I’m Sick, So You Probably Shouldn’t Touch This Banana Bread

A tale as old as time.

This past weekend, on a lazy Saturday morning, I created the best banana bread/cake I have ever eaten.  Banana bread is so common it’s almost trite, but not when it’s as moist and fluffy as mine.  My finished banana cake was perfectly balanced and delicious when eaten plain, by the slice.  No need for frosting.  

One of my best friends, Chowhound.com, directed me to a thread about banana bread posted by Athena, and so I adapted Martha Stewart’s recipe.  I still haven’t unearthed my loaf pan since the big move to Fargo, but used a square cake pan.  

1 stick of softened, unsalted butter

1 cup of honey (I mixed together turbinado sugar and honey)

2 eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 cups of unbleached, all purpose flour (I ran out of AP flour, so I added a small amount of whole wheat flour)

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of sea salt

3 over-ripe, organic bananas, mashed

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon of real vanilla extract

1 small splash of real almond extract

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Smear your pan with butter so the cake will not stick.

In a large bowl, mix the butter and honey/sugar well.  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a smaller bowl and mix.  

Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix gently.  Fold in the second half of the dry ingredients.  Gently incorporate the mashed bananas, vanilla and almond extracts, sour cream, and chopped nuts.  

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 40 minutes or until a toothpick can be cleanly removed from the center of the cake, being careful not to over-bake.