My 8 yr. old loves watching The Food Network Channel. His favorite show is Cake Wars. He was excited with the "Sea World theme" from one of the episodes. Hence, his request to make a strawberry banana Nutella cake with crushed walnuts that looked like a shark! Say what?? My head was spinning! Ha!
Sadly, I had to burst his bubble. The shark part was a no-go, but I could help him bake the cake he asked for.
I'm not a baker so this had to be easy peasy! Plus, I wanted this be an easy-to-bake cake for my 8 yr. old.
I ran to the grocery store, and wouldn't you know they don't sell banana cake mixes! Banana bread mix yes, banana cake mix no. {Sigh} So I figured if I can buy banana extract I can make something happen, right? So I Google on my phone easy banana recipe with extract, and bingo! I found an easy cake recipe that my son could surely follow! Original recipe can be found here.
I grabbed the strawberries, bananas, walnuts, and the rest of the ingredients for the banana mix.
Once home, my child was thrilled to see all of the ingredients for his cake, and we quickly got to work. He mixed the cake ingredients, while I sliced the strawberries. I still wasn't sure how he wanted to make his cake. As soon as he poured the cake batter into the cake pan, he started licking the bowl. That's the best part right? Ha!
Then I placed the cake pan in the oven, and put the Nutella jar in a bowl of hot water to soften it. When the cake was cooling, I suggested we decorate the cake with Nutella, strawberries, and the crushed walnut. He was all for it!
I cut the cake in two, and helped him place it on a pizza sheet with aluminum foil. He took care of the rest. I must admit this was the tastiest, and yummiest cake ever!!! He was so proud of his creation, and then asked me when would he be able to bake again.
I am so happy to help my son explore his different interests. He came up with this flavor combination all by himself. I initially wanted a chocolate cake (mixes are easy to find!) but he insisted on it being banana.
What are your favorite cake flavors?? I'm thinking of piña colada cake next, but not sure he'll like it. ;)