Well, here it is, Tuesday again, and we all know what that means. Another Tuesdays with Dorie baking adventure! This week’s assigned recipe was Black and White Banana Loaf, chosen by Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen. I wish I had an interesting banana story or kitchen disaster tale to tell you to make this post a little more interesting, but I don’t. Even though, many of my fellow TWD bakers reported having issues with this recipe, I did not. Good for me - bad for you, because that makes for a post a little on the dry side. Fortunately, that doesn’t apply to the cake itself, which was very moist and tasty!
Actually, it was a lucky thing that I didn’t run into any problems while making this recipe, as I didn’t get around to baking it until two o’clock this morning. Yeah, you read that right. 2:00 a.m. I know, I know, I must be insane, but it really couldn’t be helped. I was out of town most of last week, and we had houseguests over the weekend who didn’t leave until yesterday. Then, I had a pile of work to catch up on at the office, errands to run, clothes to wash, dinner to cook and dishes to wash. Before I knew it, both the big and little hands on the clock were on the twelve. Are you feeling sorry for me yet? When I finally got around to making the loaf, my butter was rock hard and the rest of my ingredients were ice cold. It took another hour before everything warmed up and I was actually able to whip this baby up. It took an hour and forty minutes to bake, so you see, there was no room for error.
This Black and White Banana Loaf is a very dense brick of a cake flavored with chocolate, rum, and of course, bananas. Half of the banana cake batter is mixed with melted bittersweet chocolate and the two are swirled together for a marbled effect. I was leery about the marbling part. I’ve never had it work for me, but somehow, this time it did. I wish I could tell you how I did it, but by the time I got to that part, I wasn’t even sure where I was, much less what I was doing! Just trust me. It worked.
I stayed pretty true to the recipe. The wee hours of the morning is not my most creative time. The only adjustment I made was with the bananas themselves. Instead of using regular yellow bananas, I used these cute little red ones that I found at the market. Why? Because they were there and happened to be just at the right level of ripeness. Also, because my weekend guests ate the other ones. I don’t think it made much of a difference, though.
We cut a few slices off for breakfast this morning and it was good. Not great, but “just right with a nice, hot cup of coffee” good. It wasn’t my favorite Dorie recipe, or my favorite banana cake recipe, but I liked it.
If you’d like to see some other versions of this Black and White Banana Loaf, check out the Tuesdays with Dorie Blogroll. If you’d like the recipe, you can find it on Ashlee’s site. Stay tuned for next week when the recipe du jour will be Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream. I’m really looking forward to that!
Filed Under: Baking, Cakes and Cupcakes, Fruits, Recipes, Tuesdays with Dorie
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On August 05, 2008 at 12:23pm, CookiePie said...
Looks delicious!! Especially impressive, since you were making it in the middle of the night! I’d like my slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, please…
On August 05, 2008 at 12:41pm, bakingwiththeboys said...
I can’t believe you stayed up so late to make it. It looks absolutley perfect!
On August 05, 2008 at 1:26pm, The Short (dis)Order Cook said...
You baked it at 2 AM and it had the nerve to not be orgasmically good? You have my sympathy.
It looks good to me though, but I can’t resist the chocolate and banana thing.
On August 05, 2008 at 3:39pm, Nickki said...
Your banana loaf looks beautiful! Sorry it wasn’t amazing for you thought, especially since you baked it at 2am! I love those bananas, so cute!
On August 05, 2008 at 3:46pm, noble pig said...
Interesting that lots of folks are saying this recipe was so-so. I wonder what it is that is making it meh? I mean it looks so DANG good!
On August 05, 2008 at 4:47pm, Darius T. Williams said...
The loaf looks good…a dollop of lightly sweetened cream would have sealed the deal though.
Good job.
-DTW
http://www.everydaycookin.blogspot.com
On August 05, 2008 at 5:12pm, Teanna said...
2:00 am!? Now that’s dedication! And it came out so perfectly!
On August 05, 2008 at 5:27pm, Dianne said...
Your cake looks fabulous!
On August 05, 2008 at 5:46pm, Debbie said...
Your banana bread looks absolutely delicious!
On August 05, 2008 at 6:38pm, Heather B said...
Wow! It looks fantastic! Great job!
On August 05, 2008 at 7:25pm, Pamela said...
Wow! I can’t believe you were baking at 2 in the morning. You are a trooper. And that is some marvelous marbling you’ve got going on there.
On August 05, 2008 at 7:27pm, karen said...
looks amazing, some of the best marbling for sure. i LOVE late night baking. other than the no natural light for picture taking thing.
On August 05, 2008 at 7:32pm, Manggy said...
I would have felt sorry but then again you have this delicious banana loaf to enjoy at the end of it and *my* stomach is grumbling! Hah hah hah 😀
On August 05, 2008 at 8:22pm, Engineer Baker said...
I love love love that middle pic. Makes me want to make this all over again. I’m blaming my weight gain this week on you, just so you know.
On August 05, 2008 at 8:28pm, PheMom said...
I kind of felt the same way - it was good, the flavor was good, but it wasn’t the most fantastic. Yours looks really lovely though!
On August 05, 2008 at 8:47pm, Linda said...
You did a marvelous job with the marbling…and what commitment giving up sleep to make this recipe…kudos to you!!!!
On August 05, 2008 at 9:07pm, rainbowbrown said...
Why, what a fabulous job you’ve done. I love the bananas.
On August 05, 2008 at 9:22pm, Susie Homemaker said...
not fair. i have never even heard of a red banana.
i have fed bananas to little red monkeys…but that did not have an effect on this banana bread.
On August 05, 2008 at 9:53pm, Mara said...
I love your photos…they are so great! That closeup shot on the slice is amazing.
On August 05, 2008 at 10:32pm, Passionate Baker said...
oh wow…yum!!
your loaf looks like it turned out perfect!
and the marbling looks fantastic
great jobbb
<3
On August 05, 2008 at 11:03pm, Farmer Jen said...
I love reading your blog. Your writing and your photos are fabulous. It’s very relaxing and entertaining for me. That cake looks delicious.
On August 06, 2008 at 12:09am, Bridgett said...
I love those middle-of-the-night baking spurts! Even if it tasted so-so, yours sure does look tasty. I finally received my new copy of Dorie’s book, now I really should sign up and bake along. It seems like you all have such fun each time.
On August 06, 2008 at 2:01am, KayKat said...
I love those red bananas - seem lighter than the yellow ones.
Not a super awesome cake, eh? But it looks good enough to try out, wonder if there are tweaks to make it less dense, maybe?
On August 06, 2008 at 2:58am, Grace said...
i’ve been known to putz around the kitchen at 2 am, so i won’t judge! your marbling prowess is astounding, and i’m impressed! meanwhile, red bananas? what rock have i been living under?
On August 06, 2008 at 7:32am, n.o.e said...
Your marbling is fantastic! And your dedication to the cause exemplary…
Nancy
On August 06, 2008 at 9:00am, Mevrouw Cupcake said...
That’s one beautiful loaf, but I share your thoughts on it. Okay, but not “I can’t live without you” great.
On August 06, 2008 at 9:03am, Jen of A2eatwrite said...
This looks amazing! I make a chocolate chip banana loaf that’s a big hit around here, but I’ll have to try this version.
On August 06, 2008 at 10:44am, Heather said...
I love red bananas - I just ate one five minutes ago! fresh, I think they taste a lot better than yellow ones. They have a bit of a rose -y aftertaste, much more floral and less starchy than yellow ones.
I love that you’re unabashed about how successful you were with this recipe. Some girls just have an easier time with these things! 😉
On August 06, 2008 at 1:23pm, Susan from Food Blogga said...
Oh, yeah. You cut the slices nice and thick, just the way I like ’em. That is one seriously good-looking cake, Susan.
On August 06, 2008 at 2:35pm, Paula said...
Oh heaven above, this looks divine! I LOVE this type of dense banana loaf; I prefer it over any other type of cake or dessert. And the addition of RUM, YUM, YUM, YUM!
On August 06, 2008 at 4:06pm, Jules Someone said...
I didn’t love it either. Nice job for 2 am!
On August 06, 2008 at 7:03pm, Ingrid said...
Hello,
Do the red bananas taste different from the yellows? Sweeter? My children love bananas and they’ve grabbed these before but I’ve always made them go back for the yellow ones. What are we missing?
I can’t believe that the bread took an hour and a half to bake. Is that normal? None of the banana breads I’ve made have turned out. I seem to struggle with anything banana.
By the way your swirl job was pretty impressive!
Thanks!
Ingrid
On August 06, 2008 at 7:28pm, StickyGooeyCreamyChewy said...
I’m really glad you all liked this banana loaf. Some of the other TWDers had said that the taste of this cake improved with time. I’m happy to say that it is true. The flavors really deepened by later that day and I liked it a lot better. Thanks for all of your great comments. It is always a pleasure to read them.
Darius- You have good taste. A dollop of cream makes everything better! 😉
Karen- I like late night baking too. It’s so quiet and no one is there to pester you! I got some nice photo lights so that I can take decent pictures anytime.
Engineer Baker- Thanks a lot! Lol! 😉
Bridgett- You really should join the group. It is a big time commitment, but it is also a lot of fun.
KayKat- If you can think of any, let me know.
Grace- Lol! The marbling thing was a fluke. I’m usually not that good. 😉
Ingrid- The red bananas are a little sweeter and less starchy. It is not a significant difference. I thought they were interesting. Some say they have a slight rspberry flavor, but I didn’t really notice it. They would be fun for the kids, because they are cute and small and different. My daughter always loved them.
On August 06, 2008 at 8:53pm, Rebecca said...
Gorgeous! This was not my favorite recipe, either, but your results were cookbook-worthy.
On August 07, 2008 at 2:53pm, Rigby said...
Your cake is beautiful! I don’t know if I could have baked mine at that hour of the morning….it would have been a disaster!
On August 07, 2008 at 3:52pm, Katrina said...
Your loaf looks great and the slice with the bite out of it makes me want some! I love all things banana.
You’re also making me want to get out the ice cream maker!
On August 08, 2008 at 3:40pm, Ingrid said...
Thanks for taking the time to answer. We’re out of bananas here so guess which ones the kids get this week……I’m getting crazy, red ones!
:-)Ingrid
On August 22, 2009 at 9:02am, u8mypinkcookies said...
awesome!! 😀