Banana

Banana bread with brown butter chocolate spread

October 7, 2018 By linda 18 Comments

I’ve been thinking about making banana bread for some time now, but haven’t been patient enough to wait for bananas to become ripe. Hehe. Sounds silly, I know! I even tried making a banana bread using roasted banana but it was definitely not the same. The bananas simply NEED to be very ripe to get the right sweetness and flavor. I know there are some tricks for speeding up the process but I haven’t tried them myself.

I’m not sure what else to say about this recipe other than it’s seriously dangerous and you will want to eat the whole thing by yourself. Especially slathered in that creamy brown butter chocolate spread. Yuum. It’s perfect for the beautiful autumn weather we’re having – accompanied by a cup of coffee or chai tea.

If you’re looking for other banana recipes, you can find my Banana bundt cake with butterscotch sauce HERE and my Banana upside down cake HERE. I very much encourage you to try those too as they are two of my favorite recipes ever.

BANANA BREAD WITH BROWN BUTTER CHOCOLATE SPREAD

Makes 1 loaf cake

This cake can be made 1-2 days ahead (actually it gets better after a day or two), wrapped in plastic wrap or stored in a airtight container.
Recipe from my book “Sweet food & photography” / My Sweet Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

BANANA BREAD

125 g unsalted butter, softened
210 g (1 scant cup) granulated sugar
1 large egg
210 g (1 1/2 cup) all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. flaky salt
1 cup (about 2-3) very ripe mashed bananas
125 ml (1/2 cup) sour cream or thick yogurt
1 banana, for topping

BROWN BUTTER CHOCOLATE

225 g (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter
75 g semi sweet chocolate (55%), chopped
pinch of salt
1-2 tbsp. powdered sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

BANANA BREAD

Preheat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease and flour/breadcrumb a 5 cup (1,2 liter) loaf pan.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy, about 3-4 minutes. Add the egg and beat until smooth.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and salt.
Fold the dry ingredients into the butter and egg mixture. Combine the mashed banana and sour cream and add to the batter, then stir until smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Split a banana in half lengthwise and place on top of the batter, dot the bananas with a little extra butter if desired.
Bake on the lower rack for about 60-67 minutes (but start checking a little earlier) or until a cake tester comes out clean. Keep an eye on the cake so it doesn’t brown too much on top. If it does, cover the pan loosely with a piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper (make sure to not seal it, the cake needs room to breathe and rise!). Let the cake cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes, then invert it onto a wire rack to cool.

BROWN BUTTER CHOCOLATE

Place the butter in a light colored saucepan (so you can see the butter change color) over medium heat and leave until it melts and start bubbling.
Continue cooking, stirring frequently until the milk solids turn brown and the butter smells nutty, about 5-10 minuter longer. Take care not to burn the butter (it will continue to brown even after you remove it from the heat, so take it off in time). Pour the butter into a bowl and let cool for a few minutes, then add the chopped chocolate and salt and stir until smooth.
Either leave at room temperature or place the bowl covered in the fridge until the spread thickens to a soft butter consistency. Beat the mixture until fluffy, and add in powdered sugar if desired.

Caramelized banana upside-down cake

November 4, 2017 By linda 56 Comments

Can I just say… this cake is SOOO. GOOD. I know I say that about everything and I truly mean it every time. But you know, you always have your favorites/weaknesses (like.. devouring 20 chocolate chip cookies.. never happened). I think you know what I mean. Some things are just hard to resist, and this cake is definitely one of those cakes where I could eat the whole thing in one go. Let me just say, whoever came up with the idea of baking fruit in a pool of caramel in the bottom of a baking pan is a genius. Downright genius.

CARAMELIZED BANANA UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

8-10 servings

This cake didn’t last very long in my house, that’s how good it is! Definitely best served warm. The cake itself is quite sweet, so if you’d like to serve it with something, I’d recommend some unsweetened whipped cream. I didn’t add too much spice in the recipe because I didn’t want to take away from the banana flavor, but you can definitely up the ginger and cinnamon if you want a more spiced cake.

INGREDIENTS

TOPPING

65 g (approx. 2/3 stick) salted butter
125 g (1/2 cup + 1 tbsp, tightly packed) light muscovado sugar
3-4 ripe bananas

CAKE

200 g (1 1/3 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp.) all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
125 g softened salted butter
180 g (3/4 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
150 ml (2/3 cup) thick yoghurt (greek or turkish), at room temp.

INSTRUCTIONS

TOPPING

Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Butter a 22 cm (9 inch) springform pan and cover the bottom of the pan with baking paper.
Peel and cut the bananas in half lengthwise.
Melt the butter in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in sugar and cook for 2-3 minutes over medium heat until combined and sugar is melted. Don’t worry if the mixture feels gritty, it will disappear once the cake is baked. Spread the caramel over the baking paper in the bottom of the pan. Place the bananas cut side down over the caramel.

CAKE

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the flour in three additions, and the yoghurt in two, beginning and ending with flour. Beat until just smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, over the caramel and bananas. Smooth the top with a spatula.
Make sure to put a baking sheet covered with baking paper on the lowest rack of the oven to catch any drips from the cake (it will most likely leak a little bit). Bake the cake for 45-50 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Start checking around 40 minutes, as you might need to cover the cake with foil if it’s browning too much.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a large serving platter or plate to put the cake on. After the 5 minutes, carefully remove the sides of the springform pan. Then invert the cake onto the platter and peel off the piece of baking paper. Let cool a bit before serving.

Spara

Croatia + a banana bundt cake with hot butterscotch sauce

October 15, 2016 By linda 22 Comments

You know when you go to a place that you’ve been to before, and your expectations are extremely high because your first time there was so perfect? I figured Croatia (to be more precise, Istria) would not live up to the high standards I’d set for it. But it was equally amazing this time. I’m a nostalgic person and I get so sad every time I have to say goodbye a place. Last year I said goodbye to this beautiful place and the kittens… oh the kittens! I didn’t expect to see them ever again, but they were still there this year with the addition of two (or three?) more, very shy kittens. Everything was exactly the same, as if time had stood still. I’m not much for change, so seeing that this place I fell in love with last year was exactly the same made me so happy.
And of course, meeting the wonderful group of people is the very best part. As introverted as I may be (like 94%, hehe), I really love meeting and hanging out with all of these amazing ladies, eating delicious food, talking about life, taking photos, truffleforaging and drinking lots of wine. And waking up to beautiful sunrises and morning fog. I mean, doesn’t that sound like a dream? So thank you again to the ladies of First We Eat, Carey and Eva, for bringing me along on this journey. And to Laurie, Inge, Christiann, Marta, Gia, Anya, Dasha, Maja, Tamara, Anja, Nikole and Joelle for being such an awesome group of people.
I made this delicious, moist banana bundt cake to style and shoot one of the days, and let’s just say it was appreciated by everyone. Even the cats snuck a taste.

…

Vegan no bake chocolate mousse cake

March 24, 2015 By linda 74 Comments

Can I just say how impressed I am by this cake?
I had a whole bunch of leftovers from the last “raw” cake I made so I took the opportunity to make a chocolatey version too, cause you know, you gotta have chocolate. I pretty much improvised so there are all kinds of good stuff in this one. It tastes a bit like coconut, a bit like peanut butter, banana, and chocolate of course. And just the right amount of espresso. That might sound like a lot of stuff, but to me, it’s perfection.
And let’s talk about the texture. This cake is so creamy and smooth, like a mousse cake. I would never in a million years guess that a piece of this cake is actually pretty good for you. Almost too good to be true, right?!

If you compare this cake to the last one I made, this one is definitely more like a mousse cake while the other one is a bit more like ice cream. I love them both and I’m sure I will make them again and again.

NO BAKE CHOCOLATE VEGAN MOUSSE CAKE
This cheesecake is completely gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free

Makes 1 small cake (18 cm/5 inches) but you can of course double the recipe ro make a bigger one!

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS
CRUST
1/2 cup (100 g) pitted dates
1/2 cup (85 g) almonds
1/4 cup (25 g) shredded coconut
1 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1/2-1 tbsp espresso or strong coffee

FILLING
1/2 cup (85 g) cashew nuts, soaked in water overnight then drained*
3 tbsp coconut oil
1/3 cup coconut milk (full fat)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2-3 tbsp maple syrup (to taste)
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp espresso or strong coffee
1 banana

CHOCOLATE SAUCE
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp maple syrup

TOPPING
Cocoa powder
Chopped pistachios or nuts of choice
Shredded coconut

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Soak the dates in warm water for 15 minutes then drain. Put almonds in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the dates, coconut, cocoa powder, salt and pulse until a paste forms. Add espresso as needed and pulse until paste is smooth.
2. Press mixture into a 6 or 7 inch springform pan with the bottom covered with plastic wrap (if you don’t have a springform pan, use a pie tin or a regular cake pan covered with parchment paper). Put the pan in the freezer while you prepare the filling.
3. Put coconut oil, coconut milk, cocoa powder, maple syrup, peanut butter and coffee in a sauce pan and heat very gently until mixture is quite loose and all ingredients have melted (this step is to make the filling a bit looser – or it will be too thick to mix smooth in the food processor/blender).
4. Pour the ingredients from the sauce pan plus the cashews and the banana into a blender or food processor and mix until mixture is as smooth as possible. Pour the filling into the crust, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 2-4 hours or until filling is set.

After the mixture was set, I actually stored the cake in the fridge instead and it held up fine! It was more like a mousse cake. Delicious! So if you know you will eat the cake within a day or two – store it in the fridge, if you want to save it longer store it in the freezer.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE
1. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Powder some extra cocoa powder on top of the cake.
Drizzle sauce over cake and top with chopped pistachios and shredded coconut if desired.

*If you’re in a hurry you can let the cashews soak in very hot water for 1 hour instead of overnight

Double chocolate banana muffins with mascarpone frosting and bourbon caramel sauce

January 12, 2015 By linda 73 Comments

So, this is my first post of the new year. I know, I know, it’s already the 12th , but I felt like I had to mention it. 2014 sure had its ups and downs. My trip to Iceland and the release of my new book Sweet food & photography are two of my favorite things from last year.

I have been baking like never before these past weeks, something that hasn’t been very noticeable on the blog. Finally I had some time to bake for the blog.
I had two very sad looking bananas lying in my kitchen that I didn’t want to throw them away, so I figured I’d make something easy with them. Chocolate muffins maybe? Then I remembered I still had the jar of dry ingredients from my last blogpost! So I used that and added the bananas. I didn’t think these muffins could get any better, but boy was I wrong. They came out even more moist than before. So, when in doubt, add a banana or two. Well, maybe they don’t go with everything.. These muffins are absolutely perfect without the frosting, but I have a thing for this particular one. Mascarpone frosting. It’s not very sweet, it just adds that extra creaminess. And the bourbon caramel sauce. Don’t even get me started the bourbon caramel sauce. Honestly, I don’t even particularly like drinking beverages with alcohol (and especially not bourbon) but in baked goods, it just works so well.

Double chocolate BANANA muffins WITH
MASCARPONE FROSTING AND BOURBON CARAMEL SAUCE

If you don’t have buttermilk at home, you can make your own by adding 1 tbsp lemon juice to just under 1 cup of milk. I actually mixed a little sour cream, milk and lemon juice and it worked like a charm!

Double chocolate banana muffins
makes 20-22 medium sized muffins or about 15-17 normal sized

INGREDIENTS
2 cups (300 g) all purpose flour
¾ cup + 1 ½ tbsp (80 g) cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder (yes, tablespoon!)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup + 2 tbsp (250 g) granulated sugar
100 g butter (1 scant stick), melted
1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs
2 very ripe bananas
150 g dark chocolate (70%), coarsely chopped (or chocolate chips)

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Heat oven to 200°c (392°F). Prepare a muffin pan with 12 muffin
liners (or if you have two pans and can fit them both in the oven,
prepare both of them with liners).
2. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking
powder, baking soda and salt in bowl. Set aside.
3. Mix sugar, butter,
buttermilk, eggs and mashed banana in a large bowl. Add dry
ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Stir in
chocolate, but save 1/4 of it to put on top of muffins.
Divide batter between 20-22 medium sized liners, filling them almost
to the very top. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate pieces.
5. Bake for
16-18 minutes or until a cake tester comes out almost clean.

Bourbon caramel sauce
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 tbsp bourbon (rum would work too)
2 tbsp milk
3 ½ tbsp heavy cream
1/3 cup (70 g) granulated sugar
25 g butter
pinch of salt

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Carefully heat bourbon, milk and cream in a saucepan. It should be hot but not boiling.
2. Meanwhile, put
the sugar in another sauce pan and heat until it starts to melt.
Carefully stir sugar with a spoon until all sugar has melted and has
become a golden brown color.
3. Add the butter and stir until melted.
Very carefully (it will bubble up!) add the heated cream mixture.
Stir until smooth, add the salt and pour into a jar to cool. Put in
the frige to become completely cold.

Mascarpone frosting

Makes enough frosting
for about 12 muffins

INGREDIENTS
250 g mascarpone
1-2 tbsp powdered sugar (or to taste)
½ cup heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Beat the mascarpone and sugar until smooth. Add cream and beat
until firm.
2. Fill a piping bag fitted with a large star tip (I used Ateco 869) and pipe ”blobs” of
frosting on top of the muffins. Pour some caramel sauce on top of
each muffin.