Baking a banana bread in a bundt pan cuts down on the baking time and makes it more show-offy. Recipe below.
ONE EVENING OVER THE HOLIDAYS, on a night when we were rich in guests and enjoying ourselves immensely, I was looking for a way to add something extra to our evening and ended up knocking together a Vaquero cocktail for us all—it was a nice, bright, peppery change and big fun to think about, and make, and drink.
And then there I was with a loopy smile on my face and a whole lot of leftover canned pineapple.
While I like pineapple, I tend to not have many bright ideas about what to do with it. Those mid-century recipes featuring pineapple—upside down cake, ambrosia salad, sweet and sour pork—just seem dowdy and silly to me and, worse, I don’t like eating them. But, as the Vaquero shows, there is hope for pineapple in my larder.
The solution was simple and, truth be told, kind of old fashioned too: a pineapple variation on our familiar banana bread theme.
Some bakers call this Hummingbird Bread, after the beautiful moist Southern cake. If you wish, to really evoke that traditional specialty, add some toasted chopped pecans to the batter at the very end, and instead of a vanilla glaze, use a cream cheese frosting.
Fixing this in a bundt pan rather than a loaf pan ensures even baking and also cuts down on the oven time—you can save as much as 20 minutes. And bundts are just so much more show-offy and people-pleasing too.
Pineapple Banana Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze
Ingredients
- 2 cups unbleached white flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil (we used grapeseed oil)
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 -1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1-1/2 cups mashed banana (three ripe bananas)
- 1 cup canned crushed pineapple, with its juice
For the glaze (optional—see Kitchen Notes)
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar
- 3 or 4 tablespoons milk
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Mix together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg in a medium bowl—stir lightly with a fork.
- Put the oil, melted butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Mix together with a hand mixer, then add the vanilla extract and the eggs, and beat until uniform.
- Using a spatula, mix in the bananas and then the pineapple, including its juice.
- Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until barely combined.
- Prepare the bundt pan now—brush all its internal surfaces with cooking oil or melted shortening. Then scrape in the batter, level the top, and place it in the preheated oven.
- Bake for about 35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out entirely clean.
- Let it stand on a rack for about ten minutes. Then gently slide a thin knife around the edges to loosen it a bit, being careful not to harm the bread, and turn it out onto the rack.
- Let it cool completely.
- Make the glaze. Sift the powered sugar through a sieve into a small bowl. Add 3 tablespoons of the milk and the vanilla and then whisk together until everything is completely smooth and non-bumpy. Add more milk if it seems too thick. Spoon it on top of the cooled bread, let it harden and you are ready to go.
For sure I’ll make this cake!
Hope you like it, Susie!
I’ve noticed that, no matter what you do to it, banana bread tastes like bananas.
However, I noticed that your friend Cara Black’s book Murder at the Porte de Versailles was listed as one of Crime Reads’ Best Traditional Mysteries of 2022. Congratulations to her!
Banana bread (and all its myriad variations) is one of my favorite foods.
Thank you for what sounds like a delicious version!
May 2023 be a year full of blessings for you, Terry and your family, Marion!
Eeka, is your observation on banana breads just an observation, or is it a deal breaker for you? And thanks for your note on Cara! We’ve known her since before the very first book and are delighted that she’s created such a wonderful collection of books for her fans and career for herself.
Thanks, Dani! And we wish you and your family a happy, healthy, prosperous new year.
I’m critiquing my cake while I’m eating it while I’m high so I hope it makes sense. I keep looking at the center and admiring the perfect, even bake on a fairly dense cake. The flavors are subtle and not too sweet. It’s dense, but there’s a lightness in there. There is a lovely, almost textile artisty texture in there from the pineapple but if you didn’t know the recipe you might not guess there is pineapple in it until you’ve a had a couple pieces. I’ve had several or maybe more. I served it to guests and they loved it.
Thanks Terry
Oh, it’s not a deal-breaker. But most days, banana is not my favorite flavor.
It’s funny, whenever I try a new banana bread recipe, I’m usually a bit disappointed… but what was I expecting?
The recipe I like best is in the NY Times Cookbook, called John Harper’s Banana Bread. It has lemon juice in it.