Steamed Banana Cake

Sigh. Although the picture above of the Steamed Banana Cake looks terrific this was in fact a failure. Oh sure, it unmolded perfectly, not once did I have to insert a knife into the pudding mold to loosen the cake from the edges, nor did I have to do a series of complicated moves in which I jiggled the mold while trying to lift it up while occasionally hitting the sides with a wooden spoon to loosen the cake. This was in fact the first steamed cake I have made that unmolded so effortlessly and so perfectly with the entire surface of the cake remaining intact that I was forced to stop what I was doing and immediately do a happy dance from the kitchen to the living room and back to the kitchen. The color of the cake was rich and golden and quite inviting, the smell was intoxicating. My kitchen was filled with the aroma of warm banana and cinnamon and just a little hint of vanilla. I couldn't wait for the cake to cool down enough so we could slice into it and taste. I even used my cake tester (an ice pick) to make sure that once inserted into the center of the cake it came out clean and it DID!

So what went wrong?

Well, once the cake was cool enough to slice it was quite apparent that the center, the very heart of the cake, practically the entire inner area of cake was still RAW! Arghhhh, what happened? The "cake tester" didn't tip me off to the center being raw, it came out clean. I steamed the cake for an hour longer than the 50 minutes the recipe suggested, so how in the name of all that is scared in the land of baked goods did the center still come out raw?

I re-read the recipe, this revealed nothing. I tasted a piece of cake that was not raw, it was freaking delicious. I sliced into the cooked parts of the cake and served myself and Tom some warm banana cake and ice cold milk. We both agreed it tasted heavenly, that it was a darn shame that a large part of it was still raw and would have to be thrown away. I went back into the kitchen and re-read the recipe and then the light bulb turned on!

Fill a wok or a large pot with water for steaming and heat until boiling. Place the cake pan in a steamer tray over the boiling water or balance it on a trivet or an empty tuna can in the center of the pan. Cover and steam over high heat for 50 minutes, or until the cake is springy to the touch; check the water level after 30 minutes and add more boiling water if necessary.

Oops! I didn't do that. I had placed the mold into a pot and then took the pot over to the sink and filled it with cold water until it reached halfway up the sides of the mold and then I put it on the stove and turned the gas onto the lowest setting possible so that the water would come to a very slow simmer. This explains why, after 50 minutes when I went to check the doneness of the cake it was still pretty much just batter. I then turned up the heat and let it steam for an additional hour and probably should have let it steam for 30 minutes longer than that. Oh well, lesson learned. I would make this again; the parts that were edible were delicious. I think steaming cakes makes them much moister than just regular baking in an oven does and it's a heck of a lot of fun too. If you'd like to give it a try yourself, the recipe came from Food Network: Recipes.

Good luck!

Written by Deb on August 4, 2003 07:06 PM