Protein Banana "Rum" Cake (with peanut butter frosting!)

~by Nikki

If you like what you see here, you ought to come to the "Shake it Up" Protein tasting on January 29th to see what else we have up our sleeves! Details on the right panel!

I have a craving for cake. I blame all of you. Over the last few days so many people have spoken about cake that I just. Want. Some. Cake!!!

I did manage to find some of the sugar-free cake mix Jen reviewed a while back. But see…here’s the thing about me and that cake mix. Sugar alcohols and my system? Not great friends. Plus, I’m a baker. I admit it! The measuring, mixing, stirring, it calms me. Somehow I can accept that I can’t eat a lot of food so long as I can have my hands in it.

Besides, you guys know me. I am a freakazoid who loves turning protein into things that look normal. It’s my hobby. You bird watch, I covert bake.
So I had a plethora of bananas. And a craving for cake. Here’s what I did about that.

Nik’s Protein Banana “Rum” Cake
(with peanut butter frosting)

“Wet” Ingredients

4 very, very, very ripe bananas
1.5 c. Splenda
2 eggs
½ c. Davinci Butter Rum syrup (if you don’t have it, just omit it…I would not advise regular rum because…well I just don’t advise it…)
¾ c. milk
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

“Dry” Ingredients

1.5 c. Atkins Baking Mix
1 c. vanilla protein powder
4 tsp (yes 4) baking powder
¼ tsp salt

Peanut Butter Icing

I could just dive into that bowl of icing!

(Note this works with any flavor. The divas wanted chocolate but I was out of the essential ingredient)
8 oz. package of cream cheese
1 package of sugar-free pudding mix (I used vanilla)
2 tbsp PB2 (omit, of course, if you are not making peanut butter icing)
½ c. milk

Directions:

Combine wet ingredients in a mixing bowl and beat on low for 2 minutes.

Sift in dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until fully incorporated.

I made a layer cake (I wanted to make a bundt cake but my pan has gone missing!). Spray two cake pans with cooking spray (might I advise spray with flour in it to prevent sticking?). If you aren’t into the flour idea, then dust your pans with a bit of Atkins mix.

Pour half your mixture into each cake pan and bake in a preheated 350 oven for about 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye on it. With protein cake it isn’t unusual for the outside to cook way faster than the inside. Don’t worry. It won’t burn. But after about 15 minutes start fork testing it. As soon as that fork comes out clean, take it out! It should look something like this:

In general...protein cake doesn't rise as high as regular cake (cuz it's heavier!) so don't be surprised if your cake is "short" :)

Nik’s cake tip of the day: Immediately after taking hot cake pans out of the oven, dip the bottom of the pan in really cold water. It helps solidify the bottom of the cake and it comes out of the pan easier.

Cool the cake on a rack completely before icing.

Layer one reporting for duty!

To make the icing, simply combine everything in a mixing bowl and beat first on low for a minute, then on high until smooth. It’s not unusual for there to be some stray lumps in there. Spread over cooled cake.

Caaaaaaake...nom, nom, NOM!

Warning: this is a PROTEIN cake, so it's not going to be light, airy and fluffy. It's actually quite dense, like a pound cake (which is why I wanted to use a bundt pan. Somehow I can't make protein cake work in a loaf pan). The slice you see at the very top of the post is an actual meal for me. I didn't want food for about another three hours after eating that. But still, when you want cake, you want cake...