Sunday, February 15, 2009

Going nuts over bananas and Cheerios

In honor of Carol's Saturday Stirrings Cheerios gift basket giveaway at "I Throw Like a Girl", I'm posting my favorite recipe which just happens to include bananas and nuts:
Banana Toffee Crunch Bundt Cake with Chocolate Glaze

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups of ripe mashed bananas
1/4 cup milk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
5 milk-chocolate-coated toffee bars, 1.4 ounces each, crushed to small chunks.**
2/3 cup slivered blanched almonds, chopped and toasted

Chocolate Glaze

3 ounces of semisweet chocolate
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 12 cup Bundt pan or fluted tube pan. Lightly dust with flower and tap out excess. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, stir together bananas , milk, and vanilla until blended. In a large bowl, using a hand-held mixer, cream together butter and sugar until blended. One at a time, add eggs to butter/sugar mixture, beating well after each addition. In three additions each, alternately beat in flour mixture and banana mixture, until just combined. Stir in toffee chunks and nuts.

Spread evenly into prepared Bundt pan. Bake for 65 to 75 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Remove pan to wire rack to cool. Cool 10 minutes before inverting cake onto cooling rack. Finish cooling on wire rack.

Prepare Glaze:
In a small saucepan, melt chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring often until mixture is completely smooth with no streaks. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. Pour evenly over cooled bundt cake. Place cake in refrigerator for 30 minutes to set glaze. Store cooled cake in an airtight container in refrigerator. Allow cake to reach room temperature before serving.


I'll be you could add some crushed Banana Nut Cheerios cereal on top of the chocolate glaze for some extra taste.

**My tip for crushing the toffee bars. Put the toffee bars in the refrigerator for a few hours before crushing them. I put them into a large Ziploc freezer bag, lay a dishcloth over the bag, and use the flat side of a meat tenderizer to crush them. Cooling them before you beat them means less chocolate rubs off onto the Ziploc.

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