Mom's Apple-Banana Cake

Apples and ba-nay-nays

Sometimes baking is an excuse to get rid of some fruit or milk that's about to expire. I know that statement isn't entirely logically (you're going to use flour, butter, and sugar just to make sure you don't waste one banana?) I know it's illogical, but sometimes inspiration comes in mysterious ways.

I had originally thought about making plain old banana bread, but it turned out I only had one banana sitting on top of my fridge. I realized that I had two gravestein apples (which are supposed to be great for baking) and a jar of applesauce. A-pples and Ba-nay-nays, I knew I could do something with that!

Apple Banana bread smells like cinammon, spice, and everything nice.

I searched the internet for some recipes involving apples and bananas and came across "Mom's Apple-Banana Bread". When I saw that the recipe involved adding caramelized apples to the batter, I knew it would be a winner. This recipe also appealed to me because it incorporates two treats that my mom and dad make really well - banana bread and apple cake respectively. My dad doesn't put on his baker's hat too often, but his apple cake has become a family staple. And my mom's banana bread just tastes better than any other banana bread I've tried. This recipe is essentially a combination of the two! The bananas and applesauce make for a very moist bread, and the caramelized apples add lovely bites of sweet and tart. The warm spices just scream fall. With the cooler weather approaching, I beg you to try this one.

I tweaked the recipe a little to accommodate the ingredients I had in my pantry (who uses that word?)

Ingredients

1 stick plus 2 tbsp unsalted butter (JAM Note: 1/2 stick butter, plus 2 tbsp, plus 1/4 c applesauce)

2 tbsp dark brown sugar

2 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2 in dice (JAM Note: used Gravestein apples)

1 tsp cinammon (JAM Note: used 1 1/2 tsp)

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (JAM Note: used 2 tsp)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cloves (JAM Note: used 1/2 tsp)

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (JAM Note: used 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp pumpkin spice)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 ripe bananas, mashed (1 cup) (JAM Note: used 1 ripe banana, 1/2 c applesauce)

1/4 c orange juice (JAM Note: used 1/4 c applesauce)

Directions

In a large skillet, melt 2 tbsp butter with brown sugar. Add the apples and cook over moderate heat, stirring until tender and golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Add 1/2 tsp of the cinnamon and 1/2 of vanilla and transfer apples to a plate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5x4 in loaf pan. In medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, nutmeg (JAM Note: allspice, pumpkin spice) and the remaining cinnamon.

In a large bowl, using the handheld electric mixer, beat the remaining butter (half stick) with the granulated sugar (JAM Note: beat in 1/2 c applesauce after). Beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time until smooth. Add in bananas (JAM Note: and applesauce), orange juice, and remaining vanilla. Beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Using a rubber spatula fold in apples.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake for 1 hr and 20 minutes (JAM Note: my bread was done in 50 minutes). Let the loaf cool and turn onto rack to cool completely.

Rainy Saturday...Perfect for Baking

This Saturday has been a typical early fall day, cool with sunshine and rain interspersed throughout. The cool weather always gets me in the mood for baking. I had two rotting bananas sitting on my counter and knew I needed to do something with them. I wanted to something a little different than the usual banana bread, and ended up finding a recipe for coconut banana muffins in a Gourmet magazine. My mom has always sworn by Gourmet recipes, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I convinced Malia to do a little baking at her place.


Well it turns out Malia didn't have any muffin tins at her place, so we improvised with a round cake pan. I was going to add toasted almonds to the batter, but ended up knocking the plate of almonds onto the floor (I can be so clumsy). I think the almond mishap was meant to be, because the cake turned out wonderfully, with a really moist crumb. This batter was definitely sweet enough to make into a cake, but not cloyingly so. This could easily be turned in a delicious layer cake with some coconut cream cheese frosting.

The picture doesn't do this cake justice. Also we forgot to take one before we'd cut into it and made a mess. But like Dionne Warwick (on Paula's Party) always says, "The ugliest ones taste the best."


Here's the recipe:


Banana Coconut Muffins
Gourmet 2004


1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (3/4 cup)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut


Special equipment: a muffin tin with 8 (1/2-cup) muffin cups; paper liners (JAM Note: Used an 8 in round pan instead)


Directions:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together bananas, butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and 1/2 cup coconut in a large bowl until combined well, then fold in flour mixture until flour is just moistened. Pour batter among lined muffin cups (JAM Note: or cake pan) and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup coconut. Bake until puffed and golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool slightly.


JAM Note: The cake was cooked through after 25 minutes, but could have used a couple more minutes in the oven to toast the coconut a little more.



Overall, a solid 2 out of 3 JAMS.