Because it’s easier to buy more bananas than we need instead of having to go to the store if we run out of bananas, there seems to be pretty grungy looking bananas around here all the time. Even though we’re still trying to eat healthier, Vince has been working so hard on the pipe fence and we haven’t had anything bad all week, I made a small banana cake for the weekend.
Banana Cake
And, I baked it in the solar oven! That was the first time I’ve had the solar oven out since last fall. It works just fine even when it’s cold, just so the sun’s out and the sun is almost always out here but it’s no fun being outside in the cold. OK . . I know . . our could isn’t like Minnesota cold but to me, it was cold!
I wiped the dust off the solar reflectors and everything worked just fine. Cake baked at about 325º for about 25 minutes.
This is a recipe I adapted from a recipe that makes a 9″ x 13″ cake but with just the two of us, and our neighbors being on this crazy “We’re not eating sugar” kick, a small cake was just right.
Banana Snack Cake:
1/4 c. shortening (I used coconut oil)
1/2 c. brown sugar (loosely packed)
1/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 c. mashed banana
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. chopped pecans or walnuts
Frosting:
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 T. butter
3 T. milk
Powdered sugar to make the icing the consistency you like (about 1-1/2 cups)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350º (or, stick in the solar oven). Grease an 8″ x 8″ or 9″ x 9″ cake pan.
In mixer cream shortening and sugar. Add egg and beat well. Stir in mashed bananas. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in the nuts and vanilla.
Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting:
Add milk, butter and brown sugar to so a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil gently, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool til barely warm. Pour cooked ingredients into mixing bowl. Stir in vanilla extract. Add powdered sugar til the icing is the consistency desired.
Spread frosting over cooled cake.
Lynn says
I too find myself with over ripe bananas but not always time to do something with them before they are too far gone. What I have been doing lately and it works well is to put them into a Food Saver vacuum seal bag and then pop them into the freezer. I label the date so use the older ones first and always have a supply of soft over ripe bananas ready when I am ready to make something with them.
Judy Laquidara says
I don’t even waste the Food Saver bags because we always have a supply of overripe bananas. I would be just sticking stuff in the freezer that I’d throw out later. It’s like eggs. Folks often tell me of ways to freeze eggs but there’s no need to do it because I get at least a dozen every day.
ursula says
Perfect timimg for the recipe. I always make banana nut bread (one of my faves) but hubby is a cake man so I was going to go looking for a banana cake recipe today. Thanks Judy.
Diann says
Something someone told me to try worked so I’m passing it along. She told me when I bought bananas to put aluminum foil around the top part where the bananas join in the bunch. It retards their ripening so quickly…and it works. They last a lot longer and don’t ripen so fast. I just keep and reuse the foil for the next bunch that comes along.
Lynn says
I am going to give the foil thing a try and see if it works for me.
Doreen says
Thanks for the clarification of the definition of “cold” (for us poor frozen folks up here in MN, covered in snow!). Will have to give the “foil trick” a try! This blog never ceases to amaze me……no topic/stone left unturned!!!! Hugs to you both! Doreen
Marie Gilkey says
I put my bananas without the peelings in the freezer to save for another day. Use them thawed in banana nut bread and they do fine.
Marion Bryant-Parsons says
I put not used bananas into the freezer. If you have littlies, a treat is to place an ice-pop stick into the bottom of the banana, when frozen take out of freezer & you have “healthy” icy poles, they taste like banana paddle pops & the kids love them in summer. For those who only make banana bread, try using a plain-jane cake mixture add a couple of beaten bananas & you have a lovely moist banana cake. Another use is, take a ripened banana, mash then spread the mixture with some cottage cheese added to the banana onto a rice cake, sprinkle with cinnamon then grill under the griller, the treat is a weight watcher’s special.,it helps when you have a sugar craving.
Dar in MO says
I put my bananas in those green plastic bags that will keep them from ripening quickly. They last for at least a week and are not black and mushy as they would be sitting out on the counter. You do need to open the bag and wipe out the condensation each day for this to work well. I’m going to try the foil trick on the next bunch.
Mary Mekelburg says
We have been using the green bags for several years. Put it over the bananas and hang the covered bananas on the banana tree. Then DH read somewhere that they would last even longer in the green bag if the bananas were severed at the stem end so as soon as he buys a new bunch and he buys them quite green, he cuts them loose leaving about 1/4 inch of stem on each banana and puts them loose in the green bag, seals the bag with a clip and hangs it on the tree. The green bags will keep them 5 to 7 days but with severed stems they keep 10 to 12 days or more. When I get an overripe banana, which is rare, I just toss them in the door rack in the freezer in the peel. When I want to use them I thaw them in the peel snip the end off and squish them out like squishing toothpaste out of a tube. I tried peeling them and freezing them in bags but the flavor is not as good. Bananas are strange in that if you freeze a green one or even a yellow one, when thawed, it will not be brown, overripe or mushy but will be the same as when it was frozen. Technically bananas are not ripe until they are brown and mushy. More about bananas than you wanted to know??
JudyL says
No! Thanks for the info. We may have to invest in a green bag. I never freeze mine because we always have a few of them in the fruit bowl.
pat barton says
This was a great way to use my last banana! We loved it. Thanks so much.