I’ve been making banana bread for as long as I can remember. It is such a versatile recipe. Bananas, by themselves, are inexpensive, naturally sweet and good for you too. This banana bread recipe is just a basic recipe for bread but I use it for everything. It’s super easy to make. In fact, today, I had help from a 5 year old. He made almost the whole batter with little help from me.
And apparently he has the same disgust for what is known as Satan’s Anus, aka this nasty little black spot on the bananas:
Today I made a cake out of this basic recipe. Not just any cake. A bunt cake.
So lets talk about bunt pans. Right here. Right now. I am confessing my addiction. The bunt pan is an obsession of mine. Don’t ask me where it began. I can only tell you how much fun I have had with them. I can only attempt to tell you why I love them so much. So here it goes….
First of all, I am not a cake decorator. If you need someone to teach you how to make those really pretty roses out of frosting, forget about me. It’s never going to happen. However, I can tell you that a bunt pan can transform the most basic cake recipe into a wow moment, with no extra effort than using a muffin pan. In fact, I believe it to be easier than a muffin tin. You only have to pour the batter into one pan and done.
Now why do I have so many bunt pans that I have to use them to decorate my kitchen, (clearly I need a bigger kitchen)? That’s a good question. For that, I have no answers. Could you just have one bunt pan and still get the wow factor? Of course.
Maybe it’s because of all that fun I told you about.
Some of my favorite bunt pans were bought while shopping with people I admire and at places that I love. Thrift shops, estate sales, yard sales; If I see a bunt pan, I am not opposed to fighting someone for it. The pan I am using today is my favorite of them all. I bought it while visiting my parents in Mississippi. I found it for $7 at an overstock store. I will say that $7 is kind of pricey for me. I would normally haggle someone down to only a couple bucks. This time I caved. I caved hard. It’s treasure to me. Also, look at these chickens on here. Chickens are my other obsession. Ok I might have a lot of problems. I never claimed to be perfect. But look at this little lady:
Can you see the hearts shooting from my eyes when I look at this?
You can almost see it! I know!
And look at how cute those chickens look on my cake:
It’s a little hard to see with a camera, but trust me, they are adorable.
Look at who else is adorable:
So my tips on using a bunt cake are short but very important. Use a good baker’s spray and use it generously. Don’t skimp on this one. You don’t have to use name brand but you will ruin your treasured pans if you use regular cooking spray. If you don’t have a baker’s spray, you can use good old fashioned oil and flour. You just generously wipe oil in every crevice, then sprinkle flour all over the oil so it sticks to the whole pan.
I also like to top the cake off with a browned butter glaze. It’s really easy to make. You just cook a stick of butter until it turns golden brown. Watch it closely so it doesn’t burn. Then add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, or regular white sugar. Stir it in and mix it until the sugar dissolves. Then dump it on the cake, all over. Wow! What a great addition! You can also sprinkle powdered sugar on it. However, you may lose some of those cute little chickens under the sugar. It just depends on your pan. Plus that butter, on a fresh baked bread, is so amazing.
So for the recipe. This is my basic recipe for banana bread. I hope your family comes to love it and use it as I have. You can put literally anything in this. I have put every kind of fruit, nut, chip, toffee, etc, that I could think of. Frozen and canned fruit must be drained. I’ve used dried and fresh fruit with just as much success. I’ve stuffed it with cream cheese. I’ve topped it with many different glazes, like rum, brown butter, vanilla, etc. I’ve made it into muffins, cakes and breads.
Please share with me, how have you used your bananas when they look like this:
Homemade Frugality 