Banana Cake With Caramel Icing

Photo: Celia R. Muller

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups flour

For the caramel icing:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cream

1 tablespoon butter

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.** Grease and flour a 12-cup bundt pan.

Cream butter, sugar, and bananas together (I used a paddle attachment on my mixer); add eggs one at a time.

Dissolve the soda in the buttermilk and blend into the butter-sugar-egg mixture.

Sift the flour and baking powder together and add gradually, with the mixer on low.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until a tester comes out clean. I know you’re impatient, but let the cake cool before unmoulding or it’ll fall apart when you’re removing it from the bundt pan.

Make the icing while the cake cools: Cook sugar and cream together until it forms a soft ball when dropped in cold water, remove from stove, add butter, and beat well before spreading on cake.

To caramelize bananas for decoration: Slice a banana. Melt a pat of butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat and mix a couple of tablespoons brown sugar in with a spatula. Add the bananas and cook for a minute or two on each side, until a tiny bit brown.

To make burnt sugar shards: Place 1/2 a cup of sugar in a small sauce pan and mix in 1 teaspoon water, so it takes on a sandy texture. Melt the sugar over high heat until it reaches a medium-dark amber color, then cool on a Silpat and break into shards.