This particular recipe I am very pleased with. The cake part is fluffy and moist, bursting with banana flavor. To add to that, there is crunchy pecan streusel on top that is finalized with a drizzling of dulce de leche. The best way to enjoy this is served slightly warm. Cold or cool Dulce de Leche just does not have the save flavor effect on the cake as it does warmed.
Also, I wanted to give a shout out of thanks to The Purple Spoon for recently passing on the Liebster award to me. I have been given this award a time or two but it always gives me a feeling of honor as well as happiness. This particular blogger is involved in catering wedding events and is a specialty dessert wholesaler. All of her talent is definitely reflected in her blogging as well. A few of the treasures I found on her site are the Butterfinger Brownie Bars and the Lime Blackberry Meringue Cupcakes. I am sure you are bound to find something inspiring on her site, so stop on over and meet The Purple Spoon.
Banana Nut and Dulce De Leche Coffee Cake
adapted from Southern Living
Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tbs vanilla extract
3/4 cup butter, softened and cut into cubes
1/4 cup of butter, softened and cut into cubes
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 3/4 cup of flour
1 cup toasted chopped pecans
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 (13.4 oz) can of Dulce de Leche
Prepare a 9X13 inch pan by greasing and lining the bottom and two long sides (with overhang) with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together 2 1/4 cups of the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then stir in the granulated sugar until evenly distributed. Using a pastry cutter, blend 3/4 cup of the cubed butter into the flour mixture. Set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together eggs, mashed banana, vanilla extract and sour cream together. Then fold into flour mixture, making sure no dry streaks remain. Do not over mix. Spoon batter into prepared pan and smooth it out so the batter is even.
In a small bowl, stir together remaining 1/2 cup of flour with the brown sugar. Then cut in the last of the butter chunks (1/4 cup) with a pastry cutter until no dry ingredients remain. Then blend in pecans, using clean hands or a fork. Your mixture should resemble large clumps. Sprinkle streusel mixture evenly over batter.
Place Dulce de Leche in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in microwave for about a minute, stopping and stirring about every 30 seconds. Continue with that process until it reaches drizzling consistency. I had a hard time getting it to that stage, so after about 2 minutes I just put it into a squirt bottle. Drizzle or squirt warmed mixture on top of the streusel.
Place in oven and bake until a tester (poked into section that has no Dulce de Leche on top) comes out clean. Streusel topping should have just started to brown Baking time is about 35-38 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool in pan 5 minutes. Then pull cake out of pan with overlapping parchment paper and place on flat surface. Cut quickly with a sharp knife dipped in hot water. Knife should be cleaned and re-dipped at cutting intervals because of the sticky topping. Serve warm.
**LAST YEAR: Loca Luna's Turtle Cake**
