I'm not back to blogging but thought I would drop in to say hi..Hope all is well in your little corner of the world. I'm doing just fine:)
Hi Louise, how lovely to hear from you. I am glad that you are feeling fine and I hope that you continue to feel better every day.
Oh I love a moist banana cake too, but I like the sound of the layers. Beautifully Olympic decorations!!
Thanks Gaye...I'm working on it:)
It's always tough making others' recipes and having them live up to their expectations! For what it is worth, I think this looks great and sometimes a not-too-tall cake is good when you don't want too much cake in a slice (or you want fatter slices :D).
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