Tuesdays With Dorie - Greenspan that is!
Ashlee from A Year In The Kitchen chose the BLACK & WHITE BANANA LOAF for this weeks Tuesdays With Dorie recipe. You can find it on page 232 of Dorie Greenspan's book, Baking: From My Home To Yours, or at Ashlee's blog. Tuesdays With Dorie has grown by leaps and bounds since January 1st. It now has 236 members with more and more being added each week!
After so many weeks with fruit desserts, some people were starting to grumble. Not me though. I thoroughly enjoyed baking with fruit. After all, it is the season! But, the chocolate lovers wanted something made with chocolate again. Being the die-hard chocoholic that I am, I had to admit, it was time.
Bananas & Chocolate?
Absolutely! They go together like cookies & milk or a banana split! The addition of bananas made this cake what it is! Moist & Delicious! The recipe also called for lemon zest and juice which gave it an unusual tang. The addition of nutmeg was a nice touch too.
Green & Black's Organic Chocolate
I chose Green & Black's Organic Chocolate as my Bittersweet chocolate for this recipe. As soon as I opened the wrapper, I could smell it. It was so rich, it made me salivate. You would have been proud of me. I was totally disciplined and didn't even try to lick the chocolate bar! I wanted to though! Peeling the wrapper off made me think of the Golden Ticket on Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. If you look closely, you'll see the Green & Black's mission statement and promise. Click on the photo to enlarge it. I was very impressed with this chocolate company. You will be too.
More Butter?
Again with the butter! I find it hard to believe that Dorie doesn't weigh 300 pounds with all the butter she uses in her recipes! I suppose we could use a butter substitute to cut down on the fat and calories. But once in a while can't hurt, right?
CHOCOLATE BANANA POUND CAKE
Even though this recipe is easy for most beginners, I wasn't sure about the oven time. 1 hour and 20-30 minutes is a long time to leave a cake in the oven. I second guessed it. Mine only took 1 hour and 15 minutes and the knife came out clean. I would suggest you start checking your cake after 1 hour. Make sure you follow the directions and put an insulated sheet under the loaf pan. From what I read here and there, some people had trouble removing the cakes from the pans or else they burned on the bottom. I used a buttered and floured Baker's Secret non-stick loaf pan just like the recipe said and placed it inside a glass Pyrex baking dish. I guess it did the job because it didn't stick or burn! It slipped right out and onto my plate!
Got Milk?
I let it cool completely and then made a simple chocolate ganache to drizzle over the cake. I remembered the ice cream AFTER I took the pictures! It was good either way. Definitely a 2 glass of milk dessert! The Banana Chocolate Pound Cake would probably taste great with chocolate chips, chopped pecans or anything else you could dream up!
STEVENOT WINERY'S BLACK MUSCAT & CHOCOLATE
I had company over for dessert tonight and we paired the CHOCOLATE BANANA POUND CAKE with a 2005 Black Muscat from Stevenot Winery in the Sierra Foothills of California. We picked up this amazing dessert wine the last time we were there in October of last year. It wasn't cheap and I couldn't even tell you what we paid for it now. But it was sooooo worth it! The Muscat totally complimented the chocolate in the pound cake! It was a deep dark red and was fruit forward, full of berry fruits. Stevenot's Black Muscat would pair well with any chocolate dessert...Trust me on this! They also produce an Orange Muscat, but we'll save that one for later!
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Beautiful presentation. Love the pop of green from the mint and the drizzled chocolate on the plate is sinful! Great job!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought
Posted by: CB | August 06, 2008 at 03:07 AM
Bananas and chocolate--much better than smoked salmon!!! This looks heavenly. thank you.
Cheryl
Posted by: Cheryl Sims | August 06, 2008 at 08:11 AM
Only you could make this humble loaf more sinful, Donna! ;-)
I'm a big fan of Green & Blacks, btw, lovely choice!
Posted by: Mari | August 06, 2008 at 11:02 AM
OK, I'm gonna say it--this looks CRAZY DELICIOUS! So decadent. So wonderful. So...YES!
Posted by: Cakespy | August 06, 2008 at 01:33 PM
Beautiful photos! My banana loaf is gone - I am coming over to eat yours!
Posted by: Liliana | August 06, 2008 at 02:58 PM
Beautiful, as always. What made you choose Green and Black? I've seen the bars, but I haven't tried any yet.
Posted by: Rebecca | August 06, 2008 at 10:46 PM
So, that's how you do it? ;) Beautiful pictures, the first one makes me want to dig in. Oh, and thanks a lot! Now I have to have some chocolate. I like their bars, too!
Posted by: Cindy King | August 07, 2008 at 01:08 AM
Your cake is lovely, and so beautifully displayed!
Posted by: Rigby | August 07, 2008 at 01:59 PM
This turned out so nicely! And by the way, banana is a fruit. ;-) I'm looking forward to straight up chocolate!
Posted by: Jules | August 07, 2008 at 03:23 PM
This sounds absolutely delicious. I love bananas and chocolate. I'm sure they taste wonderful together.
Mary
Posted by: Mary C. Anderson | August 07, 2008 at 04:05 PM
Lovely presentation! I'm always amazed at what folks put together out there - I'm still in the freaking out over getting it done stage. :)
Posted by: Jhianna | August 07, 2008 at 07:19 PM
Ooooooh! Looks so yummy! Looks like you got a golden ticket!!!
Posted by: Erika Martin - Stampin' Mama | August 08, 2008 at 10:00 AM
You did a great job with the presentation. I loved this recipe!
Posted by: Kelly | August 08, 2008 at 02:24 PM