Banana Caramel Cinnamon Cake

It was Sunday and I was starving for some sweet spiced baking goods and I knew cinnamon will do the work. Put some slices of ripen banana, add pinches of nutmeg powder and grinded clove; this cake would make my tea time pleasurable!

About Cinnamon

Yes I am a big fan of cinnamon that I decided to write something about it particularly. And I am very proud to state that the 85% of cinnamon in this world market are coming from my lovely country, Indonesia :D Yes yes yesss, if you’re having apple pie in the US with McCornick Cinnamon sprinkles, those sprinkles are Indonesian!

Despite the fact that there's an issue on how Indonesian cinnamon (or Korintje cinnamon) will affect your liver badly, we Indonesian have been living with this beneficial spice for ages and never see any disadvantages of consuming cinnamon, as long as it's on reasonable quantity. On the contrary, cinnamon consumption is believed to have a positive side effect on person with diabetic and cholesterol. Besides, it’s also loaded with antioxidant, and its odor suits hot spiced beverages well.

With the nature richdom, we also had the history. Indonesia back then was also famous for another spices; such as clove, nutmeg, pepper, and those nature advantages were the main reason for the colonist to came to Indonesia. It took centuries filled with slavery, spice trading monopoly, and harsh penalty if the natives could not produce spices much and miss the quota.

Well, even though years have passed since those dark days, it’s kind of irony knowing the fact that the owner of Indonesian cinnamon main exporter company today is still not from the local :|

About this Recipe

I’ve made this recipe for more than three times, from just plain caramel cinnamon filling to additional sliced apple version, and then I tried to modify it by adding sliced banana. The banana: the riper, the better. You can add more sliced banana if you like. Enjoy! :)

Banana Caramel Cinnamon Cake

Yield: 1 batch, 10 x 20 cm baking pan

Prep time: 30 minutes

Total time: 2 hour

Ingredients:

Batter:

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Filling:

• 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1 cloves, grinded
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 2 ripe banana, sliced

Direction:

1. Greased and floured pan, set aside
   
2. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, mix until well combined
   
3. Mix in flour one spoon per time, the add baking soda
   
4. Pour in milk, combine until batter turns homogeneous
5. Stir in the remaining ingredients, mix well. Set aside.
   
6. To make filling: In large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Fold in nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder, grinded cloves, and flour until well combine. Set aside.
   
   
7. Preheat the oven in 180 deg Celcius.
8. With the help of ladle, pour half volume of the batter in to prepared pan, spread evenly by using ladle's back side
   
   
   
9. Using two spoon, scatter the filling throughout the batter top. Put sliced banana evenly above the filling, then pour the remaining batter on top.
   
   
   
   
10. Tips: Gently slam the pan on the table surface and slide forward-backward. This will help keeping the cake surface flat, also helping the batter to fulfill empty spaces inside the cake layers.
11. Sprinkle cinnamon powder on top, bake for 35-40 minutes.