After a bit of a haitus, I’ve returned to one of my favorite types of cakes, the Bundt cake. This particular Bundt cake is one that my family requests time and time again. If you have 3 to 4 bananas that are super ripe, this is a great recipe to put those overripe bananas to good use. As it is a cake instead of a quick bread, it has a more subtle banana flavor and is a step up from being a snack cake. The cake’s texture is similar to that of a pound cake, and the cake is pretty easy to prepare. The cake is best when topped with either a caramel or chocolate glaze, which adds both flavor and texture. Alternatively, the cake can be adorned with just a dusting of confectioner’s sugar if you’d like to cut down on preparation time and ingredients, not to mention calories!
The recipe is directly below, followed by step-by-step instructions with photos. Enjoy!
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10-inch (12 cup) Bundt Cake
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- 4 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 3-4 large ripe bananas (enough to make about 2 cups mashed bananas)
- 4 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Ingredients
Banana Cake
Caramel Glaze** [see Recipe Notes for alt. Chocolate Glaze]
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- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C. Grease and flour a 10-inch (12 cup) Bundt pan.
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mash bananas. Stir in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla.
- Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy. Stop mixer and add in about 1/4 of the flour mixture. Mix on low until the mixture is nearly incorporated. Stop mixer and add in about 1/4 of the banana mixture. Mix on low speed until roughly incorporated. Repeat, alternating between flour and banana mixtures, until all the flour and banana mixtures have been added to the batter and fully incorporated. Spoon batter evenly into Bundt pan. Tap pan once or twice on counter to release any air bubbles in batter.
- Bake cake in preheated oven for about 55 minutes, or until a bamboo skewer or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the top is springy to the touch. Let cool 15 minutes on wire rack. Loosen sides and center with a knife and then turn cake out of pan and onto rack to cool completely to room temperature.
- Place butter, sugar, and heavy whipping cream In a medium saucepan. Set saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil while stirring. Boil for 5 minutes while continuing to stir. Mixture will thicken. Remove from heat and let cool 10 minutes undisturbed. Spoon glaze over top of cake, letting glaze run down the sides. Refrigerate until glaze sets, about one hour. Cut into slices and serve.
* Chocolate Glaze: Ingredients - 6 ounces (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips; 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces; 2 tablespoons melted coconut oil (but see Note below); 1/4 cup light corn syrup. Method: Set bowl of butter and chocolate chips over pot of barely simmering water (bowl should not touch water). Stir until chocolate chips until a thick paste starts to form. [Alternatively, microwave on High in 20 second intervals, stirring in between, until fully melted, about 1 1/2 minutes total.] Remove from heat and add coconut oil (or 1 to 2 tablespoons of boiling water if you do not have coconut oil). Stir until fully incorporated and smooth, returning to heat for short periods while stirring as necessary to obtain pourable consistency. Off heat, stir in corn syrup. Pour glaze over top of cake, letting glaze freely run down sides of cake. Refrigerate until glaze sets, about 20 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.
STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
The first thing to do is preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C and then grease and flour a 12-cup (10-inch/25.4 cm) Bundt pan.
In a large bowl or measuring cup, whisk together: 4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, and 1 teaspoon nutmeg.
Peel 3 to 4 medium-large, ripe bananas.
Use a fork or a potato masher. The amount of mashed bananas you need should total about 2 cups. It’s fine to have less than 2 cups, but I suggest not going lower than 1 1/2 cups.
Add 4 eggs to the mashed banana. [As seen in the photo below, for this batch, one egg had two yolks. What luck!]
Also add to the mashed banana 1/4 cup sour cream and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Stir to combine, breaking up the eggs to make sure they are well-incorporated.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together on medium speed 2 1/2 American sticks of butter (i.e., 1 1/4 cups of butter or 10 ounces), 1 cup brown sugar, and 1 cup white sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.
Stop the mixer and add about a quarter of the flour mixture. Turn the mixer on low speed and mix in the flour until nearly incorporated.
Stop the mixer and pour in a quarter of the banana-egg mixture. Mix on low speed to roughly incorporate. Repeat mixing in the flour mixture alternating with the banana mixture until both mixtures have been fully incorporated. Take care not to overmix the batter.
Below is what the final batter looks like. It’s very thick!
Transfer the batter into the prepared Bundt pan and smooth the top with a small, offset spatula or knife.
Bake for about 55 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean and the top is springy. The top crust will be beautifully cracked.
Let the cake sit on a wire rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Turn the cake out of the pan and onto the wire rack. Let it cool completely before glazing.
When the cake has completely cooled, make the caramel glaze. [The recipe offers an alternative chocolate glaze, which is also delicious. But for this post, I am only demonstrating the steps to make the caramel glaze. ]
For the caramel glaze, in a medium saucepan, place 1/3 heavy whipping cream, a 1/4 cup butter (i.e., 1/2 American stick or 2 ounces), and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
Turn the burner on medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring.
Let the mixture boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. You’ll see that the mixture will start to thicken.
Remove from the heat and stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla or brandy.
Let the glaze cool for about 10 minutes so that it begins to set but is still pourable.
Place the cake on a board lined with wax or parchment paper or aluminum foil. Pour glaze over the top of the cake and let the glaze run down the sides.
Transfer the cake to a serving platter and place in the refrigerator for about one hour to allow the glaze to set. Cut into slices and serve.
This is a super yummy caramel (or chocolate) glazed banana Bundt cake. Save your ripe bananas and give it a try!
