In the Kitchen: Banana Carmel Cake

Last March I made this cake for a Book Club I was hosting at my house. It was scrump-diddly-umsious. And they told me to email them the recipe. And I never got around to it (sometimes I'm LIKE that unfortunately) I just made it again this past week. And I thought I'd finally post it and send it along to all those lovely Book club ladies who I miss and wish I could attend. Instead maybe they can eat my cake :) A little late. But better than never. Try it. I promise you'll love it!


(from the Essence of Chocolate by John Scharffenberger & Robert Steinberg)
3 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 canola oil
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 ounces semi sweet chocolate chopped into chip sized chunks
1 1/2 diced ripe bananas (about 2)

Carmel
1/2 cup firmly packed lightly brown sugar
2 Tbsp whole milk
4 Tbsp unsalted butter cut into chunks

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 12-cup (10 inch) Bundt pan.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking soda.
In the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attachment, combine the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla and almond. Mix on medium speed til combined well, stopping to scrape the sides if needed. Mix in the dry ingredients, about 1/2 at a time, stopping to scrap the bowl if necessary.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in pecans and chocolate. Carefully fold in the bananas; do not over mix.

Pour into the prepared pan/ Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Meanwhile, about 5 minutes before the cake is done, combine the brown sugar, milk, and butter in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally as the butter and sugar melt. Once it is amber in color, remove from the heat.

Remove the cake from the oven and immediately, using a long skewer, poke holes all over the surface of the cake. Pour the hot caramel over the top, poking more holes and pushing the cake slightly away from the sides of the pan as necessary to allow the caramel to soak into the cake's top and sides. Place on a cooling rack to cool slightly.

When the cake has cooled, but is still warm to touch, unmold to a serving platter.

Serve either warm or at room temperature.

**Don't add more bananas as it will make it a gummy cake.**
And I added a chocolate ganache on top just for a little extra va-va-va-voom.


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MSBH Challenge: 33(Baking Powder Biscuits) 34 (Parker house Rolls) 35 (Cranberry Zucchini Muffins

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And there is a new family up on my photo blog if you wanna see them.
A lovely neighbor I have.