Bananas Foster Cake

Yesterday, I described how my fascination with lighting rum on fire led to a life-long love of Bananas Foster.

With a few ripe bananas calling my name and a special occasion to celebrate (a belated Mother's Day celebration for Charlotte, since Andrew's parents were visiting family in the South the previous weekend), I did a quick google search and found the recipe for these lovelies.

Individual Bananas Foster Cakes (from Cook’s Illustrated via Lottie and Doof)

(It supposed to make 8 cakes but with my slightly smaller ramekins (5.5 oz), I had enough batter for 10)

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 14 pieces and softened
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
5 tablespoons dark rum
3 ripe, firm bananas, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup whole milk
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease eight 6-ounce ramekins, then set on a large rimmed baking sheet.

Melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/3 cup of the brown sugar and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. Off the heat, whisk in 2 tablespoons of the rum. Spoon a generous tablespoon of the sauce into the bottom of each ramekin.

Layer the banana slices on top of the sauce inside each ramekin.

I knew these were going to make a pretty pattern once the cakes were reversed!

Whisk the remaining rum, the milk, eggs, and vanilla together in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, whisk the remaining 1/3 cup brown sugar, the flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and zest together. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the remaining 8 tablespoons butter into the flour mixture and continue to beat the mixture until it resembles moist crumbs, 1 to 3 minutes.

Beat in all but 1/4 cup of the milk mixture, then increase the speed to medium and beat the batter until
smooth, light, and fluffy, 1 to 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and slowly beat in the remaining 1/4 cup milk mixture until the batter looks slightly curdled (this didn’t happen for me), about 15 seconds.

Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is thoroughly combined. Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared ramekins, smooth the tops, and gently tap the ramekins on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cakes on the rimmed baking sheet until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out with a few crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes.

Immediately run a small knife around the edges of the cakes, gently invert each ramekin onto an individual serving plate, and let sit until the cakes release themselves from the ramekins, about 5 minutes. Remove the ramekins and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Oh.my.goodness.  These came out fantastic.  Moist with a gooey top and tons of banana flavor. They just wouldn't be the same without a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. I swear, I didn't even miss the flaming rum this time around!

The best thing about these is even if you happen to overload your ramekins (ahem), and the batter flows over the sides and looks ugly, it doesn't matter. It's like magic, once you turn those ramekins over and the cake slides out (which it did immediately for me), it looks picture perfect and ready to be topped with some ice cream.