Archive | July, 2010

Banana Cake

1 Jul

This cake is soooooooo good! Its got such a beautiful banana taste, light, fluffy, perfect crust. It does not bake up high, so if you are going to stuff it with salted caramel, make sure you make two layers. You wont be able to slice in half lengthwise because of the tenderness of this cake, and the gentleness of the crumb, so dont try!

If you are serving this as a dessert for a nice dinner, it would be perfect iced with a cream cheese and vanilla frosting (beaten with a few tablespoons of powdered sugar), or stuffed with salted caramel. However, if its for an afternoon tea, or just because… it needs no embellishment. Its beautiful and light, satisfying and happy making!

My Toh used to eat pisang mas (the tiny gold banana common here in Malaysia) and so, in memory of him, that is one of my favourite fruits. I look for it everywhere, and was so thrilled when my wonderful organic delivery guy had them. I used pisang mas for this recipe, but please feel free to use any very ripe (even black) sweet banana.

  • 2 1/4 cups cake flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas
  • 1/3 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 175°F. Lightly butter two 8-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides; dust pans with flour.

In a small bowl, combine cake flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Mash bananas well and measure – we used about 8 or 9 small pisang mas. Mix bananas with buttermilk and vanilla and set aside.

In an electric mixer, beat butter and sugars in a large bowl until blended well, and light. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

Add dry ingredients alternately with banana in 3 – 4 additions, beating for a few seconds until just blended. Let rest for a few minutes.

Divide equally between the cake pans, and bake, one at a time for approximately 25 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out with a few crumbs attached.

Let cake cool on a cake rack, in the cake pan, for about 10 minutes, and then turn out and allow to cool completely.

Ice (or stuff) with salted caramel, and sprinkle with a little bit of Maldon.

Try not to eat before the guests come – unlike me (as you can see from the picture!)

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Salted Caramel Filling

1 Jul

This is food of the goddesses. Sweet, salty, caramel perfection. This is so good, so easy, so quick to make. I got it from one of my favourite cookbooks of all times – The Frog Commissary Cookbook – and its used as a stuffing for a sublime carrot cake.

Use this as an icing, as a stuffing, or even warmed as a caramel sauce for ice cream or anything else. My nephew likes to eat it straight from the bowl. So do I, which is why I try NOT to have it in the fridge on a regular basis.

  • 1 1/2 cups sugar (I use a mix of white sugar, vanilla sugar and organic brown sugar – 1/2 a cup each)
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (I use the pouring cream you can buy in the long life milk cartons)
  • 1/2 cup butter (I use salted – but you can use unsalted)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or more – depending on your taste)
  • 1/2 tsp or more to taste Maldon or fleur de sel

In a very heavy saucepan, blend well the sugar(s), flour and salt. Gradually stir in the cream. Make sure they are blended – the dry ingredients will slowly absorb the cream.

Chop the butter and add to the saucepan, and put saucepan over low heat, stirring gently as the butter melts. You will see the butter getting absorbed into the creamy mixture as it melts.

Once the butter has been totally absorbed, stir in 1 teaspoon or so of vanilla.

Simmer this ambrosia for a minimum of 30 minutes, and up to an hour, depending on the heat, and how deep you desire your caramel flavour to be. Stir every 5 – 10 minutes. Make sure you stir so the bottom and sides of the pan get scraped down.

Once the caramel is golden to nut brown, and the mixture is thick, take off the heat, and add at least 2 – 3 more teaspoons of vanilla, taste, and add a little Maldon or fleur de sel. Stir.

Let cool to lukewarm, where you can really taste the flavours, and adjust the salt to your liking.

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