Gone Bananas: Round 3 ... & We have A Winner!!

Unveiling The Win-nah!

Ladies and gents, folks and friends, my toiling has not been in vain. I humbly and proudly present to you, my greatest baked banana creation to date, indeed, probably the greatest the world has ever seen! Behold!!

(This is where you, my friends, gawk at Exhibit A above and gasp in jaw dropping awe. Go on, take a long moment or 20 to indulge as I bask in my moment of shameless glory. :P)

All ok? Done? Alright, calm down, settle your fluttering little heart and get your breath back in check, as I reveal my secret to this loaf of loveliness.

Black Gold

Black bananas. That's it, folks, baked to Timbuktu and back. I popped a couple of very old and ripe babies into the oven and hit on high. 20 minutes later, they come out a different hybrid.(Think of those exotic dark purple ones you see on the shelves every now and then).

If the black and burnt appearance frightens you, the insides will put you off even more. Squishy and gooey, weeping with banana juice (if there is such a thing), it looks and feels disgusting but smells like banana heaven.

Oozy Goodness

The abundance of sugars in the bananas work very well in this application. All ready to be caramelized when baked normally in the cake batter, the sugars are pushed over the edge when first baked blind and in direct heat, producing a deep and intensely rich caramel flavor and a more pronounced banana note when brought to the cake party. Unbelievable.

Sitting Pretty

Once you recover from the shock of the new texture you are feeling, scrap out the lovely and warms innards into your cake batter and continue to bake as per normal. At this point, the flesh is still warm, so watch your fingers when you handle them. They are also soft to the point of disintegrating, hence much easier to mix into the batter then when unbaked.

I saved a few bananas from the incinerator, sliced and placed them on top of the batter, decoratively, and popped them into the oven.

20 minutes later, or when golden brown and cooked through, bring them out, leave to cool and proceed to devour.

Le Masterpiece!