Banana Bread Bundt Cake

I always made banana bread when I was younger. I found a few banana bread recipes in a company recipe book my father bought when he worked in the hospital. There were at least 6 recipes for banana bread, and each one had added ingredients or different measurements. I decided to take all these recipes and make my own. After making it for more than 10 years, I am finally writing this recipe down. It's fresh in my mind from baking a bundt cake this weekend for a friend's new home.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter (margarine or oil)
• 1-1 1/2 cups sugar (white or light/dark brown or combined)
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 or more bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg
• optional: pecans, walnuts, chocolate chips

Materials: 

source

Metal bundt cake pan. (My pan is similar to this one pictured. I figured out at a younger age that it cooks faster in a bundt cake pan instead of a loaf pan.)

Directions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

1. Mix sugar and butter until it's creamy. (I was out of margarine this weekend, so I used vegetable oil. Glad the recipe still worked!)
2. Add eggs. (I used a mixer to get the sugar chunks out.)
3. Add one cup of flour and mix well. Add the second cup of flour and mix well. (Use the mixer if necessary.)
4. Add 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. I made the first cake without salt and 5 bananas, and it was sweeter than what I was used to.
5. Smash the bananas and add to the mix. The batter gets pretty stiff with the flour, and adding the bananas gives it a more fluid consistency. If the batter is still tough, add more bananas, or a splash of milk will work too.
6. Add any additional seasonings. I usually add vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. And you can use more than 1 tsp. I think I used a tbsp of each.
7. Add your favorite nuts or chocolate pieces. The first cake I made on Sunday didn't have nuts. I found some pecan pieces after I made the cake, and I added it to yesterday's bundt cake. I really want to try this recipes with lots of semi sweet dark chocolate pieces. Yum!

Spray the pan with cooking spray and pour the mixture in the cake pan. Bake the cake for 30 minutes (Told you it was fast). Check to make sure it's cooked thoroughly by inserting a butter knife in the cake. If it's still wet, cook for a maximum 15 minutes. If it comes out clean, the cake is done!

I also realized if you use white sugar, the cake bakes lighter. For the second cake I only had a little less than 1 cup of sugar, so I added some light brown sugar. The cake cooked darker (the way I like it!).

Do you make banana bread/cake? Let me know if you try this recipe!

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