Mad About Bananas.

One of the reasons why I love reading food magazines is the interviews they have, usually on the last page of the magazine, asking their chef/actor/actress/comedian/singer in the spotlight food-related questions. So much of their personality comes through the way they tackle the questions. Besides, everybody loves food, right?

(Just in case you’re wondering, my all time favourite is Steve Carell’s answer to what most people would be surprised to find in his kitchen. His response? “I think most people would be surprised to find a unicorn in my kitchen. So would I.” It cracks me up every time I read it, which just for the record, is as not many as you would think. I’m not that weird.)

And one of my favourite questions (yeap, I do have a favourite) is naming the three things you always have in the refrigerator. It’s fascinating really what people have in their fridge as staples, ranging from Coca Cola (Kristen Chenoweth) to goat cheese (Stanley Tucci). Three little items that reveal so much about their personalities and dietary habits.

Now if anyone were to peer into my fridge any given day, the one thing that they would most certainly find a bunch of bananas.

I don’t know how to explain it but I just seem to have a compulsive urge to get a bunch of bananas every time I’m in the supermarket. It doesn’t matter if I already have a bunch in the fridge or a whole ziplock bag full of them in the freezer, I will still leave the supermarket with said bunch of bananas in hand.

So much as I love consuming my bananas the way nature intended, it’s a very good thing I do love my banana cakes. Especially when they involve streusel.

As always, because I couldn’t resist tinkling around with recipes, I made quite a few changes to the original recipe. I threw in all bananas I had on hand (almost double the amount the original recipe called for) and replaced the caster sugar the recipe called for with brown sugar to get that slight caramel flavour that brown sugar imparts, drastically reducing the amount while I was at it.

And also because, to me, bananas without rum and cinnamon would be like going to Italy without a list of restaurants to hit (in other words, unthinkable and yes can you tell I’m excited about my trip?), I threw in some cinnamon and rum for good measure. Oh and I doubled the amount of streusel because, um, more streusel can only be a good thing.

The result? A utterly delicious banana cake.

With the first forkful, all you notice at first is the wonderful textural constrast between the moist cake and crunchy streusel (is there seriously anything streusel can’t make better?). Then slowly, the flavour of the sweet bananas and a hint of cinnamon registers on your palate. And before you know it, all you have left on your plate are crumbs.

If there’s one thing I know about cakes, it’s that when a cake is truly more than the sum of its parts, it’s a really good cake. And that’s certainly what this was.

Now I don’t know what always having a stash of bananas around says about me (other than I might have a slight compulsive problem) but I sure know where my next bunch is going.

Banana Streusel Cake [adapted from Flo Braker's Baking For All Occasions]

Ingredients
2 cups cake flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 large ripe bananas, mashed
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp rum
100g unsalted butter, chopped and slightly softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar†
1 large egg, at room temperature

Streusel
12 tbsp cake flour
6 tbsp packed light brown sugar
90g unsalted butter, chopped and slightly softened
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Line an 8″ square pan with foil, grease generously and set aside.
2. To make streusel Combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using your fingers, rub the butter in until a mixture forms. Set aside.
3. To make cake Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and salt into a bowl and set aside. Combine the mashed bananas, milk and rum together and set aside.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy and creamy. Add the egg in, followed by the banana mixture††, mixing well. Fold the flour mixture in, in two batches, until the mixture just comes together.
5. Tip the batter out into the prepared pan. Smooth the surface with a spatula and sprinkle the streusel evenly over the batter.
6. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 40 to 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out with crumbs clinging. Serves 12

† Original recipe called for 1 cup of caster sugar. The amount of brown sugar I used yield a cake that allowed the sweetness of the bananas to shine through. Add more sugar if you like your cakes sweet.
†† Batter will looked curdled after you add the banana mixture. Have faith and keep going.

Posted by thecoffeesnob on May 21, 2010

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