BANANA CAKE is something I baked the most. Not that I love to bake it so much but it’s more like I am being requested to. Everyone around me loves banana cake. I don’t have a single best banana cake recipe because there are just so many great ones. Banana loaf with walnut pieces in it, with pecans and spiced streusel topping, or like this Dorie Greenspan recipe, a classic banana cake, no nuts, and baked in an old-fashioned bundt pan.
Most banana cakes are baked with vegetable oil, which gives a cleaner and lighter taste that makes the banana flavor to standout. This cake however is baked in rich butter, far from healthy but so flavorful that I am sure you won’t mind the richness. In order for the cake to have that utmost-almost-caramalised banana flavor, you need to use the extremely ripe (which means those almost turn black!) bananas.
I am not the kind who eats cake plain. As in no sauce, no cream, no nothing, not me. So I whipped up some toffee sauce spiked with a splash of dark rum and drizzled on the bundt. Not only does it add to great flavor, the sauce drizzle over the cake looks more appealing too. This boozy toffee sauce is optional but I strongly urge you to make it. It is effortless. Can I say it’s ‘not optional’ instead?
Note: I found 2 cups of sugar is way too sweet for my taste, so I reduced it quite significantly to 1 1/2 cups.
Classic Banana Bundt Cake (Adapted from Baking from my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan) Makes 14 servings
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks / 226g unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups of sugar (refer to note above)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
About 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups)
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C.
- Generously butter a 9- to 10-inch (12 cup) bundt pan. I used an oil spray with flour. (No need to butter if you are using a silicon bundt pan)
- Sift and whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.
- Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a handheld mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy.
- Beat in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg goes in.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas.
- Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients, (the mixture may curdle but that’s fine), all the sour cream and then the rest of the flour mixture.
- Scrape the batter into the pan, rap the pan on the counter to debubble the batter and smooth the top.
- Bake for 65-75 minutes, or until a skewer inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Check the cake after about 30 minutes – if it is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent.
- Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmoulding onto the rack to cool to room temperature.
- The cake taste better the next day! If you’ve got the time, wrap the unglazed cooled cake in plastic and allow to sit on the counter overnight.
Toffee Rum Sauce Enough to drizzle one bundt cake
Ingredients
1/4 cup tightly packed dark brown sugar
30g unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of heavy cream
2 tablespoons dark rum
Directions
- Combine the brown sugar, butter and cream in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.
- Bring to a boil over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Boil until mixture thickens, stirring frequently.
- Remove from heat and add in the rum. Stir well and set aside to cool for about 15 minutes until it has thickened slightly.
- Use a teaspoon and spoon the sauce over the cooled cake and let it dribble to the sides.
