Wednesday, May 28, 2008

If you ever get tired of banana bread



Try banana cake.

Blasphemy! Tired of banana bread? Okay, maybe "tired of banana bread" is the wrong way to sell this recipe. Who gets tired of banana bread? Rather, think of it as a versatile alternative that can be dressed up as a layer cake or dressed down as a simple glazed cake.

This is the first recipe I tried from a newly-acquired used cookbook, Lee Bailey's Country Desserts. It bills itself as a collection of down-home southern comfort desserts. It's a decent compliment to Jim Fobel's Old Fashioned Baking Book. I couldn't decide which one to buy, so I bought both. Browsing this book, my confidence was bolstered by the repeated appearance of recipes from Edna Lewis. I've been waiting for the right reason to try something out of it.

I had a bunch of bananas ripening in my kitchen, which I was planning on turning into banana bread, but for some reason I couldn't get the idea of a banana cake out of my mind. I think the seed was planted by a post about banana cake on Mark Bittman's blog, but I had forgotten about it, or else I probably would have tried that recipe.

This is lighter than banana bread- it's correctly billed as a cake. It's good and banana-y (very important for me), not too rich, not oily or greasy. It goes nicely with a cup of coffee. I was too rushed to make the frosting and layer cake that the recipe suggests, so I poured a brown sugar glaze over it, which is slightly addicting once it hardens into a sugary substance that cracks and drips just so, inviting you to pluck little pieces off. I'll make it again, probably for an occasion, next time as the suggested layer cake, replete with the layers of sliced bananas in the middle.


The Cake

2.5 c. sifted cake flour
2.5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
pinch of ground cloves
1.25 tsp ground cinnamon
0.5 tsp grated nutmeg
(I also added 0.25 tsp cardamom to the group of spices)
0.5 tsp salt
1.25 c. sugar
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1.5 c. mashed ripe bananas

(if you're making the fancy layered cake, you'll also need several bananas for filling)

I made this in a tall 9" round cake pan, which took forever and a day to bake (at least an hour). Layers would work better on two fronts- both to speed baking, and to ensure that the cake doesn't overbake. The recipe calls for 2x 9" round cake pans, greased and lightly floured. Go ahead and preheat your oven to 375F once you figure out your pan situation.

Sift together all the dry ingredients. Cream the butter and sugar together until they look light and fluffy. Beat the eggs in one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Finally, alternate additions of the dry ingredients with the mashed bananas, mixing after each addition.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake- 25 min for 2 pans, about an hour for 1 pan.

Because the cake took forever and a day to bake, it came out of the oven at some inconveniently late hour while I was puttering around the house, so there was no chance it would cool enough to frost before I fell asleep. I figured I'd bring it into work- well, most of it- but who has time for boiled frosting in the morning before work? Fortunately for me, the neighboring recipe, "Brown sugar glazed cake" (courtesy of Edna), provided a perfectly simple solution. Brown sugar dripping over banana goodness that has been spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. Like some kind of cake-ized version of bananas foster, minus the rum. That could be worked in there, though...


The Glaze

1 c. firmly packed light brown sugar (LIGHT brown is actually important here- dark brown tastes a bit burned)
3 tbs cold water

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Let boil until it reaches the soft-ball stage (234-240F). Don't stir during the cooking. Remove from the heat and put the pot in a bowl of ice water to cool it down. You can spread it on thick if you wait for it to cool long enough, or you can drizzle it all over the cake while it's still gooey. It will harden up either way.




The Frosting


(untested by me- let me know how it works if you try it)
1.5 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
3 egg whites at RT
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

"To make the icing, combine the sugar and water in a heavy sacuepan over high heat and boil until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage (238F). Beat the egg whites with salt until they form soft peaks. Pour hot syrup, very slowly, into the beaten egg whites, then beat constantly with an electric mixer until frosting stands in stiff peaks and is of preading consistency. Stir in vanilla."