So I had an extra batch of banana bread ingredients the other day, and decided to try something new. It wound up both looking kinda yummy, tasting great, and only adding a few extra calories to my daily intake (if you only take one bite a day, that is). Here’s the recipe, for all my inspired fans who asked for it. 😉
CAKE
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup crisco
- 3 eggs, warmed to room temperature (or thereabouts)
- 1 3/4 cups mashed bananas (they work best if you mash them by hand so there are still some lumps)
- 3 cups flour
- 1 1/4 cups buttermilk (1 1/4 cup milk + 1 tablespoon vinegar), warmed to room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (or a tiny bit extra for flavor)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup walnuts (crushed or small pieces, however you want them)
- 1/2 cut pecans (crushed or halved, however you want them)
TOPPING
- 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup buttermilk (1/4 cup milk + just a little bit of vinegar, maybe a pinch?)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup crushed walnuts and/or pecans (crushed really small)
CAKE
- Cream sugar and shortening.
- Sift dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Add eggs, one at a time, to shortening mixture.
- Add bananas and vanilla to shortening mixture, mixing well but not too well.
- Add dry ingredients alternatively with milk and mix. Avoid overmixing.
- Add nuts.
- Grease (I use PAM) a bunt cake pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees until knife put in center of thickest part comes out clean. Mine took about 70 minutes, but I’d check it at 50 minutes and then every 5-10 minutes after that.
- Let the cake cool for 10 minutes while you prepare the topping.
- Pour the topping mixture over the top of the cake.
- Sprinkle the remaining nuts from the topping on top as a kind of crumbly topping to the topping.
- Let it stand for about 5 more minutes to soak in and set up a little bit, and then remove the cake from the pan (if you can) so it can run down the sides and look really cool.
TOPPING
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
- Stir in the sugar, buttermilk, baking soda, and about 1/4 cup of the nuts (you’ll have 1/4 cup left over for later).
- Bring it to a rolling boil, stirring constantly.
- Boil for one minute.
There you go!