Banana Cake
Well as another weekend rolls around I start to think about what I might whip up. The weekend for me is a great time to get ahead and make a few things that will help me get through the coming week. It's also a great time to have some friends pop over and that always means food, in my book. You can't come to my place without getting fed - like it or not! Some friends often ask me if there is anything my Combi-Steam cannot do. I usually reply with a simple "no", although sometimes I throw in some really witty humour like "oh, it doesn't do massages or pedicures!" and then I wait for them to hold their sides laughing.
But really, there is very little that my Combi-Steam cannot do when it comes to cooking. We know that it steams beautifully. We know that you can brown on the outside and keep things moist in the middle using Hot Air+Steaming and we know that we can reheat amazingly well with Regenerate. Today it's time to get our bake on with a minimum effort and maximum impact recipe. A classic banana cake. The minimum effort comes by making it in the food processor but you could cream the butter and sugar then add the mashed bananas, eggs, vanilla and yoghurt and combine before folding in the dry ingredients if you prefer.
Don’t forget the frosting - it’s to die for - so much so that I once made it and ate so much out to the mixing bowl that I ended up feeling sick. So make sure it gets onto the cake before that happens!
Let's get baked!
Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
125g butter (softened)
200g raw caster sugar
2 eggs (at room temp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
125g greek yoghurt (at room temp)
225g (1 ½ cups) self raising flour
½ tsp bi carb soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Frosting (for top only - double the quantity to ice the sides and the top)
60g cream cheese (softened)
30g butter (softened and cubed)
¾ cup icing sugar mixture (sifted)
Method:
Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin or a 22cm round cake tin.
Select Combination Steam on your CombiSteam oven. Set the temperature to 170°C. (For variable Steam select 20% or low) (For V-ZUG/Wolf use Hot Air Humid) Allow to pre-heat.
Peel and break the bananas into chunks. Place into the main bowl of your food processor with the large blade. Add the butter and sugar. Process for about a minute until well combined and smooth.
Add the eggs down the chute one at a time and process for around 15 seconds in between each one. Add the yoghurt and vanilla and process until combined.
Add the flour, bi carb and cinnamon and use the pulse function to mix until it all comes together. You might need to scrape down the sides here with a spatula in between pulses.
Pour the batter into the cake tin and gently smooth the top with a spatula.
Place the cake onto a rack in the middle/bottom of your pre-heated oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes or until it smells lovely and fragrant and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Remove and place the tin on a rack to cool for 15 minutes. Remove cake and allow to cool on the rack completely.
To make the frosting, place the softened butter into a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth. Add the soft cream cheese and beat until combined and smooth. Add the sifted icing sugar and continue to beat until all combined and smooth.
When completely cooled spread with the frosting - just on top or top and sides if you prefer.
Tip: Iced cake can be stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days! Un-iced cake can be wrapped in two layers of cling film and frozen if desired.
Note: Originally when I developed this recipe I was using my first Combi Steam oven from V-ZUG. For those of you that may have that model still (as I do!) you can also use BakeOmatic to cook this recipe. The option within BakeOmatic is Torte. It will automatically set the cooking time and temperature for you and you start from a cold oven (no preheating). The BakeOmatic Torte option is available in V-ZUG Combi Steam ovens the are likely more than 5 years old and have the small dial button in the centre with a series of smaller push buttons on either side. The touchscreen models do not have this option - so use the recipe details above instead.
This is one of my favourite cakes and I come back to this recipe again and again. I hope you do too.
Yum!
Happy Combi Steaming!
Yours in the kitchen,
The CSQ. x