Thursday, August 20, 2009

TWD Late Report: Classic Banana Bundt Cake

The "Tuesdays with Dorie" recipe for August 4, 2009, was the Classic Banana Bundt Cake, chosen by Mary of The Food Librarian. For the recipe, visit this page on her blog, or this link on Serious Eats.


Well, I actually made this recipe on time, but it's taken me this long to write up my blog post. July is a busy time! Busy at work (everyone is ordering school uniforms and we sell them), busy in garden. It was a big success!

I've been coveting a full sized Bundt pan for a long time. I could have halved the recipe and made it in my lovely mini-rose pan, but this was the perfect excuse to buy this instead. To make my husband a little happier with the purchase, I also ordered Angel: After the Fall, volume 4. Ah, the wonders of ordering on Amazon! Bundt pans and comic books all in the same box!

I made only a few changes to the recipe. I swapped out 1/3 of the flour for whole wheat pastry flour, used yogurt (because the sour cream had turned into a science experiment), and added some walnut pieces. For some reason it just isn't banana cake to me unless it has nuts, preferably walnuts.


I also inadvertently decreased the baking soda to 1 1/2 teaspoons. I think that is why my cake had such a rounded top. Did you know that if your cake "domes" it can be a sign of too little leavening? Or too much gluten development? In this case, I'm sure it was the leavening. It always seems counter-intuitive to me. Doesn't it seem like a big rise in the center should come from too MUCH leavening? But no, all the cake experts agree it's the other way around.

Well, despite this minor flaw, the cake was wonderful. I didn't bother with glaze as I'm not a fan. One large slice was set aside for my husband and the rest went in to work. It was much appreciated!

Banana cake success! And a new Bundt pan! What could be better?

6 comments:

Patricia @ ButterYum said...

Barbara - your cake turned out perfectly! Looks very professional.

Anonymous said...

Barbara, I love the look of your cake! I, too, like walnuts with banana, I don't think I could envisage a banana cake without them! I like the way your cake looks sculpted, I think the extra cost of the Nordicware pans is justified, the pan I have is not theirs and I don't get such a clean-looking finish. I shall have to invest before I start making the recipes from Rose's new book!!! LOL!

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I forgot to add my name to my comment, it's Jeannette

margot said...

Looks fantastic, this was a great recipe! I absolutely had to have that same bundt pan a while ago, it's a good purchase.

The Food Librarian said...

Beautiful Bundt!!! Thanks so much for baking along with me for the Banana Bundt...I'm glad everyone liked it! - mary the food librarian

Steph said...

That's so interesting. I wonder why too little leavening would lead to the hump. I think yours has really nice colour!