A delicious banana cake made with brown butter and topped with caramelized banana…
Just like I mentioned in my first post, for this week’s theme of “Monsoon Delights” for the Blogging Marathon #137, I gave up my initial plan of three deep fried snacks, and settled for just one – yesterday’s post – and then decided to keep the third post as a cake, that I baked recently and that disappeared without much of a trace. It has been a really long time since I had baked. After coming back from US last year, I don’t really think I baked much unless really necessary or in this case, when I had overripe bananas and I was lost as to what to do. I was very hesitant to bake this banana cake that I have been eyeing since a really long time. As I have mentioned before, my girls are never fond of banana bakes and I am always worried about having to eat the whole thing by myself.
Talking about the trip to US, I think I had mentioned it then but that was the time that I really enjoyed baking. The climate, even though it was summer, was beautiful and then the company of my sister made it even more interesting. We were going out somewhere or the other, either visiting friends or sightseeing, and hence it was imperative to bake or make some snack. The former is easier than the latter, and it was like a group activity for us. My sister would select the recipe from the blog and assemble the ingredients, while I would do the rest. When the baking would be done by the oven, we would just chatting this and that or reminiscing old days. Now that it has been a year since we came back, I really miss those days. Anyway, what are memories for? It is to remember them and be grateful for the good moments. 🙂
OK, I guess now we can come back to this recipe. I had saved it when I saw it here some time back but I waited till I got the opportunity to make it. I was somehow sure my girls wouldn’t eat, so when I had to go visit my friends, I decided to bake this cake. The only tough part is making the brown butter and waiting for it to cool. However, this ingredient makes this cake the best. The nutty and caramelized flavor it adds to the bake takes it to the next level. If you review the recipe, there is nothing extraordinary except the brown butter. Rest of the ingredients are all what we would usually use in a regular butter cake.
I have already used browned butter a few times before like here and here, but just putting in a note as to how to make it again. All you need to do is to keep simmering butter till you see the butter turning brown with some caramel colored dust like substance under. Do not cook for too long, otherwise it will burn – I did exactly that this week while trying to bake this cake again, ending up having to dump all that butter into the drain. I was entirely heart broken! 😀 You will also start to get a very interesting caramel aroma to it too. The original recipe had caramelized banana as topping, that I included while making but you can very well skip it if you don’t want to make it. The only difference I did was to reduce the amount of sugar, yet it was still sweeter to my liking. Surprisingly, my girls really loved it, so much that they actually finished up all the slices I had left on the countertop when I had carried the rest of the slices for my friends. I was flabbergasted, to say the least! They commented that though it was banana, they still loved the cake. Do make it next time when you are in a mood for banana cake. I assure you, there will be no regrets…
Azza decided to hand pose after a really long time. When I compare this picture with some of the old ones, I realize how much she has grown, Alhamdulillah… 🙂
Brown Butter Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 150 gm butter
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 ripe bananas mashed
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla
FOR CARAMELIZED BANANA
- 1 banana sliced into roundrels
- 15 gm butter
- 1 tsp brown sugar
Instructions
- Melt the butter on low flame in a saucepan. Simmer till the butter turns brown and aromatic. It will look and smell like caramel. Switch off and allow to cool completely.
- Meanwhile, prepare the caramelized banana by melting the butter in a saucepan. Spread on the pan, arrange the banana and sprinkle the sugar over it. Flip and cook both sides till caramelized. Switch off and allow to cool.
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Keep a large loaf pan greased and floured aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl, beat together the browned butter, oil, sugar, eggs, banana and vanilla till nicely combined.
- Add in the dry ingredients and beat just till combined. Do not overmix.
- Pour into prepared pan. Arrange the caramelized banana on top and scrap any caramel remainings on to the cake.
- Bake for around 50-60 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean. If the top is getting burned, cover with a foil after 40 minutes on the top and continue to bake.
- Once done, allow it to cool in the pan for five minutes. It will detach from the sides. Slowly flip on to a cooling rack, arrange the banana side up and cool completely.
- Slice and enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea!
Notes
