Monday, September 19, 2011

Secret Recipe Club


Next to food and cooking, I think what drives most bloggers to devote time and energy to posting about their foodie obsessions is the opportunity to interact with other like-minded people. In the 3 plus years that I've been blogging, I've "met" some wonderful folks from all around the world who share my passion for the art of cooking. I follow their blogs each day, derive inspiration from them, and widen my sphere of bloggers through them. This is how I happened upon the Secret Recipe Club, the brainchild of Amanda, whose story of her leap into the blogging world is nothing short of inspiring. When Amanda was searching for ways to bring more exposure to her blog, she conceived of the Secret Recipe Club. Her idea was to make a recipe from a fellow blogger who, in turn, would make a recipe from Amanda's Cookin. But Amanda thought it would be even more fun if more bloggers were involved and so she opened up the clubhouse. From the 19 members that first month, the Secret Recipe Club has grown to several hundred members. And now The Food of Love is one of those members.

For my first month's participation, I was assigned Nicole's wonderful blog The Daily Dish. Nicole is a mother of 5 who somehow finds the time to blog about food and family. I enjoyed getting to know Nicole better by reading through her posts. Her interests are quite varied and I picked up some great information. Deciding which recipe to try took a bit of deliberating, but I finally decided on this pudding-like banana cake with orange icing.

With a large bag of very ripe bananas in the freezer, this cake was going to be economical as well as delicious. The original recipe is here. I cut the recipe in half, tweaked it a bit, and used a loaf pan to produce 12 servings. That recipe follows:

1/2 lb unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
3 eggs
2-3 large overripe bananas, mashed
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Icing:
1 3/4 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tsp unsalted butter, softened
2-3 tbs orange juice

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees Farenheit. Grease a large loaf pan and line with parchment paper. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Stir in half the flour, then half the mashed bananas. Incorporate completely, then mix in the other half. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then cool on a rack.

To make the icing, melt the butter in the microwave.  Add the confectioners sugar and orange juice to form a slightly runny paste. Pour over cool cakes, letting the icing run down the sides.
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TASTE NOTES
DSO really, really liked this version of banana cake as did I. It's so moist that you'd swear it has some kind of pudding in it. It keeps very well in the refrigerator and the orange icing was a perfect topping, just sweet enough without being cloying.

Please visit all the other wonderful Secret Recipe Club members whose recipes are available below by clicking on the thumbnail.

26 comments:

  1. I've been thinking about banana cake lately and I think I just found the right one to make! Orange icing sounds amazing. Can't wait to try this!

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  2. I love a good banana bread and I can't wait to try out this orange icing!

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  3. I am intrigued by the orange icing on top of that yummy cake. What a great combination of flavors.

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  4. I love banana anything and the addition of the orange icing - what a great idea!

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  5. I love this banana cake look awesome! gloria

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  6. Stopping by from group B. So fun to be in the Secret Recipe Club with you. Great Post! This banana cake looks delicious! I love the addition of orange icing for a great flavor combination.

    If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to drop by my blog and check out my SRC recipe this month: Avocado Omelet

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  7. Oh wow!!! It does look really moist. I love bananas so I'm really excited to try this. Just doing a little Secret Recipe Club surfing. So glad it brought me to your great little piece of cyber space!

    Lots of yummy love,
    Alex aka Ma What's For Dinner
    www.mawhats4dinner.com

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  8. I love a good banana cake. I'm looking forward to trying it with an orange icing! Great SRC post!

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  9. It's difficult to go wrong with banana bread or banana cake. Your version looks excellent!

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  10. I am beyond giddy right now. I have all of the ingredients on hand to give this a try. I can't wait. I love banana treats and this looks so delicious.

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  11. Your cake does look wonderfully moist and as we love banana bread I'll have to give this one a try.

    If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my group "A" SRC recipe this month: Welsh Cakes.

    Lisa~~
    Cook Lisa Cook

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  12. This looks super rich and moist, and as you say, pudding-like. Sounds like a nice treat to keep in the fridge. Terrific choice for SRC!

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  13. Mmmmmm - I make banana cake with vanilla bean frosting, but I've never thought of orange icing... will have to give that a try sometime.

    This is my first time joining the SRC too. I hope you'll stop by and visit.

    :)
    ButterYum

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  14. This looks so moist and delicious! I am always looking for new recipes for the bananas in the freezer.

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  15. A very fun idea of Amanda, and a nice variety of recipes. The banana cake looks really different and delicious, Arlene. I know I'd love it!

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  16. Yes it does look very moist like pudding! I bet it tastes great too :)

    Check out my SRC post if you like!

    http://steaknpotatoeskindagurl.blogspot.com/2011/09/septembers-secret-recipe-club-reveal.html

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  17. I am SO excited you got my blog this month, AND that you picked this recipe. I haven't made it since last year and it's so good. I love the "tweaks" you made. I'm going to make up a batch soon and try out your version. Thank you for reminding me of this delicious cake. And yes, I totally agree, it seems as if you put pudding it in it, because talk about one of the moistest cakes I've ever encountered. Love. Thank you for such kind words up there! :)

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  18. Looks YUMMY!

    Thanks for being part of Group B of the SRC with me! My SRC recipe this month was: Pioneer Woman Chicken Pot Pie.

    http://momscrazycooking.blogspot.com/2011/09/pioneer-womans-chicken-pot-pie-secret.html

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  19. That looks so delicious! Stopping by from SRC.

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  20. oh this is just mouthwatering! what a delicious cake!

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  22. You are going to laugh but when I first caught a glimpse of the picture without reading I thought it was a meatloaf with some kind of cheesy topping. ;-) I like it even better knowing it is banana cake. Yum!

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  23. What a great looking cake...love the glaze :)
    Awesome to be in the Secret Recipe Club with you. Here is my post from group C - http://su.pr/2rtACr

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