Thank you Betty Crocker
Oct. 6th, 2003 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gfrancieI bought some bananas last week. I like a good dose of potassium just as much as the next person, but I didn't feel like going down the traditional route of banana bread or smoothies.
I felt some inspiration. My Great Aunt Fern makes a damn fine banana walnut cake. Our family grows giddy when we know she has made it (of course we grow giddy when thinking about any sort of dessert that someone has made) and awhile back I asked her what the recipe was. Turns out it is nothing but gool ol' Betty Crocker. Fortunately my mother being the kind broad she is, bought me a vintage copy of Betty Crocker's cookbook. This is a fun book which shows you how to do the basics. It has some good charts on how to cook a variety of meats. It gives good advice on cooking eggs a million different ways and I do believe it is a book that everyone ought to own if they want to learn how to cook.
Anyways...back to the banana walnut cake and my surplus of said bananas I felt today was a good day to bring that recipe out to play.
Plus it is pouring right now and nothing makes a wet day (or evening) feel cozy like a decent slice of cake with some tea.
What is great about this cake is how incredibly simple it is. Anyone can do this. This is a great recipe to have an eight year old try out.
You take a large mixing bowl and mix together the following ingredients:
2 1/4 cups cake flour (I have mentioned this before, but if you don't have any, don't fret. Merely sift your regular flour two times)
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teason salt
2/3 cup of shortening (you can use soy butter too)
2/3 cup buttermilk (a great way to substitute that is just take regular milk and add some lemon juice. It will quickly curdle and ta-da no rushing out to the store)
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup mashed bananas (this ought to be about three or four)
2/3 cup finely chopped walnuts (I used walnuts and almonds)
You can either do this by hand or with your handy-dandy mixer. If using a mixer, blend about 1 minute. Remember to scrape the bowl occasionally and then you can pour the batter into a greased/floured 13x9x2 inch pan or pour into two 9 inch round layer pans.
You bake that at 350F for 40-45 minutes in oblong pan or 35-40 minutes in the round pans.
You will want to cool the cake and then there is the question of a frosting.
This does taste quite good without the frosting, but if you feel the need to add more fun stuff.
You can do a simple cream cheese frosting (a little vanilla, softened cream cheese and some honey will taste pretty dandy)
Or you can do a basic vanilla butter frosting.
1/3 cup of soft butter
2 cups of confectioners sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of milk.
Mix that up together, spread all over the pretty cake, sprinkle some chopped walnuts ontop and ta-da. Cake!
...
Tonight I am also making chicken matzo ball soup. To my Jewish pals, yes, there is schmaltz in the soup
I felt some inspiration. My Great Aunt Fern makes a damn fine banana walnut cake. Our family grows giddy when we know she has made it (of course we grow giddy when thinking about any sort of dessert that someone has made) and awhile back I asked her what the recipe was. Turns out it is nothing but gool ol' Betty Crocker. Fortunately my mother being the kind broad she is, bought me a vintage copy of Betty Crocker's cookbook. This is a fun book which shows you how to do the basics. It has some good charts on how to cook a variety of meats. It gives good advice on cooking eggs a million different ways and I do believe it is a book that everyone ought to own if they want to learn how to cook.
Anyways...back to the banana walnut cake and my surplus of said bananas I felt today was a good day to bring that recipe out to play.
Plus it is pouring right now and nothing makes a wet day (or evening) feel cozy like a decent slice of cake with some tea.
What is great about this cake is how incredibly simple it is. Anyone can do this. This is a great recipe to have an eight year old try out.
You take a large mixing bowl and mix together the following ingredients:
2 1/4 cups cake flour (I have mentioned this before, but if you don't have any, don't fret. Merely sift your regular flour two times)
1 2/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teason salt
2/3 cup of shortening (you can use soy butter too)
2/3 cup buttermilk (a great way to substitute that is just take regular milk and add some lemon juice. It will quickly curdle and ta-da no rushing out to the store)
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup mashed bananas (this ought to be about three or four)
2/3 cup finely chopped walnuts (I used walnuts and almonds)
You can either do this by hand or with your handy-dandy mixer. If using a mixer, blend about 1 minute. Remember to scrape the bowl occasionally and then you can pour the batter into a greased/floured 13x9x2 inch pan or pour into two 9 inch round layer pans.
You bake that at 350F for 40-45 minutes in oblong pan or 35-40 minutes in the round pans.
You will want to cool the cake and then there is the question of a frosting.
This does taste quite good without the frosting, but if you feel the need to add more fun stuff.
You can do a simple cream cheese frosting (a little vanilla, softened cream cheese and some honey will taste pretty dandy)
Or you can do a basic vanilla butter frosting.
1/3 cup of soft butter
2 cups of confectioners sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of milk.
Mix that up together, spread all over the pretty cake, sprinkle some chopped walnuts ontop and ta-da. Cake!
...
Tonight I am also making chicken matzo ball soup. To my Jewish pals, yes, there is schmaltz in the soup
