Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Lessons Learned With Banana Bundt Cake

I recently saw a great looking bundt cake over at Amanda's delicious blog, Amanda's Cookin'.  It's banana.  I love everything banana.  So I decided to make this.  I was asked to make something for a church meeting (one that I was not able to attend last night), but I never turn down an opportunity to make treats, so last week I did a trial run on this banana bundt cake--I wanted to see if I could make it a little bit healthier.  So I changed a few things--I used half coconut oil and half canola oil for the shortening and I used half agave nectar for some of the sugar.  I also used half whole wheat flour in the recipe.  And finally, I used half light sour cream and half fat free vanilla yogurt.  So basically, I changed a lot of things in the recipe.

Amanda's bundt, which she got from some other bloggers, also had a browned butter glaze.  Besides using fat free milk, I did that recipe exactly as written.  For some reason the glaze was hardening up while I was pouring it over the cake.  In hindsight, I should have added more milk to thin it out some more.  But for some reason, none of us really cared for the taste of the browned butter glaze--it was too butterscotchy.  Anyway, the glaze pretty much fell off the cake after it dried out a bit.  AND, sadly, the cake was rather dry and just not cuttin' it for me.  (I'm really glad I didn't make it the day of the meeting and send it that way!)

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I mean, it looked okay inside.  It was just off a little. 

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Not being one to waste things, the next morning I took what was left and sliced it up.  Then I whipped up three eggs and some condensed milk I had leftover.  Ooh, what was I doing?  Hmmm.  Ideas? 

How about banana bread French toast!

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We had lots of fresh fruit and sprinkled on some powdered sugar and syrup.

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This made a good healthy breakfast!

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That didn't stop me from making this yummy looking banana bundt cake for the meeting.  But this time, I pretty much made it as it was written.

Bananas and Cream Bundt Cake with Brown Butter Glaze—from Taste of Home (and Amanda’s Cookin’ and Bunny’s Warm Oven and 3 B’s-Baseball, Baking & Books, but adapted by Katrina ;)

1/3 cup shortening  (I used 3 tablespoons coconut oil and 3 tablespoons canola oil)

1-1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream (I used Daisy light sour cream--I always do.)

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (I left out the nuts in case of allergies, but you know me and nuts--love them!)

In a large bowl, cream the shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add bananas and mix well. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, stirring just until combined. Stir in walnuts. Pour into a greased and floured 10-in. fluted tube pan. Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Place  piece of waxed paper under the cake before adding the icing.

I made my own icing.  It's good! 

Katrina's Cream Cheese Icing

6 ounces light (1/3 less fat) cream cheese, softened (I nuked it for 10-15 seconds and it was perfect for stirring with a spoon-you could use a food processor or mixer, too)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons 2% milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch salt

Combine all ingredients together and beat well until smooth.  Add enough milk until consistency is how you want it.  Drizzle over cake.

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I really wanted to cut in to it and take pictures, but since it was going away....

And that night when I got home from the cooking demo class I went to (more awesome yummy dishes (pasta!) by Paige--Le Cordon Bleu in London trained--I go to all her classes!)--when I got home part of the uneaten banana bundt cake had returned because they didn't eat it all at the meeting.  It was a little mushed by being covered, but I still took a few pictures.

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This was moist and delicious! (That darned whole wheat flour!  I still might try whole wheat pastry flour next time and just use a little less!)  Thanks for posting this yummy cake, Amanda! 

 

31 comments:

Pamela said...

I think you're right about the flour. Most of your substitutions were probably fine except for the flour. Whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than white whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. So when substituting WW flour, you may want to try upping the moisture content by adding more sour cream/yogurt or maybe a little extra mashed banana in this case.

I'll have to try this one myself. It looks so good!

Amanda said...

Oh poo on that WW flour! Looks fabulous and I bet your cream cheese frosting was delish! That's always a perfect pairing with banana cake :) I made Dorie's banana cake two and it was equally tasty!

I bet if the milk substitution is why your glaze started to harden early. I used whole milk, and you know that has a much higher fat content. Because of the lower fat content it dried quicker. in fact, I don't think my glaze ever fully hardened, it was always kind of soft. So that must have been it. :-/

I'm glad you ended up liking the second one better. At least now you know what it's original form tastes like, so if you like it enough you can always try it again and up the moisture like Pamela suggested :)

Looks completely awesome!

Anonymous said...

My husband loves banana cake, and I haven't made it in ages. I should fix that. The cake looks really good, and now you know! At least you tried to make it healthier!

Unknown said...

Kudos to you for not only trying to make it lighter but for finding a way to salvage it when you didn't like the results! The french toast looks awesome!

♥peachkins♥ said...

wow! The banana bundt cake looked much much yummier after it wasvtruned into french toast!

Melissa said...

This sounds so delicious!! I love using different breads and cakes for french toast. They make for delicious breakfasts!

Jaime said...

i love how you made the best of this recipe! mmm now i want some french toast :)

noble pig said...

Yeah WW flour can sometimes e a buzz kill! But it looks good.

PheMom said...

That looks like a yummy ending anyway!

Megan said...

Much better the second time around - but I am as frugal as you are so I would NOT have thrown out the leftover cake - I probably would have made a trifle or something with it.

Carolyn Jung said...

Now that's what I call a great use of leftovers. Cake too dry? No problem. Just make French Toast (cake) out of it. Yum, looks like a grand treat.

Stacy Hoover said...

Oh this looks awesome!!! When I am doing Weight Watchers I try to do half and half where the flour is concerned. That way I make it somewhat healthier but don't compromise the taste at all. The French toast banana bread/cake looks out of this world! I am going to make this the next time I make banana bread! I love the glaze recipe as well and think I will be using this for many things. As always, thanks for sharing your amazing creations!!!

Unknown said...

Its so great that you stuck to the recipe, and made it again! And I love how you made french cake toast! Great idea! That picture of the toast and fruits, on a pink plate!! Looks soo good :)
I usually go half with the substitution on flour.

BTW - How were the muffins?

Clumbsy Cookie said...

I have a banana cake cooling down in my kitchen. It came out good, otherwise I was so going to make those french toasts!!!

Anonymous said...

smart of you to experiment before making the final cake, but at least you got some yummy french toast out of it.

Eliana said...

When life throws you lemons, make lemonade!!!

Eliana said...

Oh - and I almost forgot - Thanks a million for all of the chocolate chip cookie advice.

Hindy said...

Great save on the first attempt! I'm sure that was amazing French toast. The second one lloks equally delicious.

spike. said...

banana bread french toast- I'll take some of that!

Pamela said...

I saw this recipe, too. I almost made it the other day, but ran short on time. Kudos to you for really trying to lighten it up. Both versions look tasty. And the banana cake french toast?? Brilliant, my friend!

prozac online said...

Wow, Nice post. This post made me feel hungry. The food looks delicious and yummy.

Melody said...

Good call on turning it into French toast. Looks like a delicious breakfast!

Pam said...

Ww flour can be a pain...it still looks fantastic.

Leslie said...

damn whole wheat flour. we try to make our stuff healither and we get a hard brick. I suppose some thing just arent meant to be healthy! ;)

Judy said...

I agree with Pamela's comments on the ww flour. Baking with low-fat ingredients and whole grains has its own set of challenges. Your cake looked beautiful and wow what a breakfast! I would love to have some of that.

Teanna said...

Glad it worked out in the end! And I'm glad you were resourceful and made it into french toast! Isn't it so funny that we can turn something that doesn't work out ok into certain dishes like parfaits, trifles, or french toast? Ha!

Flourchild said...

You have made me drool all over! I can not tell you how yummy your bread and french toast looks! The fruit and the bread on the plate look better then a restraunt plate! I want to bake this soon!

Emily said...

I think both cakes look great. I'm glad the second one worked for you. I love the cream cheese glaze on the second one.

And how about that banana french toast breakfast? Yum!

RecipeGirl said...

French toast is the perfect alternative for a banana bread that isn't quite right. We had breakfast out yesterday & that's exactly what my husband ordered... banana bread french toast!

Anna said...

I wish people in this house would eat bananas. Grrrrr. That cake looks great!

Mermaid Sews said...

Looks amazing and way to roll with the punches on this one, am drooling over the fruit, and you little boy is just so darn precious, love the smile.