Sourdough Banana Cake

There were many interesting cakes in March's Sourdough Sharing.  Since I had some ripe bananas on hand, I decided to give Amanda's cake a try.  She posted a link to this recipe.

Ingredients

1 c sourdough 

1 1/2 c flour

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1/4 c oil

1/4 c plain yogurt

1 1/2 c bananas

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

In mixing bowl beat together sourdough, egg, oil, sugars, yogurt, vanilla and bananas.  I did not mash the banana a lot because I wanted chunks of banana in the cake.  Mix together dry ingredients - flour, spices and baking soda.  Add to mixing bowl and stir only until combined.  Pour into greased cake pan - either 9" by 13" or a bundt pan. 

 

Bake at 350°F for 35 to 40 minutes (9x13) or 40 to 45 minutes (bundt) or until toothpick comes clean.

 



 

You can add a glaze, if you wish, but I found the cake tasty and moist without it.



Sourdough Sharing - Cake

This month for Sourdough Sharing, I have two sourdough cakes to offer. 

The first one is a Carrot Cake that I previously blogged here.  It is Barry's favorite carrot cake as he hates dry cakes and this one is very nice and moist.  It is very tasty with the nuts, raisins and pineapple added.

The other cake is a Sourdough Fiesta Cake that I found in my Sourdough Cookery cookbook by Rita Davenport.  I was pleased to be able to use my own dehydrated beans and raisins from my garden as well as our own apples in this cake.

Ingredients

1/4 c butter, softened

1 c sugar

1 egg

1/2 c milk

2 c mashed cooked pinto beans

1 tsp vanilla

1 c sourdough

1 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp allspice

2 c diced apples

1/2 c chopped nuts

1 c raisins

To make the beans, I soaked 2 cups of pinto beans overnight.  I then drained them and cooked them in fresh water til they were tender.  I then redrained them and mashed 2 cups of beans.  I had 2 cups of beans left over that I will use when I make refried beans later this week.  I now know that you only have to soak half of what the recipe needs as the beans double in size.

 

Beat together butter, sugar and egg.  Add milk, vanilla and beans.  Mix in the sourdough.

Combine dry ingredients and add to mixture.  Stir in nuts, raisins and apples.

Pour into a greased bundt pan and bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.  

Cool in pan for 5 minutes.  

Remove from pan and glaze when cool.

Glaze Ingredients

1 c icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp milk

Blend all ingredients and drizzle onto cake.  

I found the cake to be nice and moist.  Usually when you bake with apples, the standard spices seem to be cinnamon and nutmeg.  Using cloves and allspice gives it a different and pleasing taste.  The pinto beans are not noticeable but add hidden protein to the cake.  Enjoy!

 

Try one of these or take a look at the blogs below for other sourdough cakes.





Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I was given this recipe years ago when my boys were young.  It was a new way to use up some zucchini.  I was very moist and tasty and I made it every year when the zucchini took over the world.

Ingredients

1/4 c butter or marg
1/2 c oil
1 3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c sour milk
2 1/2 c flour
4 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
2 c grated zucchini
1/2 c chocolate chips


Grate enough zucchini to make 2 cups.  I use unpeeled but know of some people who peel their zucchini to hide it from others eating the cake. 
 

 

Combine oil, eggs and butter.  Mix in sugar and vanilla. 

 

Combine all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. 

 

Mix well. 

 

Add dry ingredients, alternating with sour milk. 

 

Add chocolate chips and zucchini. 

 

Stir well. 

 

 Pour into greased and floured 9" by 13" pan.  Bake in preheated oven at 325°F for 45 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

 

 I don't bother to frost the cake because it is so moist.  Enjoy!  ;)

 

 



Chocolate Cake and 7 Minute Frosting

Years ago, I used to make 7 minute frosting in a double boiler, beating it with a hand mixer.  I hadn't made it for quite a while and was remembering how good it was.  Unfortunately, I got rid of my hand mixer so I didn't think I could make it again.  I checked on the internet and found several recipes that didn't need the hand mixer and double boiler.  I decided to give it a try.  I like it on chocolate cake and had a cake recipe I wanted to try as well. So here they are.
http://www.bestmoistchocolatecakerecipe.com/   http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/favorite-fudge-birthday-cupcakes-with-7-minute-icing-recipe

Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
2 c flour
2 c sugar
3/4 c cocoa
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I used 1 Tbsp vinegar in 1 cup, add milk to make 1 cup)
1 c oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c boiling water or strong coffee (I used coffee)

Preheat oven to 300°F and grease and flour a 9" x 13" pan.
Mix all dry ingredients together to prevent lumping. (The sugar does the trick.)

Add rest of ingredients except hot water or coffee and mix for about 1 1/2 minutes.  Add coffee and continue to beat until smooth.

Pour into pan.  Bake for 1 hour at 300°F or until toothpick comes clean.

Cool on rack.

7 Minute Frosting

Ingredients

2 egg whites

1 c sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/3 c water

1 tsp vanilla

Beat egg whites until foamy and thick.

Place sugar, water and cream of tartar in saucepan.  Stir well and bring to boil until sugar is dissolved.  Then boil without stirring for 2 minutes or until 240°F on candy thermometer.

Beat egg whites while slowly pouring in hot syrup.  Continue beating and add vanilla.  Then beat until icing forms peaks that hold their shape.

Spoon frosting onto cake and spread thickly.

Swirl with knife into peaks.

Cut a piece and enjoy!  Eat leftover frosting with a big spoon.  ;)  It tastes like marshmallow cream.  Barry and I pigged out and enjoyed it immensely.

The cake was very moist and chocolaty.  Yummy indeed!  And the frosting was as good as I remembered it.  The only think about it was that it did not keep as well as the stuff I made in a double boiler.  That icing would get a thin crust that protected the rest.  This frosting did not get a crust so the frosting slowly deflated over time.  Maybe I didn't boil the syrup long enough (next time I'll use a thermometer)  All in all it was great and I would definitely make these both again.

Poppy Seed Cake

This is another quick and tasty dessert recipe I got from my dear late Aunt Ruby.  I already shared her Fast Fixin' Cake  http://mountaingardengleanings.blogspot.ca/2011/08/fast-fixin-cake.html  previously.

This is another recipe that starts with a cake mix.

Ingredients
1 yellow cake mix
1 small package vanilla instant pudding mix
4 eggs
1/2 c oil
1/2 c sherry
1 c sour cream
1/3 c poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Combine cake mix and pudding mix. 

Mix in poppy seeds.

 

This is the brand of sherry that I use, only because it was what Auntie Ruby used.  She said you could substitute apple juice of the sherry but I have never tried it.

Add oil, sherry, eggs and sour cream.

Mix well.

 

Pour into a greased bundt pan.  I use cooking spray to grease the pan.

Bake at 350°F for 50 - 60 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Place plate on top of cake pan and flip cake over.  Cool cake on plate.

Slice and enjoy. You probably could use a vanilla or lemon glaze to fancy up the cake but it is so moist and tasty we have never had it that way.  ;)

Pear Cake

We had an over-abundance of pears last fall, and while they did keep, I can only eat so many.  So I hunted up some recipes on the internet.  I found a Pear Cake here  http://southernfood.about.com/od/pears/r/bl50221b.htm  that looked interesting.

Ingredients

4 c chopped pears

3 c flour

1 c chopped walnuts or pecans

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 c oil

2 eggs, beaten

2 c sugar

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Grease and flour either a 9" x 13" pan or tube pan.  I used the 9x13 pan.

Peel and core pears.  I kept them in water with a bit of lemon juice to prevent them from browning.

Chop pears to measure 4 cups.   I chopped them in my food processor.

 Mix pears with sugar and nuts and let sit for 1 hour.  



Stir frequently. 

Add dry ingredients to the pears; stir to combine.  



Add oil, vanilla, and beaten eggs.

Stir to blend.

Pour batter into a generously greased and floured pan.

Bake at 350° for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes for the tube pan or 45 to 55 minutes for the 9x13 pan.  Test with a toothpick in the center to be sure.

The cake was very moist.  We ate it without icing but it probably would taste great with cream cheese icing (although I think, anything would taste great with cream cheese icing).

Pears don't have a strong taste but it had what I am calling a "fresh" taste.  Enjoy!  ;)

Fast Fixin' Cake

I got this recipe from my dear late aunt.  She shared a number of wonderful recipes with me and I am happy to pass this one on.

Ingredients
1 cake mix (I usually use white, yellow or french vanilla)
1/4 c oil
2 eggs
1/2 c water
1 can pie filling (strawberry-rhubarb on one of our favorites as is blueberry, peach or cherry)

Variations - I also like spice cake mix with apple pie filling, or chocolate cake mix with cherry pie filling.

Pour oil into a 9x13 pan.  Tilt pan to cover bottom.  I usually dip my finger in the oil and spread it up the sides as well.  Pour in dry cake mix.

Add eggs and water.

Stir until blended.

Scrape sides and spread batter in pan.

Spoon pie filling onto batter.

Fold in with fork.

Bake at 350F for 35-45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Cool before slicing.

Enjoy! ;)

This is a quick, easy, delicious dessert that can be different each time you make it depending on the flavour of cake mix and pie filling you use.