Would you believe me if I told you this was a bundt cake and that it was really, really good?
Because it is, and it was.
I haven't done a whole lot of baking lately, and the baking I have done hasn't produced anything blog-worthy. Instead, I have become addicted to watching Dateline, 20/20 and 48 Hours On Demand and getting my baking fix through Kids Baking Championship on Food Network. It's all the fun, minus the clean up and calories. It's also a nice little show to lighten the watchlist, because I'd rather go to sleep dreaming about cake than about murderers.
If you haven't watched KBC, it's basically a baking competition featuring a group of kids vying for $10,000, being judged by cake guru Duff Goldman and actress-turned-cooking personality Valerie Bertinelli. Each week they are given a theme or a challenge for their baking creations and either advance to the next round or get voted off. {I have no idea how Duff & Valerie do it with those puppy dog eyes staring at them!}
I am blown away by those smart, talented little people. They are hilarious and inspiring, and I'm hoping that watching them in action will give me some clue as to how to make my own child turn out to be charming and eloquent. I won't hate it if he can whip up a mean French pastry while he's at it, but beggars can't be choosers.
You'd never know from from all the talk of "ganache", "coulis" and "creme anglais" that these pint sized bakers only range in age from 10-13, and their ingenuity at problem solving when their plans go awry is pretty spectacular. {Plus, their nasal little voices and chubby cheeks are so stinkin' cute. It's amazing the things you find darling when you're no longer in charge of teaching these rascals.} Most of the time, they try to convince the judges that they meant to produce whatever it is that turned out once their time is up, which isn't necessarily truthful, but is a nice last-ditch effort to win.
So when this very delicious Brown Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake crumbled into a pile of cake rubble as I was turning it out of the {clearly, not properly greased} pan, I channeled the mini baking masterminds and thought to myself, "Hmm. Now how can I make it look like I meant to do that?" And this is as good as it got.
If you're not falling for the presentation, don't let it deter you from trying it out for yourself because you'll be missing out for sure. Not only is this recipe super easy, but it's also extremely flavorful thanks to the extra {but worthwhile} step of browning the butter, which lends a nutty, almost toffee-like note. And banana and chocolate together? Always a winning combo.
Some weeks things don't quite work out the way you want them to. This is one of those weeks. But let's just pretend I meant to lose half of my cake to the bundt pan, and that I had planned to photograph it all cut up. Yeah. We'll go with that...
Brown Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup {2 sticks} unsalted butter
- 1 ⅓ cups sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ⅔ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup mashed banana {about 2 medium bananas}
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅔ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare bundt pan* by buttering or spraying with non-stick spray. {Do a good job so that you don't have to fudge your presentation like I did!}
- In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Bring it to a bubble and allow it to simmer until it starts to turn light brown and smells toffee-like or nutty. This should take about 5-7 minutes.
- When the butter is browned, remove from heat and pour it through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl to remove the brown sediment that will form at the bottom. Set the bowl of hot melted butter aside to cool slightly.
- Meanwhile, sift together the salt, flour and baking soda in a small bowl.
- In another bowl, whisk together sugar and cooled butter until smooth. Add in the eggs, mashed banana and vanilla extract and beat until everything is well-incorporated.
- Add the flour mixture and chocolate chips into the wet ingredients and fold everything together until well-combined. Don't overdo it or you'll end up with a tough cake.
- Pour the batter into the buttered baking pan and bake for about 40-45 minutes, or until a knife or skewer inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean {a few crumbs are ok}.
- Remove the cake from the oven and set is aside to cool for 20 minutes or so. Carefully flip over the bundt pan and give it light tap to remove the cake -- hope you have better luck than I do!
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