Banana Llama Cake

A delicious mini llama cake for my favourite lady in the world. My Mum. Happy Birthday!

Ingredients for the cake
50g butter, softened

50g muscovado sugar

50g ripe banana

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

50g self raising flour

50g pecans, chopped

For decorations

25g chocolate spread
125ml double cream
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
1 hard banana chip
1 boiled toffee sweet
1 bourbon biscuit
a little melted chocolate

Method
1. Preheat the oven. Beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture is very light and creamy. Break the egg into a jug, add the vanilla and beat together with a fork. Gradually add the egg to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. Add the flour and fold in until it's combined. Finally add the mashed banana and nuts.
2. Spoon the mixture into a lined and greased 10cm tin or pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
3. Level the top of the cake with a bread knife and then cut into two equal layers. Set the bottom cake layer onto another plate. Spread with chocolate spread over neatly.
4. For the decoration, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and pour in the cream. Whip the cream with a hand mixer until it forms soft-to-medium peaks. Spread 1 tbsp of cream over the top of the cake. Transfer the rest of the cream to a piping bag, fitted with a star nozzle.
5. Take a thin piece of cardboard and draw the outline of a llama's head. Place it on the cream covered surface. Sift the cocoa over the cocoa, then remove the card template leaving the silhouetette. Pipe the cream into the llama shape in blobs, holding the bag directly over the cake and pulling the bag away as you pipe each blob to create a fluffy finish. Pipe a second layer of cream within the llama's face to form a face and a nose peak.
6. Pipe the remaining cream on top of the chocolate spread, on the bottom cake layer. Gently set on top of the decorated top layer.
7. Break the banana chip in half to make ears. Cut little triangles out of the toffee sweets to go inside the ears. Break up the biscuit to make the eyes, nose and muzzle. Paint on the smile using melted dark chocolate and a fine paintbrush, or a toothpick, like me!

I was so pleased with how this dinky little cake turned out and oh my - it tastes amazing! X Bo