Banana Bread Bundt Cake

You guys! Banana bread cake! 

 

- 3 cups flour (half of it whole-grain, if you'd like) 

- 2 tsp baking powder 

- 1/2 tsp salt 

- 1/4 tsp allspice 

- 1/4 tsp nutmeg 

- 3/4 cup butter (1.5 sticks), room temperature 

- 1/2 cup light brown sugar 

- 1/4 cup white sugar (or honey) 

- 2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp ground bourbon vanilla 

- 2 eggs, also preferably room temperature 

- 3-4 ripe nanners 

- 1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt 

- 3/4 cup chocolate chips 

Sift together the dry stuff: flour, baking powder, salt, allspice, nutmeg. 

Beat butter until fluffy. Beat in the sugars and vanilla. 

Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each. 

Mix in the well-mashed bananas. 

Add half of the dry stuff into the wet, and mix well; then add the sour cream and mix again. 

Add the rest of the dry and blend it all together. Stir in the chocolate chips. 

Pour everything into a well-greased bundt pan. (Standard 12-cup size.) Rap the pan on the counter a couple of times to discourage bubbles. Smooth the top with your spoon. Then use it to go to town on the batter bowl. 

Bake in 350-degree F (175 C) oven for a total of about 60 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. You might check it after 40 minutes or so, in case it's getting too brown and requires a natty little tin-foil tent. 

Cool ten minutes before removing from the pan. Then all bets are off. 

Glaze, If You Want It: 

- About 3 tbs butter 

- Something like 1/2 cup of sugar (more, if it's powdered) 

- Lots of cocoa powder, or a big piece of dark chocolate 

- About 3 tbs of hot water 

- A dash of vanilla 

Starting with the butter, gently melt everything in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly to melt the sugar. Give or take some of the quantities above for the right flavor/consistency; as long as it's not too watery, you're good. Remove from heat and place the pan in cold water to cool it down a bit (keep stirring). The cooler it is, the thicker it gets, so that it acts like glaze and is less inclined to simply run down the sides of your cake and puddle underneath it. Don't let it cool so far that it stiffens, though! Brush the glaze over the whole cake. Put the cake in the fridge to set the glaze. Special thanks to Missy Wiechmann for the inspiration!