Banana Spice Cake with Raspberry Filling

Dear Fans of Hounds Who Cook,

We are beside ourselves with the mere idea of what we are about to make. First of all, we just took a walk to the store, which is only 3 long blocks away, and Guthrie wore his little backpack to carry everything. We needed garlic for the supper our Person, Me, is making. So, while our girl Me is tired from the walk up the hill, we boys are energized and eager for a delicious treat. To this end, we devised a most wonderful plan.

First think of this: spice cake. If you have been reading how good for your health and arteries are cinnamon and nutmeg, you would be excited to have this cake. Add to it a raspberry filling, because you know our elder man has been out picking them. As if that weren't luscious enough, the Gute, who is terribly bothered by gnats and fruit flies, noted the speedily ripening bananas on the kitchen table. Something to slip into the likes of a spice cake adding moistness and flavor and wholesome goodness. We know you are not accustomed to the flavor of bananas with raspberries but we assure you they are nicely complementary and you will wonder why you never thought of it before. Or you may be so undone by the flavorful spices that you forget to notice the banana essence.

Here is our magnanimous recipe, adapted from our favorite epicurious.com in hound fashion. We nutrified it up with whole wheat flour, extra artery-plaque-reducing spices, less fat, and less sugar. Neither flavor nor texture suffered for it, so you will be glad we did. Here's Me's elder man offering you some!

Banana Spice Cake with Raspberry Filling
Part 1: The Cake
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 cup sugar or stevia equivalent
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup mashed, ripe banana
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
3 large eggs, separated

Part 2: The Filling
2 cups raspberries
3-6 tablespoons sugar

Part 3: The Frosting
4-ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (we didn't say it was Healthy cake, just healthier...)
5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
raspberries to garnish

Part 1: Make the Cake
Heat up the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour (or spray) 3 mini loaf pans or an 8-inch square pan.

Sift the first set of 10 ingredients together into a small bowl and set aside. Mix the yogurt and banana together in a small bowl and set aside. Beat the butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and molasses and beat until well blended. Beat in egg yolks. Add the flour mixture in three parts alternately with the yogurt mixture in two parts.

Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl until stiff and fold into the cake batter in two parts. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake until the top cracks and looks dry and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool cake 10 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack.

Part 2: Make the Filling
Mix berries and sugar together, coarsely mashing the berries. Let stand 20 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Part 3: Make the Frosting
Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in sugar until smooth, then add sour cream (if desired) and vanilla.

Part 4: Assemble the Cake
For the mini-pan cakes, cut cakes horizontally into 3 equal layers. Place bottom layer, cut side up, on platter. Spread 1/3 cup frosting over each. Spread 1/4 cup filling over frosting on each, leaving a 1/4-inch plain border at edge. Top with second cake layer and 1/3 cup frosting, then remaining filling. Top with third cake layer, cut side down. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Refrigerate until frosting sets, about 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover loosely; keep chilled until 1 hour before serving.) Slice into 1-inch slices and garnish with additional berries.
For the square cake, follow the same procedure using 1/4 of the total frosting between each layer and the remaining half to frost the outside of the cake.

Tips from Guthrie: This is marvelous. Ask anyone. The raspberry juice seeps into the layer above it creating a tangy taste sensation with every bite. We were speechless with joy. We did not refrigerate the cake as we could not wait to eat it. But we see how that would provide an even better presentation. We also only frosted the top so the sides showed the beautiful white frosting against red berry juice seeping out. If only I could have another slice.

A word about unsalted butter: Have you noticed that finer recipes always call for it? We don't use it on the table, just in culinary exploits, so we keep it in the freezer. When frozen it grates nicely with a cheese grater so there's no waiting for it to thaw before proceeding with your recipe. We surmise that the value of unsalted butter is to have ultimate control over the salt in your baked good. When butter is salted, there's no telling how much or little is in it, so it can change the taste of a treat if you have a palate attuned. So unsalted butter, we think, is a more precise way of cooking. For our sourdough toast in the morning, though, it's salted butter without exception.

Tips from Eli: All I can say is that because of this cake we've been promised more berries. Therefore, we believe ourselves to be the richest hounds in the world. We really didn't taste the banana in this, but the banana moistness was a wonderful addition since we took out the fat (from the cake) with the non-fat yogurt. Now, you may think we are acting like cats (that is to say doubleminded) to take out a bit of fat here and then slather it with butter frosting there. All I can say in response is that we ended up eating a little less fat than we would have, and that's a good thing. Cream cheese and butter frosting is a celebratory food. We believe in it wholeheartedly, but heartily for our hearts and with our hearts agree not to eat it all of the time.

Love and adoration,
The Usual Hounds