Multigrain Banana Cake

 

I made this cake a while ago (I mentioned it here), but the memory of its satisfyingly delicious simplicity lingers on. It’s sweet, but not too. It’s moist from the bananas, but not so. It’s healthy-ish because of the whole grain flour, but, well, come on. It’s still dessert.

I based this on a cake recipe in Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce. That recipe is made with quinoa flour and ground walnuts, which I’m sure is fabulous. I wanted to try a 7-grain flour blend I picked up, though, and I had some bananas of a certain age, so this seemed a good place to put them both. I also put in some chocolate chips in place of the walnuts. Purely a personalized design decision.

 

There are a couple of ways you could go with the whole grain addition to this dessert, or one like it. I like the convenience of the ready-made 7-grain product I purchased, and will use it again in other recipes. I did, however, miss the malty tones of the multigrain mixture I talked about in this post (also based on Good to the Grain). The 7-grain also had a coarser texture that may have matched some ground nuts well. Really, all kinds of whole grain flours would work here, even just whole wheat flour, so you can try anything with a flavor that appeals to you.

This cake lasted well for several days as two of us polished it off wedge by wedge. I seriously considered making a chocolate cream cheese frosting for it, but it really wasn’t necessary. Not that necessity has much to do with desserts. Maybe I will gild this simple cake with some frosting some day, but until then, I recommend it as a perfectly good snacking cake of little effort and much reward.

Multigrain Banana Cake with Chocolate Chips

Adapted from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce

1 cup 7-grain flour (or multigrain flour of your choice)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup dark brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

3 medium-size ripe bananas (about 1 ¼ pounds), mashed

2 large eggs

1/3 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan or spray it with cooking spray. Dust the buttered pan with flour. Cut a circle of parchment paper the size of the pan (trace the pan right on the paper) and place it in the bottom of the pan. Butter and flour the paper.

2. In a medium-size bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, and salt. Sift or whisk together to combine well. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or another medium-size bowl if you are using a hand mixer) combine the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Using the paddle attachment, beat together for about 2 minutes, or until light and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally.

4. Beat in the mashed bananas. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Beat in the yogurt and vanilla.

5. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until just combined, being sure to moisten any flour that is at the bottom of the bowl. Stir in the chocolate chips.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake at 350 F for 50-60 minutes or until a pick inserted in the center comes out free of wet batter. Cool the cake in the pan until it is at least cool enough to serve. Remove from the pan and remove the parchment circle. Cut into wedges to serve.

Makes 8-12 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Banana Quick Bread, Blueberry Banana Quick Bread, Zucchini Multigrain Coffee Cake

One year ago: Cabbage and Turnip Soup with Beef Broth

Roasted Garlic Black Pepper Risotto

 

I could make and eat risotto just about every day. It’s fun to watch a pan of raw Arborio rice and a pot of simmering broth become a warm and comforting dish. It works as a side dish or a main dish on its own, so it’s suitable for any meal. It can take on so many different flavorings and add-ins that it would never become tiresome if, you know, you really did decide to make it and eat it every day.

My most recent risotto excursion featured roasted garlic and black pepper, which was so delicious I just had to tell you about it. As much as I love roasted garlic, I was still very pleasantly surprised by how good this was. I roasted a head of garlic and stirred the resulting mellow but flavorful paste in to basic risotto made with just a bit of shallot, dry white wine, and vegetable broth. While roasting garlic takes out a lot of its sharp, assertive bite, a whole head of it infuses a simple pan of rice with plenty of luscious flavor. That garlicky goodness even stands up well to a big punch from freshly cracked peppercorns, which give each bite a finishing and lingering buzz.

 

While all that garlic and peppercorn bring plenty of flavor, some fresh herbs would be at home here, too. A different cheese might also be good in place of the Parmesan I used, although I’d go with something mild rather than sharp. Chicken broth would be good in place of the vegetable broth, and you could go without the wine if you don’t tend to have any on hand. (I like to use one I can drink alongside my risotto during the meal.)

I used a different vegetable broth than I usually do, and it was saltier, resulting in a risotto that was a bit on the salty side. I love salty, so I didn’t care, but next time I will taste my broth before I start, and decide whether additional salt is needed. I tried to reflect that sensibility in the recipe below, and recommend you work from personal taste here.

While this seems to finally be the beginning of the end of winter, it was very cold and snowy when I made this recipe. My household has also been sick. This big punch of flavor nestled into a smooth, soft, comforting dish was just what we needed to continue to believe in anything good. I now know just the recipe to turn to when things get rough for us again next winter. Not that cold and snowy is required. This great Roasted Garlic and Black Pepper Risotto will be delicious all year.

Roasted Garlic Risotto with Black Pepper

Adjust the added salt as needed based on the sodium content of the broth you use in the recipe. Chicken broth would be good in place of the vegetable broth, too.

1 medium-size head garlic

Olive oil for roasting garlic

5 cups vegetable broth

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium shallot, finely chopped

½ teaspoon salt (or to taste, depending on how salty your broth is)

1 cup Arborio Rice

½ cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper (or to taste), plus more for serving

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Remove the papery outer covering from the garlic head, while keeping the cloves intact. Slice a small amount off the top of the garlic head, exposing a bit of the cloves. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Wrap in foil and bake at 350 F for about 1 hour, or until very soft. Remove from the oven, and, when cool enough to handle, squeeze the soft roasted garlic out of the skins. Mash to form a paste. Set aside.

2.  I a medium-size saucepan, heat the vegetable broth to a simmer. Reduce the heat and keep the broth hot, but not boiling.

3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook until it is translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the ½ teaspoon salt (or salt to taste) and the rice. Stir to coat the rice with the oil and cook, stirring constantly for about 1 minute. Stir in the wine and cook, stirring frequently, until almost all of the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

4. Add about ½ cup hot broth. Cook, stirring frequently until the rice has absorbed almost all of the liquid. Continue to add the broth ½ cup at a time and stirring the rice until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, but not yet mushy. You may wish to stop cooking when there is still a bit of a bite in the middle of the rice grains. I prefer my risotto rice quite soft. You may not need all of the broth to cook the rice. The whole process will take 20-30 minutes.

5. Stir in the roasted garlic, Parmesan, and 1 tablespoon (or to taste) black pepper. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed. Serve sprinkled with additional black pepper.

Makes 4 main dish servings, or 6-8 side dish servings.

Other recipes like this one: Spring Vegetable Risotto, Zucchini Cheddar Risotto

Another recipe featuring roasted garlic: Cheddar Bacon White Bean Salad

Raspberry Cream Cheese French Toast

 

I’ve started to treasure days off from work as if they were sparkly gems and shiny precious metals. Much of the time I get the usual number of them in a week otherwise occupied by a full-time job, but sometimes I don’t and sometimes there are a lot of extra hours in between them. Sometimes, I think I’m going to get them, but then I don’t, but then it turns out that I do….

My kingdom for a schedule! Anyway, nothing says, “I have the day off,” like a leisurely breakfast, whether it is enjoyed in a restaurant or in my own kitchen. Last weekend, I had time for two of them, these Fluffy Orange Pancakes, and a baked French toast, based on this marmalade-laced one from two years ago. I had added cream cheese to the middle layer of that dish, and wanted to do that again, but pairing it with raspberry preserves instead.

I scaled this recipe down from a 13 x 9” pan to an 8” square one, adjusting the volume of the custard mixture and the preserves. I kept the quantity of cream cheese, however, because I wanted to really let my love of raspberries and cream cheese have wings. It was a wise choice, because it really was delicious.

This is not a particularly moist baked French toast in the end, which, to me, means it isn’t mushy. The top layer of bread gets a little crisp, which I like, and the softer middle layer is plumped up with the flavors of raspberry and cream cheese. The cream cheese didn’t melt much, mostly keeping itself in little pockets. This slices fairly neatly into squares for serving, and holds its shape on a plate.

 

I think you could also serve this in more of a bread pudding style by cubing the bread, tossing the raspberry preserves and cream cheese with it, pouring the custard over all of it, and scooping it in big spoonfuls to serve. You could also use whatever jam or preserves you like (strawberry or blueberry would be great), or even omit the cream cheese.

I also would have liked to add some fresh raspberries, or at least garnished each serving with them, but there was a rather nasty blizzard happening, and fresh raspberries just weren’t a priority.  Being warmed from within by a hearty, delicious, hot breakfast that I had put most of the effort into the night before was my priority. My sparkly, shiny, much-treasured priority.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Baked French Toast

This dish needs to stand 6-8 hours in the refrigerator before baking, so to serve it for breakfast, you need to assemble it the night before.  I did not find that it needed anything extra, but you could serve it with warm maple syrup, a fruity syrup or compote, or more raspberry preserves, thinned with a little water and heated slightly. Of course, garnish with fresh berries if you have them.

About 12 ounces French or country bread

6 ounces raspberry preserves or jam

4 ounces cream cheese, cut into small cubes

4 large eggs

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 ½ cups milk

½ teaspoon almond extract

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray, or grease it with butter. Set aside.

2. Cut the bread into 1-1 ½ inch slices. Place one layer of bread in the bottom of the prepared dish.

3. Spread the raspberry preserves on top of the bread. Distribute the cream cheese cubes over the preserves. Top with the remaining bread slices, getting as much bread into the dish as you can.

4. In a medium-size bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, milk, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Beat together until smooth. Pour over the bread in the baking dish.

5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 6-8 hours or overnight. (This can be done up to a day ahead.)

6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 F. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until the custard has set and the bread on top is beginning to brown. (Cover with foil if the bread is browning before the custard is baked.) Let stand about 10 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Marmalade Cream Cheese Baked French Toast, French Toast Casserole with Cardamom and Pears

One year ago: Chocolate Cake with Porter and Ganache Topping