Banana Pound Cake
Why I Love This Recipe
I cut this recipe out of the local newspaper years ago and it was just sitting there in my recipe box all alone and unnoticed. Then I pulled it out a few months ago and thought I'd give it a try. This is one of the lightest and tastiest pound cakes I have ever made. The banana taste is subtle and it has just a trace of citrus. It is really good topped with ice cream and hot fudge!
Ingredients You'll Need
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 medium, very ripe bananas, mashed not too smooth with a fork (3/4 cup)
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange peel
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar, beating at low speed, then increase the mixer speed to high and beat until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl sides after each addition. After all eggs are in, beat several minutes at high speed until the mixture is smooth and very pale. Beat in the bananas.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and ginger. combine the milk and vanilla. Beating at low speed, add the dry ingredients in thirds, alternating with the milk mixture. Stir in the orange peel.
Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spreading evenly. Don't overfill ( you may have a bit too much batter--leave about 1/2 inch at the top of the pan).* Bake about 1 hour and 20 minutes, until the cake pulls away slightly form the sides of the pan and a toothpick or cake tester inserted near the center---and nearly all the way down---comes out clean.
If the top is quite brown after 1 hour, cover it loosely with foil.
Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Loosen the sides with a knife, invert onto a rack, invert again and cool completely.
*I used two foil pans---worked great--no leftover batter. I baked them for about 60 minutes. The orange peel in this gives it just a hint of citrus flavor--really good
