Archive for: banana cake
Bananas are a staple in my house and they are one of the best selling fruits in the US, so I know that I am not the only one out there that ends up with a lot of overripe bananas in the kitchen from time to time. Sometimes I tell myself that I’ll just buy fewer bananas, but the truth is that I love baking with bananas and don’t mind giving myself the opportunity to bake with them regularly. Banana bread and muffins are easy ways to go, but sometimes I want to have my bananas for dessert instead of for brunch. This Ultra-Moist Banana Bundt Cake is a versatile recipe that is a great way to use up a few bananas in a delicious and easy to make dessert.
The cake is very moist and tender, with a dense and almost pound cake-like texture to it. The secret to its moistness comes in two parts. First, there is a lot of banana in the batter. Second, the cake uses Greek yogurt where other cakes might use milk or buttermilk. The yogurt, like the mashed banana, keeps moisture in the cake and it adds a subtle tang to it that highlights the sweetness of the bananas and makes the cake taste just a little bit fresher. Banana is definitely the star in this cake and, although cinnamon and nutmeg are commonly used with banana, I didn’t add any spices to the cake to cover up the flavor of the fruit. I did, however, add in a generous amount of vanilla extract and that is the perfect match in this cake.
The cake will stay fresh for several days after baking when it is stored in an airtight container, so you can bake it in advance for a party, or you can bake one for yourself and nibble it over the course of a week. It is good when served plain, but a little drizzle of vanilla icing or cream cheese frosting will really dress it up and add in a little extra sweetness. To take it over the top, use a slice as a base for an ice cream sundae with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, whipped cream and chopped, toasted nuts.
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The next time that you want to bake an over-the-top cake for a brunch or other special occasion, you should definitely put this Cream Cheese Stuffed Banana Bundt Cake at the top of your list. The name alone should be enough to inspire you to give this cake a try, and it just might replace regular banana bread in your house when you have overripe bananas sitting around. The cake is a moist, tender banana cake that has thick ribbon of cream cheese filling running throughout. It is much like having the frosting inside of a cupcake – but even better.
Cream cheese always pairs well with bananas, whether you are spreading a little on top of a piece of banana bread or topping off a banana layer cake. The tanginess of the cream cheese is a nice contrast for the natural sweetness of a banana, and this cake is no exception. The cream cheese filling is lightly sweetened and it has the texture of a fluffy cheesecake, not of a heavy cream cheese frosting, and it adds enough flavor to make this cake dangerously addictive. The cake itself has a tight and soft crumb that is reminiscent of pound cake. It has just the right amount of cinnamon and nutmeg to add some depth to the cake while still letting all of the flavor of the banana come through. On the whole, the cake isn’t too sweet and it has just the right balance of sweet banana, spices and tangy cream cheese.
If you want to make this cake even more decadent, you can add some mini chocolate chips into the cream cheese filling or a handful of chopped nuts into the banana cake. It would be just as delicious with those variations as it is on its own. This cake looks beautiful when it is baked in a bundt pan, however it can also be baked in a tube pan (which is what I used for the cake in the photo above) and you will still get great results. The baking time is the same between the two types of pans, the only real difference is that the finished cake will have a slightly different shape to it.
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Banana bread is usually the first thing that people think of when they want to do some baking with bananas. It’s satisfying, easy to make and a good all-purpose baked good. But even though you can eat it for dessert, it’s not really the same as having a nice slice of cake or a good cupcake. Banana bread is heavier and tends to be less sweet than cake, and it almost never comes with frosting. These Banana Cupcakes capture the flavor of a good banana bread in true dessert form. They’re easy to make, but are also light, fluffy and perfect with a smear of cream cheese frosting on top.
The cupcakes have a little more sugar and butter than you will find in many banana bread recipes, although the batter still includes a lot of mashed banana. The sugar and butter help to tenderize the cake and give it a nice tight crumb, while the eggs in the cake batter keep the whole cupcake light and fluffy. The overall texture is more like that of a chiffon cake than a dense banana bread, though the cupcakes are still extremely moist. They also have a terrific banana flavor that I just can’t get enough of! Be sure to mash the banana very well or puree it in a food processor, since you really don’t want big chunks of banana in the cupcakes.
You could use buttercream frosting or a cream cheese frosting on these cupcakes. I opted for a cream cheese frosting, since the tangy cheese goes very well with the sweet banana cake. I like a simple vanilla flavor to the frosting, but a nice variation for this recipe is to make a spiced cream cheese frosting by adding a little bit of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves to the frosting for a little extra dimension that still goes well with the cake.
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There is a lot of flavor packed into this deceptively simple looking Browned Butter Banana Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting. You might not know it at a glance, but the cake is rich with the flavors of sweet bananas and brown sugar, floral vanilla and nutty – and addictive – browned butter. This is the kind of everyday cake that is easy to make and absolutely satisfying to eat, with lots of flavor and very little work involved in putting it together.
The first step in making this cake is browning the butter, which can be done on the stovetop or in the microwave. Browned butter has an amazing nutty flavor to it that adds a lot of dimension to baked goods made with it. The butter is stirred into the rest of the cake ingredients, which go together a lot like your average banana bread recipe. I added a few walnuts before baking to give my cake a bit of crunch, though that is entirely optional if you don’t care for nuts in your cake.The cake bakes up to be moist and slightly dense, thanks to all the bananas in the mix, but it is very tender and very satisfying. It’s not too sweet (the frosting is sweet and a nice contrast to the cake) and the combination of the brown sugar and browned butter will keep you coming back for seconds. The cake is made in an 8-inch square pan and is perfect for serving in 9 generous squares .
The frosting has a delicious brown sugar flavor to it and is spread onto the cake while it is slightly warm. It is made with melted butter, so it almost has a pourable, glaze-like consistency to it. Since it calls for melted butter and there is browned butter in the cake, you might want to consider browning your butter for the frosting when making this recipe to get a little extra browned butter in there to make the cake even more irresistible. The frosting is delicious either way, and the brown sugar flavor is one that will go well on many different types of cake as well as this one.
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While I never tire of making banana bread when I have too many bananas ripening in my kitchen, there are times when I want something a little more dessert-like from my bananas. Banana cakes are just as easy to make as banana breads are, but typically have a finer texture and end up being a little bit sweeter than their quickbread counterparts. This Banana Buttermilk Pound Cake is one of my new go-to banana cake recipes. It’s a beautiful bundt cake that is packed with plenty of mashed bananas, but is a little bit lighter and sweeter than your average banana bread
Pound cakes are known for being dense, buttery cakes that have a tight, tender crumb and, unlike other cakes, need no frosting to finish them off because they are perfect on their own. This cake is no exception, though I will definitely say that the banana flavor is stronger than the flavor of butter! The cake is super-moist and has a very fine, tight crumb. The banana is definitely the dominant flavor in the cake, with hints of butter and cinnamon to go along with it. It is sweet, but not overly sweet, and the flavors are so balanced that the cake stands very well on its own without the addition of frosting or glaze. That said, you could definitely finish the cake with a little powdered sugar or even a drizzle of glaze if you want to dress it up before bringing it out for company.
Serve this cake for brunch or for dessert, it is an all-occasion cake and the bananas make it versatile enough to make an appearance at breakfast. For a little variety, you could mix some chocolate chips or pecans into this cake (about 1 cup into the batter). You could also increase the spices for a more distinct spice cake-flavor, which gives the cake a warmer feeling that is perfect in fall or winter.
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