Thursday 17 January 2013

WHB Caramel banana cake

I am still in love with Pinterest and amazingly I do get inspired by the recipes.  A surplus of bananas for smoothies in the shopping trolley, some yoghurt that needed using and a packet of caramel chips to trial were in my my kitchen.  This Banana Streusel Coffee Cake with Salted Caramel was close enough for jazz.  I just left off the streusel topping and caramel sauce and subsituted caramel chips for chop chips.

I make a lot of banana cakes.  Not usually in a swiss roll tin.  I thought it might rise and seep out over the edge.  I took the chance anyway.  I baked scones towards the end of cooking and turned up the temperature.  (I know, I know that you shouldn't do it but my oven is so slow that it never burns!)  The cake rose beautifully.  It smelt wonderful as it came out of the oven.

I made it on the weekend because we were catching up with friends.  We went to visit a friend of Sylvia's on the weekend and took some cake.  Then on Sunday we met our friends Chris and Yav and Florence at the Botanic Gardens.  It wasn't very warm but the cake and rug were lovely when we sat by the lake after the Children's playground.  I've never seen the lake so full of life before.  Swans.  Ducks.  Eels.  Turtles.  Excited kids on the edge.

I've never used the caramel chips before.  They are a new product in the supermarket.  They were like chocolate chips: gooey, soft and pleasing.  It was a huge cake.  Sylvia told me that I make the best banana cake ever.  E said it was better that my usual banana cake (I didn't ask which banana cake exactly as I have made many).  He just loved the caramel chips.  I loved how it was so soft and full of flavour that it didn't need any embellishments.  Perfect for work snacks or a little sweet something late at night.  Great for sharing.

I didn't miss the cake tonight.  It is 39 C today.  I thought it was ok until I took a tram home that had no air conditioning.  Then I just wanted to hurry home to the air conditioner and leftover salad.

I am sending this cake to Simona of Bricole for Weekend Herb Blogging #367, the weekly event coordinated by Haalo and founded by Kalyn.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:
One year ago: Malabar Hut - why it is our favourite Indian takeaway
Two years ago:  Fruit mince scrolls and muffins
Three years ago: Millet Buckwheat Tortillas
Four years ago: Baba - full of eastern promise
Five years ago: You say biscuits, I say scones!

Banana Caramel Cake
Adapted from Portuguese Girl Cooks

250g butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
4 to 5 mashed very ripe bananas (Makes about 2 cups - I used 4)
1 and 1/2 cups plain white flour
1 and 1/2 cups plain wholemeal flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup caramel chips (or choc chips would work)

Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs and then bananas.  Gently mix in white flour and half the yoghurt, then the other half of the yoghurt and the remaining ingredients.  Scrape out into a greased and lined swiss roll tin (13 x 9 inch baking dish).  I baked mine for 40 minutes at 200 C and then 10 minutes at 220 C.  (If your oven is more powerful than mine then 30-40 minutes at 180 C might be enough.)  Leave in tin 10 minutes and then cool on a wire rack.  Our cake lasted 5 days and by then it was getting a little soggy.

On the stereo:
The Alan Lomax Collection Sampler: Various Artists

8 comments:

  1. Are the caramel chips new to Australian supermarkets? I will have to look out for them! This looks lovely and I can imagine that the caramel chips would pair beautifully with the banana.

    I am also interested by your reference to a swiss roll tin. Is that what is shown in your pictures? I inherited some baking trays from my grandmother that look like that, and I am wondering if they are in fact swiss roll tins. Mine are like baking trays with a lip around the edge?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Kari - yes they were doing a promotion of caramel chips and they melted quite a bit in the cake - I think I still have some fudge chips that seemed crunchier that I bought in UK but will need to find them.

      The tin I have is one I always call a swiss roll tin - I thought it was also a lamington tin but my mum says they are a bit deeper - so you might also check if your tin is swiss roll or lamington????

      Delete
  2. OMG I WANT THIS. So the caramel chips are like chocolate chips, not like the toffee bits I used in my recent rice krispie slice? Maybe by the time I'm back in Aus, we'll have peanut butter chips there toooooo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Hannah - I thought these caramel chips would be more like toffee but they are more melty like choc chips - have wondered about melting them down for a sauce - I sort of would love peanut butter chips but sadly couldn't use them for sylvia

      Delete
  3. Looks a delicious cake. Love the streaks of banana and caramel visible in the slice photo. The wholemeal flour probably added a lovely nutty flavour too. Love the sound of caramel chips!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Katie - banana and caramel and wholemeal go together just perfectly - I thought the caramel chips would be like the butterscotch chips I bought in sainsbury's when I was in the UK but I think the butterscotch chips were crunchier

      Delete
  4. This looks really good. I didn't even know we could get caramel chips here - previously was only a US thing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like a lot the smell in the kitchen when banana cake or bread or muffins are in the oven. And I like that you baked it in a large tin: it looks great. Thank you so much for contributing it to Weekend Herb Blogginf

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for dropping by. I love hearing from you. Please share your thoughts and questions. Annoyingly the spammers are bombarding me so I have turned on the pesky captcha code (refresh to find an easy one if you don't like the first one)