Banana Cake, Brings Back Memories

Banana is very significant to me. I spent the latter part of my childhood, the whole of my teen years, the whole of my college days and even early part of my post graduation years, surrounded by bananas. I kid you not. I can practically say I grew up with bananas, not just eating them but also feeding us. Well, trading banana has been our family’s bread and butter for quite a long time. And to tell you the truth, my studies were supported by my parents with their banana business. Isn’t that sweet? Probably sweeter than the ripe banana itself.

Though my parents have retired from the business long time ago, some of our relatives are still engage in the trade; retailing and selling the all year round fruit of the Philippines. The above is the reason why banana is very important to me, to all of us in the family actually. Even now that I’m here in Sri Lanka, happy memories of our banana flash in my mind from time to time. And I make sure I regularly buy bundles of banana from local harvesters. I enjoy eating it after meal or cook (some varieties) to a more special dessert dish like the “Minatamis na Saging” (Sweetened Banana) which I posted before.

Sometimes, I buy bananas more than our group can consume. This results to some very ripe bananas on our table. Ok, I often times, intentionally over buy bananas. Why? Well, very ripe and soft bananas are just perfect for making another favorite comfort food – Banana Cake. Yes, nothing should go to waste when it comes to wonderful fruits like bananas. You can always bake dessert for your love ones. :-)

If you tried my Chocolate Cake post, this will be really easy and simple. To prepare the cake, we need 2 cups AP flour, 1½ cups white sugar, ½ tsp baking powder, ¼ tsp baking soda, 1 cup unsalted butter (or good margarine), 3 tbsp canola oil (I used vegetable oil), 6 large eggs, 2~3 cups mashed ripe bananas, 1 cup raisin (optional) and 1 tsp icing sugar.

First, preheat the oven to 350 ˚ (180 ˚C). Apply a thin coating of butter on the inside surface of the pan. Sprinkle with flour and remove whatever excess flour from the pan. Alternatively, you can just use parchment paper as I usually do, that way; you just have to butter and flour the sides.

In a mixing bowl, sift the all-purpose flour with the baking powder and baking soda.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs with the butter, oil, sugar and mashed bananas. Stir the banana mixture into the dry ingredients and blend thoroughly. The batter seems very thick at this point so I added another egg, making 7 eggs all in all. Add the raisins, if you are using, and mix lightly. I have raisins but opted not to put it. Ok, ok, I forgot! :-)

Scrape the batter into the ready pan and bake in the centre of the oven for about 40~45 minutes or until golden and a toothpick poked in the centre of the cake comes out clean. You can also smell a wonderful aroma when it’s done.

Transfer the pan to a rack and let the cake cool for around 10~15 minutes. Then turn cake onto rack and let it cool completely. Sprinkle the top of the cake with icing sugar or confectioner’s sugar. Gorgeous isn’t it?

Slice into serving sizes and serve, either for dessert after a meal or as a snack with your favorite drinks.

Enjoy! It’s delicious and soul comforting. c“,)