Dahlia Bakery Banana Chocolate Chunk Walnut Loaf

Dahlia Bakery Banana Chocolate Chunk Walnut Loaf

When you have those banana that have seen better days... make this recipe! It's from the Dahlia Bakery cookbook.

I really enjoyed visiting the Seattle bakery in 2013...it's a must see while in Seattle (along with the beautiful Seattle Library!)


Bananas, chocolate chunks and walnuts...put some sour cream to make it rich and delicious. The loaf won't last long, but if it does, it tastes even better!

Banana Chocolate Chunk Walnut Loaf
Adapted from: The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook: Sweetness in Seattle*
Find it in your library with WorldCat

1/2 c (2 3/4 ounces / 79 grams) bittersweet chocolate chunks (I used Trader Joe's Chocolate Chunks)
1/3 c (1 1/4 ounces / 35 grams) walnuts, toasted, cooled and roughly chopped (I used Trader Joe's Walnut Baking Bits and didn't toast them)
1 1/4 c (6 3/8 ounces / 180 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t kosher salt
About 1 pound of very ripe bananas (2-3) - 1 cup of banana puree
1/4 c canola oil
1/2 c (3 1/2 ounces / 100 grams) sugar
1 large egg
1/4 c (2 ounces / 58 grams) sour cream

Preheat oven to 350. Prep a loaf pan (they recommend 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches) with butter & flour, or spray with non-stick spray. I line my pan with parchment paper to make it easier to remove from the pan. I used a Parrish/Magic Line 9 x 5 loaf pan so mine didn't come out as tall as the one in the book.

Mix chocolate chunks and walnuts in a small bowl. Add 2 Tablespoons flour and toss to coat. Set aside.

Sift together the remaining flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl or some parchment paper.

The instructions say to beat the bananas into a smooth puree then measure out 1 cup. I just mashed mine with a fork and measured out 1 cup, and put it into the banana puree in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment.

On low speed, add the oil, sugar, egg and sour cream. Mix until everything is combined.

Add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.  Fold in reserved chocolate-walnut mixture with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until skewer inserted into the loaf comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging but no batter, 65-70 minutes (if you use a different size pan, start checking early). The loaf will be dark golden brown and there will probably be a crack running through the top. Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Unmold the banana bread, then cool on a wire rack to slightly warm or room temperature before slicing and serving.



 * I'm part of Amazon Affiliates and get a small % if you purchase from this link.
P.S. Turns out a made and blogged about this recipe in April 2013 and have no memory of it. Well, it's a good reminder that it's way yummy so you should make it! :)

Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins

You know those bananas in the back of the refrig? The ones you brought home perfectly yellow, but then you forgot to eat them, and then it's so hot in the house that they ripen in a flash, so you put them in the refrig, and they turn brown, and they sit and sit?

Those bananas - get them and make these muffins!

On Monday, I woke up, remembered we had a meeting at work, threw these together, popped 'em in the oven while listening to NPR, jumped in the shower, dressed, took them out of the oven and threw them in the car for my commute. Whew! It's was a busy Monday.

Hope you are enjoying your summer! Are you participating in your library's Summer Reading Program (some have adult programs!)? I hope you are...it's a good way to stay motivated to read and relax a bit this summer. Read anything good lately? The last book I really enjoyed was The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion.

Recipe: Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Adapted from Food & Wine (The original recipe is for 24 muffins. I cut the recipe in half except for the chocolate - the original uses mini chocolate chips)

3/4 cup (150 grams) sugar
3/4 stick butter, melted
1 cup mashed overripe bananas (2-3 bananas)
1 1/2 eggs (To get 1/2 an egg, break one, lightly beat and use half)
1 1/4 cups plus 2 (192 grams) Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I used Trader Joe's chocolate chunks)

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Prep 12 muffin tins.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, melted butter, bananas and eggs.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together just until the batter is moistened - don't overmix. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
5. Scoop batter into muffin tin. Bake for 24-28 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.
6. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before removing to cool.

Banana Nutella Swirl Muffins

Banana Nutella Swirl Muffins

Bananas.
Nutella.
All in a muffin.

Let's do it. I found this recipe on The Novice Chef's blog. I had some very sad looking bananas in the fridge and wanted to use them up...and I had a new jar of Nutella. Match made in heaven!


The recipe is easy to make. Normal muffin blending with a dollop of Nutella on top. I ran about 1/3 cup of Nutella through the microwave for about 15 seconds. That made it easier to scoop and swirl. I also did not include the chopped pecans in the original recipe.


By the way, I found my camera! It's been "misplaced" for several months now...and I almost gave up hope. You know when you place something in a super SECRET place...so secret that you forget where you put it? That's me.

I could blame the fumes from the floor refinishing or paint, but I was trying to be clever...and so failed. The camera was put in a bin of kitchen equipment, with other stuff on top. I've lifted the lid on every box in the house and missed it. Yesterday, when I was putting away loaf pans in that box, I found the camera! Whoo hoo!

Note to my family and friends: Because I seem to forget this kind of stuff, I don't "hide" money around the house. Don't bother opening every book in the house looking for money when I'm gone... :)


All the muffins are unique based on your swirl pattern. Because of the Nutella, the top can get a little messy. You might want to serve them with a napkin (or you can just lick off the Nutella from your fingers!)



RECIPE:
Find full recipe on the Novice Chef's Blog here:  http://www.thenovicechefblog.com/2013/01/nutella-banana-swirl-muffins/
My changes: Did not include pecans.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt - I Like Big Bundts 2013 - Day 6

Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt

I Like Big Bundts 2013, Day 6

Hello! It's Day 6 of I Like Big Bundts 2013...my little effort to remind you of the greatest food holiday around: National Bundt Day on November 15th! Oh, crazy food holidays and the crazy people who celebrate them (me!). I'm a huge fan of the Bundt cake and have been making lots of bundts over the years. This year, I'm doing 15 days of Bundts leading up to National Bundt Day and I hope you grab your Bundt pan and bake along!

Today's recipe is a slight twist on a classic. Along with hundreds of other delightful food bloggers, I baked my way through Dorie Greenspan's incredible book, Baking: From My Home to Yours in an online group called Tuesdays with Dorie. My pick for the group was Dorie's Classic Banana Bundt Cake. It got great reviews from everyone and I make it all the time.

This year, I thought I would bring it back and add some chocolate chips to it! Oh, I thought I was so clever. However, this morning, as I'm writing this post at 4:30 am, I realize that I already made this in 2011!! After making over 100 bundts, I guess I forgot I was already clever in 2011 and not so clever in 2013. But that doesn't stop this cake from being AWESOME.

Banana. Chocolate. Together. Forever.

This cake has everything good and delicious. Ripe, ripe bananas, butter, sour cream (or yogurt if you wish) and chocolate chips. It fills the Bundt pan so be sure to use the 12-cup classic Bundt.

You can eat this plain or with a sprinkling of powdered sugar. If you are crazy for chocolate, you can drizzle some chocolate ganache on top.

I just love this recipe! Dorie Greenspan is a genius. Whenever I made a Dorie recipe, I feel old and nostalgic for Tuesdays with Dorie. The group, started by Laurie Woodward, happened just at the start of the food blogging explosion and we were a small but tight community - before search engine optimization, advertising, conferences and branding were commonplace. We just wanted to learn or improve our baking and share what we made with each other. I owe so much to Dorie - I made friends (some that I've met in real life), developed my baking skills, and had a great time.

If you don't have several of Dorie Greenspan's books on your bookshelf, tell Santa. Everything she writes is delicious and you should make everything...including this Banana Bundt!

See you tomorrow for another Bundt! - mary the food librarian

P.S. Remember, if you bake on National Bundt Day, I'm doing a round up on my blog. I'll post photo and link submission info on Friday! (You don't have to have a blog to enter.)

I Like Big Bundts 2013 (so far)
Day 5: Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt
Day 4: Moosewood's Fresh Apple Spice Bundt Cake
Day 3: Butterscotch Bundt Cake
Day 2: Ultimate Lemon Pound Cake Bundt
Day 1: Orange Marmalade Jubilee Bundt

Recipe: Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt
Adapted from Classic Banana Bundt Cake
Page 190, Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Find it in your library or buy it on Amazon!

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
About 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (you should have 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups)
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 cup semi-sweet pr bittersweet chocolate chips

Oven: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pan: 12-cup Bundt pan. Spray with Pam with Flour or Baker's Joy, or butter and flour pan generously.

1. Dry ingredients: Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

2. Cream: Working with a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas.

3. Combine dry & wet: On low speed, add 1/2 the dry ingredients, then all the sour cream, followed by the rest of the flour. Don't worry if the batter curdles. Fold in the chocolate chips.

4. Bundt Pan: Pour into prepared bundt pan. Rap pan on the counter to debubble and smooth the top.

5. Bake: Place pan in the oven (never put a Bundt pan on a tray - air needs to circulate through the hole in the center of the Bundt pan). Bake until a skewer inserted comes out clean or with just a few crumbs, about 65 to 75 minutes. Check the cake after about 30 minutes - if it is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Remove and let cool on rack for 10 minutes before inverting onto rack. Cool to room temp.

6. Dorie says "If you've got the time, wrap the cooled cake in plastic and allow it to sit on the counter overnight before serving - it's better the next day."

Banana Streusel Snack Cake

Banana Streusel Snack Cake

Costco sells a bag o' bananas for less than $2. You can't pass that up! But then you have to eat the bunch o' bananas and... you always find a few that never make it into the lunch bag. I freeze a few for smoothies, but love to make banana breads too.

This one, from wonderful cookbook author Flo Braker, is moist and the streusel topping takes it over the top. When I ate it warm, the flavors weren't settled yet, but it got better as it cooled and it was tasty the next day. Flo says it keeps and freezes well too.

The cake is really simple to make. Bananas, butter, and a streusel topping. Yummmmy!


I made this when friends Jun, David (remember the wedding dessert buffet?) and baby Sage came by for a visit. OMG. So cute!! Sage has these long curls in his hair and the most adorable pre-sumo wrestler arms. He had his first bit of cake too...Banana Streusel Snack Cake!

Banana Streusel Snack Cake
From Flo Braker's "Baking for All Occasions" (page 157)

Streusel
6 tablespoons (1 3/4 ounces/50 grams) all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons (2 3/4 ounces/75 grams) light brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I ran out of cinnamon (how did I run out of cinnamon?) and use 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger instead)

Cake
2 cups (8 ounces/225 grams) unsifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup ripe mashed banana (2 large or 3 medium) (I used 3 medium bananas)
3 tablespoons whole milk (I used almond milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ounces (1 stick/115 grams/1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
1 cup (7 ounces/200 grams) sugar
1 large egg

Prep: Prep a 9 x 5 loaf pan or 8 x 8 square pan by butter and flouring it, or spraying it with Pam with Flour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the streusel: Using your fingertips, mix together the flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon until lumpy; set aside.

For the batter: Sift together flour, baking powder, soda, and salt onto a sheet of parchment or wax paper (save the paper to help you invert the cake onto a rack later). Mash bananas in a medium bowl, then add the milk and vanilla extract.

Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg until completely incorporated. Add the banana mixture (it will look curdled, that's OK). With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes (9 x 3 loaf pan) or 35 minutes (8 x 8 pan), until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes. Carefully invert onto a rack covered with parchment. Place another rack on top and invert again so the streusel is on top. Let cool.

Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt - Day #8 of Food Librarian's I Like Big Bundts 3

Banana Chocolate Chip Bundt

I Like Big Bundts - Day #8

We all have great intentions. Like exercising everyday. Putting away the dishes as soon as they're dry. Making your bed. And eating all the bananas you bought.

This cake may not help with the exercise bit, but it will take care of those bananas!

Whoo hoo! We are on Day #8 of my marathon bundt making adventure because I Like Big Bundts! November 15th is National Bundt Day and I hope you make a bundt to celebrate!

This bundt is based on Dorie Greenspan's awesome Banana Bundt in her book, Baking: From my Home to Yours. That was my pick for Tuesdays with Dorie and it was well loved by the bakers! I promise you'll love it. I added one cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the recipe for an even more delicious treat.

This bundt can be eaten plain or with just a touch of powdered sugar. With bananas, sour cream and butter or yogurt? It is so moist!

Happy Monday! If you have some bananas sitting around, be sure to make this deliciousness.

Recap of I Like Big Bundts 3:
Day #1: Buttercake Bakery's Marble Bundt Cake
Day #2: Lemon Bliss Bundt
Day #3: Double-Chocolate Bundt Cake with Ganache Glaze
Day #4: Spice Bundt Cake with Brown Butter Vanilla Bean Glaze
Day #5: Gingery Pumpkin Breakfast Bundt
Day #6: Maida Heatter's Budapest Coffee Cake Bundt
Day #7: Dark Chocolate Bundt

Recipe: Click here for printable recipe

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking from My Home to Yours (page 190) (Find it in your library here or on Amazon - really, everyone should have this book and it makes a great holiday gift!)

Bundt Pan: Traditional 12-cup Bundt Pan

Vegan Chocolate Banana Muffins

Vegan Chocolate Banana Muffins

I woke up Saturday and wanted to bake something for the library (yeah, most days are like this). Working on Saturdays isn't always the most fun...especially when it's 85 degrees outside and the A/C in the library is broken.

However, I opened the refrig and realized I was out of eggs. What?! Out of eggs? What kind of baker am I? Anyway, I didn't find any eggs, but I did find some old bananas.


So, I searched for a vegan recipe and found Love and Olive Oil's Chocolate Banana Cupcakes. Her recipe has a frosting, but I skipped that so I'm calling them muffins.


The recipe includes coconut milk, banana, cocoa powder and a bit of cinnamon. I doubled the amount of cinnamon because I love it.

Quick and easy to make...the resulting muffin is moist. If you are vegan or don't find any eggs in your refrig, give these a try!


Recipe:
Love and Olive Oil's Chocolate Banana Cupcakes
Notes:
1. I used 1/4 t cinnamon instead of 1/8.
2. I did not make the frosting.
3. I used Callebaut Dutch processed cocoa powder.
4. I overfilled my muffin tins and got 10 muffins. Baked for 24 minutes. Next time, I will definitely shoot for 12 muffins!

Chocolate-Caramel-Banana Upside-Down Cake

Chocolate-Caramel-Banana Upside-Down Cake

The upside-down cake is a big favorite of mine. After the Bundt, of course. And no worries...I'm not going to make 30 days of upside-down cakes. Because people who do that kind of thing are just crazy.

Chocolate.
Caramel.
Bananas.
Perfect!
(Well, this post isn't for my banana hater friends, Clara and Jenn)

This is from the cookbook, Cake Keeper Cakes: 100 Simple Recipes for Extraordinary Bundt Cakes, Pound Cakes, Snacking Cakes and Other Good-To-The-Last-Crumb Treats by Lauren Chattman. I made the Orange-Ricotta Pound Cake Bundt earlier this month and it was delicious. So I'm two for two with this cookbook. And the rest of it looks very very promising!

Some brown sugar and butter is heated to make caramel. A layer of bananas is placed on top. Then a chocolate cake tops the banana-caramel mixture. I thought there was a bit too much caramel, making the cake a bit too sweet. Next time, I would cut the caramel by 25%.

After baking, let it sit for 5 minutes and then flip onto your serving tray. Voila!

I want to try David Lebovitz's Banana-Chocolate Chip Upside Down Cake next!

Chocolate-Caramel-Banana Upside-Down Cake
Click here for printable recipe
Adapted from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman (2009), page 58. Buy it here or see if your library has it here.

Topping:
1 stick butter
3/4 c light brown sugar
3 ripe bananas, cut into 1/4-inch slices
(I thought the caramel was a little too much. I would use 3/4 stick butter, 1/2 c brown sugar next time)

Cake:
3/4 c plus 2 T unbleached all-purpose flour (I used King Arthur flour)
6 T (1/4 c plus 2T) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
3/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
6 T (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs (room temp)
2 t vanilla
2/3 c buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Use a 9" x 2" cake pan.
2. Topping: Heat butter over medium heat until melted and foamy. Whisk in brown sugar, turn heat to low and cook, whisking constantly, for two minutes or until the mixture is thick. Spread on the bottom of the 9" cake pan.
3. Arrange the bananas in a circle on top of the sugar mixture. Set aside.
4. Sift together flour, cocoa, soda and salt.
5. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy (I used my KitchenAid mixer on medium for 3 minutes). Scrape down sides of bowl.
6. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition.
7. Stir in vanilla.
8. On low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and buttermilk (3 flour and 2 milk additions).
9. Scrape down the sides and then beat batter on high for 30 seconds.
10. Pour batter over the bananas and smooth out.
11. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let sit on wire rack for 5 minutes. Then carefully invert onto your serving tray. Let sit at least 20 minutes before diving in. The author says it keeps for 2 days in a cake keeper at room temp.

Banana Zucchini Bundt Cake with King Arthur Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites

It's the end of summer.
Sad.
Luckily, I got to go to San Diego over Labor Day weekend and met up with my friend Jami and her new doggie, Maggie. Ain't she the cutest?

When it's summer, it's zucchini time. Kinda like Hammer Time but with a little less dancing.

My blogger friend Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet recently went to King Arthur Flour in Vermont. OMG. When she said she was going to KAF for a baking class, I thought she was kidding. Seriously, I thought KAF was like Oz. A place they mention in their catalog and on their packages, but not an actual place. Well, low and behold, Mary took a baking class with her mom! See her post about her yummy adventures.

After my cat Q-Tip passed away, I received a lovely card and gift package from Mary. She is so sweet. I shook the packet and it sounded like dried cat food! But inside were King Arthur Flour's Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites. These are too cool!

I added 1/3 cup of King Arthur Flour Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites. While they do indeed look like cat food pellets, they are tasty when they soften in a baked good. They are also dairy free! Whoo hoo. (The recipe is also dairy-free).

I found this recipe on Michelle's blog (One Ordinary Day) and Alicia's blog (Confessions of a Bakeaholic ) and it looked so delicious I had to give it a shot. One cup each: raw zucchini, mashed bananas and chopped pecans, along with 1/3 c of the King Arthur Cinnamon Flav-R-Bites.

Yeah. I know. It's a Bundt. Again.
And I have another one that isn't posted yet. I think I'll save that one to space them out a bit! :)

This was yummy. It isn't really rich like Dorie Greenspan's butter and sour cream filled Banana Bundt, but it is a yummy breakfast treat. The King Arthur Flav-R-Bites add a nice cinnamon touch.

Recipe: (three options)
One Ordinary Day who found it on Recipezaar (submitted by Margo59 and baked in two loaf pans) or Confessions of a Bakeaholic

Classic Banana Bundt Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

Whoo hoo!! It's my turn to pick a recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie! Awesomeness in a blogger-nerdy-baker happiness sort of way. Know what I mean?!

As you may know, I'm a huge Bundt fan. Huge. I think I've made over 10 Bundts on this blog. The American-made Nordic Ware Bundt was trademarked in 1950 and is, in my book, an engineering marvel!

Although some people just don't understand this, I love cake but don't care for frosting. And the Bundt? It's perfect. Even if you put a thick glaze on it, the ratio of cake to frosting is just right. And sometimes, it doesn't need any frosting or glaze at all. Yes, the Bundt rocks. Big time. Let's all just take moment to salute the awesomeness of the Bundt. Thanks.

This recipe, on page 190 of Dorie Greenspan's book: Baking: From My Home to Yours is from her friend Ellen Einstein who owns Sweet Sixteenth Bakery in Nashville.

And you know what? Holy smokes!! This is delicious!

I made mine with sour cream, but you can also use plain yogurt. Dorie suggests a lemon glaze but I skipped that in favor of a simple dusting of powdered sugar. I'm sure chocolate chips and walnuts would be nice additions too.

Nordic Ware says there are 60 million Bundt pans in America. We need to get everyone to make this cake!

Thank you everyone for baking along with me this week! I'm excited to see how you liked it and your variations. And if you couldn't make it this time, I hope you try it out in the future. It's such a pleasure to be part of this group! Bake on TWDers! :) - mary the food librarian

Classic Banana Bundt Cake
Page 190, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients: Makes 1 Bundt Cake (14 servings)

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, preferably at room temperature
About 4 very ripe bananas, mashed (you should have 1 1/2 - 1 3/4 cups)
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt

Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9- to 10-inch (12 cup) Bundt pan. (If you use a silicone Bundt pan there’s no need to butter it.) Don’t place the pan on a baking sheet - you want the oven’s heat to circulate through the Bundt’s inner tube.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add the sugar and beat at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the eggs one at a time, beating for about 1 minute after each egg goes in. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the bananas. Finally, mix in half the dry ingredients (don’t be disturbed when the batter curdles), all the sour cream and then the rest of the flour mixture. Scrape the batter into the pan, rap the pan on the counter to debubble the batter and smooth the top.

Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Check the cake after about 30 minutes - if it is browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. Transfer the cake to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding onto the rack to cool to room temperature.

If you've got the time, wrap the cooled cake in plastic and allow it to sit on the counter overnight before serving - it's better the next day.

Optional Lemony White Icing:
Sift 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar into a bowl and squeeze in enough fresh lemon juice (start with 2 teaspoons and add more by drops) to make an icing thin enough to drizzle down the Bundt's curves.

Half batch or muffins:
If you want 1/2 the recipe and make muffins, Dorie Greenspan wrote it up herself on this 2008 entry on Serious Eats: Banana Cake Big and Small. She added some chocolate to this one. Yield 12 muffins, bake 28-32 minutes