Banana Snack Cake

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...What follows is my attempt to make bananas and banana cake a bit more interesting. Buried in the annuls of music history is a song called "Yes, We Have No Bananas". It was popular in the 1920's and the phrase was used on signs posted by British grocers decades later to let patrons know they were in compliance with bans that prohibited the importation of the fruit during WWII. It's generally thought that the song was inspired by a banana blight in Brazil, but it is harder to identify who originated the phrase. Some credit Jimmy Costas, a Long Island grocer, for the catchphrase. Others believe the honor should be given to the cartoonist, Thomas Dorgan. Whatever the case may be, the song became the theme of the Outdoor Relief protests that took place in Belfast, Ireland in 1932. Ironically, it was one of the few secular songs that both the Protestants and Catholics knew and could sing together. Over the years, the song has lent its title to a book about the depression in Belfast and been mentioned or heard in the movies Sabrina and The English Patient. I'm told the phrase was used as late as 2006 in Australia, when a large portion of the country's banana crop was destroyed by a cyclone and caused a shortage for most of the year. Now, as it happens, my youngest grandsons have assured that I have bananas aplenty today. This moist and flavorful cake is one of my favorite ways to use them. If you like banana cake, I hope you'll give this version a try. The frosting is especially nice. Yes, we do have bananas, we do have bananas today. We also have Louis Prima's version of the song for those of you have never heard it.







Banana Snack Cake...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Maureen Saunders



Ingredients:

Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup mashed ripe banana

1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dash salt

2 to 2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted + chopped pecans for topping



Directions:

1) To make cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square pan. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture just until combined. Fold in banana and pecans. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool cake in pan on a wire rack.

2) To make frosting: Cream butter in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in milk, vanilla, salt and enough confectioners' sugar to achieve spreading consistency. Stir in toasted pecans. Frost cake. Garnish with additional pecans. Yield: 9 servings.















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You also might enjoy these recipes:

Banana Cake with Easy Caramel Frosting - Desserts in My Kitchen

Old Fashioned Banana Cake - Mrs. Regueiro's Plate

My Go-To Banana Cake - Young Baker

Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting - The Dutch Baker's Daughter

Best Ever Banana Cake - Apron String Baking

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I've made a slight change to the dessert menu for Super Bowl Sunday. Rather than serve sundaes, I've decided to make ice cream sandwiches using dulce de leche ice cream and chocolate wafer cookies. I think they'll make for easier clean-up and might actually be a better fit for our extremely casual menu. This is, hands down, one of the easiest and best ice creams I've ever made. It uses no sugar or eggs, and its sweetness comes from dulce de leche, a thick, caramel flavored sauce that is popular in Latin America. The canned sauce can be found in most large grocery stores, but it can also be made quite easily at home. Homemade versions of the sauce are the only available option for folks living in areas where dulce de leche is not available or is too expensive for them to purchase. The classic sauce is a mix of milk and sugar that is cooked and stirred for hours on end. The sauce that I use is much easier and can be made in one of two ways. Both begin with cans of sweetened condensed milk that are stripped of their paper labels. To make the stovetop version, you'll need to poke two small holes in the lid of a condensed milk can and place it, upright, in a heavy bottomed pot that's been filled with water that comes about a quarter of an inch below the top of the can. The milk is simmered in the can for 3 hours and during that time the water level is kept constant. The method I use is simpler still. I place the cans on their sides in a 5 quart crock-pot, cover them with hot water by at least an inch and cook them, covered, on HIGH power for eight hours. Whichever method you use, be careful when removing the cans from water. They are screeching hot and can cause severe burns. When the cans come to room temperature the sauce, which will be quite thick, is ready to use. It is dissolved in a mixture of milk and heavy cream and quick-chilled before being poured into an ice cream maker. I think you'll like this ice cream. It is delicious and nearly effortless to make. The recipe was originally developed by Mariana Crespo for Gourmet magazine. Here's how the ice cream is made.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Mariana Crespo

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1-2/3 cups dulce de leche (store bought or homemade)
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped pecans (2 1/2 to 3 oz), toasted

Directions:
1) Bring milk and cream just to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then remove from heat and whisk in dulce de leche until dissolved. Whisk in vanilla and transfer to a metal bowl. Quick-chill by putting bowl in a larger bowl of ice and cold water and stirring occasionally until cold, 15 to 20 minutes.
2) Freeze mixture in ice cream maker until almost firm, then fold in pecans.
3) Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 1 hour. Yield: 1-1/2 quarts.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Dulce de Leche - David Lebovitz
Dulce de Leche - Cooking for Engineers
Mexican Chocolate Brownies - One Perfect Bite
Mexican Wedding Cookies - Stylish Cuisine
Mexican Hot Chocolate - Elana's Pantry
Dulce de Leche Liqueur Bundt Cake - The Daily Dish
Mexican Milk Chocolate Cake - Sugar Plum
Mexican Chocolate Cake - Bless Us O Lord
Simply Amazing Fried Ice Cream - $The Thrifty Couple in the Kitchen

Christmas Cranberry Conserve + Blue Monday + Ruby Tuesday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...We had duck for dinner tonight, and, as is my habit when serving duck or goose, I made a fruit conserve to serve alongside it. I've found that a conserve or chutney helps clear the palate when rich or potentially fatty foods are eaten. A conserve is a fruit spread, much like a fruit preserve, save for the fact that it contains a mixture of fruits and no pectin is required to set it. Only a handful of ingredients are required to make conserves and they really are easy to prepare. I chose cranberries to make ours this evening. While they are seasonal and add great color to the table, the berries were selected more for their tartness than their seasonality. The cranberry is a perfect foil for potentially fatty fowl and the berries make a marvelous conserve. This spread is almost foolproof to make. The only thing you can do to spoil it is to cook it for too long a period of time. Overcooking produces too much juice and excess liquid will keep the conserve from setting. I added raisins and nuts to mine to make it a bit more festive. Here's the recipe.

Christmas Cranberry Conserve...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Mildred Banker and Taste of Home

Ingredients:
4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, halved or very coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
2 oranges, peeled, sliced and quartered
1 cup raisins
1-1/4 cup water
1 cup chopped pecans
2-1/2 cups sugar

Directions:
1) In a large saucepan, combine cranberries, orange zest, oranges, raisins and water. Cover and simmer over medium heat until cranberries are soft, about 5 minutes.
2) Add pecans and sugar; stir well. Simmer, uncovered, 10-15 minutes, stirring often. Cool. Spoon into covered containers. Refrigerate. Serve as a relish with poultry or pork, or spread on biscuits or rolls. Yield: 3 pints.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Fig Jam Preserves - My Man's Belly
Relish the Thought - Stacey Snacks
Cranberry Chutney - Closet Cooking
Brandied Apple Conserve - Foodista
Plum Conserve - Simply Recipes
Honey Pear Conserve - Mermaids Treasures

This post is being linked to:
Smiling Sally - Blue Monday

Work of the Poet: Ruby Tuesday