Learn Desserts

You might be wondering why a recipe for banana bread is doing in a Learn Desserts web site.  The fact is this banana bread recipe is so delicious it deserves dessert status!  I like to top it off with a heavenly cream cheese drizzled icing.  Oh my, where are my bananas when I need them?

Once, while I was doing a decorative painting job at a friends house, I was offered banana bread during my break.  The banana bread was so good, I had to ask for the recipe.  Of course she shared with me her recipe, to which I have made a few little changes that have finally resulted with this version.

It has always been hard for me to call this banana bread, well, “banana bread” when offering it to someone.  It should be called “banana cake”.  But, “banana cake” evokes a whole different connotation in my mind.  Banana cake might be flat and soggy cake and possibly polluted with artificial banana flavoring or something equally gross that burns my throat, yuck!  This recipe is anything but!  It is a wholesome, nutritious(except for the sugar content), very delicious and satisfying snack cake or dessert cake.

Along with the recipe she also gave me another hunk of banana bread, (umm,or do I mean) banana cake?  You be the judge!

You will need:

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs (I prefer farm fresh or organic)

2 teaspoons vanilla

6 mashed ripe bananas

4 cups of all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup whole milk or buttermilk,(even better)

2 cups chopped pecans

cinnamon to taste (lots and lots!)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

With an electric mixer, cream the room temperature softened (not melted) butter until it is light and fluffy and slightly changes color.  Now add the granulated sugar.  Continue to beat until mixture is not grainy, but light and fluffy.

Now, begin adding eggs, one at a time.  I like to break my eggs one at a time in a seperate little bowl to make sure they are ‘good”eggs.  This step also ensures that you do not get any egg shell pieces in your batter.  Remember to make sure you beat each egg into your mixture one at a time.

Blend in vanilla and 6 mashed bananas.  Set aside.

Sift together your all purpose flour, baking soda, and salt into a separate bowl.  Now, add half of this flour mixture to your creamy mixture.  Mix thoroughly.

Add the 1/2 cup of buttermilk.  In a pinch you can use whole milk and you can even convert your whole milk in to “buttermilk” by adding 1 teaspoon vinegar to your milk and heating it in the microwave for about 15 seconds or until it looks a little clabbered (the look of buttermilk).  Blend together, just until incorporated.

Add the rest of the dry flour mixture. Incorporate.  Add the chopped pecans, mix in.

Scrap the batter into two loaf bread pans or one bunt pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 55 minutes or until done in the middle when checked with a toothpick.

How to check to see if a cake is done using a toothpick:

When you are not sure if your cake or cupcakes are done, you can easy check them using the old toothpick test.  Simply grab a well made potholder, yes there are some potholders that are not worth having in your kitchen, slide out the oven rack that the cake is on and insert the toothpick in the thickest section of your cake.  Remove toothpick.  If it has any moist cake batter on the toothpick you need to give it a while longer in the oven.  The reason I like to leave the cake on the oven rack and not remove it totally, is because if the cake is not finished baking in the middle, moving the cake could cause it to fall in the middle.  So, be very careful and only start checking the cake when you think is really done.

Refer to my recipe for Cream Cheese Frosting for a great way to top off this dessert!