I Like to Cook. Sorry if You Don't.: Caramel Banana Cake

Hello again!

I invited my mom and family over for dinner last night - for Mother's Day obvi. The dinner will be featured in this post and the next. She's very excited to be featured on the blog (there's your first plug Mom!!). As a mother it's her job to be proud of me and she does it well! =) Here's a picture of my mom:

SAY HI MOM!
Isn't she beautiful!?

I have good genes, wouldn't you say? My mom is important to this blog because I owe any motivation that I ever had to cook anything to her. She taught me the basics and sparked the interest (Note to self made: post some of her recipes soon!).

My mom is getting married in a month (Congrats Mom!) so I really thought she was going to kill me for making her a cake, but this cake was really just that good that she couldn't complain. The recipe that I used for the caramel-banana cake comes from The Kitchn. It is an incredibly moist and airy cake. I adjusted it slightly so that the banana flavor was subtle and the cake was not too sweet, and then just covered it in a glaze. The caramel swirl works well with the glaze and really makes a great bite. This was easy and extremely worthwhile.

Just look at that swirl!

Side note: I actually discovered lately the convenience of freezing bananas to be used in baking. I usually only get one over-ripe banana at a time and very rarely, since I live with 2 huge banana monsters (similar to cookie monster, who actually has NOT been renamed to the veggie monster contrary to popular belief). So, they can be frozen until needed. Peel them first and store them in a ziploc, or else it's hard to get those stringy pieces off. Whatever they're called.

Soundtrack: High Places - Link to Myspace

The adjusted recipe (I also made a few notes in places that might be confusing in the original) is as follows (or try the original!):

Caramel Banana Cake
2 9-inch layers

3/4 c. butter
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
3 large eggs
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. milk
2 med. mashed bananas (yea, that's what mashing bananas makes me think of. Thanks a lot, years of babysitting!!)
1 c. caramel sauce (can be homemade or you can buy one. I used a homemade one, made by someone else, which was the best of both worlds and perfect for this project)

First, heat oven to 325F. Grease two 9" cake pans.

Cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then, add the eggs and beat until silky and lightened (about a minute).

In a separate bowl, sift the flour with the baking soda and salt. In a third bowl, whisk together the milk and mashed bananas. Then, add to the eggs and butter, alternating between a bit of flour mixture and a bit of liquid mixture until combined. Beat just until smooth.

Pour batter into the prepared pans. Pour half the caramel sauce into each pan, and swirl with a knife. Put in the oven carefully and bake for about 60 minutes, or until the centers are set and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely before icing.

The glaze that I used was a combination of powdered sugar and milk. Start with 1 c. powdered sugar and then add milk a little at a time until you get a glaze that doesn't run too much when you stick a utensil in it and then hold it up right. The ratio will really not use a lot of milk. Powdered sugar is deceivingly fluffy. Pour over the top of cake and allow to run over the sides.