Tomorrow marks 7 years since my brain surgery. This is huge for a number of reasons. I don't think about surgery as much as I used to - it's almost like it never happened. Almost. I don't have flashbacks of painful moments when I try to brush my teeth. I hardly think about the minor deficits (mainly only visible to me). Occasionally, something will pop up. A couple weeks ago, I had to make some phone calls. In each call I would ask about a "kerb machine". After a dozen or so calls, I realised that I do occasionally still have trouble saying the letter "b". Minor matters. I honestly did not remember that bs were a problem until then. The major success here is that I am two years past the point where many persons experience regrowth and a resurgence of symptoms. I still don't know if there's regrowth - don't tell anyone that I am still avoiding MRIs. But let's shout this from the rooftop - STILL SYMPTOM FREE!
Each year I make myself a cake. I had plans for a simple hummingbird cake this year but I just couldn't swing it. Three weeks ago, I baked two birthday cakes for my brother and lost interest in all things sugary. Then the Easter holidays hit. Right now my nephews are still on holiday and kept me busy all of yesterday. Very little time for baking large cakes.
So we shall start the brainiversary celebration with these Dirty Banana Mini Bundts. This month the Bundt Bakers are all about the cocktails. I chose the dirty banana cocktail - partly because of the flavours but mainly because of the name. The dirty banana has banana, coffee, and rum. All deliciousness. Whoa - just realised that I am eating coffee rum ice cream while I type this - total coincidence.
Thanks for hosting
Patricia and
Cristina! See all our cocktail Bundts below!
Dirty Banana Mini Bundts
(Yield: 4 mini Bundts)
Ingredients
Cake
125 grams flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of nutmeg
118 ml buttermilk
1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee
56 grams butter, room temperature
67 grams granulated sugar
33 grams brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
95 grams (~1/2 cup) mashed banana
Coffee-Rum Syrup
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons strong coffee
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons rum
Directions
Grease and flour 4 one-cup capacity mini Bundt tins. Preheat oven to 350 F.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg together. In a measuring cup, dissolve the instant coffee in the buttermilk.
Cream butter and the two sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. When bought have been incorporated, stir in the banana. Scrape down the batter as often as needed.
Alternate adding the flour and the coffee-milk mixture into the butter mixture. Start and end with flour, add the flour in three parts and the coffee-milk in two parts. Mix until just incorporated. Pour the batter into the mini Bundt tins. Bake 15- 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
While the Bundts are baking, microwave the sugar, coffee, and butter together until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Do this is short bursts - mixing in between. Be sure to use at least a 2 cup capacity container. The mixture could bubble over. When the sugar has dissolved, stir in the rum.
When the Bundts are cooked, immediately pour about a third of the coffee-rum syrup over the Bundts. Allow to cool, remove from tins and slowly pour over the remaining syrup.
Bundt Bakers
Cocktail Bundts
#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about #BundtBakers, can be found on our home page. And don’t forget to take a peek at what other talented bakers have baked this month:
