Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, including my own who would prefer non-chocolate desserts (no, I'm not adopted) so I timed this non-chocolate dessert for posting today. I'm back from the trip for my nieces' graduation but am still catching up on posting last week's baking.
Can you tell I was on a baking frenzy on June 11? This was the fourth thing I baked that day. I got caught off guard with overripe bananas again. I could peel them and put them in the freezer until I was ready to bake with them but I wanted to try this banana cake recipe so I thought I might as well use the overripe bananas I had on hand immediately. I'm still on a quest to find a banana cake recipe that'll make a banana cake similar to the one from my favorite bakery, Icing on the Cake, in Los Gatos. I've made ones that had great taste but not the same texture as Icing on the Cake's. So I continue to persevere.
This one is made with oil instead of butter so I thought it would be moist. It also has dark brown sugar which I thought would give it a more caramel flavor. It was pretty easy to put together and it made a one layer cake with a nice thickness. The cream cheese frosting was also the perfect amount for it. Overall, I thought this cake was good but I don't know that I would consider it spectacular. I guess my expectations were too high and once again, I'm "too picky". It didn't have the fluffy texture I was hoping for like the one Icing on the Cake's banana cake has and I thought it could've used a bit more flavor. It had goodness but I was looking for greatness. So I'm back on the hunt for the best banana cake recipe. Or else heading to Icing on the Cake.
One last tip about banana cakes - it's one of the few cakes where I think it actually tastes better the day after you bake it. I'm all about freshness of cakes but the additional day gives the time for the flavor to develop even further. The taste test piece I tried on the day I made and frosted this was good but the sliver I tried the next day was even better.
6 ounces all-purpose flour, sifted
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
6 ounces dark brown sugar
2 medium eggs
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 ounces ripe bananas, mashed to a pulp
1 ¾ ounces pecans
Frosting
2 ¼ ounces cream cheese
6 ¾ ounces powdered sugar, sifted
4 ½ ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¾ ounces pecans, chopped
1. Preheat the oven to 325⁰F. Grease a round 8-inch springform cake pan and line the bottom wit parchment paper or grease 10-12 muffin tins.
2. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Place the sugar, eggs and oil in a large bowl and whisk with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 4 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Add the sifted flour mixture and the bananas and mix on low speed for 30 seconds. Stir in the pecans. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan or muffin tins and bake for about 40 minutes for the round cake, 20 minutes for muffins, until the top springs back when pressed gently and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Leave in the tin to cool completely before frosting.
3. For the frosting, combine all the ingredients except the pecans in a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Spread the frosting over the cake with a palette knife and sprinkle with the chopped pecans. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
I always seem to have a couple bananas that the hubby doesn't use each week and this recipe is a nice one to try for the next time!
ReplyDeleteit sounds amazing. I love banana cake. yum
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