Mother's Day and a Marathon

Yes I do realize that Mother's Day is long gone, but I didn't get the chance to tell everyone about my amazing mother. My mother celebrated her 46th birthday on Mother's Day by running a marathon. I know, she is amazing. She has been training for the past 10 months so that she could wake up at 3am and run 26 miles down the Poudre Canyon. And then come home and shower so that we could go to church. Oh and then 2 days later she had to take her Spanish final. In honor of her I made this cake. But because she was not eating sugar as part of her marathon diet we did not actually eat it. We took it to a church function for other people to eat. But it is delicious and looks wonderful. I discovered this recipe when I was writing my Folklore Research Paper about food blogs. This cake was the first recipe I tried from a food blog, and I found it on Orangette, a food blog by Molly Wizenburg. I made a double batch and forced banana cake upon my roommates, boyfriend, neighbors and the Quarry Staff. I got a positive response so I decided to make it when I came home. I tried messing with it this time to make it more light. I don't know if it made a difference...

Sour Cream Banana Cake with a Chocolate Ganache (Adapted from Orangette)

For the cake:
2 cups + 2 Tbsps all purpose flour
¾ cup plus 2 Tbs sugar 
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 large ripe bananas 
½ cup sour cream (not low- or non-fat)

1/4 cup cold water 2 large eggs, separated 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
10 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature
For the ganache:
¾ cup heavy cream
8 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate chips ( Ghirardelli of course)
1 Tbs vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a 9-inch round springform pan with cooking spray, line the base with round of wax paper and spray again.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a blender, purée the banana, water and sour cream until completely smooth. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, and blend briefly to combine. The mixture will be light yellow and soupy.
Add the softened butter and about ½ of the puréed mixture to the dry ingredients in the bowl. Beat to combine on low speed; then increase the speed and beat for about 90 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, and add the rest of the purée, beating to combine well. Whip egg whites with a pinch of cream of tarter until stiff peaks form. Fold in egg whites to batter until just combined.

Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and dry. Remove the cake from the oven, let cool for 10 minutes, and then remove the other rim of the pan. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, and carefully remove the base of the pan and the parchment paper. Allow the cake to cool completely.
When it is cool, begin the ganache. Put the chocolate in a medium mixing bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a near boil in small saucepan. When it is steaming well, remove it from the heat, and pour it over the chocolate in the bowl. Stir or whisk until most of the chocolate is melted; then cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir or whisk gently until the mixture is completely smooth. Stir in the vanilla. If all of the chocolate chips have not melted stick it in the microwave for a minute and stir. Chocolate should be thick and pourable.

Place the cooled cake and its wire rack onto a rimmed baking sheet, and slowly pour the ganache over the cake, using an icing spatula or long, flat knife to spread and smooth it across the top and down the sides. Scrape excess ganache off of the baking sheet for reusing, if you like. You will likely only need to use about 1/3 of the ganache for one cake; the rest will keep in the refrigerator for a week, or frozen for up to 3 months. Soften or melt before using. Allow the cake to sit at room temperature for at least a half hour before serving. 

*This was also my first attempt making sugared flowers. I think they turned out quite nice. I just went to this website for instructions http://www.essortment.com/all/howtosugarflo_rgcv.htm.