Banana Bundt Cake with Rum Glaze

After the roaring success of the Pumpkin Bourbon Bundt with Bourbon Glaze I decided to play with the recipe a bit and ended up with this BananaWalnut Bundt Cake with Rum Glaze. My primary motivation was the pile of bananas on the counter and in the freezer, but I am really glad I went with it. At first I was going to use the Dorie Banana Bundt recipe, but it didn't include an option for 1/3 cup of rum so I decided to combine the original Pumpkin Recipe with the Dorie Recipe, although the only thing I really did to the pumpkin recipe was to trade out pumpkin for banana and bourbon for rum and to use whole milk yogurt instead of milk.

The results were fabulous. Dense, moist, yummy with a great banana flavor and enough rum that you could taste it. Once again the glaze was literally the icing on the cake -- that same flaky, sugary, donut consistency as the bourbon variety but with the rum perfectly accenting the bananas.

I definitely see this recipe hanging around my kitchen for a while -- especially considering I've made it three times this week -- once as pumpkin and twice as banana. I will likely make it yet again next week with sweet potato... just to try it the way it was written.



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup cooked sweet potato (or pumpkin puree or banana)
2 tsps vanilla extract
3/4 cup milk or yogurt or sour cream
1/3 cup bourbon or rum
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp (yup, a tablespoon) baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups pecans or walnuts

For the glaze:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsps bourbon or rum
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325. Grease and flour a 10 cup bundt cake pan and sprinkle a 1/4 cup of chopped nuts in the bottom of the pan.

Cream the butter and the sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla. Next add the puree and mix well.

In a small bowl combine the milk and the bourbon and stir to combine.

In another small bowl combine the dry ingredients and mix up.

Add half the flour mix, then half the milk mixture, alternating until you've added it all. Stir in the nuts.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes or until cooked through. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pan and let it cool completely on a cooling rack.

For the Glaze:
Boil the sugar and water for 5 minutes. Add the butter, bourbon and vanilla and boil two minutes more. Spread the hot glaze on the cake slowly, letting it absorb as much as possible.