I let my bananas go bad again. Then I let them sit there a little bit longer because…well, I was busy. I had things to do. Then when I went in search of a banana rum cake I couldn’t really decide what I wanted. I kind of liked the idea of a sheet cake, but most of the recipes I found were either more of a pound cake or more of a spice cake with a banana base. So I made up my own recipe with Caribbean rum and bananas.
Okay, it’s not really from the Caribbean, but rum has roots there and most of the world’s rum is made there. Ron Diaz, the variety that happened to be residing in my house at the time…is from Princeton, MN. That just didn’t sound as exciting.
Or you could use artificial rum flavoring if you are underage, opposed to rum or just don’t have Ron Diaz living in your garage. I mean, we can’t all be so privileged as to have the bearded fellow hanging around waiting for you to call on him.
I don’t keep buttermilk around, and because I don’t, I made my own sour milk by mixing 3/4 teaspoon white vinegar with 1/4 cup warm milk and then letting it sit for a good 15 minutes while I got other stuff ready. If I had buttermilk from something else, I would have used it, but I didn’t.
Start with creaming and follow it with mixing. Then stir to mash, add flour and beat.
Because I like them, pecans.
And a sheet pan. This particular sheet pan happens to be 15.5″x10″ (courtesy of Pampered Chef). It’s an odd size. In standard sizes, a half size sheet pan would be 18″x13″, and a quarter size would be 9″x13″. You could easily bake this on a quarter size sheet pan; it would just come up the side a bit more. If you are sheet-pan-less, bake in your 9″x13″ pan.
It looks all golden brown and delicious when it comes out of the oven.
Again with the rum. Real or imitation extract, whatever you choose, it gives the frosting a new dimension.
Spread a thin layer across the cake.
Top with a rum-glazed pecan or…don’t. It’s up to you. Either way, it’s a delicious snack cake, perfect for the lunch box.
| Banana Rum Cake from the Caribbean |
| Ingredients 1 cup sugar 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 3 medium overripe bananas 1/4 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 tablespoon rum 1 egg 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup chopped pecans 2 cups powdered sugar 4 ounces cream cheese, softened 1 teaspoon rum or rum-flavored extract 1 tablespoon milk 24 whole pecans or rum-glazed pecans Preheat oven to 350°. Grease bottom of a quarter-sized sheet pan or 9″x13″ pan. Cream butter and sugar together. Add buttermilk, vanilla, rum and egg and mix until blended. Blend in bananas. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add to banana mixture and mix together. Stir in chopped pecans. Bake at 350° for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Mix together powdered sugar, cream cheese and rum. Add milk and blend until smooth. Spread a thin layer over cooled cake. Top pieces with whole pecans. Makes 20 snack-sized pieces. |
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