Eureka! Banana cake part 1
Well, I paired him up with these guys and made a cake.
A truly delicious, forgiving, easy to make cake that is the bastard child of my banana bread and Edna Lewis‘ Blueberry Cake. I also received a little help from this cake, which has been making the rounds on the internet lately. I have been playing around with proportions and flavors, and there is a part II to this story that involves peanut butter and chocolate.
Ms. Lewis’ Blueberry Cake makes use of leftover berries from canning, which I sadly do not have, so I cook mine down. You end up with a beautiful little blueberry sauce, which is perfect on its own, though you could add a little sugar and cook it down if you feel like spending an extra few minutes slaving over the stove.
All I can tell you is that when Amir was sitting at the kitchen table eating this two-day old cake, and dipping it in the sauce, he seemed very happy to be back in New York.
Banana-blueberry-buttermilk cake
I made this in a 9″ springform pan, but I think it would work just as well in a 8″. You’ll get a slightly thicker cake and a denser blueberry topping.
1 pint (250 g) blueberries
2 cups (130 g) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp (1 g) salt
1/2 tsp (4 g) baking soda
1 tsp (4 g) baking powder
4 tbsp (56g) butter, softened
1/2 cup (70 g) sugar + 2 tbsp (35 g) for topping
1 over-ripe banana, mashed
1 egg
1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) vanilla extract
1/2 cup (110 ml) buttermilk
1/2 tsp (3g) ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8″ or 9″ springform pan.
Cook blueberries over medium heat until they begin to release their juices, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Mix in the egg and vanilla.
Alternate adding the buttermilk and flour, starting and ending with the buttermilk.
Pour batter into pan. Using a slotted spoon, spoon cooked blueberries onto top of cake.
Stir together cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle on top of the cake.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
*You could probably make this cake with uncooked blueberries, you could probably do a lot of things to it. You could even melt the butter and just toss everything in a bowl. Play around, it’s an immensely adaptable cake.
