Hummingbird cake

Sometimes, life gets in the way of blogging, and sometimes, it just drives a big ol' truck full of bricks in front of you and says "uh-uh, nope, nice try, maybe later." That's certainly been true lately -- I did a bunch of baking in the second half of April, but I could barely fit in the baking, let alone the writing about it, around preparations for our big trip so my husband could run the Big Sur Marathon. But we got it all done, and we made it out there, and he did it, hurray!!! ...And then I brought back the West Coast Plague, so I've been in bed most of the week.

But anyway, enough about that, 'cause you're not here to read about me. You want to know about cake. I made this cake for Easter, having never ever eaten hummingbird cake before, let alone made one. It came out pretty good, though -- it's a lot like banana-nut bread, except in a lighter cake form, with cream-cheese frosting, and with occasional bites that are extra-sweet-and-yummy from the pineapple (it's subtle, but it's in there). I don't have a lot of reasons to make a layer cake, but I'd certainly keep this one in the rotation -- it was a nice chance of pace from the usual chocolate or vanilla.



Hummingbird Cake
From Cook's Country

16 oz canned crushed pineapple in juice
3 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 c vegetable oil
4 overripe bananas, mashed
1 1/2 c chopped pecans
2 tsp vanilla

20 tbsp butter, softened
5 c confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
20 oz cream cheese, cut into chunks
1/2 c chopped pecans

1. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans.
2. Over a saucepan, drain the pineapple well in a mesh strainer. Cook the juice over medium heat until reduced to a third of a cup and set aside.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs. Whisk in the oil. Stir in the bananas, pecans, vanilla, pineapple and pineapple juice. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
5. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes, until toothpicks come out clean. Let cool in pans on racks for 20 minutes, then de-pan and cool completely.
6. Beat together the butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and salt until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the cream cheese a bit at a time, then beat for a couple of minutes, until thoroughly combined.
7. Level off the cake layers with a large serrated knife if necessary, then frost. Top with remaining chopped pecans.

Better banana bread

There's always room for improvement, especially when the initial outcome wasn't all that impressive. After this rare disappointment from Cooks Illustrated, I went back to the drawing board, looking for a better banana bread recipe. And now, I'm happy to say that I've found it.

Better still, this one has the potential to be a much healthier banana bread: The original recipe comes from Cooking Light and includes nonfat yogurt, while leaving out the fattening-but-delicious walnuts. But, well, I couldn't leave well enough alone, especially when I had some full-fat sour cream in the fridge that needed to be used up. I'm sure it would come out just as good with the yogurt, though, since they're both thick, slightly tart dairy products.

I still had a little trouble getting the middle of the loaf done before the outside burned, but there was only one little singed bit on the top by the time this one just barely reached doneness in the center. Careful monitoring of your loaf is key. And the results were well worth the effort.

Better Banana Bread
Adapted from Cooking Light

3 very ripe bananas
2 c flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c sugar
1/4 c butter, softened
2 eggs
1/3 c sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 c chopped walnuts (or less, or none, to your taste)

1. Mash the bananas thoroughly and set aside.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
3. Beat together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, then the banana, sour cream and vanilla.
4. Beat in the flour mixture on low speed, half at a time, until just blended.
5. Stir in the nuts.
6. Scrape into a greased 9-by-5-inch loaf pan.
7. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Cool 10 minutes in the pan, then remove from pan and cool completely on a rack
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Banana-butterscotch muffins

Sometimes, when you've stopped looking for something is when you find it.

I'd been looking for a good banana recipe for some time now, banana bread or banana muffins, there's not a huge difference. But I'd sort of given up on that, put it on the back burner and focused on other things. And then, my fiancé decided to clean out the freezer the other day, and I noticed how many bananas had piled up in there, quite a few of them no longer good, I'm sure, but some of them I knew I'd only put in there a few weeks ago.

Meanwhile, I'd already noticed that the giant pile of bags of baking chips had been sitting there in the pantry, mocking me, and I'd pulled out a bag of peanut butter chips and opened them, nibbling on a few here and there. So when I saw the pile of bananas needing to be used up, I thought, why not look around for a peanut butter-banana something, a muffin or cookie or somesuch?

Of course, once I'd settled on this recipe, I realized that while I have one bag of peanut butter chips, I have four bags of butterscotch chips, and they're all set to expire in October, meaning that I have to use them up between now and then. (In case you're curious, the reason why I have four bags of butterscotch chips to use up is that I was stockpiling them when they were on sale for a baking project that was supposed to happen in January... but it got postponed until next spring, far past when the chips need to be used. So much for planning ahead.)

But it all worked out for the best, 'cause really, butterscotch is only a few steps away from caramel or brown sugar, flavor-wise, and those are the sorts of flavors that pair nicely with banana. These came out even yummier than I'd hoped for, and they filled this house with a sweet, almost pancake-y aroma. Plus, not only is the pairing of banana and butterscotch a good one, but the muffin recipe itself is a keeper, very moist and light and delicious. :)

Banana-Butterscotch Muffins
Adapted from Fun & Fearless in Beantown

1 1/2 c flour
2/3 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 bananas
1/2 c butter
1/4 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3/4 c butterscotch chips (or peanut butter, or chocolate, or nuts, whatever)

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. In another, good-sized bowl, microwave the bananas and the butter until the butter melts, then mash together until it's as smooth as you can get it. Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla, then the egg, then the dry ingredients. Mix in the butterscotch chips.
3. Divide evenly among 12 greased muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, until they are golden and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then remove onto a cooling rack.

Banana bread

Apparently, I bake in spurts. Sorry for the wait (though rest assured, there are a couple more entries in store soon). Also, apologies for not having a photo of the inside of this banana bread -- I took this to work to share, and it just looks funny to bring something to work with a piece missing. It's way easier to remove, say, one cookie, than one slice of bread, or one piece of a layer cake, without it being noticable. But suffice it to say that this looked pretty much like any other banana bread in the middle.

This tasted alright, but I have to say, it didn't quite live up to Cook's Illustrated's standards, 'cause it took forever before the middle was fully done, and by the time the toothpick finally came out clean, the outside was a tad overdone, so the loaf ended up a bit overbrowned and a touch on the dry side. It still tasted alright, but I'm not sure if I'd make this recipe again -- I'll probably try some others, looking for a recipe that comes out moist but still done in the center. Still, it wasn't bad, and maybe it'll come out a bit better if you try it yourself. It's worth a shot.

Banana Bread
From "Baking Illustrated"

2 c flour
1 1/4 c chopped walnuts
3/4 c sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 overripe bananas, mashed
1/4 c plain yogurt
2 eggs
6 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla

1. Grease and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Move an oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and walnuts.
Mix together the mashed bananas, yogurt, eggs, butter and vanilla. Fold in the flour mixture until just combined.
3. Pour into prepared pan and bake until loaf is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 minutes.
4. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then depan onto a rack.