Banana Cake

-
Two ripe bananas,
Staring at me from the pantry.
My heart beats fast..
Imaging their destiny.

Two ripe bananas,
Trying to tell me a story.
The eyes of desperate mom..
Trying to solve this mystery.

The mystery of "What will my kids eat",
The mystery of "What should I bake",
The mystery of "How do I save these bananas"..
The mystery of "What should I make".

In attempt to save the most ripened bananas ever, I started mixing stuff for a banana cake. I browsed through tons of recipes on the internet.

Some used eggs, some did not. I wanted to use eggs.. so I filtered that list.
Some used sour cream & some did not. I had not sour cream at home.. So ignore that list.
Some used whole wheat flour & some used all-purpose. I wanted to keep it traditional, so I stuck with AP flour.

The filtering process was so intense that I was left with a recipe with "NOTHING" !!!!

Then, I used 3 or so recipes & combined them together.
This baking exercise taught me one very important life lesson....

"When life gives you ripe bananas... bake a cake !!!!!"
(Inspired by When life gives you lemons....)



Here's what I used.
  • 2 very ripe bananas (must have produced 1 whole cup of mashed bananas + some more)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4th cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4th cup (loosely packed) light brown sugar
  • 1/4th cup milk
  • 1/4th cup vegetable oil (+ more for greasing the cake pan)
  • 1 & 3/4th cup AP flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon powder

Process
  • Set the oven on 350 F (The traditional huge oven which comes with the apartment / house)
  • Mix the ingredients
    • Mash the bananas nicely using a fork in a big mixing bowl
    • To the bananas --> add Eggs + Milk + Oil + white sugar + brown sugar and mix using a wire whisk
    • Keep a sieve on top of the mixing bowl & add AP Flour + Salt + Cinnamon Powder + Baking Soda + Baking Powder
    • Tap the sieve so that the dry ingredients get sieved down into the wet mixture
    • Mix everything well using the wire whisk (Yes the same one... duh !!)
  • Grease a square pan with vegetable oil (same kind that you used in the cake batter) - Make sure you cover all nook & corners & sides nicely. Use your hands if that's what you need to use. 
  • Pour the batter into the greased pan & bake for 20mins --> Toothpick test --> 5 more mins (to allow the cake to brown a bit & cooked through).
  • For this big a cake, I did not need more than 25mins. So be careful when you increase time. Keep doing the toothpick test to be 100% sure. 
  • Take the cake out & cool it down. 
Enjoy with coffee as an evening snack & this will serve GREAT as a breakfast item too for the kids who are too lazy or too busy in the mornings to sit down for a proper breakfast during week days. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gluten Free Almond Flour Mango Cake

-
Image
 Here's my take on the Gluten Free mango Cake.... There's not a story behind it other than the fact that I am trying to reduce sugar & gluten in my diet due to the health reasons & this cake gave me everything that I need for those late evening sweet cravings without feeling guilty or sad or having to plan extra time on the treadmill the next day.  This cake is made from almond flour so it's on the denser side & not entirely fluffy BUT it is soft & makes for an awesome tea time accompaniment.  Here's what I used... Wet ingredients 1 cup mango puree 3 eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or butter) Dry ingredients 2.5 cups of Almond flour 2 tsp baking powder Process First mix all the wet ingredients in a clean bowl using a wire whisk Then add in the baking powder & almond flour Mix nicely using a spatula - DO NOT USE Wire whisk  Transfer the contents to a greased 10 inch round cake tin Bake until tooth-pick comes out clean on 325 F for ab
Read more

Chicken Patra Poda

-
Image
 Since the last few days, I have been binge watching YouTube videos of some Odiya Vloggers in the US. There are some really entertaining folks who sing & dance & go about their lives while sharing ups & downs with us (their subscribers). Sometimes they get too personal but it's the age of Social Media so I guess that is perfectly fine if the creator is OK with that. These folks that I watch are mostly girls ..Actually they are all girls.. hmm.. time for me to expand the scope a bit?? may be !!.  Anyways, one of the girls, lives in the eastern part of US & has a HUGE Odiya friends circle who meet almost every week for a party or picnic or potluck and she makes these yummy (almost) contemporary style Odiya food recipes that it makes me want to go back to the east coast & make her my sister. Yes, I used to live there & the first chance I got I left because of the harsh winters. I just could not bear the mere thought of getting up at 7am in the morning & spe
Read more

Chicken Besara

-
Image
We odiyas have grown up with the idea of mustard paste being added to cook fish & shrimp & veggies.. but never ever had I imagined that I could use the same concept (little tricked & changed of course to fit the bill) for chicken too.. It was a fine Saturday mid-day when the craving of having something non-veg spicy came into my mind (errrr.. my stomach..) .. The freezer had some chicken drummets from store.. which were shrieking out to be used... And just a few days back.. I had seen a post somewhere about using mustard paste with chicken gravy.. I thought I should totally try it... This was new to me..and I must confess the gravy was a super hit... we ate double the amount of white rice .. and saved some for later too.. Everyone who loves chicken and mustard paste should totally try this.. and Enjoy with white fluffy rice.. :) What I used Around 1.5 Lbs of chicken drummets (small chicken legs) 2 table spoons of black & yellow mustard seeds 1 table spoon o
Read more