Banana Oat Cake

 

Oats and Chokecherry Blossom by Charles E&T

 

 

Banana Oat Breakfast Cake

1 cup sugar

½ cup unsalted butter

½ cup oats

1 cup flour

2 - 3 bananas, mashed

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 Tablespoon hot water

This is an adaptation of my mother’s, maternal grandmother’s and aunts’ recipe for banana cake. Please scroll down for the original recipe.

Directions: Wash and dry the egg. Put dish towel used to dry egg in the dirty clothes hamper. Crack egg into a separate small bowl and check egg.

Cream sugar and butter, add bananas and cream. Add oats and cream. Add egg and cream. Add flour, cream. Lastly and the baking soda which is dissolved in a Tablespoon of hot water. Using the butter wrapper, grease a 9.5 inch, deep dish pie pan and then dust with flour. Pour batter into the deep dish pan.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes; insert a knife to test if completely baked in the middle. While cake is baking make the icing. 

This cake is always moist, always falls in the middle which makes for a swimming pool of icing in the middle. We enjoy it.

Icing

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

¼ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

3 Tablespoons whole milk

¼ - ½ cup powdered sugar

While cake is baking, make the icing. Melt in small sauce pan: butter, brown sugar, vanilla and milk. Stir. Remove from heat and sift in the powdered sugar. Pour icing over cake while cake and icing are still warm.

Serves 8 people.

Notes: This cake assembles quickly and with the oats and triangular slices presents as a breakfast or brunch cake.

Banana Cake

Below are the original ingredient lists for the banana cake and frosting that my mother, her mother and the aunts made and that I made for years. It’s great for backyard birthday parties. The cake was a conversation piece in part because it seems to have originated in a time of shortages: fewer bananas, eggs and fresh milk. In contrast, there were abundant amounts of powdered sugar. I don’t know how the remaining evaporated milk was used. It’s an interesting question.

Note: We always doubled the cake recipe and baked it in a 9.5 x 13.25 inch pan or some similar sized pan. The frosting recipe does Not need to be doubled. It yields a generous amount of frosting.

Banana Cake

1 cup sugar

¼ pound butter or margarine

1 egg

1 cup crushed ripe bananas

1 ½ cups sifted flour

1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 Tablespoon hot water

Frosting

4 Tablespoons butter or margarine

½ cup brown sugar

5 Tablespoons evaporated milk

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¾ cups powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup chopped walnuts, optional

 

Blueberry, Blackberry and Cherry Cobbler

 

Cherry blueberries raspberry by ET Charles

A new blend of frozen fruits was available at the market and it produced an especially tasty cobbler.

1 cup flour

½ cup sugar

1/16 teaspoon lavender salt – or less

½ cup, 1 stick unsalted butter

5 cups mixed frozen blueberries, blackberries and sweet dark cherries (Bing cherries)

Directions: Stir together flour, sugar and salt. Add butter and cream. Grease a 9.5 inch, deep dish pie plate with butter wrapper. Place 5 cups of blueberries, blackberries and cherries in pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes, longer in the winter. Topping will be lightly toasted.

Serves 8 people.

Notes: Cobbler variation 7

Please follow links below for gluten free variations of this recipe.

Gluten free Apple Pear Raspberry Cobbler 

Gluten free Hot Berry Pie Easy Peasy 

Apple, Pear, Raspberry Cobbler gluten free

 

Apple, Pear and Raspberries by ET Charles

3 Granny Smith apples, small

1 Bartlett pear

2 cups frozen raspberries

1 teaspoon sugar, optional

Topping

½ cup sweet butter (1 stick, unsalted butter)

½ cup oats

¼ cup cornmeal

¼ cup unblanched/raw almond meal          

1/16 teaspoon or less nutmeg

1/16 teaspoon or less lavender salt

Directions for topping: In a mixing bowl add dry ingredients: oats, cornmeal, almond meal, nutmeg and lavender salt. Stir thoroughly. Slice butter into approximately tablespoon size and add to dry ingredients. Cream thoroughly. Scraping the sides of the bowl to mix all ingredients. Set topping aside.

Wash and dry apples and pear. Slice fruit into quarters. Peel fruit. Slice peeled quarters into half inch sized pieces. Using the butter wrapper, grease a 10.5-inch diameter baking dish. Spread the apple chunks across the pie dish. Then evenly distribute the pear chunks amongst the apples. Next place the raspberries individually on top of the tree fruit, concentric semicircles are nice. If the raspberries are tart, sprinkle one teaspoon of sugar on top of the berries and adjacent apple and pear pieces. Spoon topping on the fruit.

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 minutes. Red berries will punctuate the lightly browned topping and cream-colored tree fruits, making this a visually appealing dish.

Let cool at least ten minutes. Serve with whipped cream.

Serves 10 people. 

Hot Berry Pie, Gluten Free, easy peasy

 

berries ET Charles

1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 stick at room temperature

1 scant cup rolled oats

½ cup sugar

1/3 cup corn meal

1/16 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon lavender salt

4 cups individually frozen mixed berries: blueberries, raspberries, blackberries

Optional: whipped cream

Directions: Cream butter and sugar together. Add corn meal and mix. Sprinkle in nutmeg and lavender salt and then mix thoroughly. Stir in rolled oats and mix. Using the butter wrapper or a tiny piece of butter, grease a 9.5-inch diameter deep dish pie pan thoroughly. Scoop the four cups of individually frozen mixed berries into the greased pie pan. Distribute the berries evenly. Spoon the butter, sugar, oats and corn meal topping evenly over the berries. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. Topping will turn golden brown. This will be very hot when removed from the oven. Let cool for at least 15 minutes, depending on the drafts in your abode. Serve warm. Optional, may be served with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Serves 8 people.

Notes: This is a warm, quick and easy gluten free dessert for Christmas and the winter holidays. Berry Cobbler variation 3.

Cherry Cobbler

 

4 cups frozen, mixed sweet and tart cherries, pitted before freezing

1 cup flour

½ cup sugar

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

1/16 teaspoon lavender salt

Directions: To make the topping: cream together butter and sugar; add salt and cream; add flour and cream. Place 4 cups of frozen, mixed cherries in a well-greased deep dish pie pan. Distribute the topping evenly over the cherries. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes.

Serves 8 people.

Notes: Many thanks to Wanda Dietz for the initial gift of lavender salt.

Lavender was grown in Palisade, Colorado: https://www.nielsenvillage.com/products