This is the first recipe in Pichet Ong's The Sweet Spot and it's a great starting point. Many of the recipes are familiar with interesting twists: ginger pastry cream in a banana cream pie, perhaps a touch of matcha, yuzu, or condensed milk...
I really enjoyed this cake because it's different from your typical banana bread. I used a wildflower honey, but I think something a little darker would have been fantastic. Really try to avoid over mixing. Even if there are a few pockets of yogurt/sour cream, the cake will be incredibly tender.
Banana Cake
adapted from Pichet Ong's "The Sweet Spot"
1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (228g) roughly mashed baby bananas
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
1/2 cup plain whole milk yogurt or sour cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly butter an 8.5x4.5in loaf pan and set aside.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside
3. Put the butter, honey, sugar, cinnamon, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat the mixture on medium high speed until light and fluffy- about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the bananas and vanilla, beating on medium speed until the mixture looks "broken" or lumpy, about 1 minutes. The bananas should be smashed, with a few small chunks remaining.
4. Turn the speed to medium low and beat in the egg until incorporated. Turn the speed to low and gradually add the sifted flour mixture, mixing just until no traces of flour remain- about 10 seconds. Add the yogurt and mix until the batter has only a few remaining white streaks- about 5 seconds. Be sure to avoid over mixing. Gently fold in the chocolate, if desired.
5. Transfer the batter to the pan. Bake in the center of the oven until a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool the cae in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then unmold and cool completely on the rack.
4 comments:
This sounds lovely! I love the fact that there is honey in the bread. If I can get my 4 little monkeys to leave some bananas to get sweet and spotted brown, I'll definitely try this one.
Hello! Found your blog as I googled Pichet Ong's recipe for banana bread. I wanted to check the ingredient amounts. This is exactly the recipe I was looking for. Another favourite blogger had blogged about it and so I made it. It was initially very good (a small stuck corner was tested from the oven that was yummy.) but then turned into a soggy mess. I thought perhaps I had done something wrong or my blogger recipe was incorrect. But yours looks fine and the ingredients you have listed are the same. I used the chocolate chips, despite not wanting too. This may be where I went wrong.
Love your blog and you have some good things to try out. I will watch your blog for the future. Am impressed you are making someones wedding cake. You are a brave soul!
Thanks for the nice words, Melinda.
I found this banana bread was very moist too, and it did get a little soggier as time went on. I wonder if part of this has to do with the fat/sour cream in the recipe.
I am thinking it needs more flour. I may ask (secretly by E mail Rose Levy Beranbaum what she thinks- she knows everything about proportions!)
The cake!! My goodness,it looks fab so far. Hang in there, I am sure it will be wonderful. Hope your finger is alright.
I was asked about 2 years ago to make someones wedding cake. I thought about it for a week and decided I would have to be on valium it I did it, so said 'no'.
I have been asked to do another wedding cake, but she wants a brownie wedding cake. Undecided about that one. hmmm. Brownies?
Will tune in for final cake. Ahh, transporting the cake...!
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