Brazilian Sweets: Bolo de Banana

Many of you probably know that I lived in Brazil some years ago. I grew to love the place, it's people and food. Every now and then I get a hankering for Brazilian food and make up a batch of black beans with pork, rice, and a side of sautéed kale just to take the edge off. A few weeks ago I was in such a mood and noticed that we had 5 or 6 bananas that were past their prime. Normally it would have been banana bread for them, but his time I decided to go Brazilian.

Bolo de Banana (banana cake) is sort like the Brazilian version of pineapple upside-down cake. You slice bananas in half (or thirds) longwise and lay them in caramelized sugar prepared in the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan. Then you pour the cake batter on top of that and bake away. After its baked and cooled, you flip it over and let them caramelized sugar soak into the cake. It's a humble cake that lives in even the poorest homes of Brazil.

Like most traditional cuisine, there are about 3 million slightly different versions of this recipe. This is the one that I used:

The dough:

1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup milk
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

The topping:

1 cup sugar
5 - 6 bananas

Bake for 30 - 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the sugar in the baking dish. Put it in the oven but watch it closely. Stir it as it starts to melt. It will turn into a beautiful liquid gold color. Don't let this liquid siren lull into complacency, and don't turn your back on it. This is delicious culinary napalm! CAREFULLY lay the sliced bananas in the sugar. I got carried away when I was putting the bananas in and got splattered real good. I had a blister the size of an almond on my thumb that I swear went to the bone.

After you get the bananas placed the batter goes on top. Its thicker than most cake batters. It's more like a sweet biscuit dough. Bake it until it turns a nice golden brown on top. You might want to put a cookie sheet under the pan to catch any sugar than boils over the edge.

If you try it, let me know how it goes. I'll be posting some more Brazilian recipes later.