Bundt cake recipes are some of my favorites because they are easy to throw together and they present beautifully. The shape of the cake pan allows for little or no additional decoration, which makes this a wonderful cake to bake when you don't have a whole afternoon to spare. In my case, I needed to bake 2 dozen muffins and a cake before going to work on Saturday. I had a pile of ripe bananas, and I was craving the warmth of a moist, cinnamon infused slice of cake.
In little more than thirty minutes, I had this cake in the oven and was able to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea. Delightful.
Because it was Mother's Day, I wanted to honor both of my "moms" with a homemade treat. I made several adaptations to the original recipe to improve the nutritional quality of the bread...healthy is always best! Click on the link below to read more...
So I enjoy adapting heavy, rich desserts into more health-conscious items. In the case of this recipe, I subbed a 1/2 cup of applesauce for one stick of butter and used plain yogurt instead of sour cream. Keeping one stick of butter in the batter allows for the wonderful, rich flavor to infuse the bread without going overboard. And yogurt? Amazing. I use it in many of my quickbreads, and I love how moist it keeps my cakes and muffins.
The best part of serving a healthy adaption of an original recipe is watching the faces of the people who eat it. On Sunday, I was able to share this cake with both my parents and then Ryan's much larger family. In both houses, the cake was devoured, and my sweet family kept exclaiming, "This is so good!". And it was...the cake was rich and moist and infused with the flavors of banana and cinnamon. The simple glaze I poured over top presented beautifully, and the cake was sturdy enough to be cut into clean, even slices.
My mom is an amazing woman, and she has given me more love and support than I could ever convey on a blog or on paper. When I was younger, my mom would set out bowls and spoons, flour and sugar, and she would let me "cook" and "bake" to my heart's content. To a four year old, nothing could have been more delightful, and as a 23 year old, I've found that not much has changed. My mom is beautiful, inside and out, and she means the world to me. I know that many of us celebrated with our mothers this past Sunday, and I hope that you were able to celebrate her and all the women in your life that have offered you love, care and support...they deserve all the recognition and more.
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 sticks (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup applesauce
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
About 4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup plain yogurt
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9- to 10-inch (12 cup) Bundt pan.
2. Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.
3. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat the butter until creamy. Add the applesauce and stir to combine. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas. Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients, all the yogurt and then the rest of the flour mixture. Scrape the batter into the pan, rap the pan on the counter to debubble the batter and smooth the top.
4. Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the cake to a rack and allow to cool for 10 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool to room temperature.
To make a simple glaze: Combine 1 cup of powdered sugar with 1-2 TBSP milk and 1 tsp cinnamon. Pour glaze over cooled cake and allow to harden.