Dec 12
Walnut and Banana Bundt Cake
What do you think? Awesome ugh? Yeah, I was so proud of myself when I finished this cake!!! But, even though it looks so appealing, as we say here las apariencias engañan - appearances are deceptive – I mean that the sight of the cake would make you think it was perfectly baked, but the truth is that it needed some improvement!
First things first: I needed a cake for my father’s birthday party and I had seen one at Laurie’s from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska that seemed so easy and “good looking”. So, there I went and printed the recipe. I thought I had all the ingredients, but some were missing or I just didn’t have enough, this was my first mistake. Second, I didn’t check what a cup measure would be in grams, and I simply took a big coffee cup and used it for my measures. And third I changed Laurie’s cake glaze for some melted chocolate… this wasn’t bad at all for a change ;D. So you might want to follow Laurie’s recipe… find it here.
Not that the cake couldn’t be eaten!!!! It was good, but I’m a strict and critic woman and always want things as close to perfection as possible! In fact, there were no crumbs left… but this time… Disney stories moral wasn’t true: the beauty wasn’t inside… it was outside ;D.
The main problem the cake had was that the texture was too thick, not spongy. Otherwise, the flavour was good.
Have fun :D
Recipe
Ingredients for the cake: (in green: original recipe ingredients, in red: what I changed).
* 2-3 ripe pears (2 cups chopped) 2 cups of ripe banana
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 cups of sugar
* 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp baking soda
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
* 3 eggs 4 eggs
* 1 tsp. vanilla extract
* 1 Tbsp. freshly grated lemon peel I forgot
* 1 1/3 coarsley chopped pecans I used 250 grs of walnuts instead
The melting chocolate:
* aprox 100 grs of 70% cacao chocolate,
* 20 grs of butter,
* 1 Tbsp. of sugar
Preheat oven at 180ºC.
- I use a silicon mold that doesn't need any rubbed oil, but if you don't have it, then oil your bundt.
- Peel the bananas and smash with a fork. Reserve.
- In a big bowl get the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Stir the oil, eggs and vanilla extract into the dry ingredients. Add the smashed banana and the walnuts (chopped). Pour it into the bundt mold.
- Bake for 60 minutes or until a thin skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in the mold for 20 minutes. Turn upside down onto a wire rack and finish cooling it.
- For the melting chocolate, prepare the chopped chocolate and butter inside a bowl and have it at bain marie until it melts, then add the sugar and stir. Pour over the cake when the chocolate is still hot and let cool down.
- My cups were the equivalent of a 1/3 of litre. I guess that was too much.
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Comments
It certainly does look delicious. Too bad you weren’t happy with it. I am the same way especially when I change a recipe around a lot!
I’ll bet it was the bananas that made it more dense. They probably made it more like banana bread than cake, right?
Nuria, I used to do this sort of mistakes before and if my cakes were successful they were only so because of experience but I did have my failures as well with the measurements. It took me a long time to realize that and now I always consult my post before preparing a recipe. http://kopiaste.org/2008/11/measurements/
They say “echando a perder se aprende”, but I don’t think you messed up the cake, something so beautiful can’t be bad, can it? :-p
It’s dense because of the banana and it would still be dense because of the mashed fruit it will weigh it down and make it heavier, like have you ever had Banana Bread? It’s very heavy and moist.
Also measurements and ratio’s make a world of difference in baking.
It’s funny because I freak out when things are given in grams and oz. because I have to take out my weighing thing, the cups is easier for me, just get some standard measuring cups and table measurers and you’ll be fine with the measuring unit of any country :)
By the way your cake looks looks heavenly banana+ walnut + chocolate probably equals very good tasting :) don’t feel ashamed there is always next time you did great with what you had :D
Ooops I forgot it was probably a good thing you forgot the lemon peel because it would probably taste funky with the banana
I laughed out loud from your Disney reference! The cake looks delicious, but… Here’s another saying (dicho) for you “You can’t judge a book by it’s cover.” I guess that message applies to the bundt cake — but I bet your father was very happy anyway.
P.S. You look great as Santa!
Chica, your disney remark had me laughing! The cake looks fantastic and very beautiful! But,, I can understand that baking sometimes requires exact measurements…your pics are stunning too!
I think life would be easier and more accurate if we all used scale measurements. Having said that, I don’t even own a scale.
Maybe the denseness is from too much flour – depending on how much of your coffee cup you filled…
Yes – looks can be deceiving, because it looks good to me. Plus, I’m still in shock that it’s apples and not pineapples (your post below).
Ouch! The grams to cups thing always gets me :)
Hola Judy! Yeah, I still have a lot to improve in my baking!
Hola RecipeGirl! Yes, maybe it’s that, Nathan also thinks the same… next one will be with the pears ;D
Thanks Ivy, I will check that out :D
Hola Ben! No it wasn’t bad… it only needed a second try ;D
Hola Nathan! Chico you keep on surprising me!!! Thanks so much for all your suggestions and good advise :D
Concerning the lemon, yes, I saw that and agree with you!
Peter, any comment from you saying that my pictures are stunning makes me happy for the whole day ;D. Thanks darling!
Psychgrad… is it true you don’t own a scale? Ai, I would be too lost without it!!!
He, he, you know why the apple looks like pineapple? Because I peeled it with a special tool that makes it look so smooth and then I took its core out, that’s why it has a hole in the center. Plus golden apples have this colour… :D :D
Yes Maryann, I have to be more serious about measurements!
ha! i guess looks are deceiving b/c this looks great. i give you credit for trying to “eyeball” the ingredients. last time i did that i ended up with a cake that never rose!
Nuria, the cake certainly catches the eye. I trust you if you say it was too dense…perhaps having it with coffee will make it better?
Baking is more chemistry than anything else…perhaps you were concentrating on singing and lost focus? ;)
Even though you were not too happy with it, the cake looks beautiful and sounds delicious!
Hola Amy and Jonny! Yes, I learned the lesson… next time I will be more accurate with measures :D
Si, Peter! How did you guess? Have you installed a cam in my kitchen to see me in that apron and hear me sing? lol.
Thanks Susan :D
Oh I am not a baker, but I like Bundt Cakes! Can’t comment on the recipe but it sure looks good. Feliz cumpleaños to your dad.
but this time… Disney stories moral wasn’t true: the beauty wasn’t inside… it was outside ;D. – I laughed so hard when I read this :)
I LOVE it when you bake cakes Nuria…this one looks great! It’s absolutely delicious oooking; happy belated birthday to your Dad..xoxoxo
Thanks so much Lori Lynn :D
He, he… love to make people laugh, Cynthia!
Thanks Deeba♥
What a beautiful bundt cake!
Looks gorgeous. With baking I have learned to be percise in measuting to get better results. Nevrtheless this looks fantastic. I bet it was so good!
hooray! i love it when you bake–cooking is great, but baking is divine!
Absolutely stunning photo – this looks great!
I’m sorry that your cake wasn’t exactly what you wanted Nuria but if every last bite was gone it must have been masterful.
Could something that looks that good really be bad? Baking can be fickle, can’t it? Happy Holidays, my friend.
Este sabor increíble . Añadí pecan y salió muy bien.