Let's Hear it for Small Celebrations That are Oh So Big!

Cakes can celebrate the big things: birthdays, baby showers, weddings – but why not have a small cake for other sweet celebrations throughout the year?  This was the first day of kindergarten for my first baby, giving me just enough time to put together a quick little love note to show him how proud we are of him! 

Baking at home gives me a great opportunity to test new recipes and play around with new ideas.  This cake is an allergy-friendly, eggless banana cake (almost vegan if I switched out the dairy milk for soy or rice milk) with a caramel buttercream and fondant cut outs. The great thing about this cake is the fine texture (thanks to the puréed bananas) and a less sugary taste. 

Between the 8" layers is a swipe of caramel buttercream and fresh banana slices. I sprinkled a bit of brown sugar on the bananas before closing it up.  Small side note: while delicious, the brown sugar created a syrup that has migrated down into (yeah) and out (boo!) of the cut cake after a few hours.

It's not fancy, it's not perfect. But for our little celebration, it was the sweetest cake ever.