Banana Pound Cake

I first made this banana pound cake with my paternal grandmother.  I don’t remember the first time we made it, but we made it together for years.  I always assumed it was her recipe.  I made it a few years ago when my aunt and uncle came for dinner, and learned from my aunt that it’s actually her grandmother’s, my great grandmother’s (she of the sweet tea fame, so you know it’s good) recipe.  Apparently she was quite the baker.  I don’t remember any baked goods from her.  Her arthritis was pretty bad by the time I was a small child, so she didn’t do much cooking or baking.  If this cake is anything to go by, I really missed out!

This cake is incredibly delicious!  It has become a favorite among the security officers at work, and is one of the most requested cakes when I bake for people at Christmas.  My dad’s “subtle” way of asking for it is to inform me of how many sticks of butter they have when I visit them, or to count the sticks of butter we have when he visits us.

It’s not usually an issue because everyone loves this cake so much, but it doesn’t keep very well.  It only lasts for two or three days.  I live in the south, with a lot of humidity, so you may be able to store it for a day or two more if you live in a dryer climate. It’s a really moist cake, so it tends to get moldy really fast, especially if you slice it and store it in a plastic container.  Like I said, it usually gets eaten long before it has a chance to go bad, but it does limit the ability to make it ahead of time for an event.

Banana Pound Cake:

3 sticks (1.5 cups) butter (Not margarine, real butter!)
Additional butter for greasing the pan
2 cups sugar
Additional sugar for coating the pan
4 large eggs
2 cups mashed very ripe bananas (usually somewhere between 3 and 6 bananas, depending on the size)
1/4 cup & 2 Tbsp buttermilk
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
½ cup chopped pecans

Generously butter and sugar a bundt pan. You want every little crevice well coated in butter, or the cake isn’t going to come out of the pan nicely.

Beat butter at medium speed w/ electric mixer, or in a standing mixer, 2 minutes, or until creamy.
Gradually add sugar, beating 5 - 7 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears.

Combine mashed banana, buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.  Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Add alternately to butter mixture; starting with flour mixture, and ending with buttermilk mixture. Mix at low speed after each addition, just until blended.

Stir in pecans.

Spoon batter into buttered and sugared bundt pan.  Bake at 325° for 1.5 hours, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, remove cake from pan, and cool completely on wire wrack.

Enjoy!

This Is What Happens When You Watch Too Many Cooking Shows

I enjoy watching cooking shows.  I never really watched them until a few years ago.  Nick likes a few on PBS that I started watching with him.  He used to watch some cooking shows with his grandmother when he was younger, so it makes sense that he enjoys them.  My dad also started watching cooking shows.  I’m still not sure what’s up with my dad’s cooking show obsession.  He’s not particularly into cooking, and finds the whole idea of cooking for himself to be a major ordeal.  He did develop the habit of emailing me recipes from the shows.  They were usually sent in the guise of “I saw this and thought you might like it”, even though some of the recipes were for things I don’t like, but that my dad happens to love.  He’s into subtle hints like that. 

So between Nick and Dad I started to enjoy watching cooking shows.  Some of them get on my nerves for various reasons, but there are a few that are really, really good.  Some of my favorites are Pati’s Mexican Table (her food looks delicious, and I love how enthusiastic and creative she is) and Lidia’sKitchen (her food looks great, I like her no nonsense, no waste approach, and I love it when she talks about her grandmother teaching her to cook).  I also enjoy America’s Test Kitchen (Julia Collin Davison is my favorite chef; she always seems like she’s happy to be in the kitchen and is having a good time).  And I planned my Sunday evenings around The Great British Baking Show when it was on PBS.  I think I’m actually suffering withdrawal from that not being on! 

I had strep throat at the end of June, and spent almost a week at home.  I watched a lot of cooking shows during that week.  I had no idea how many cooking shows come on during my usual work day! 

It tasted much better than it looked!

Normally I don’t actually make anything from the cooking shows.  There are some things I plan to make and just never seem to get around to.  Most of the time, though, I just use what I see on the cooking shows as a place to start from, or I combine a few different ideas for recipes from a few different shows.  After hours and hours of cooking shows I decided it was time to actually try a recipe from one.

I chose this meringue cake from Pati’s Mexican Table.  Please click on the link to see what it’s supposed to look like.  Hers was beautiful.  Mine was described as “the leaning tower of goop”, and “it looks like you made a giant mud pie”.   It tasted great, but I clearly need to work on my assembly and presentation. 

The filling called for strawberries, but I used blackberries instead.  They’re in season for us right now, and absolutely delicious.  We bought them from a roadside stand, and they were perfect; ripe, sweet, and juicy.  They were delicious in the filling, but I think the substitution definitely added to my cake not looking anything like the one from the show.  I also realize it’s probably not the best idea to go making substitutions in a recipe you’ve never made before, but I’m not really a “follow the recipe exactly” kind of cook. 

I’ve also never made any kind of meringue before, and I don’t really have much experience working with egg whites.  However, I’ve never let a little thing like not knowing what I’m doing stand in my way when it comes to trying a new recipe. 

My "slice".  Clearly it needs some work.  Still delicious though!

I think my meringue needs some work.  I think it came out fairly good for the first try, but there’s definitely room for improvement.  I learned from my Mother-In-Law that meringue turns out a little better when the air isn’t so humid.  It was crazy humid the day I made it, so that may have caused some trouble. 

Over all, the cake tasted good.  We had some trouble cutting it (I think that goes back to my meringue needing some improvement), and it totally fell apart when we were cutting it.  It sort of looked more like a herd of wild animals had torn into it.  But it was really good.  I will definitely try making it again.  It didn’t keep well at all in the refrigerator, so I think the next time I make it I will make sure I have a larger group of willing tasters. 

So what about you?  Do you have a favorite cooking show?  Have you tried making a recipe from a cooking show?  How did it turn out?