banana rum coconut cake and a dream

Rainy and dreary here in Portland. Yes, the daffodils are blooming and the trees are budding, the temperature is rising and I know spring is almost here. Still, I'm over it. I want need some sunshine. I've been closing my eyes and going to my happy place, floating in the turquoise waters of the caribbean with the sun working it's magic. I knew when the mister walked in the door the other night with three mangos he was feeling the same way. It was time to bake a little tropical sunshine:

Banana Rum Coconut layer cake recipe from Nick Malgieri's The Modern Baker.

Banana? Tropical. Rum? Tropical. Coconut? T-R-O-P-I-C-A-L!

I wanted to eat a slice of this cake and feel like I was sitting on the beach. I know those two are typically mutually exclusive. Who eats cake and thinks, cool, let me put on my bikini? But for today, in my little dream, cake and bikinis are friends.

The banana cake is very simple. I could tell from the picture in the book that it was going to be more on the dense side. After baking, it had risen up and I thought maybe I was wrong, but once it cooled it flattened out and my observation was correct: it was like a banana bread-cake.

The frosting is delish! Whipped cream, dark rum, and sugar. Top that off with some sweetened coconut and you're sipping a creamy tropical cocktail with your toes in the sand.