Brown- butter banana cake with chocolate chips

I'm blogging on location today.


Exciting, no?


Location is...my backyard! It's particularly inviting this time of year, as the mosquitoes are still sleeping and the lilac bush is in full bloom.




Gilligan, my four year old labradoodle, is co-blogging with me today and by co-blogging, I mean bonking my leg with his ball for me to throw.

Chives

Raspberry canes

Japanese Bleeding Hearts

I took a few photos of our backyard bounty- Nick's already started our garden with compost from our own bin! Yay homemade dirt! So far we've got cauliflower, romaine lettuce, celery, and broccoli planted. I cannot wait to eat homegrown food all summer long!

If only we could grow bananas...

Check out this banana cake glamour shot complete with stunt banana! (Just kidding- it's a real banana.)

This bundt cake kicks butt or bundt or whatever. It totally rocks. My stepmother gave me the all chocolate edition of Fine Cooking and I've been baking my way through it. Since I've been trying my best to agave-ize & health-ify a lot of my baked goods, this one seemed particularly adaptable. Banana adds a lot of moisture that might have been lost by reducing the amount of butter. And bundt cakes take very kindly to agave subbing in for sugar.

This cake stayed moist and tender even a couple of days after making it. If you eat it hot, however, you get to enjoy the oozing chocolate and that is a very fine experience.


PS- I love these pictures, but I'm sure my neighbors thought I was a crazy lady as I posed cake and a banana on my front porch. The things I do for this blog...

Brown-buttter banana cake with chocolate chips
Adapted from Fine Cooking

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup applesauce
2/3 cup agave nectar
3 large eggs
1 cup finely mashed banana (~3 medium bananas)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon butter extract (optional)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dark chocolate chunks


Preheat oven to 350. Grease a bundt pan and set aside.

Over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Once the butter is melted, let it continue to cook and darken until it's a golden brown color. Watch this closely as it happens fast. Remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the agave nectar, eggs, bananas, vanilla, & butter extract. Whisk to thoroughly combine. Once the butter has cooled, add it to the wet mixture and whisk to combine.

Add in the flours, salt, and baking soda. You could whisk them separately in a bowl, but I just dumped them in. Using a wooden spoon, stir gently until just mixed. Add in the chocolate chunks and stir to distribute.

Spread batter into bundt pan and bake for 40 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.