Banana desserts = amazing. I've made banana cake with vanilla pastry cream and chocolate ganache, banana cake with chocolate chips and vanilla frosting, and this cake: a simple banana cake with fresh whipped cream and a little swizzle of caramel.

The basic recipe comes from the book Cake Love, which to be honest, I don't refer to that often, but this recipe is one to save. I've included approximate measurements for those without a scale, but scaling is way more accurate if you have one. Using all-purpose flour may offend some, but I honestly kind of like the slightly heavier texture you get from it.

Warren Brown's Banana Cake, aka Banana Snake Cake

For the cake
10 oz (2 cups) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp potato starch
1 tbsp turbinado sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp nutmeg
6 oz (about 3) very ripe bananas, peeled
3/4 cup half and half
1 tbsp rum
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) butter, room temp
21 oz (2 3/4 cups) superfine sugar
4 eggs
3 egg yolks

For the whipped cream layer
2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
sugar to taste

For the caramel sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream

1 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottoms of 2 9-inch cake pans with parchment.
2 Combine the dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg) and whisk to blend.
3 Blend the liquid ingredients (bananas through vanilla extract) in a food processor.
4 Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes on low speed).
5 Add the eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6 Alternate the dry ingredients with the wet in 3-5 additions.
7 Once incorporated, mix on medium speed for 15-20 seconds.
8 Fill the pans and bake for 26-28 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely.

Caramel sauce
1 While the cake cools, you can make the caramel. Combine the sugar, water and corn syrup in a saucepan. Stir until sugar dissolves.
2 Once sugar has dissolved, stop stirring and bring to a boil. When the mixture turns a deep amber color, remove from the heat.
3 Add the cream (carefully, it will bubble up a lot). Stir until smooth.

Whipped cream
1 Combine the cream, vanilla and sugar and chill with the bowl and beaters for about 15 minutes.
2 Whip the mixture until stiff peaks form. Add more sugar, slowly, if needed.
note: whipped cream frosting will not keep very long, so frost this cake fairly soon before you plan to eat it.