Banana Nut Bread

We had some unchosen bananas this week...the ones that start to spot early and nobody wants to eat them, so they just keep getting darker.  They looked like this by today:

So I decided a banana nut bread would be a good way to use them up.  There used to be a roadside restaurant and fruit stand near Vacaville, CA, called the Nut Tree.  They started out selling fruit, then nut breads, then they opened a restaurant, added some rides, and for several decades it was a great stopping off point between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.  Our favorite nut breads were the apricot walnut and, of course, banana nut.  The Nut Tree is gone now, a victim of the times, I suppose, and the main thing I remember about the nut breads is how moist they were.  So I went searching for a recipe, and came upon this one in Nancy Silverton's Pastries from the La Brea Bakery.  She always seems to call for extra-large eggs, so I've started adding an extra large one to compensate (which I included in this recipe).

BANANA-NUT BREAD

2/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) walnuts
2/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) pecans
3 to 4 bananas, very ripe, mashed to equal 1 1/4 cups, plus 1 whole banana for garnish not so ripe
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used Vietnamese)
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Scan 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 teaspoon extra for sprinkling
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 cups unbleached AP flour

Lightly butter a 6-cup-capacity loaf pan.

I have tried different brushes, but I find that it is worth it to spend a little more for pastry brushes.  I buy a dozen at a time, and then I mark them with a Sharpie:  butter, oil, and egg, because I suspect that there could be a little residue.  Once they get funky looking, I throw them away.

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.  Shake the pan halfway through to ensure that the nuts toast evenly (remember, you'll know they're done when you can smell them).  Cool, chop coarsely, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, mash the riper bananas,

then whisk in eggs and vanilla extract to combine.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and poppy seeds on low, 2 to 3 minutes, until softened.

Add the sugars and turn the mixer up to medium, mixing another 3 to 4 minutes until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl, if needed.

Add the flour and the banana mixture alternately in 3 batches, beginning with the flour and mixing until just combined.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan to just below the rim.

Cut two 1/4-inch-thick strips from the remaining banana, slicing down the entire length.

Arrange the two C shapes on top of the loaf, staggered, with the two ends slightly interlocking with each other in the center (I didn't exactly follow this instruction...oops).

Sprinkle about one teaspoon granulated sugar over the surface.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until nicely browned and firm to the touch.

Yield:  1 loaf

We all thought that this was a tasty nut bread.  The spices are not overwhelming, and it was nice and moist on the inside.  It will get even better in the freezer.

Chocolate Cake with Orange frosting

I had an extra orange hanging around, so that got me thinking about how to use it.  I was feeling a little bored with my usual rotation of cookies for the treat drawer, so I got out Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Beranbaum and started browsing for a chocolate cake to go with the orange frosting.  She is considered one of the premier cake bakers in the country, appearing on Top Chef, etc.  What I love about her book is that she completely deals with the measurement issues by offering all of the alternatives.  Not only does she list the volume measurements, both sifted and scoop and level, but she also gives the weight in ounces and grams.  You just have to pick one and stick with it and the proportions will be right.  I opted for the grams because they are generally more precise, but I will list all four (!).  Rose believes that the best way to create a light cake is to minimize the amount of time that the wet ingredients interact with the flour, decreasing the time for gluten to form (remember, gluten makes things chewy).  While classically many cakes started with creaming butter and sugar, then alternating wet and dry ingredients, she starts with the dry ingredients in the bowl, then adds the fats, then the wet ingredients.  It's a little different, and as I try different recipes, I'll let you know what I think about the results.

Cakes fall into categories, based somewhat on the fats used.  There are butter cakes, oil cakes, sour cream and oil cakes, etc.  This cake, which she calls a chocolate layer cake, is made with mostly butter, but a little bit of oil.  I appreciate that this recipe makes a single layer, so we won't be overwhelmed with leftover cake.

One of Rose's other preferences is for something called cake strips.  These are a form of insulation around the cake pan to try to even out the baking.  They look like this:

The idea is that if you can slow down the baking at the edges, it will prevent doming.  However, as I will show you later, my cake domed like a champ anyway.  So I'm not completely sold on these.

About cocoa powder:  there are basically two types, alkalized and non-alkalized.  For baking, it is preferable to use alkalized because it has been treated with a mild alkali to mellow its flavor by neutralizing acidity and that makes it more soluble.  Sometimes I use ScharffenBerger, but here I used King Arthur Flour's Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa.

CHOCOLATE LAYER CAKE

1/2 cup plus 1 Tablespoon or 1.5 oz or 42 g unsweetened (alkalized) cocoa powder
1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) boiling water
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3 Tablespoons (1.5 fluid ounces) water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tablespoon sifted (or 1 1/3 cups packed) or 5.5 ounces or 156 g AP flour
1 cup or 7 ounces or 200g superfine sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons or 4 ounces or 113 g unsalted butter at room temperature
2 Tablespoons or 1 oz canola oil

Special Equipment:  one 9x2-inch round cake pan, encircled with a cake strip, bottom coated with shortening, topped with a parchment round, then coated with baking spray with flour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, with the oven rack set in the lower third of the oven.

Mix the cocoa and water:  In a medium bowl, whisk the cocoa and boiling water until smooth.

Cover with plastic wrap to prevent evaporation and cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Mix the remaining liquid ingredients:  In another bowl, whisk the eggs, the 3 Tablespoons of water, and the vanilla just until lightly combined.

Make the batter:  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt on low speed for 30 seconds.  Add the butter, oil, and cocoa mixture.

Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Raise the speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Starting on medium-low speed, gradually add the egg mixture in two parts, beating on medium speed for 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients and strengthen the structure.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Using a silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface evenly with a small offset spatula.

Bake the cake:  Bake for 27 to 30 minutes, or until a wire cake tester inserted in the center comes out almost clean and the cake appears cooked in the center.  The cake should start to shrink from the sides of the pan only after removal from the oven.

As you can see, despite the cake strip, this cake had a pronounced dome.  However, when it cooled, it came right down and was quite even.

Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Run a small metal spatula between the sides of the pan and the cake, pressing firmly against the pan, and invert the cake onto a wire rack that has been lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray.  To prevent splitting, reinvert the cake so that the top side is up.  Cool completely.

ORANGE FROSTING

1/2 cup or 4 ounces unsalted butter
1 lb confectioner's sugar
3-4 Tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
grated rind of 1 orange
1/2 teaspoon orange oil

Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl.

Using the whisk attachment, start to slowly whip the frosting until the sugar and liquids have mixed, then mix on highest speed.  Check after a few minutes to see if the frosting is a good spreading consistency.  Then whip it for another 5 minutes to get a light, easy to spread frosting.

I use my cake dome for frosting, because it turns easily on the countertop.

You will probably have extra frosting, but wouldn't you rather have too much than too little?

Voila!