Banana Nut Cake

I am honored to be part of a really great group of ladies that have chosen to pay tribute to the Gourmet Live 50 Women Changers in Food.  Each member chooses a recipe to make by the icon of the week then they post about it including the recipe. The list began with Julia Child (naturally), they are now in week 16.

This week's honoree is Maida Heatter.  I have more cookbooks than I care to mention (at least in front of my husband), but not one of Maida's!!  Well, after much research and browsing through tons of her recipes I picked one from Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts.  Since I love all things BANANA, it was the obvious choice.

OMG!! I was running so late for today's posting that I actually baked it,  took the picture and bang "photo finish!"  I just had a piece of the cake and it is truly fabulous.  It is moist, very tasty, and her instructions were so easy to follow like most of her recipes.  This is definitely a keeper!

For more delicious recipes by Maida Heatter, please visit the other bloggers in the group:

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey
Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney
Jeanette - Healthy Living
April - Abby Sweets 
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Kathleen -Bake Away with Me
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen
Sue - The View from Great Island
Barbara - Movable Feasts
Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds
Amy - Beloved Green
Jeanette - Healthy Living 
Linda - Ciao Chow Linda
Linda A - There and Back Again
Martha - Lines from Linderhof

Banana Nut Cake: 

7 ounces (2 cups) pecan halves or large pieces

2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large or 4 small bananas (to make 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups mashed)

1/4 pound (1 stick) butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup buttermilk

Adjust rack one-third up from the bottom of the oven. Preheat oven to 375˚ degrees/ Butter a 9 x 3 1/2 -inch tube pan and dust it all over lightly with fine, dry, bread crumbs.

In a small bowl, toss the nuts with about 1 tablespoon of the flour to coat them thoroughly. Set aside. Sift remainder of the flour with the baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl of electric mixer, break up bananas. Beat them at low speed only enough to mash. You should get 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups. Set aside.

In a large bowl of mixer (with same beaters) beat the butter to soften it a bit. Add vanilla and sugar and beat for a few minutes, using a rubber spatula as necessary to hep mixture blended. Add the eggs and continue to beat for 1 to 2 minutes. On lowest speed add half of the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk, and then the remainder of the dry ingredients, continuing to scrape bowl with rubber spatula as necessary. Add mashed bananas, beating only enough to blend. Remove from mixer. Stir in nuts.

Turn batter into prepared pan. Level top by rotating pan briskly back and forth. Bake 1 to 1 1/4 hours on until cake tester comes out dry.

Cool in pan on rack for about 10 minutes. Cover with rack or a small cookie sheet. Invert and remove pan. Cover with rack and invert again to cool, right side up.


I sprinkled mine with powdered sugar (optional).