Bananas Foster Bizcocho

A long time ago, in a land far far away, AKA Spain, Jenna learned how to make a cake called a
Bizcocho. Then, she went home and was like what does that mean? It literally is a general term for a cake... so... I guess this is a bananas foster cake, but it's not like any cake you've ever tried. When my friend taught me this in Spain, she didn't measure anything, so I took notes as best I could, and now I am finally getting around to figuring out actual measurements and writing a real recipe. I have put my own spin on this as well by adding some banana rummy goodness! This cake has several components, but I promise, I can make it start to finish in about 2 hours, so it's not terrible. Trust me when I say you're gonna want to try this. And not share it. With anyone.

For the Cake:
3 eggs
6 tbsp granulated sugar
3 tbsp flour

1. Preheat oven to 300F.
2.Grease a 9-inch springform pan with butter on the bottom and sides. Place a round of parchment paper on the bottom for extra insurance and grease that as well. Sprinkle sides and bottom with granulated sugar to help the cake rise (like you would for a souffle).
3. In a stand mixer, whip egg whites and sugar to stiff peaks.
4. In a separate bowl with a hand mixer, whip the egg yolks. Here you are looking for them to be light in color and a little fluffy. I just whipped them the whole time my whites were getting to stiff peaks.
5. Gently fold the egg whites and flour into the egg yolks until completely incorporated.
6. Pour into pan and bake for about 30 - 35 minutes. It will be very lightly golden on the top when ready.
7. Allow to cool on a wire rack until ready to assemble. Release from the pan.

For the Buttered Rum Soak:
I used this recipe with slight changes.
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 c water
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c dark rum
1/2 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt

1. In a small saucepan, heat butter, water, sugar, and rum until sugar dissolves.
2. Off the heat, add vanilla and salt.
3. Allow to cool until assembly. The butter may start to re-harden a bit, but that's okay. Just stir it up when you go to use it.

For the Bananas Foster Filling:
I used this recipe with slight changes.
6 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 c brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
3 bananas cut into small circles
1/4 c dark rum

1.Melt butter in a large skillet. Add brown sugar and stir until incorporated.
2. Add bananas and salt and cook about 3 - 5 minutes on one side until the bananas have developed a brown crust.
3. Flip slices over and cook for another 1 - 2 minutes.
4. Remove pan from heat and add rum. Return to heat and bring back to a simmer.
5. Ignite rum with a match or if you have a gas stove, you can just tilt the pan toward the flame. Cook until the flame dies out.

6. Off the heat, add the vanilla.
7. Put in a heat-proof bowl and allow to cool. It needs to be at least room temperature before you add to the cake so you don't melt the whipped cream. I stirred it every so often. It gets to like a jam consistency.

For the Candied Walnuts:
1/4 c water
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 c chopped walnuts (fairly finely chopped)
Pinch of cinnamon

1. Prepare a baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.
2. Add water and sugar to a saucepan until sugar dissolves and the mixture starts to thicken. You will know its ready when you can run a spoon through the bubbles and it takes a little bit for the bubbles to come back together, about 4  - 5 minutes.

3. Take off heat and add walnuts and cinnamon.
4. Pour onto baking sheet to cool. Once cooled, I ran my knife through them again to break up all the pieces. You want small pieces to be able to add smoothly to the cake.

For the Whipped Cream:
1 pint whipping cream
1/4 c sugar (more or less to taste- although everything else is pretty sweet, so err on the side of less sweet)

1. Pour whipping cream into stand mixer. Start mixing. Once it starts to fluff, add the sugar slowly.
2. Whip to medium peaks.

Assembly:
1. Cut cake in half with serrated knife. This cake is very fragile, so be careful!
2. Put a dollop of whipped cream on serving plate and add first layer of cake.
3. Soak the cake with some of the buttered rum soak. *you will have extra soak- that's okay, maybe heat it up and add more rum for a delicious drink. Hello!

4. Add half of the bananas foster mixture on top of first layer.

5. Put whipped cream on top and smooth.
6. Add second layer, soak again, add more bananas foster mixture, and cover whole cake in whipped cream.

7. Add walnuts all around sides of cake. You can also sprinkle some on top if you like.

8. Allow to sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving.
9. Keep any extra in the fridge. Will keep for a few days.