Glazed Banana Cake with Pecans and Raisins
By: Dina Kozik
Published: Saturday, September 7, 2013 - 2:39pm

Ingredients




Ingredients for the cake:
1/3 cup butter (room temperature)
1/4 cup kefir or buttermilk
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
3 medium overripe bananas (pureed)
1/2 cup pecans -  (toasted and cut into small pieces)
1/3 cup golden raisins
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Ingredients for the glaze and topping:
1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
2-3 table spoons whole milk
1/2 cup pecans -  (toasted and cut into small pieces)

Preparation

1 In a bowl of stand mixer or using a an electric hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. 2 Add to the butter and sugar mixture kefir or buttermilk (which ever you are using) and mix well on medium speed. 3 In a separate small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add all to the big ball, then add eggs, sugar,  and vanilla extract. 4 In a food processor puree bananas. You can also just mash them with a fork by hand. Small pieces are OK and won’t affect the result. 5 Toast the pecans constantly mixing them till fragrant and start to develop deep brown color. Should only take a few minutes. 6 Chop toasted pecans into small pieces. 7 Add to the bowl with previously mixed ingredients pureed bananas, 1/2 cup chopped pecans and raisins. Combine everything well. I usually use the hand-mixer set to the lowest speed. 8 Preheat oven to 350F. 9 Meanwhile, prepare the pan in which you will be baking the cake. I use a bundt pan by Nordic Ware. 10 Butter and flour well the bundt pan. Turn over the pan over the sink to remove flour access. 11 Poor the cake batter into the pan. 12 Place the cake in the preheated oven on the middle rack and bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes. Use a cake taster or a thin knife to test the inside of the cake before removing from the oven. Insert the cake taster into the middle of the cake. It should not have any uncooked batter when you remove it. 13 Remove baked cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. 14 Turn over the pan to remove the cake. If you buttered and floured the pan well, you shouldn’t have any trouble with this step. 15 Next, make the glaze by simply mixing together confectioner’s sugar and milk. Poor the glaze over the top of the cake. 16 Top with toasted pieces of pecans. 17 All done!

About

What to do with overripe bananas, which are unless used up quickly, alas end up not being used at all? This is what I do and I truly think this is a perfect “overripe banana saving” solution. And the solution is – baking a scrumptious, banana-pecan-rasins-filled cake! And that is exactly what I did past weekend and happy to shared a recipe for this easy to bake, full of flavor and good for you things that go into this cake.