[Sca-cooks] OOP: Banana Cake

Lilinah lilinah at earthlink.net
Tue Mar 4 13:03:54 PST 2008


As i did not attend Estrella War, i couldn't not participate in the 
banana cake challenge. If i had, here's the recipe i would have used. 
Below it is a simpler version for those with less well endowed 
pantries.

Fancy Vietnamese Banana Cake
This is amazing with the nearly whole bananas residing within the 
luscious tropical cake, there are so many contrasts in texture. 
Mmm-mmm.

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup whipping cream
- or - very rich coconut milk
1-1/2 cups flour (not sifted)
4 lb. bananas, very ripe
3/4 cup coarsely chopped cashews
1 cup shredded fresh coconut

2 8-inch cake pans
butter or oil (peanut is good)
flour

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Into a mixing bowl break eggs and add sugar.
Mix on low speed to blend thoroughly.
Then set speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes (do not use high 
speed as it negatively effects texture).
Pour cream or coconut milk into batter and beat a few seconds to mix, 
do not beat too long.
Sift the 1-1/2 cups flour after measuring.
Dump flour into mixing bowl and stir with a wooden spoon until just 
mixed, about 30 seconds.

Peel bananas and smash them with the flat side of a heavy knife, just 
one good smack, do not chop or mash.
Add to batter without stirring.
Add cashews.
Add shredded coconut (if using sweetened dried coconut, reduce sugar a bit).
(I used rather wide grated dried coconut in the fancy cake - it's 
better if it is soaked in barely enough hot water to cover for about 
15 minutes or more before putting it into the cake.)
Stir just to blend.

Butter or oil sides and bottom of cake pans, put in a handful of 
flour and shake well to coat sides and bottom of pan, then pour out 
excess flour.

Pour batter into cake pans.
Put into oven on center rack.
Bake 350 F. until golden brown, about 55 minutes to 1 hour.

This is sort of soft inside - the author called it "pudding like", 
although i wouldn't got that far.

-----
Vietnamese Banana Cake

2 lb bananas, very ripe
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
- or -
1 cup rich coconut milk (not the water inside a coconut)
1 cup flour, sifted
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt

9" cake pan
butter or oil (peanut is good)
flour

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Peel bananas and smash them with the flat side of a heavy knife, just 
one good smack, do not chop or mash.
Put into mixing bowl
Add cream and milk or coconut milk, flour, sugar, and salt and mix thoroughly
(coconut milk is more authentic)

Butter or oil sides and bottom of cake pan, put in a handful of flour 
and shake well to coat sides and bottom of pan, then pour out excess 
flour.

Pour batter in.
Bake 350 F. until golden brown, about 55 minutes to 1 hour.
---

These recipes are from "Vietnamese Cookery" by Jill Nhu Huong Miller, 
Charles E. Tuttle & Co., 1968, ISBN 0-8048-1200-4 (slightly altered 
by me for clarity)

---

Coconut milk is NOT the water inside a coconut. Coconut milk is made 
by grating the meat of a ripe coconut, soaking it in hot water, then 
draining and saving the liquid, then putting the meat in a cloth and 
wringing and squeezing to get the "cream" out.

"Vietnamese Cookery" says to use the meat of one medium-size fresh 
coconut to 2 cups warm water, putting it in a blender - 1 min. on low 
and then 2 to 3 min. on high, before straining and wringing.

It's been a while since i've made any (not a lot of call for it in 
surviving Medieval cookbooks, except the Indian ones), but IIRC, i 
use about 1 cup dried to 2 cups water. With dried coconut, soak the 
meat in hot water for at least 15 minutes before making the milk.

The first batch will be the richest. The coconut meat can be used for 
a second much lighter batch, if you cook a fair amount of Asian food.

I never use sweetened coconut - besides the commonly available 
packages have other additives to keep the dried coconut "soft". But 
if all you can find is the bad stuff in the stupormarket, try to use 
*un*sweetened.

Specialty stores - Asian markets, health food stores, "fancy" food 
stores - are likely to have dried coconut without all the additives. 
As i said, my personal preference is for the wide kind, but if all 
you can find is finely shredded, that will work fine (although the 
texture won't be as "interesting" in the cake)
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita

My LibraryThing
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lilinah



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