Saturday, January 23, 2010

Banana Pound Cake


I really like a good moist pound cake but add banana to the mix and I am in heaven! This cake has the moistness that I look for in a pound cake but with a banana bread twist. The caramel icing is the BOMB, it is OFF THE HOOK and all the those other annoying phrases that are used to describe great food!! This is What's Cookin on Beaty's Creek along with several pots of hot tea!

Needed:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
4 ripe bananas, mashed
5 eggs
1 vanilla bean-scraped
1 cup chopped pecans

Icing:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cream

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in your Kitchen Aid mixer bowl. Now beat together 1 1/2 cups butter, and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the bananas, followed by the eggs, one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Beat vanilla bean scraping with the last egg. Now add flour one cup at a time, mixing until it is fully mixed in. Fold in the pecans. Now pour the batter into prepared bundt pan. I really butter and flour the heck out of mine and never have a problem with anything sticking.
Bake at 325' until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

To make icing:
Heat 1/2 cup of butter, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 1/4 cup of white sugar, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously until the sugars have dissolved, then gently simmer for 1 minute. Pour over baked cake while still in the pan. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.