Dulce de leche, marshmallow and banana layered cake + 4 year blog anniversary

The most interesting thing about this cake was its unique and intriguing combination of textures. The cake layers were moist but firm banana cake, the cream gathering up between them was a combination of dulce de leche layers and pillow-y whipped cream with banana and chewy marshmallow bits; while the top was slathered, as you can see, with dulce de leche and whole marshmallows to finish everything off.
The dulce de leche is, of course, intensely sweet, while the cream was almost not sweet at all, except for the occasional banana or marshmallow bit. The overall taste is thus balanced and contrasting and lovely :).
Sounds irresistible? Well, it really was. :)
Not too complicated to make, ready in about 1 h and a half or so, in a very relaxed pace.
Recipe only slightly adapted from Good Food. 

And as a post-scriptum, this cake is meant as a celebration for yesterday (Romania's National Holiday) and for today (which marks the 4 year anniversary of my blog). :)

Last year: Peanut butter marbled brownies + 3 year blog anniversary.
Two years ago: Cocoa macarons with chocolate cream cheese filling + 2 year blog anniversary.
Three years ago: Classic chocolate cream pie (American) + 1 year blog anniversary.
Four years ago: Complete meal salad with basil and Simple fried bananas with cinnamon and honey (Central and South American). (A.k.a. the humble beginnings). 



Ingredients (for a 23 cm cake tin, spring-form):

For the cake:

• 165 g butter (plus extra for greasing the tin)
• 165 g brown sugar
• 325 g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 rounded teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons liquid cream 
• 2 ripe bananas

For the filling:

• 400 ml liquid cream (30 % fat)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 banana
• 50 marshmallows (plus extra to decorate)
• 450 g dulce de leche (here's how to make your own)

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Butter the base of the tin and line it with baking paper. Put the butter and the sugar in a food processor.

Process into a fine paste, also adding the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time, until creamy and even.

In a large bowl mix the flour with the cinnamon and baking powder. Add the flour mix to the liquid ingredients, mixing continuously, one tablespoon at a time. Also add the cream and bananas and continue mixing until you have an even batter. Pour it into the prepared cake tin:

Bake it for 45-50 minutes. Take out and allow it to cool:

When the cake is cooled enough, cut it into three layers, horizontally. To make the creamy filling, beat the cream with the sugar and vanilla, in a mixer, until it holds stiff peaks. Add the cubed banana and the marshmallows, cut into little cubes (if the knife you use gets to sticky, I found dipping it in cold water every now and then really helps).

Prepare a cake stand or serving platter. Put the bottom layer of the cake on it and slather a third of the dulce de leche on it.

Top with half of the cream (spoon by spoon, gently).

Top with the middle cake layer, then another third of the caramel and the rest of the cream. Next, put the top cake layer and the remaining dulce de leche. Decorate with a few extra marshmallows.

The cake is done. Slice and dig in! :)
(For cleaner cuts and slices, try keeping it in the fridge for a few hours before serving. We didn't feel like waiting).