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Ashley’s Chocolate Banana Pound Cake or The Art of Adapting

This cake is the perfect example of Ashley's recent post on adapting and changing recipes. I could come up with many reasons why I changed her recipe but here the few that come to my mind:

– I already know what chocolate and banana pound cake taste like, so combining the two is easy to imagine flavor wise.

– I know that since I don’t have mascarpone on hand, I can substitute cream cheese without (purists cover your eyes) altering the recipe too much.

– Since I want to add 1/2 cup finely powdered dry coconut, I need to add a tad more liquid if the batter seems stiff, I chose to add 1/4 dark rum, to enhance to the tropical feeling.

It is easy for seasoned baker and cook to change recipes without messing up. Once you have mastered the different doughs and baking techniques of creaming, sifted, adding, alternating, the sky is the limit!

I think that every baker who wants to take it a step further should spend soe time acquiring the discipline and techniques necessary but after that: Have Fun!

Oh yeah: playing around with a recipe does not always produce success, but we all learn from our mistakes!

Here is her recipe and my changes in italics:

Banana Pound Cake
From Secrets of Baking; Sherry Yard
2 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tbl Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mascarpone (I used cream cheese)
1 1/2 sticks butter, unsalted, softened
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 fully ripe bananas, pureed
3/4 cup chocolate chunks

1/2 cup very finely shredded coconut

1/4 rum


Sift dries. Combine sour cream and mascarpone, set aside. Beat butter until soft and gradually add the sugar. It should be super light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time. Alternate dry ingredients with sour cream and mascarpone mixture. Fold in bananas and chocolate chunks (or chips). Bake 350 for 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour until toothpick comes out clean.

The cake was delicious. It’s like a drug, we keep having a slice at every meal. Sorry neighbors, seems like you won’t taste this one!

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Comments


Anonymous September 16, 2006 um 10:29 pm

It looks gorgeous – dense in crumb yet light and cakey, and those chocolate chunks in the slices aren’t helping me reign in my enthusiasm! Yum!


Alpineberry Mary September 17, 2006 um 12:05 am

Very nice. I like your tropical changes to Sherry Yard’s recipe. And you can never go wrong with chocolate and bananas.


wheresmymind September 17, 2006 um 4:09 pm

Chocolate and bananas are a power combo!


Anonymous September 18, 2006 um 3:21 pm

I bet this tastes amazing!


Ashley September 18, 2006 um 5:27 pm

Thanks for the input on adapting recipes. Your version of the Banana pound cake sounds amazing! I’ll tell Sherry she should update her recipe with these additions for her next book.


gdstuart November 4, 2006 um 4:40 pm

Your rum addition, I assume, is 1/4 CUP? You didn’t include the measure. I’ll give it a go and assume 1/4 cup.


Unknown November 15, 2006 um 3:54 pm

Hi,
I was wondering if it would be better to cream the butter and the creamed cheese together in the first stage and just fold in the sour cream by itself later. he reason is because the texture of the creamed cheese compared to the mascarpone is a bit stiffer. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!


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