There is something so appealing about a big, full bowl of fruit; so much so, that I often find myself buying obscene amounts of limes or lemons just because they look so beautiful resting in my grandmother’s antique bowl. Or maybe I just want to be like Martha Stewart. Whatever the case, I handle these items with the “more is more” philosophy.
I love balancing the bunches of yellow sweetness in tall piles in our counter bowl along with Mr. Banana Man below.
We sell a lot of bananas in the café, but there is always a number of very ripe ones that end up in my baking pile to be made into banana bread or banana muffins. And in my constant search for ways to upgrade basic baked items I make and sell in the café, I often add extra delicious things to the bread. But first, I think I have found the perfect banana bread recipe, it uses sour cream to moisten and add texture to the bread, lots of those ripe bananas and not too sweet; then, I add raspberries or blueberries to the mix and a ribbon of cream cheese filling. It bakes up moist, beautiful and with a crunchy top thanks to the raw sugar I sprinkle the breads with before baking.
This cake freezes well and stays fresh at room temperature for at least two days, though I doubt it will last that long on your counter.
Banana Bread Loaf
12 Tbls unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/3 c sugar
3 very ripe bananas
½ cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 2/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Kosher salt
Fresh or frozen raspberries
Cream cheese filling
1 package cream cheese, room temp
1/3 c sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg yolk