The Magic of a Bundt Cake
While on vacation my mom stayed at our house to dog sit and bought bananas. I swore I would eat them but now its Thursday and they are almost completely black so I knew I had to do something with them. I wasn't really feeling like making banana bread so I needed another option. So while looking through cookbooks last night for cake recipes to try out for my nieces birthday cupcakes I found this recipe. How perfect the ease of banana bread but in a nice easy cake form. Really who doesn't love a Bundt cake. I know I do, I grew up on them. My mom makes a mean Pudding Bundt cake. So its really comforting to me to bake and eat Bundt cakes. However, I think they are starting to be a thing of the past from my childhood and my mother's youth. The trend now is for really gourmet food, really fancy food. Perfectly decorated cakes and unique flavors. Now do not get me wrong, I love the trend in food to make more exotic ingredients readily available to the masses. It has afforded me not having to travel to the city for ingredients, but I feel like we have lost some of the comfort foods from our past. I for one will not lose those foods and this is a perfect example, simple, easy and oh so comforting. Let's bring comfort foods back.
Banana Bundt Cake
3 cups of AP Flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
8 0z of room temperature unsalted butter
2 cups of sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
4 overly ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup of sour cream
Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 12 cup Bundt cake with non stick spray. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl. In a mixer beat the butter until creamy then add in the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time beating well between each one. Reduce the speed to low and add in the bananas and mix well. Add in half the flour and mix to combine, then add in the sour cream and mix to combine. Add in the rest of the flour and mix until just combined. Pour the batter in the pan and smooth the top so that its evenly distributed in the pan. Bake for 60-75 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Check the cake after 30 minutes and if its browning to quickly cover it with a foil tent. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then turn out to cool to room temperature. It tastes even better the next day so this is perfect to make ahead. The sweet smell of the bread baking permeated my whole house so I don't know if it will make it to the next day.
Adapted from Classic Banana Bundt Cake by Dorie Greenspan in Baking from My Home to Yours.